Anybody interested in the way wars and politics interact or affect one another should definitely read this book. In Asia, especially Japan, it hasbecome something of a talisman, with its tenets and advice being applied not only to politics and the battlefield, but business and even romance! Used by Mao and the Communists as their primary tactical manual during the war with the Nationalists, it is now required reading at all US military academies.
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Combining the history of particle physics with a detailed explanation of what all the discoveries mean. Asimov even takes the explanation so far as to explain the origins of the universe and the latest (as of 1991) theories of the underlying nature of the quantum universe. Indispensible for writers of hard SF, or even for writers of soft SF that want to be convincing and persuasive.
Many of the standards we take for granted in Western civilizations come from the Bible. Even common sayings ("Get thee behind me, Satan," "Those whoaren't for us are against us") originate in the Bible. For 1,850 years, the Bible was the leading force in Western culture -- some say it shackled our culture, others say it fed and watered it. No matter which position you take on the Bible's authority in modern life, a good working familiarity with the subject matter is imperative.
Though originally written as a handbook and primer in two-handed sword fighting, this book has come to represent something more, one of the true primers in strategy. In Japan, even businessmen and politicians are expected to know this book's inner workings forward and backward, because, like Sun Tzu and Machiavelli before him, Miyamoto in this book created one of the handbooks of effective leadership and conduct.
Burke is a scientist. Connections is a History book. Burke shows how the advance of technology on all fronts has affected the development of politics, society, and the march of history through time. In the first chapter, he shows how the development of the plough led, through branching areas of discovery, to the atomic bomb. The rest of the book is equally compelling. Should be read by every SF author, if only to get them thinking about the implications of technological advancement...
Here is the master geometry textbook. Written 2,500 years ago, it's nearly singular among higher math textbooks in that you can read through the entire collected mass (originally this consisted of thirteen short volumes) and never once encounter a number. Though the name Euclid has intimidating connotations, this book is the math phobic's best friend when it comes to computing geometry.
While different christian sects determine for themselves whether to take the Bible literally or to interpret it, all muslims believe in the divinity and literalness of the Koran. As the holy book of Islam, reading this book is required for any deep understanding of the Middle East, and anyone who wishes to portray Islam in their work should read this first, and get the truth, before writing based on supposition.
In three previous editions of The Lifetime Reading Plan, Clifton Fadiman has attempted to spell out what books constitute the center of our culture. There has been no universal agreement, and making a list like this is always controversial. I think Percy Bysshe Shelley is a ratchet-jaw with a tin ear, but many scholars think his work is epochal. Kudos to Fadiman for braving this controversy and sticking to his guns.
With this fourth edition, dubbed The New Lifetime Reading Plan, Fadiman teams up with John S. Major to expand the curriculum outside the Western World. In an increasingly interconnected planet, it is necessary to know not just about our own culture, but about the cultures throughout the world. However, the kind of person who would buy a book like this is generally going to be pretty conservative about these issues, and the authors are to be applauded for going worldwide in the face of this.
The Bible is noticeably absent from the western classics. The authors explain this away by pointing out that most Americans either own a copy of the Bible or have access to one. This really doesn't wash, as even many devout Christians have no idea what's between the covers of the Good Book. Still, it's the thought (that most people read at home) that counts.
Possibly the most controversial section of the book is a selection of 100 Twentieth-Century writers the authors consider worth reading. Because many of these people are alive now or were alive in living memory, there will be some heated discussions stirred by these selections. I was disappointed by the fact that T.C. Boyle is absent from the list, though gratified that J.R.R. Tolkein, whom many self-proclaimed literati despise, was included.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that the authors don't claim these are the only books worth reading. They simply suggest that these books should form a universal center from which other thoughts may radiate. Used for that purpose, this is a superlative primer and a good jumping-off point for library-building.
Although a democrat at heart, Machiavelli was enough of a realist to realize that government in his day was a matter of rule by one man rather than the people. In order to make that rule better and more effective (and also to gain favor with the Medici family) he wrote this manual for the absolute ruler. A great work of political theory and philosophy, it has earned this idealist an undeserved reputation as a schemer and an absolutist.
Taken from a series of lectures given by the inimitable educator and Nobel Prize-winning researcher Richard Feynman, this book helps to define andmake comprehensible quantum electrodynamics, or QED, for the layman reader. Not to be missed by anyone who intends to include the hard sciences in their SF.
This book is very hard to read and has put off many great minds, but if you can get through it, the very foundations and underpinnings of Western civilization are found here. And if, after reading it through, you still can't hold your own in a logical debate, it's time for you to drop out of debating.
1993. An effective resource for learning how to look at your manuscript objectively so you can make improvements. Includes chapters on characterizaton, dialogue, beats, and voice.
Culled from the Feynman lectures of physics, the standard primer on physics for nearly forty years, Six Easy Pieces is a collection of short dissertations on physics chosen for their accessibility to readers unfamiliar with physics. The structure of the atom, the nature of the photon, and other essential topics are all addressed in this primer written by a Nobel Laureate famed for his inimitable, wholly accessable teaching style. Six Easy Pieces is also available as an audio recording of the six lectures included in the book, for those who learn better when they hear than when they read.
