/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10184149]

ITT - Books that changed your life

[Anonymous No.10184253]

Before I read this, I was always stuck on there being an exact truth and not understanding why people would willing do anything "immoral". I still have a ways to go to get to where I need to go, but this book acted as a sort of "reset button" for my ways of thinking along with fostering an interest in philosophy for me.

[Anonymous No.10184437]

>>10184253
I had that exact same revelation except with The Ego and His Own by Max Stirner. If you're into Nietzche and haven't read any Stirner yet I would highly reccomend it.

[Anonymous No.10184527]

>>10184149
this

[Anonymous No.10184531]

>>10184527
and this

[Anonymous No.10184547]

>>10184253
There is an exact truth. It's just above and beyond anything that humans can bring into being

[Anonymous No.10184576]

>>10184149
good one desu still think abt it regularly
>>10184253
thus spoke zarathustra and on the genealogy of morals are better

>>10184437
this was already dismissed in the 1800s, basically you're historically retarded
>>10184527
die
>>10184531
die
>>10184547
die

[Anonymous No.10184594]

>>10184576
Wow anon, thanks for your contribution to the thread.

[Anonymous No.10184608]

>>10184253
>be in philosophy seminar today
>teacher asks us what constitutes a good life
>first student "Well it depends because everything is subjective"
>second student "Yeah, seems like Epictetus had a really one-sided view of life, like did he ever consider other people's opinions?"
>third student "The point of life is to be happy, which is why I'll be watching Netflix when I get home!"
>entire class laughs

Thanks Nietzsche

[Anonymous No.10184609]

>>10184576
>die
>die
>die

[Anonymous No.10184615]

>read neitzsche, think I get it, all the analysis by professionals is different
>read stirner, get confused
>try kierkegaard, cant keep up with complex religious allusions
>tfw too stupid for philosophy

Back to novels it is

[Anonymous No.10184624]

>>10184253
>I was always stuck on there being an exact truth and not understanding why people would willing do anything "immoral"

Care to elaborate on this part?

[Anonymous No.10184648]

>>10184615
No. Start with the greeks and advance gradually

[Anonymous No.10184723]

>>10184624

he means he was a christfag

[Anonymous No.10184775]

>>10184615
> he didn't start with the greeks
> he thought he could just dive in at Pinchy-Ninchy and understand the universe

lmaoing @ ur life, my dude

[Anonymous No.10184786]

>>10184608
Does it feel lonely on that ivory tower? Tbh just be a normie

[Anonymous No.10184799]

>>10184615
this also happened to me
> read Nietzche, understand his point of view
> read Descartes, and enjoy it thoroughly
> start reading Kant, everything is confusing can´t get past the 1st chapter

why are some philosophers always trying to flex their literary profeciency?
Wouldn´t you want the layman to be able to read through your texts and understand them?

[Anonymous No.10184862]

>>10184608
christ

[Anonymous No.10185036]

Pic related saved me from being an edgy fascist

[Anonymous No.10185053]

>>10185036
quick rundown?
>no spoilers

[Anonymous No.10185056]

>>10184799
>Wouldn´t you want the layman to be able to read through your texts and understand them?
why ought they?

[Anonymous No.10185071]

>>10184527
this, but unironically

[Anonymous No.10185088]

>>10184799
buttblasted babby gets mad that he can't understand a difficult work of philosophy that responds to other difficult works of philosophy without having read the prior works it builds upon and so blames the philosopher and not himself.

Take some responsibility for your shortcomings. If you don't enjoy reading then just say so.

[Anonymous No.10185100]

>>10185053
Right wing critique of authoritarianism and scientism

[Anonymous No.10185102]

Pic related made me love reading. It's so damn comfy

[Anonymous No.10185103]

[Anonymous No.10185125]

>>10184149
Atlas Shrugged meant nothing to me when I first read it at 14 but due to recent events after reading it then pic related at 26 (now 29) it shifted my entire worlview.
It just clicked. Atlas Shrugged is overrated compared to The Virtue of Selfishness.

[Anonymous No.10185141]

>>10185125
Cringe

[Anonymous No.10185150]

>>10184253
I came to that conclusion when I was fucking 12 did you think humans were perfect beings or something?

[Anonymous No.10185155]

>>10185141
At what?

[Anonymous No.10185158]

>>10185155
Liking rand

[Anonymous No.10185167]

Anyone happen to know the best version of this? Definitely a book I'll re-read on a yearly basis.

[Anonymous No.10185171]

>>10185158
Ok, why?

[Anonymous No.10185202]

>>10185171
Because she's spooked as fuck and is just more collectivist shit with a different flavour

Also, objectivism is trash

[Anonymous No.10185210]

>>10184576
>this was already dismissed in the 1800s, basically you're historically retarded
elaborate

[Anonymous No.10185212]

1

[Anonymous No.10185220]

[Anonymous No.10185225]

[Anonymous No.10185233]

We think that Paradise and Calvary,
Christ's cross, and Adam's tree, stood in one place;
Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me;
As the first Adam's sweat surrounds my face,
May the last Adam's blood my soul embrace.

[Anonymous No.10185244]

>>10184149

Became a member of the Navy SEALS. Never looked back

[Anonymous No.10185247]

>>10185171
Because taxes are essential to government and because humans are irrational, fearful cheaters with morality bias toward in-groups

[Anonymous No.10185279]

>>10184149
HAIL /pol/

[Anonymous No.10185283]

>>10185202
Rand is UTTERLY Individualist. Stirner, dear spookfag, is not more individualist than Rand; his is merely a question of him being more anarchistic than Rand. Which is taken to incorrectly mean by Stirnerites that a higher degree of anarchism translates to a higher degree of individualism. It doesn't.
And Stirner's "spook" is similar to Rand's "anti-concept"; just less concrete.

[Anonymous No.10185284]

>>10185247
Are *coercive* taxes? No. This is Rand's whole distinction.

[Anonymous No.10185339]

>>10185102
I, too, enjoy chapters on dirt, and old men sucking young woman's tits

[Anonymous No.10185361]

>>10185279
The first volume is a legitimately fascinating (and somewhat inspirational) story about a very lowly person achieving heights in political power.
Reading it helped me see through the national myth about WWII drummed into me since middle school.
Don't know if you're just funposting, but Hitler was an autistic faggot that destroyed Europe. He's the reason why national, identitarian, hierarchal views are seen as so taboo. Stop idolizing him, stormweenie.

[Anonymous No.10185401]

Meaning Maps

[Anonymous No.10185762]

>>10185036
How did it do that?
(no hate, i havent read)

[Anonymous No.10185764]

>>10185167
hayes translation is very accessible

[Anonymous No.10185939]

[Anonymous No.10186084]

>>10185284
Taxes aren't coercive. If you don't want to pay them, just don't work or go somewhere else. :^)

[Anonymous No.10186091]

>>10185103
Elaborate anon, you have caught my attention.

[Anonymous No.10186129]

>>10184149

[Anonymous No.10186145]

couldnt narrow it down to one book
bourdieu - invitation to reflexive sociology
freud - psychopathology of everyday life
kafka in general
deleuze - what is philosophy

[Anonymous No.10186167]

>>10184149
What is the big deal with this book? I read it hoping for an eye-opening experience and it did nothing for me

[Anonymous No.10186202]

read this a bit after going from atheism to agnosticism. It made me question my beliefs (or lack of belief) and made me want to read more literature, philosophy and theology. first big classic I read.

[Anonymous No.10186228]

>>10186167

It's like Plato. You hear the guy is realy good and then you read one of the dialogs, and it's meh. Also that book was written by Johannes de Silentio and not SAK. You should treat it as such.

[Anonymous No.10186242]

>>10184149

Probably something by Stephen King because it came to my realization that I could probably write better than this guy and that I should probably get into writing.

[Anonymous No.10186439]

made me realize that i am basically the protagonist of this book. when des Esseintes became a religious traditionalist it made me become one too (in a sense)

[Anonymous No.10186481]

>>10185361
>he destroyed europe
1. tried to save europe from communism and jews = half of europe under communism
2. didnt try to do shit = probably whole world ends up communist = 1984

I respect him because he tried, if he didnt i probably would be dead by now because i wouldnt have anything to eat

[Anonymous No.10186513]

>>10184624

Not really. It wouldn't be useful to you guys, it's based off a theory so I don't know if it is true and it's not being very kind to myself. I will say it doesn't involve religion.

[Anonymous No.10186516]

Mein Kampf

[Anonymous No.10186526]

[Anonymous No.10186547]

>>10184149
is this a gay rape scene

[Anonymous No.10186550]

>>10185210
I don't need to elaborate. If you can't understand why that meme book is trash, then you are too troglodytic to understand any elaboration anyway.

[Anonymous No.10186552]

>>10184527
worst translation

[Anonymous No.10186578]

>>10185244
>a member of the Navy SEALS
real seals would just say im a seal

[Anonymous No.10186598]

>>10186552
>original translation omits a lot of shit and misleads
>the more accurate translation is the worst

[Anonymous No.10186605]

>>10186439
is this the book that dorian grey was reading?>>10186513
you didnt mean exact truth as in an absolute knowable reality?

[Anonymous No.10186610]

[Anonymous No.10186619]

[Anonymous No.10186632]

Reread this book again after 5 years and realized just how similar the themes I like writing about are to it. Fuck.

[Anonymous No.10186635]

>>10186605
Before I started reading philosophy, that wouldn't have even been a concept to me.

[Anonymous No.10186651]

I just getting into phil. Which greeks should i start with?

[Anonymous No.10186678]

>>10186619
how

Mine is probably moby dick, ahabs quest ultimately killing him was a fucking...spiritual relief

[Anonymous No.10186712]

>>10186481
In a lot of ways Hitler was like a modern day Caesar or Alexander. I also respect him in a lot of ways. But ultimately it doesn't matter that Britain also had a massive empire that they obtained by force. It doesn't matter that the US had racial laws and had japs in concentration camps. It doesn't matter that the allies committed their own brutal war crimes. It doesn't matter that Stalin killed more people than Hitler. History is written by the winners and Hitler lost because he made shitty decisions.
Even granting you that he might have been trying to save the world from the perceived threat of Jewish controlled International Bolshevism, the actual result of his actions was the destruction of his fascistic allies (except for Francoist Spain), the USSR being able to take half of Europe, and the popular vilification of any nationalistic ideology.

[Anonymous No.10186736]

>>10186651
plotinus

[Anonymous No.10186755]

>>10185339
HURRR

[Anonymous No.10186787]

>>10186481
>2. didnt try to do shit = probably whole world ends up communist = 1984
lol

[Anonymous No.10186789]

>>10186651
Jesse Katsopolis

[Anonymous No.10186813]

>>10186550
*sheaths katana*
*tips fedora*
I said good day, sir.

[Anonymous No.10186878]

>>10186605
idk, I haven't read picture of dorian grey

[Anonymous No.10186948]

>>10185244
no you didn't

[Anonymous No.10186967]

>>10186878
its alright

[Anonymous No.10186974]

Fuck, man.

Stoner kind of haunted me ever since I randomly chose the book to do a presentation on it in 7th grade. I read it in full and while I understood the plot at the time, the mature nature of its material was naturally lost upon me. Every couple of years after that, I re-read it. Each time I read it again, it's like looking into a crystal ball and seeing my own future unfold.

I doubt in my life I will ever have the capacity to completely recognize the true humanity of this book. But I understand it completely. I don't know who I would be if it weren't for the perspective this book gave me.

I sound like a faggot but fuck you, it's a very personal matter for me.

Runner-up is Meditations simply because it's such no-bullshit and timeless guidance for living a productive, pleasurable, but non-hedonistic life. It's nowhere near as personal as Stoner but it's the only self-help book I've read that actually guides and helps you and doesn't just feed you positive new-age bullshit.

[Anonymous No.10187000]

Dante here began my journey back towards God when I had been on the verge of atheism.

[Anonymous No.10187060]

>>10186091
Rarely do we ask what is the end result we desire in knowing what is true. I think that our cultural nihilism, or existential consumerism, or at least my generation's version of larping the whole Lost Generation thing, has resulted in many people like myself trying to attain all in one, some higher knowledge in peak experiences and the sober, logical expressions that attempt to encapsulate those experiences into a personal being or overcoming - that individuating. Buying into this mode early enough to become discontented with you're ability to attain more and more peak experiences, and yet needing to still rebel against what remains of the struggle ahead of you, you ultimately need a framework for living, or larping as a Nihilist, or whatever. This one offered me tranquillity, non-judgement yet respect for customs, and an unparalleled method of inquiry into anything. It's the unification of all possible knowledge into a state of being. It's path is towards tranquillity - though obviously it is an aim, not a renouncing of life. It's not perfect, especially as it relates to political action. But there is room to move inside of it, too. I can't say I'm ardently following, but I'm also not aiming for much more than contentment - though what some are contented with is most likely incomprehensible to others.

[Anonymous No.10187063]

>>10186974
>Runner-up is Meditations
I liked your post up to this points

[Anonymous No.10187079]

>>10187063
por que?

[Anonymous No.10187081]

>>10187079
Most memed philosopher behind Nietzsche, /pol/tards ruin both

[Anonymous No.10187115]

>>10187081
i've never been to pol but thats the first i've ever heard of aurelius being a cornerstone of that board's philosophy. i figured they'd be for more gung-ho pessimistic bastards like stirner.

[Anonymous No.10187125]

>>10187115
aurelius isn't a cornerstone of their philosophy, he's a cornerstone of their top ten first to be mentioned philosophers
probably 30% of all college educated males in north america with artistic or historical leanings have read the meditations
>stirner pessimistic
don't sling loaded terms so easily senpai, Stirner has nothing to do with pessimism

[Anonymous No.10187160]

>dude neet-cha

[Anonymous No.10187443]

This was the first book I read that made me feel like I was really thinking about what was happening in a philisophical sense. It made me want to go back over everything I had ever seen, and look for that "one central purpose" in everything.
I don't exactly agree with all of Rand's ideals, but for several reasons this book was a great reading experience for me.
Skimming this thread makes me think I should look more into philosophy, it seems like there might be something in Stirner or something like that that really clicks with me.

[Anonymous No.10187479]

I can't believe no one posted this!

[Anonymous No.10187482]

>>10185103
A-are you Classicsfag?
I had to read this at 2nd year for my BA Classics

[Anonymous No.10187495]

>>10187443
why did you post in this thread twice?

[Anonymous No.10187532]

>>10187495
Unlikely as it seems, I promise im not the other guy. I haven't read anything else by Rand except Atlas Shrugged, which I dropped a little after halfway through because I was perturbed by how quickly Dagny forgot what's his name and started drooling over John Galt. Obviously he was supposed to be Uber badass but it was ridiculous and the whole book was already beginning to drive me nuts before that anyways.
Tl;dr- not everyone who says things you dont like are the same person. Not usually, anyways.

[Anonymous No.10187590]

>>10187495
There are lot of randposters around recently, initially I thought they just wanted (you)s but it seems that they're genuine. I wonder where they came from.

[Anonymous No.10187598]

>>10186439
You don't have a turtle with diamonds, stop lying

[Anonymous No.10187656]

>>10184253
there is an exact truth

[Anonymous No.10187718]

>>10184149
I spent years reading philosophers that influenced and were influenced by Kirkegaard and slowly developing my own positions on how life ought be lived and why. Then, when I was twenty, I read Fear and Trembling and realized that my belief structure was a slightly modified version of Kirkegaard's.

It was depressing.

[Anonymous No.10187922]

>>10185279
kekistani pride worldwide my guy haha lol *unsheathes katana*

[Anonymous No.10187926]

>>10186651
saul popodopolous' philiosophy of nice souvlaki and dinner plate smasherporium

[Anonymous No.10187930]

>>10186974
> but fuck you

liked your post until that part. very rude

[Anonymous No.10187931]

>>10187590
probably a cave

[Anonymous No.10187955]

>>10187590
It's the same guy, he types the same way in every thread. He even did it in this thread in both posts even though he denies it, just scroll up and look at hisi posting style

it's the same one in every thread. /lit/ has always hated rand because her books are total garbage

[Anonymous No.10187962]

>>10187443
I was reading this and knowing that Roark was supposed to be the ideal man, when it was made known he developed no friendships in College it just put me off the book entirely. In what world does the ideal man have no meaningful relationships with friends?

[Anonymous No.10188153]

Pic related. Revolutionarism = satanic mafia
>>10187479
It's a mystical book and very well written, what's the problem?

[Anonymous No.10188172]

read any of hte following

they changed my life

Derrida
Michael Foucalt
Marx Stirner
Adam Smith to understand economics' role in government (Capitalism)
Shakespear
48 laws of power by Machiavelli, to learn how evil humans can be
Alberto Eco
"The Communist Manifesto" and understand the U.S. Articles of Confederation, even if you disagree with their philosophies.
Dante (fucking Dante)
Homer (not Simpson)
RIchard Dawkins (for dispelling all the god fairytales and other b**shit)
Neil deGrasse Tyson to understand our place in the universe

Also, don't hesitate to teach yourself. Read good news like the Economist or the Guardian. Watch Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, etc.

[Anonymous No.10188179]

>>10184149
I wish I had one. But there are none.

[Anonymous No.10188240]

>>10184149
How exactly did it affect you. I started reading it a few minutes ago and I want to know what to expect.

[Anonymous No.10188332]

>>10188172
I can tell you're trying hard to fit it and be funny/witty. Don't give up just yet kid

[Anonymous No.10188372]

>>10187656
And what would that be?

[Anonymous No.10188399]

His style of writing, his observation about just nearly everything that defines humanity and society are just outstanding!

[Anonymous No.10188416]

>>10184149
>letting a text change your life

Is this a common occurrence? I understand there is beautiful literature and philosophical works a plenty, but how weak do you have to be to be "changed" by a single work of text?

[Anonymous No.10188447]

>>10186974
stoner was some emo bullshit

[Anonymous No.10188458]

>>10184437
Stirner is for faggots. Are you a faggot, Anon?

[Anonymous No.10188460]

>>10184786
I wish I was a normie, desu. I just can’t do it though.

[Anonymous No.10188461]

>>10184149
Nothing understands the American working class quite like this book does.

[Anonymous No.10188608]

[Anonymous No.10188989]

>>10188608
de que se trata su escrituras? se que es gay, y tengo uno de sus libros, pero no lo seguire leyendo si todos de ellos se tratan de ser gay en Cuba. Ya hay suficientes cubanos homosexuales en la Florida.

[Anonymous No.10189014]

>>10185939
You became le absurdist? xD

[Anonymous No.10189106]

>>10184149
Am almost finished this book, took me a couple months because of school and also the depth of the content.
I still haven't fully digested all of it because I'm still not finished but I would love to see more people's thoughts on it.

[Anonymous No.10189113]

>>10185212
how did this affect you? i'm at the point where i wholly believe in the "god of the philosophers" but can't yet equate that with Jesus. i find kierkegaard very moving and correct, but can't quite make the leap into christianity.

[Anonymous No.10189170]

"Knights of the Cross" by polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz.It was a requiered read when i was in middle school. i hated it back then but after some time i realised that it's a very good one, so good that it got me into reading.

i highly recommend to read it if you haven't already.

[Anonymous No.10189178]

>>10184799
>dumb the content down plz
Ur missin the entire point.....

[Anonymous No.10189196]

How to not be jaded anymore: the book

[Anonymous No.10189614]

>>10185212
what's this about?

[Anonymous No.10189995]

>>10185036
I thought Junger was an edgy fascist but all his books that are translated into other languages are heavily doctored to remove his nationalist/fascist passions

[Anonymous No.10190023]

>>10185036
Go back to whatever degenerate commune you came from.

[Anonymous No.10190036]

probably not for the best

read this when I was 18 and it soured my outlook on life a lot unfortunately

[Anonymous No.10190244]

[Anonymous No.10191343]

>>10184576
Don't insult (((our guy))) Max

[Anonymous No.10191349]

>>10184648
Tfw falling for the 'start with the greeks' meme

[Anonymous No.10191354]

>>10185102
Approved m8

[Anonymous No.10191363]

>>10185939
Don't listen to the Camus meme, this book influences my thinkimg heavily since I read it for the first time
Absurdism is the shit

[Anonymous No.10191375]

>>10191349
>tfw when you never leave the Greeks

[Anonymous No.10191394]

>>10190244
>>tumblr

[Anonymous No.10191396]

>>10188172
>Homer (not Simpson)

[Anonymous No.10191410]

>>10185244
Navy SEALS are overhyped, I recieved the same power level in man-on-canine combat at a non-military education institution, among other essential skills.

[Anonymous No.10191420]

>>10188461
Ayy i havn't read Jim Goad but seen him interviewed on Red Ice he seems a cool dude

[Anonymous No.10191501]

>>10189113
>i'm at the point where i wholly believe in the "god of the philosophers"

How did you get to that point?

I find myself at a bit of a roadblock on that path

[Anonymous No.10191520]

sup brainlets

[Anonymous No.10191553]

>>10191520
I kiss the girls that speak Marcuse
I kiss the boys that speak Foucault
I love the kids that know Adorno
And snub their nose at kids who don't

[Anonymous No.10191629]

>>10191553
good band lad

[Anonymous No.10192154]

>>10188416
You're exposed to ideas you haven't come across, maybe you agree with them, maybe you don't. Even the blandest, rehashed genre fiction is an eye into the depth of the world and of ideas, to one who is young and uneducated.

[Anonymous No.10192163]

>>10189995
>>10190023
>its a fascists think they have a monopoly on culture and nation episode

[Anonymous No.10192211]

>>10189113
I never believed in the 'God of philosophers'. I was just a formal Christian, because my parents were Christians.

I would recommend Rene Girard's books.

>>10189614
The Puritan organizes a trial of the 'so-called Christian'.

[Anonymous No.10192867]

>>10188989
El mundo alucinante es básicamente una versión latina de la Divina Comedia (estoy exagerando, pero es una forma de explicarlo), solo que el infierno está en la tierra, decribe y narra la historia de "fray servando", un personaje real, pero se sólo se basa en él para narrar una historia fantástica y muy bizarra, que critica la religión, a la aristocracia, a los poderosos en general, pero también a los ignorantes etc, etc etc... Tiene un mensaje político y anti-religioso bien marcado.

[Anonymous No.10192974]

>>10187000
WEll you fucked up in life.

[Anonymous No.10193200]

not even memeing. I read it when I was an edgy, too cool to care 18 year old and it convinced me to stop being such a dumb "le irony" piece of shit.

[Anonymous No.10193230]

>>10192163
I don't think you're understanding the point of those comments mate

[Anonymous No.10193944]

>>10186974
WHERE IS MY KATHERINE DRISCOLL????

[Anonymous No.10193974]

Glad I read this as a kid, it is what sparked my interest in reading.

[Anonymous No.10193990]

>>10185125
>When a book writen by woman changed anon's life

[Anonymous No.10194030]

>21 years old
>Lose all faith in a god when I'm 13
>Read Unabomber manifesto and realize how broken my life is
>Realize if I bring more people into the industrial world they'll be forced to live like me, and they'll suffer as their brains age in a world that isn't built for it
>Look back on childhood un-nostalgically, and realize I've almost never been truly happy because of the world I've lived through
>Toiling and slaving just to survive, but I can't stop or my life will actually get worse
>Can't commit suicide because I'd hurt my Christian parents, and it's very difficult to even work up the nerve to die
>Easier to just keep living an "Ok" life and try to ignore my true desires
>Realize "Love" is impossible to truly feel as an adult for a human being that isn't offspring
>Life progressively dies as you get older to the point of alcohol consumption just to feel pleasure
>Death of pleasure is a major factor as to why 40 year olds run around and have sex with children
>Dice rolling someone's life, and there's a high probability they'll live to be miserable even if their life is easy

Why aren't you an anti-natalist?

What could possibly be worth it about this existence that would justify bringing more life into it? It's too cruel.

What book can change the way I see the world?

[Anonymous No.10194109]

>>10186439
Cool.

I feel like I could connect to des Esseintes due to the way personal computing seems to perform the same 'work' as his sensorial contraptions due, albeit with exclusively with hearing and sight.

Have your read 'Là-Bas' yet?

[Anonymous No.10194136]

>>10185939
I also hate being too hot.

[Anonymous No.10194184]

>>10186547
Yes, with bondage and a safeword

>>10185939
a bit week but useful for recharging your cloak

>>10186526
Read this on a trip to Berlin just last weekend, it was a perfect counterpoint from going around the various darkrooms of sexclubs and Techno playing clubs

>>10186619
The Prince was better

>>10187000
(homos with handbags around their necks and heads on backwards) Wat

>>10187479
actually read this before The Prince, again for contrast, it's nice to have some innocence before drowning it in Machiavellian, how would you know you were Machiavellian if you hadn't once know you were innocent

>>10194030
Godel Escher Bach.
The psychedelic experience (you won't understand it)
then take Acid (then you'll understand it)

[Anonymous No.10194209]

[Anonymous No.10194281]

[Anonymous No.10194284]

None, really. On good days, I like to think of the edifying things I have read and how much deeper my senses have become when dealing with some things, but it all comes tumbling down when I face a crisis.

Books don't give strength

[Anonymous No.10194356]

>>10194030
You're gonna turn 25, do a lot of drugs and have loads of sex. Things will look different then. But you sound fucking based, senpai. Cheers

[Anonymous No.10194436]

>>10184149

[Anonymous No.10194440]

>>10184149
Is the Penguin translation of Fear and Trembling any good? Aren't Penguin translations the worst?

[AM No.10194492]

[Anonymous No.10194604]

>>10194356
The worst part of this post is that it validates that there's no way out of any of it except alteration of the brain via drug usage.

[Anonymous No.10194650]

>>10194440
The Penguin F&T is excellent.

[Anonymous No.10195888]

>>10194604
you could practice meditation, yoga or chanting for years but if you had no idea what you're looking for (which you get through drugs) you might get nothing out of it than boredom and back ache

>Realize "Love" is impossible to truly feel as an adult for a human being that isn't offspring
MDMA

start lifting and meditating

[Anonymous No.10196186]

>>10194440
penguin gets shit on because they use public domain translations. they aren't universally bad, just hit or miss.

[Anonymous No.10196247]

[Anonymous No.10196294]

>>10188372
Something nobody hasn't, can't, and won't refute.

[Anonymous No.10196296]

>>10186974
you're bad at writing, anson

[Anonymous No.10196453]

>>10185150
So how much progress have you made in the three years since then?

[Anonymous No.10196519]

>>10187443
>>10185125

> Futurist picture on the book cover
> Nationalist propaganda on each and every page

I hope you move on to real philosophy soon and leave that garbage behind.

[Anonymous No.10196524]

>>10184608
I'd like to befriend that third student.

[Anonymous No.10196550]

>>10190036
i really love this book

[Anonymous No.10196584]

[Anonymous No.10196636]

>>10185939

Same. It was recommended to me a few weeks after my father died and I had my first "existential crisis". I couldn't quite understand it at the time (I was 13) but I became a regular reader and it meant a lot to me when I reread it later.

I found my passion in literature and went on to study humanities. It all began with Camus.

[Anonymous No.10196641]

>>10188461
His articles are really special too.

[Anonymous No.10196643]

>>10196519
> Ayn "Rosenbaum" (((Rand)))
> Nationalist propaganda
Now I've seen some very low-quality trolling in my day, but yours is something else.

[Anonymous No.10196735]

>>10196643
I don't think you know what nationalism means.

[Anonymous No.10197524]

>>10196636
What new insight did you have that helped you out of your existential crisis?

[Anonymous No.10197549]

>>10196735
Off course he has no idea what brand of nationalism do you follow...

[Anonymous No.10199171]

I smile a lot more now.

[Anonymous No.10199307]

>>10196247
This book first led me to researching the holocaust lie.

[Anonymous No.10199412]

>>10184799
To be fair, all that is translated. For anons that can read in their OT, are they more accessible?

[Anonymous No.10199420]

So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell got me into reading literary fiction exclusively. Before that I was also reading genre. I supposed that counts as a life-changer.

[Anonymous No.10199488]

also mein kampf

[Anonymous No.10199583]

>>10185102
The fact that To Kill A Mockingbird is seen as the most iconic American novel and not this is a fucking travesty.

[Anonymous No.10199586]

>>10185125
Pay no attention to all these libshits my man. I was with you.

Her nonfiction is superior; she's not much of a novelist desu.

[Anonymous No.10199647]

>>10185102
East of Eden is Steinbeck’s best novel.

[Anonymous No.10199713]

>>10186974
This book changed my life too. Well, I don't know about changed my life, but it really stuck to my ribs.

I read it right before entering graduate school at an ivy (Masters not PhD, so it doesn't really count, but it meant a lot to me). I was trying to be a PhD and leverage the masters to get to work with some potential professors I scoped out.

Time elapsed, I thought about this book a lot, I ended up getting overwhelmed, I dropped out.

[Anonymous No.10199735]

>>10188240
Just fucking read the book, you degenerate.

[Anonymous No.10199862]

>>10186439
that's rough, buddy

[Anonymous No.10200242]

>>10199735
wew

[Anonymous No.10201472]

>>10196584
this is like the catcher in the rye but actually good

[Anonymous No.10201476]

>>10185939
this

[Anonymous No.10201479]

>>10199583
get john steinbeck on one of your bills

[Anonymous No.10201614]

>>10186974
I cannot tell if it has influenced me, but it has definitely stuck with me. It is so simple, yet so beautiful and sad.

[Anonymous No.10201659]

>>10187000
lol this book made me never want to be a Christian ever again, permanently sealed my schism with the Roman Church

[Anonymous No.10201690]

>>10184799
Because philosophy is an intellectual practice nigga

[Anonymous No.10201716]

>>10193990
Kek, oh but I have an iron-clad excuse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vANA3AGs4Dg

[Anonymous No.10201729]

>>10193974
Wasn't that the one where this society uses magic or some shit to remove people's perception of color cause it makes life too complicated or some shit? And this one Oracle dude has all the knowledge of color and happiness and shit for -reasons- and can make his successor not colorblind and stuff?

[Anonymous No.10202117]

I have always felt estranged from belief, religion, even life goals and self meaning until I read from the Taoists, Zhuangzi's writings and the Leizi being the biggest influences among them on my worldview with Zhuangzi's winning out by a bit. Pic merely for convenience, no edition in particular because of reading multiple translations.

[Anonymous No.10202237]

A cautionary tale about what happens if you stick your head too far up your own ass.

[Anonymous No.10202398]

>>10194030
read crime and punishment

[Anonymous No.10202430]

>>10194030
i just recommended crime and punishment, but more importantly, i recommend you go to a doctor and find a mental health professional with whom you can discuss these things.

[Anonymous No.10202433]

>>10184149
That painting makes me feel phisically ill

[Anonymous No.10202441]

>>10186129
I cannot decide if Nanavirathera was a product of a long gone era where intellectual people were grounded in a literary tradition and culture or if he was a rare kind of genius. In either case, after him there seems to be little point in cross-cultural philosophy, he seems to set out the path for westerners interested in understanding Buddhism.

[Anonymous No.10202459]

>>10199647

>this poster gets it. East of Eden so comfy.

These are my top three:

>Blood Meridian
>Moby Dick
>Sot Weed Factor

All too good

>also The Tao
>how to win friends and influence people

However more recently

>pic related.

[Anonymous No.10202469]

>>10196584
same

[Anonymous No.10202488]

This is the book that got me into reading philosophy. I read it in high-school during an edgy phase and before I knew it I was reading the greeks to prep myself to prep myself for eventually reading Hegel. When I trace back my learning history, this was the book that finally got me interested in philosophy.

If I had to pick out a book that changed my life purely by it's own merit I'd probably go with Cioran's The Trouble With Being Born, another edgy high-school pick but hey. As odd as it sounds, reading such a bleak book made me realise I should stop being such a lazy piece of shit. It started with the simple thought 'life is horrible no matter what I'm doing, it'll be horrible if I'm lying in bed and it'll be horrible if I'm being productive so I might as well be productive.' Kept me going ever since

[Anonymous No.10202502]

>>10196643
>implying jews aren't the most nationalistic people on Earth
Have you seriously never heard of israel

[Anonymous No.10202608]

>>10196643
>when I see an anon echoesposting
>ever

[Anonymous No.10203144]

>>10202237
>that cover
oh boy

[Anonymous No.10203152]

>>10202608
Gregory B. Sadler, putting philosophy into practice I presume?

[Anonymous No.10203161]

>>10194030
read the part of the Bible where Jesus tells the people in his hometown he's not going to heal them

[Anonymous No.10203172]

this one

[Anonymous No.10203174]

This book motivates me every day.
Fleet kept running.

[Anonymous No.10203201]

Books with feels.

[Anonymous No.10203377]

>>10184149
In cold blood

[Anonymous No.10203400]

>>10184149
Unironically this.

[Anonymous No.10203407]

>>10203400
wtf I love the State now

[Anonymous No.10203417]

>>10185939
I found it to be juvenile and rebellious

[Anonymous No.10203537]

>>10203407
>thinking The Republic is about governance
>not realizing it's about human needs

[Anonymous No.10203540]

>>10185939
Preferred La Peste desu

[Anonymous No.10203549]

>ctrl+f
>Nicomachean ethics
>0 results
shit niggers what are you doing, really nobody?

[Anonymous No.10203556]

>>10191343
how did i diss marx? im a marxist. i wouldn't diss marx

[Anonymous No.10203565]

>>10203556
>Dogmatism: the Post

[Anonymous No.10203573]

>>10203549
It's really not an interesting book anymore.

[Anonymous No.10203592]

>>10203573
>anymore
As long as there are men, it will be interesting
When I read the book as a teen it revealed a thinking so much more righteous and human-like than I had ever known in the modern world of inhuman humanism
It's the only book that ever really changed things for me

[Anonymous No.10203646]

>>10203573
The only way you could actually believe this is if you horribly misunderstood the book or just skimmed the sparknotes.

[Anonymous No.10203664]

>>10185401
>this but unironically
Read it at a right time in my life I guess, had just read The Power of Myth by Campbell so I was primed, though still sceptical, for it.

[Anonymous No.10203885]

>>10191349
yes you start with the bronze age...

[Anonymous No.10204178]

>>10201729
The "Oracle" (Giver) is not only the one who knows happiness but also pain. That's huge. I'm sure you read it in elementary or something but I'd recommend you read it again and you'd probably pick up everything you missed as a child. It's basically babbys version of Brave New World. Everyone is too drugged up to realize they live in a dystopia.

[Anonymous No.10204191]

>>10203549
you can't search for text in pictures

[Anonymous No.10204646]

>>10204191
It wouldn't change anything, nobody had posted Ethics before

[Anonymous No.10204665]

this book expanded my mind

[Anonymous No.10204668]

>>10186610
beautiful book. It has made me reconsider many things.

[Anonymous No.10204714]

>>10204646
But by using ctrl+f you would have received a false negative

[Anonymous No.10204737]

>>10204714
But I first scrolled by every picture before using ctrl+f

[Anonymous No.10205187]

>>10188172
Albert Eco gets me everytime kek

[Anonymous No.10205202]

>>10204668
like wat

[Anonymous No.10205323]

>>10184149
As a german: I fucking hate german book covers.

Why are penguin classics always so comfy? PC should infiltrate all german publishing companies

[Anonymous No.10205349]

>>10199412
Nah. Reading Kant in German is terrible. A sentence, often going on for pages, only makes sense by reading the end. The predicates in the sentences are all over the place but not where they should be in "general" German.

Still enjoyable tough.

[Anonymous No.10205524]

>>10202237
What a who tucking cover lmao.

[Anonymous No.10205557]

>>10184149

[Anonymous No.10205594]

>>10204665
>Friend gave me weed for my birthday
>When his birthday rolled around I gave him a copy of this
>Begrudgingly accepts
>Year later I see it still sitting on his shelf
>He man have you read that yet?
>"Nah I got like two pages in and didn't blow my mind like you said. I just use it to roll spliffs on"
>Holdmeback.jpg

It was that interaction where I gave up on drugs and dumbass friends

[Anonymous No.10205605]

[Anonymous No.10205732]

>>10194356
who the fuck starts doing drugs and having lots of sex at 25

[Anonymous No.10205762]

>>10205732
someone who starts to turn there life around at 25?

[Anonymous No.10205947]

>>10205732
i'm 24 and a virgin so maybe me

[Anonymous No.10206206]

>>10186974
This is a great pick. I can imagine this book turned a lot of people - especially young men - onto the power of literature.

[Anonymous No.10206225]

>>10206206
On this theme for me its a collection of old Thomas Hardy and Dickens paperbacks I found when I was about 14. They were my gateway drugs.

[Anonymous No.10206327]

>>10203537
Thinking it's not about all of the above...

[Anonymous No.10206450]

[Anonymous No.10206459]

>>10186619
only plebians who do not understand the significance of english culture especially at the time of the Civil War would belittle this work

it underlies everything about our present reality

[Anonymous No.10206549]

>>10202488
>everything is shit no matter what I do
>choose the option with the highest energy consumption

[Anonymous No.10206593]

[Anonymous No.10206597]

>>10206549
This. I may as well be comfy if I'm going to have a shit life either way.

[Anonymous No.10207103]

>>10184576
Die

[Anonymous No.10208746]

bump cuz i havent seen this thread yet

[Anonymous No.10208806]

Reading this in sixth form definitely changed my outlook on the world.

[Anonymous No.10208828]

>>10184149
should i have prerequisite knowledge before reading fear and trembling?

[Anonymous No.10208875]

>>10187443
kys

[Anonymous No.10208894]

>>10202398
Just finished reading. The ending made me see that maybe jesus and christianity are the answer to my moral problems.

[Anonymous No.10208901]

>>10208894
I'm sure finding an imaginary friend will help you be a better man :3

[Anonymous No.10209036]

Gospels

>Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

[Anonymous No.10209167]

>>10184149
Can I read fear and trembling standalone and still gain some insight from it?

[Anonymous No.10209223]

>>10184149
<3

[Anonymous No.10209291]

it made me re think the revolution


omnia sunt communia

[Anonymous No.10210116]

>>10205732
i did at 22. holy shit, this year has been getting better and better

[Anonymous No.10210129]

>>10185939
This. I always agreed with absurdism, but I never knew it was an actual thing or had a word to put to it until I was forced to read this for school.

[Anonymous No.10210148]

>>10184648
>>10184775
Fucking M E M E advice. If you understand the words Kant uses, you'll understand him whether you've read "the Greeks" or not. Stop trying to disguise your intellectual baggage as insight.

[Anonymous No.10210526]

>>10186619
How does one go about reading this? Tried and noped.

[Anonymous No.10210851]

plz don't hate

[Anonymous No.10210991]

>>10185088
Kant Hegel Sartre Heidegger and other literary criminals are victims of a form of obscurantism that was widely held to be saintly in their times

Then postmodern tomfoolery came around and people got sick of philosphers saying shit like

But you didnt understand my point

I dont know maybe if you didnt write 1000 page dense tomes with archaic language (which is also translated, add more confusion) to attempt to communicate ideas more people would appreciate your ideas

No they liked the Ivory tower, locking themselves away so only few could even attempt to understand them

Its pathetic, they honestly thought that by writing more words they would make more sense

Dude I have drugs to do and easy slut to waste time with. Im not going to spend fucking months trying to understand a mans viewpoint that is most likely garbage anyway.

Ill read their short works, not the ol dusty tomes that only meant something to the few wealthy fucks who had time to read a behemoth book in their day

[Anonymous No.10210999]

>>10205349
>>10199412
I believe that the best English translations are preferred over the original Germans as Kant is more legible.

[Anonymous No.10211015]

>>10203573

[Anonymous No.10212776]

>>10196524
just like all the class

[Anonymous No.10212948]

>>10203573
How can a book be interesting at one point and then not anymore ?

[Anonymous No.10213047]

>>10185125
Rand's philosophy is autism preached as a virtue

Disclaimer: not autism in the colloquial 4chan sense

[Anonymous No.10213062]

>>10185283
Anarchism is peak individualism dude. It literally cannot get any more individualistic
Capitalism inherently requires subordination of the individual to society. That's how it works. You do a job that serves, say, one societal function, as does everyone else, so that no one has to do everything they need to survive

[Anonymous No.10213072]

>>10212948
Haven't read him, but I'd imagine Aristotle would be pretty boring since modern day scientific thinking is largely based off of his ideas.

[Anonymous No.10213077]

>>10186084
Well, that is coersion. I prefer to frame it as a subscription. If you like such things as roads, people to protect you from criminals and invaders, schools etc then you need to pay a subscription rate. For those with a real hard-on for capitalism, it's an easier to pull swallow.

[Anonymous No.10213120]

It taught me about commitment.

[Anonymous No.10213236]

>>10184149
where do I start with kierky?

[Anonymous No.10213333]

>>10185125
How? I like Ayn Rand past the pulpy elements, but the Virtue of Selfishness is just a decent collections of essays on selfishness and rationality.

[Anonymous No.10213349]

>>10213062
>Anarchism is individualism dude
lol

>Anarchy, as a political concept, is a naive floating abstraction: a society without an organized government would be at the mercy of the first criminal who came along and who would precipitate it into the chaos of gang warfare. But the possibility of human immorality is not the only objection to anarchy: even a society whose every member were fully rational and faultlessly moral, could not function in a state of anarchy; it is the need of objective laws and of an arbiter for honest disagreements among men that necessitates the establishment of a government.
>If a society provided no organized protection against force, it would compel every citizen to go about armed, to turn his home into a fortress, to shoot any strangers approaching his door—or to join a protective gang of citizens who would fight other gangs, formed for the same purpose, and thus bring about the degeneration of that society into the chaos of gang-rule, i.e., rule by brute force, into perpetual tribal warfare of prehistorical savages.
>The use of physical force—even its retaliatory use—cannot be left at the discretion of individual citizens. Peaceful coexistence is impossible if a man has to live under the constant threat of force to be unleashed against him by any of his neighbors at any moment. Whether his neighbors’ intentions are good or bad, whether their judgment is rational or irrational, whether they are motivated by a sense of justice or by ignorance or by prejudice or by malice—the use of force against one man cannot be left to the arbitrary decision of another.

Stirner, and Stirnerfags, like Anarchy in so far as to have the freedom to do anything. Peak individuality is understanding that spooks exist to protect you, not to stop you from doing anything. Ayn Rand understood that a limited government was better than no government at all or else it would become mob rule or a state of nature. You want freedom without the responsibility.

[Anonymous No.10213361]

>>10213349
This. Also think of the opportunity costs associated with having to contract out every single service tied to government. You wouldn't get many scientists and philosophers in a world like that.

[Anonymous No.10213511]

>>10186578
real seals cant use a keyboard, retard

[Anonymous No.10213542]

>>10196186
eh...which publisher with a catalogue of more than three books isnt hit or miss?

[Anonymous No.10213550]

>>10199412
>>10205349
pre-twentieth century lit in general is easier to read in translation, if the translation is contemporary.

[Anonymous No.10213561]

>>10212948
If it deals with an obsolete issue/theme...at one point Paradise Lost was the greatest work in English Literature. Nobody cares about Christianity anymore (at least not in an intellectual and theological sense) so the book has no natural readers.

[Anonymous No.10213606]

>>10213511
oh yeah i guess they can't figure it out

[Anonymous No.10213626]

>>10213561
Paradise lost is just a fanfic retelling of the The Book of Genesis. Why read it anymore?

[Anonymous No.10213911]

>>10190244
>We Were Eight Years In Power
>...
>WE WUZ

[Anonymous No.10213917]

>>10201716
Wait, is that her? Looks like DeVito to me.

[Anonymous No.10214050]

>>10187479

This book changed my whole life as well.

When I was young, my parents used to read me lots of stories before going to bed. But it was never enough, and I would always ask for more. So they used to launch the audio version of Le Petit Prince so that I could fall asleep.

But when I was around 5 they couldn't read me stories anymore because of work. So, I learnt to read by trying to understand the book with the help of the tape, so that I could read stories on my own.

Even though I almost know it by heart now, I never get tired of it. Such a great story!

>inb4 not your personal blog

[Anonymous No.10214098]

>>10206327
>He (((thinks)))
Try the redpill and white nationalism nu-male cuck

[Anonymous No.10214104]

>>10184608
How do normies get away with being so fucking awkward.

[Anonymous No.10214134]

>>10188172
bait

[Anonymous No.10214154]

Genuinely this. This won't give you poetic insight; it won't hold your hand; and it won't let you leave without shattering everything you thought you knew about ancient society and ancient philosophy. Good luck.

Supplement with Rene Guenon's Reign of Quantity and the Signs of Times and Julius Evola's Revolt Against The Modern World to propel yourself into a massive personal crisis.

[Anonymous No.10214465]

I read it when i was 13 and it made me look at older guys differently.
Grew into flirting with work colleagues of parents and basically any older man around me and I wanted some kind of dysfunctional relationship with a scholarly intellectual late 40s man.
Had a thing for Alan Rickman. Got a crush on my middle-aged, balding (but super super kind) science teacher who I'd stay behind after class to talk to about music and literature and the solar system. He let me sit at his desk with him.
Good times.
That copy I owned as a 13 year old is my note-taking copy so each time I re-read it I write my thoughts in the margins.

I know to /lits/ standards its fucking generic but god it meant the world to me, as fucked up as it was that I took it the way I did. I still love it. I'm due for a reread.

[Anonymous No.10214479]

>>10194030
Kaczynski himself argues in favour of fertility

[Anonymous No.10214697]

>>10210999
Whatever helps you sleep at night.

[Anonymous No.10214752]

>>10208806

How could anyone buy a book eith cover that ugly.

[Anonymous No.10214769]

>>10186439
Literally me

This book changed my outlook hard.

[Anonymous No.10215232]

>>10213626
everything is a re-telling of some earlier story...a re-telling of perhaps the most canonical story by, at worst, the second best writer in English doesn't worthy of a look?

[Anonymous No.10215363]

>>10185167
>>2017 -- Not making your own translation off the original manuscripts . . .

[Anonymous No.10215385]

>>10202117
FUCKING A+

Taoism is the best

[Anonymous No.10215394]

>>10202237
i''ll be bach

[Anonymous No.10215498]

>>10186610
how is the penguin translation of this? it's in the bargain bin at my local bookstore at the moment

[Anonymous No.10215518]

[Anonymous No.10215721]

>>10184149
Abraham did everything wrong.

[Anonymous No.10215763]

>>10194030
nigga you depressed get help

[Anonymous No.10216144]

>>10215232
Not everything is a literal retelling nor needs to be. That's just an excuse lazy writers tell themselves.

[Anonymous No.10216178]

>>10186974
i read a little bit of this a few years ago at the last bookstore in LA. It was depressing as all hell but I could not put it down. His visits to his parents house made me cringe. They hit too close to home.

[Anonymous No.10216526]

>>10194030
>Life progressively dies as you get older to the point of alcohol consumption just to feel pleasure

damn nigga learn how to ski or something, the adrenalin rush you get from going too fast down the mountain and making it to the bottom alive renders all manner of lazy hedonistic pleasure (drugs, sex etc) moot

[Anonymous No.10216698]

>>10216526
drugs and skiing or mping out of a plane or something stupid are almost he same thing in this sense...drugs are somewhat safer

[Anonymous No.10216702]

>>10216144
You don't think that Milton wrote Paradise Lost because he couldn't be bothered thinking up a new plot do you?:o

[Anonymous No.10216762]

>>10216702
>I can write the bible better than God

[Anonymous No.10217138]

>>10210148
/thread