The Jungle

The Count of Monte Cristo. I rarely get this absorbed by a book. It was a very satisfying read. Grapes of Wrath stayed with me for a very long time. The Jungle too. This is how you lose the time war. It was just damn unique and pleasant. Everyone who reads it loves it. Cryptonomicon, another very entertaining read that every geek loves.

the jungle by upton sinclair

I do, I don’t know that I would categorize this at the top of what’s been listed but I still think it’s worth reading.

A disturbing, compelling, and influential book. But do you still see it as relevant today, aside from understanding history?

Recommend: 1) The Power Broker - About Robert Moses, the most powerful city planner in New York from the 1930s to the 1960s. Great if you're interested in city planning, how people gain and exercise power, and the real politik of government. 2) The Jungle - Remembered as an exposé of meatpacking, but really more than that. Phenomenal story about early 20th immigrants to Chicago trying to take part in the American Dream but struggling to survive. Surprisingly relevant today. 3) The Big Con - Fascinating look at con artists in the first half of the 20th century.

Not a book, but the essay "Conscience of a Hacker" has never been far from my mind. In middle-school, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers started a fairly strong libertarian bend as well as a somewhat antiauthortarian In high-school, Atlas Shrugged gave me a clear vision of how important it was to create things with the skills I'd learned, and how naked self-interest could shape a society. In college, Pump Six illustrated the failings of "In the future, it's going to be even more awesome to be rich and white". After college, The Jungle showed me both the importance of social safety nets and how easily people who say "I'll just work harder" get screwed by the system--any system. Makers gave me a better appreciation for taking care of my self and my body. ~ It's important, I think, to constantly be reading new things and taking in new ideas; had I stopped with Atlas Shrugged, for example, I'd probably be a lot different (and more naive) than I am today.

"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Harold Kushner

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair But not for the standard reasons of food safety or socialism To get a real taste of how regular people lived and struggled back then. That was the life my great-grandparents and grandparents escaped so that I could have a real life. So whenever I "think" things are tough, I just slow down and imagine that it's Packingtown, Chicago in 1906. Things suddenly seem a whole lot brighter now. Here and now is a special time and place. Let's not any one of us squandor it.