Small Gods

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. I've heard about, and tried to get into the Discworld a few times, but it never really happened. I think I tried Guard! Guards! twice. Maybe I was in a different headspace, or maybe it was just not for me. But then I tried Small Gods, and it's the best thing I've read since (the nutrition label on the back of) sliced bread. No, really, it's lovely! I'll be done tomorrow according to my Kobos statistics, and then I just need to figure out what I'm gonna read next. Cannot wait to find out about all the things out there in the Discworld that I don't know about yet.

Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth By Buckminster Fuller I first read it when I was ~25 and it made me think about the way the world is, the historical reasons it is this way and how we can nudge it towards being better. It frustrates me that Fuller wrote the book nearly 50 years ago and all the same stupid crap continues to happen and humanity doesn't seem to be getting its collective shit together. But then I remember the lessons from the book on why the world is like it is and how we can only nudge it slowly.... You can read it here: http://designsciencelab.com/resources/OperatingManual_BF.pdf Edit to also mention; Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (as well as basically every other book he ever wrote).

Getting More - Stuart Diamond. I still think this is the best book on the art of negotiation. Getting Things Done - David Allen. If you have adult ADHD like me, and you haven't read this, it's the first system that's really worked for productivity for me. Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl. Living Buddha, Living Christ - Thich Nhat Hanh. Cosmos - Carl Sagan. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin. The One who Walks Away from Omelas - U.K. LeGuin. Wild Seed - Octavia Butler. The Heike Monogatari - (tr. Helen Craig McCullough) “The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall. The proud do not endure, like a passing dream on a night in spring; the mighty fall at last, to be no more than dust before the wind.” If you need a comparison. this is the Japanese historical equivalent of Game of Thrones combined with a bit of MacBeth. The rise and fall of two shogunate families, and an analysis of the tragic flaws of character that brought their fall about. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo. Small Gods - Terry Pratchett. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad.…

Small Gods is a wonderful little book, and it's a great introduction the the humor of the series since it pretty much stands by itself.

I binge-read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. If you're looking for something religious-y, start with the brilliant Small Gods.