Cornerstone Books of the World (in Off-topic)

I was thinking of something I might want for Christmas and have somehow thought of getting books. I know this sounds extremely crazy to most as it did to me to. But I was thinking..books like Wealth of Nations, Brave New World, 1984, Lord of the Rings, The Great Gatsby, The Art of War....these are considered by many to be top books of the century. A learned person should read cornerstone books of the world and thus I have decided to ask for books for Christmas. The problem is...which ones?

So what do all of you think the greatest books of the world are?

The Modern Library's top 100 novels.
Time Magazine's top 100 novels.
Google's search engine results for "Greatest books of all time.".
:)

good idea gilgamesh! there are So many books i haven't read that are classics and that i think i should read. I mostly read fantasy titles, but good idea on getting some of those. I've read Lord of the Rings several times, heh, and I Think I read the great gatsby, I don't remember, it was sometime in high school that we were supposed to read it, i just don't remember if i really read it.

I personally am a big fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. it's a totally different kind of fantasy, and i love it. Book 11 just came out a couple of months ago, but i haven't read it yet, because i'm re-reading them and am only on 8 :P

/me looks at General Xiaz's links and adds some books to his christmas wish list

You might also try the Easton Press collections.

but avoid the Mills and Boon collections.

You might want to watch out for "of this century". There's probably nothing seminal, yet, in this century, and some of what you are looking for predates last century as well ... unless you count Sun Tzu's piece from its 1910 English translation.

I'm almost never seen without a book on the go. And looking through the Time 100 greatest books for instance, I've read a lot of them. And - it's only an opinion - some of the so called classics are in fact awful books. They are considered classics for a whole host of reasons other than the book itself. Quite often the accolade granted them has come about because of their cultural importance rather than the skill/talent of the author. It may have been that a particular book was the first time somebody tackled a subject for instance and caused a furore. Not because it was a well written book.

I would approach any list of 'classic' books in the same way I would approach a list of 'classic' music. If you are into music do a search for 'classic' albums of all time and see how many of those you actually like. For instance The Beatles are considered by so many to be the greatest band of all time but do you like them just because somebody says that? Or would you argue that the greatest band of all time is your favourite band, whoever they may be?

By all means read - there are thousands of fantastic authors out there but don't let anyone convince you that you should read the 'classics' just because somebody tells you they are 'classic'. Go to a library and borrow books first otherwise you may end up with great piles of paper that you get a third of the way through and never ever finish. Those 'greatest books' lists are a good starting point but search for yourself because you may miss a book that changes your life just because somebody else says it's not a classic.....

"this century" means "books published between 2001 and today" ...

If you are going to go by lists of 'greatest' try a genre that you may actually enjoy. I'd presume that by your presence on CB you're into fantasy/science fiction for instance. So do a search for '100 greatest fantasy' or '100 greatest science fiction'. Reading the collected works of Iain Banks or Heinlein might give you more enjoyment than trying to read James Joyce for instance....

Alternative Route: Look around for a liberal arts school that runs a "Great Books" model curriculum. Get their book-list. Those schools build a 4-year program around reading/studying/discussing the foundational texts of western culture.

From your list I think you'd enjoy "The Constitution of Liberty" by Hayek. Or perhaps Friedman's "Capitalism and Freedom."

Warning: Hayek is not light reading.

Somewhat off topic, but many of the books that show up on "all time best" lists are available for free from the Project Gutenberg. (unfortunately, only a few books written after 1923 can be published by Project Gutenberg due to apparently eternal copyright restrictions.)

You can find things like:

• Moby Dick
• the Works of William Shakespeare
• The Odyssey
• Peter Pan
• Paradise Lost
• Alice in Wonderland
• The Divine Comedy
• Ulysses
• Sherlock Holmes
• The Art of War
• Leonardo Da Vinci's Notebooks

And many many more.

Ray Bradbury.
his writing is beautiful.

Or why not set yourself the goal to get a good grounding in some topic areas such as philosophy, politics, economics, science, ancient or modern history, and so on and so forth? There are two or three weighty summaries in each of those areas I would recommend. How much better would 1984 or Brave New World read if you knew the political landscape and principals that Orwell and Huxley, respectively, were trying to warn against, for example?

Hmm ... those texts would explain some of Jon's laissez faire attitude on game economics & interaction.