Slaughterhouse-Five

Here are a few books that come to mind: Siddhartha – I highly recommend doing some background reading to get the most out of it. Everything in the book is a metaphor. For example, the question of whether to take the "Big Boat or Small Boat?" down the river is actually a deeper reflection on personal choices in the pursuit of nirvana or enlightenment. When You Hear Hoofbeats, Think of a Zebra Slaughterhouse-Five – Honestly, just read some Kurt Vonnegut. He’s probably the greatest American writer of all time. Also, here's a great list: https://i.redd.it/cjuf9k91d6g71.jpg .I’m sure I’ve missed some of my favorites, but I just wanted to share because reading has given me so much perspective on the world. I’m really grateful it’s something I enjoy.

- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig) - Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (Hofstadter) - Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness (Penrose) - Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Suzuki) - Demian (Hesse) - The Stranger (Camus) - Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut) - Another Roadside Attraction (Robbins) I have read many books that have had an impact on me for a time, but these are the books that have had an enduring impact going on now for decades. And yes, one of these books, Another Roadside Attraction, is unlike the others. You can substitute any Tom Robbins book, or read them all!, but this is the book that started it all for me. Tom Robbins' books taught me to not take life so seriously. Demian and The Stranger may be fiction, but let's just say their purpose is to get across a philosophical point. Finally, with regards to Slaughterhouse-Five, you'll just have to read it. Enjoy!

Slaughterhouse 5. It taught me a light hearted nihilism that I found useful to buoy up against the storms in my adolescent life.

- A Fire Upon The Deep - Brave New World - The Dispossessed - The Sirens of Titan / Slaughterhouse 5 - Recursion - Exhalation - There Is No Antimemetics Division - Foundation Series

Read good fiction. Jack Kerouac - On The Road Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five Charles Bukowski - Post Office

"The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein "Neuromancer" and sequels by William Gibson "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut I've read all of them dozens of times over. Hard to explain why, they speak my language, and help me understand myself and the world around me, kind of like my favorite bands do. Hard to put into words.

Don't know about changing my life, but these books changed the way i look at things: The Tao of Pooh: Benjamin Hoff Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut TI 99/4a basic reference manual Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson, Sussman Object Oriented Analysis and Design by Grady Booch Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler Thieves in the Night by Arthur Koestler All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. War and Peace by L.N.Tolstoy Chapaev and the void by Pelevin

Slaughterhouse-Five, Galapagos, Sirens of Titan Basically, any Kurt Vonnegut book that isn't Cat's Cradle (good but overrated). Bias note: I'm still young, but these shaped me easily.

SPOILER ALERT: "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." - 1984 Haunting last line. All struggle is futile; acceptance is inevitable. So yeah, pretty bleak, but favorite book nonetheless. I also love Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, which while not classically dystopian, still manages to elicit dystopian stoic despair against the backdrop of a seemingly normal world (our very own time and age). It automatically coaxs readers to draw parallels..maybe dystopia is not something imagined. Maybe it's more familiar than we think. Lastly, Robert A. Heinlein needs to be mentioned at least once in this thread; Farnham's Freehold and a Stranger in a Strange Land.

I've just updated my list of books I read this year. Scores are out of 5. If there is a + it means I found it to be extra special for some reason or other. = Jan = Smarter Than You Think - Clive Thompson 3 The positives of tech and the internet. = Feb = Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart 4 Science fiction set in the not too distant future. Main themes include life extension and surveillance. = Mar = The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 4 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams 3 Had never read this series, thought it might be about time. = Apr = What does it all Mean? - Thomas Nagel 2 (though it is kind of meant for people who have never done any Philosophy, ever, so would recommend to someone like that. Will pass it on to someone taking an interest in the subject) An introduction to Philosophy. Earth - David Brin 5+ Science fiction set in the not too distant future, written in the 90s. Really interesting themes / vision of post climate change world. SlaughterHouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut 5 Semi autobiographical account of the bombing of Dresden in WW2. Really funny and clever ideas. Very good. = May = Nick Cohen - What’s Left? 4…

Believe it or not: Slaughterhouse V by Kurt Vonnegut and No. 44 The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain. The first for the idea of being "unstuck" in time, and the second for introducing the concept of nihilism.

Some titles I've recently read or at least have placed on my reading list. -------------------- Philosohpy Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium - Seneca Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (must read) The Republic - Plato -------------------- History Five Chimneys - Olga Lengyel The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (must read) The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank -------------------- Fiction (particularly dystopian) 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451 (crime/action) Child 44, The Secret Speech, Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith -------------------- Economics Capital in the Twenty-First Century - Thomas Piketty Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty - Banerjee, Duflo Why Nations Fail - Robinson -------------------- Economics/Decision making/Psychology Undercover Economist, Freakonomics, Nudge, Thinking Fast and Slow -------------------- Random titles The Selfish Gene, Self-Reliance, The Elements of Style (about writing), Slaughterhouse-Five -------------------- Some links to inspire your reading (though you may want to checkout the websites first to get an idea of the topics they cover) http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books…

Catch-22. In a similar vibe (but a fair bit shorter), Slaughterhouse 5. Both cover the hell of war by examining its absurdity. Catch-22 is also the funniest book you'll ever read. If you're into engineering books, the best I've read is Skunk Works (Ben R Rich). It's an account of the work of Lockheed's legendary skunk works division - behind the U2 spy plane, stealth fighter and the blackbird sr-17.

Vonnegut (Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5), Bukowski (Postman). Steinbeck (Tortilla flat). All their stuff is good, but those are my favorites :)

Slaughterhouse 5, Snowcrash, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

If you haven't read a Kurt Vonnegut book, I highly recommend that you do. The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Breakfast of Champions, and Slaughterhouse 5 are all great places to start.

Professionally, The Art of Project Management did the most for me. Privately, general-fiction-wise, The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami did the most for me. Privately, SF-wise, three books by Kurt Vonnegut: Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-five and The Sirens of Titan

Just now I'm reading something I wanted to read for a long time: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The next will be Through the Looking Glass, same author. Amongst the last few books I read, I recommend Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, Marlen Haushofer - The Wall (although this will be too kafkaesque for some), Fahrenheit 451. I do love Jules Verne as well. Atlas Shrugged should be known to anyone around here, I guess.. Relating to Atlas Shrugged: Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Both books were very influential to me when I was younger.

My younger self wouldn't have been interested in the books that interest me now. Instead I'd have to settle for some good fiction. Going back in time to around 12-16, I'd send one of: * Brave New World - Aldous Huxley * 1984 - George Orwell * To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee * Catch 22 - Joe Heller * Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut * Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck * Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury * The Call of Ctulhu - H.P. Lovecraft * Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card Some of those I actually read in school and loved (but wish I read earlier), others I didn't. I think any of those books would've interested me at the time. There's plenty of time for Rich Dad, Poor Dad, SPIN Selling and all the business books later in life.

Kurt Vonnegut has some good stuff. Slaughterhouse Five, Cats Cradle and I really liked A Man Without a Country. The Discworld series (Terry Prachett) is good if you liked HHG

Every one of those is on my list :) I've read Watchmen, Everything is Illuminated, and Slaughterhouse Five. All were fantastic. The film adaptation of Everything is Illuminated was actually very good too.

I thought Slaughterhouse Five was great, but I think I found myself left thinking more after reading Breakfast of Champions.

You sound like you're looking for something like Jones' The Art of War in the Western World: http://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Western-World/dp/0252069668 Or just go there and follow Amazon "related" links. Jones is of the "very broad" school of military history. It can be a little bit dry, but it certainly tries to be comprehensive: It's like Civilization in that it starts with phalanx and then moves slowly forward through the history of strategy and tactics. You might like the works of John Keegan, another famous military historian who takes a general approach. He's got a History of Warfare that's like a lighter-weight version of Jones -- I might recommend starting with that, actually. His one-volume histories of WWI and WWII are probably decent.…

i can't narrow this down to one. some of these are already named: Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, "The Last Question", Ender's Game/Shadow, Dune, Slaughterhouse 5, Ringworld

- use of weapons (ian m banks) - surely you are joking mr feynman (rpf) - origin of order (stuart kauffman) - slaughter house five (kurt vonnegut) - goedel escher bach (douglas hofstadter) - theta-magical memas errr metamagical themas (dogulas hofsta)