What 'Must have' books should I have?

[cevulirn]

I picked up an e-book reader the other day, and damned if it isn't growing on me. There's lots of free e-books out there, both public domain and things like the Baen free library. So, I've decided that there's certain things that it would be good to keep on the reader... "The prince", "the art of war", "Grimm's fairy tails", "Beowulf", etc. What else should I get?

[Lysander]

Dangerous question, as you could find yourself buried in books for a long, long time.

I'll give you my top 25:

1) The 7 Military Classics of Ancient China
2) On War
3) The Anti-Federalist & Federalist Papers (you can usually find them printed together)
4) Atlas Shrugged
5) Unofficial History by William Slim
6) Defeat into Victory by William Slim
7) On Roman Military Matters- F. V. Renatus
8) Infantry Attacks- Rommel
9) The Backyard Blacksmith
10) The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Vols 1-3)
11) Capitalism & Freedom
12) Don Quixote
13) Miles: The Autobiography
14) War as I knew It -Patton
15) The Anabasis- Xenophon
16) The Iliad
17) The Odyssey
18) On Liberty
19) Common Sense
20) 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive
21) Freakonomics
22) Time Travel in Einstein's Universe
23) The Fairtax Book
24) Camping and Woodcraft: A Handbook for Vacation Campers and for Travelers in the Wilderness
25) Basic Machines & How they Work

No doubt you'll now see why my motto has become "Specialization is for Insects"

[American Rage]

Great list Lysander.

I'd add Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations"

and F.A. Hayek's "The Road To Serfdom."

If you want to learn about the basics of the enemies beliefs. Check out anything by Marx or Lenin. Then go straight to the writings of America's 1960s revolutionaries: Weathermen, Black Panthers, SDS, etc., etc.

Oh, and anything by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.


Rage

[Lysander]

Great list Lysander.

I'd add Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations"

and F.A. Hayek's "The Road To Serfdom."

If you want to learn about the basics of the enemies beliefs. Check out anything by Marx or Lenin. Then go straight to the writings of America's 1960s revolutionaries: Weathermen, Black Panthers, SDS, etc., etc.

Oh, and anything by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.


Rage

I like your list as well. My list is what I'd call the foundation of a well rounded education. These books are all entry level into others on the same subject. For instance, I feel that Friedman's book is a nice segue for Bastiat, Hayek, and Stigler. Time Travel is a good step into physics and string theory. Each one leads to others in similar subject fields without overwhelming you.

Books like The Iliad, Odyssey, and "Decline" provide you with excellent examples of language and its use.

I definitely agree that one should begin studying their opponents once they are well grounded in their own beliefs. I learned more in debates in College arguing against my own beliefs than I ever would have defending them. Once you learn how and where your enemy will attack, you can better defend yourself.

[Mac_Muz]

Nice lists.. but think paper books too, maybe on local plants you could eat. Guessing, and eatting a wrong plant might get nasty. I like paper books because they will be there if the power is out.

Many in the lists would be good readers in paper too. Maybe with them in paper you will still be able to recall what life was about, if not all the books are survival based.

Tips on fishing knots can be fun and educational too, since not everthing works great with a bungie cord.

Lord knows i ruined a lot of paper books dwelling in a tee pee for 3 years. Just protecting any books living that way is a whole topic.

I still have some of those same books re-newed, like Reverance of Wood, which tells about trees and the better common uses of woods. Others on old tools, and why they were best for specific jobs.

More on 'How To' similar to the Fire Fox collection, which cover a wide variety of old ways and how to's, sometimes written in a story form.

I think it was in one of that series where I leanered how to make a racoon fat oil lamp with moss and a sea shell.

[Partisan1983]

I agree with all that's been listed above....I haven't read 'em all but the ones I have I thought were great.


I'd also suggest the following...



1984
Unintended Consequences
Lord Of The Flies
Catcher In The Rye
Enemies Foreign And Domestic Trilogy
The Federalist Papers
White Fang
Great Gatsby
The Grapes Of Wrath



Sorry....I know some are cliche, but I think they should all be read and understood before one graduates high school....IMHO

[old Grump]

Well, I'm not to much on this book reading stuff but for a technical turn you might try 'The Recursive Universe' by William Poundstone.

[nfa1934]

Pallas by L. Neil Smith.

Off Armageddon Reef and the rest of the series that follows by David Webber.

[Mark Ducati]

At the risk of sounding like I'm bible thumping.... how about a copy of the New Testament? Particularly the last book of Revelations of nothing else...

If you're not saved and raptured up, the book of Revelations will be kind of like a play book so you can read what events are going to unfold next.

[GovGotToGo]

Atlas Shrugged
Unintended Consequences
Island in the Sea of Time trilogy
Any and all books by Isaac Asimov, and Hunter Thompson

[DesertDawg]

Hustler

penthouse

barely legal

bottom popper

celebrity skin (for your hollywood news)

Skinz

Tattoo (ink and peircings)

High times

[whiskeyman]

Any and all books by Isaac Asimov, and Hunter Thompson :thumbsup:

[Catherine Cornelius]

I picked up an e-book reader the other day, and damned if it isn't growing on me.

What kind did you get? I bought a Nook on Saturday, and there are so many books I'd like to load up.

If you run across decent free copies of the Illiad and the Odyssey, let me know. I read them back in high school, and again about 7 years ago. I wouldn't mind giving them another read someday.

[davepool]

Atlas Shrugged
Unintended Consequences
Island in the Sea of Time trilogy
Any and all books by Isaac Asimov, and Hunter Thompson

Good choices and i'll add Robert Heinlein to the list of authors

[NewbieAKguy]

Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny

To Kill a Mockingbird

On Killing by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

just to name a few

[ltorlo64]

Any book with "Dilbert" in the title.

[cevulirn]

What kind did you get? I bought a Nook on Saturday, and there are so many books I'd like to load up.

If you run across decent free copies of the Illiad and the Odyssey, let me know. I read them back in high school, and again about 7 years ago. I wouldn't mind giving them another read someday.

Yep, I went with the nook also. not cluttered with buttons, and has a micro SDHC expansion slot, so ya can add 16gb of storage.

As far as free classics, www.gutenberg.org/ is your friend.
the Iliad:http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6130
the Odysseyhttp://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727

[JTHunter]

If it really comes down to SHTF, paper books are better for a variety of reasons. Also, how many of you remember the fiasco with Amazon deleting copies of 1984 that people had purchased? Paper books also let you make notes in the margins for future reference or fold them over to find easily, etc.
As for what to get: if things really get that bad, wouldn't it be best to have a variety of "how-to" books to take care of the essentials first? Chances are there won't be much "free time" to read the classics or other books for enjoyment and we will need to read as much as we can just to survive.
Unless you are volunteering to sacrifice yourself and make room for someone else. Are you?

[cevulirn]

If it really comes down to SHTF, paper books are better for a variety of reasons. Also, how many of you remember the fiasco with Amazon deleting copies of 1984 that people had purchased? Paper books also let you make notes in the margins for future reference or fold them over to find easily, etc.
As for what to get: if things really get that bad, wouldn't it be best to have a variety of "how-to" books to take care of the essentials first? Chances are there won't be much "free time" to read the classics or other books for enjoyment and we will need to read as much as we can just to survive.
Unless you are volunteering to sacrifice yourself and make room for someone else. Are you?

Dude, I didn't get the e-book reader for SHTF, and I already HAVE a shit ton of paper books. This is the general discussion forum, not the survival forum. Reading is one of my hobbies, I can burn through 500 pages in a day, I don't read as much as I like because buying that many books gets EXPENSIVE... Now with my e-book reader, I can access a lot of books for free.

Also, all MY e-books, (at least so far,) have NO DRM and are backed up on my computer. I did not get a kindle, they can't fuck around with me like that.

[Phil O'Mel]

In case of SHTF, I'd want Atlas Shrugged in paper form. I'd need a lot of toilet paper until it's safe to venture outside.

[Lysander]

In case of SHTF, I'd want Atlas Shrugged in paper form. I'd need a lot of toilet paper until it's safe to venture outside.

Tereus isn't done with you yet, is he?

[Phil O'Mel]

Tereus isn't done with you yet, is he?

Howard Roark laughed.

[Bluntforce]

Commando by Deneys Reitz
London to Ladysmith via Pretoria Winston Churchill
Guns of August Barbara Tuchman
Anything and everything by Bruce Catton
So far from God David Eisenhower
Crusade in Europe Dwight Eisenhower
The Volga Rises in Europe
And Quiet flows the Don
The Bees Aristophanes
The Birds Aristophanes
The Clouds Aristophanes
The Storm of Steel