Hogfather

Hogfather by Sir Terry Pratchett. I read it a couple of days before Christmas every year without fail and have since it came out. I absolutely adore the discworld (Pratchett's books shaped me as a child - I wouldn't be the person I am now nor have had the career I do without him). > “The senior wizards of Unseen University stood and looked at the door. > There was no doubt that whoever had shut it wanted it to stay shut. Dozens of nails secured it to the door frame. Planks had been nailed right across. And finally it had, up until this morning, been hidden by a bookcase that had been put in front of it. > 'And there's the sign, Ridcully,' said the Dean. 'You have read it, I assume. You know? The sign which says "Do not, under any circumstances, open this door"?' > 'Of course I've read it,' said Ridcully. 'Why d'yer think I want it opened?' > 'Er ... why?' said the Lecturer in Recent Runes. > 'To see why they wanted it shut, of course.' > This exchange contains almost all you need to know about human civilization. At least, those bits of it that are now under the sea, fenced off or still smoking.”

A friend loaned me a copy of Ken Wilbur's A Brief History of Everything, which I credit with starting me down the path of philosophical thought. I honestly don't remember a whole lot about the book, but even if I did I'm not certain I'd recommend it if only because I've noticed this tendency of people to read a book about philosophical ideas and then just stop thinking about the ideas and treat them as some kind of dogma. I do recommend deep philosophical thinking though, and to try not to get caught up in the academic side of philosophy. Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, in retrospect, laid the foundation for a fundamental shift in my understanding of belief and how it interfaces with reality.