What Are Your Favorite Books and Why?

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SUMMARY

This forum discussion centers on participants sharing their favorite books and the reasons behind their choices. Notable mentions include "Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk, "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, and "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter. Many users express their admiration for authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ernest Hemingway, and Orson Scott Card, highlighting the emotional impact and unique storytelling found in their works. The conversation also touches on the significance of literature in understanding complex themes and human emotions.

PREREQUISITES
  • Familiarity with literary genres such as fiction, non-fiction, and fantasy.
  • Understanding of key literary themes and character development.
  • Knowledge of influential authors and their notable works.
  • Awareness of the emotional and philosophical implications of literature.
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore the works of Chuck Palahniuk, particularly "Fight Club" and "Survivor".
  • Read "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter to understand its complex themes.
  • Investigate the literary contributions of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, focusing on "100 Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera".
  • Study the narrative techniques used by Orson Scott Card in "Ender's Game" and "The Worthing Chronicles".
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for avid readers, literature enthusiasts, and anyone seeking recommendations for impactful books across various genres.

Nicool003
[SOLVED] Your Favorite Books!

Hey everyone I'm sure you remember this topic! Post your favorite books, why you like them, or anything like that on here.


I believe before the new PF 3 came up we were talking about the Enders Series... anyone want to comment?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
By the way Zero or Greg can you put this as a sticky again?
 
My fav book is "Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk, the author of fight club. I just started reading all of Palahniuk books over x-mas break, and fell in love with them. They are so crazy and twisted and totally unique! I highly recommend any of his books to everyone!
 
my fave book is The Outsiders! I love that book because it was very touching. It taught me a lot about people and how everyone is so special. It made me cry too. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry...:frown:. Anyhow, it's about a gang. In general, we'd expect a gang who's got members who are involved in murders, robbery to be downright bad. No good left in'em! But we forget they have feelings too. The book focuses on two boys who are best friends. One of them, Johnny, kills someone, in order to save his friend, Ponyboy from death(the other dude that got killed was attempting to kill Ponyboy). But anyway, such a good book. There's a movie too(but I should warn you that the movie seriously sucks. it doesn't show the emotion involved.)
 
The Bible is my favorite book.
Here are some of my other favorites:

Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas Hofstadter
Consciousness Explained - Daniel Dennett
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
Visions - Michio Kaku
Five Golden Rules - ?
many more...

All of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Anything by Raymond Smullyan
Anything by Edgar Allen Poe
The Homecoming Sage - Orson Scott Card
The "Pegasus" Trilogy - Anne McCaffrey
The "Ender" books - Orson Scott Card
The Worthing Chronicles - Orson Scott Card
Wyrms - Orson Scott Card
many more...
 
Greetings !

I just read Nature's Numbers by Ian Stewart.
It's a GREAT popular level book that provides
you with a partial view of modern mathematics.
It's aspecially interesting for people (like me)
who heard about modern physical theories
but not about modern mathematical theories
that really are, in fact, an important aspect
of future physics research and future science in
general in every aspect.

Live long and prosper.
 
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The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum, and anything else by Umberto Eco (I'm convinced Eco is one of the greatest minds in the last 100 years)
Anything by Samuel Beckett
100 Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Myth of Sisyphus -- Albert Camus
Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson
Godel, Escher, Bach -- Douglas Hofstadter
Consciousness Explained -- Daniel Dennett
System of Nature -- Baron d'Holbach
The Selfish Gene -- Richard Dawkins
Candide -- Voltaire
The Society of Mind -- Marvin Minksy
The True Believer -- Eric Hoffer
Gargantua and Pantagruel -- Francois Rabelais
All of the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout.
There's too many...I need a nap...
 
100 Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
^^^Yes! This is great, so is Love in the Time of Cholera. I love the way he starts his books...

Hemingway is also amazingly good, now. My high school English teacher told our class we shouldn't read "Old Man in the Sea" until we were 30 because we wouldn't understand it... that applies to most of his stuff to a lesser degree I think.
 
Swan Song - by Robert R. McCammon
Subterranean - by James Rollins
Cabinet of Curiosities - by Douglas J. Preston, Lincoln Child
 
  • #10
Originally posted by MajinVegeta
my fave book is The Outsiders! I love that book because it was very touching. It taught me a lot about people and how everyone is so special. It made me cry too. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry...:frown:. Anyhow, it's about a gang. In general, we'd expect a gang who's got members who are involved in murders, robbery to be downright bad. No good left in'em! But we forget they have feelings too. The book focuses on two boys who are best friends. One of them, Johnny, kills someone, in order to save his friend, Ponyboy from death(the other dude that got killed was attempting to kill Ponyboy). But anyway, such a good book. There's a movie too(but I should warn you that the movie seriously sucks. it doesn't show the emotion involved.)

Question for you Mentat and zk4586:

Is Godel, Escher and Bach a tough read? It's on my bookshelf but I've sort of been putting it off because it looks like a behemoth.
 
  • #11
Physics-

The Feynman Lectures, Volumes 1-3 by Richard Feynman
Theoretical Physics by Joos

Evolution-
The Structure and Function of Evolutionary Theory by Gould

Literature-
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
A Farewell To Arms and The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Stranger by Camus
Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

Philosophy -

Philosophical Papers, Volumes 1-3 and Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature by Richard Rorty
Rorty and His Critics
Dennett and His Critics
Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty by Lugwig Wittgenstein
The History of Sexuality, Volume 1 and Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault
Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective and Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation by Donald Davidson
The Library of Living Philosophers: The Philosophy of Donald Davidson
Limited Inc. by Derrida
The Savage Mind by Levi-Strauss
The Gulf War Did Not Take Place by Baudrillard
A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
The Minimalist Program and Langauge and the Problems of Knowledge by Noam Chomsky
 
  • #12
After reading so much [positive] feedback on Douglas Adams' "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" i eventually got around to buying it. I've started reading it, and I'm liking it so far. Yay for me :wink:
 
  • #13
Dune - Frank Herbert
Journey To The Center Of The Earth - Jules Verne
Star Trek - all of them
Winnetou - Karl May
Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
The Way I See The World - Albert Einstein
(I don't know the original title...just an approximation->I read a translation because I'm romanian)
 
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  • #14
Question for you Mentat and zk4586:

Is Godel, Escher and Bach a tough read? It's on my bookshelf but I've sort of been putting it off because it looks like a behemoth.

I personally found it very enjoyable and an easy read. It's not something you should try to hurry through, but I found his style to be very readable.

100 Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
^^^Yes! This is great, so is Love in the Time of Cholera. I love the way he starts his books...

Hemingway is also amazingly good, now. My high school English teacher told our class we shouldn't read "Old Man in the Sea" until we were 30 because we wouldn't understand it... that applies to most of his stuff to a lesser degree I think.

I do enjoy Hemingway. You should read the Garden of Eden. I'm not saying it's one of his best, but it's very sultry and risque; I had to keep reminding myself that it was actually Hemingway who had wrote it.
 
  • #15
A Wrinkle In Time
Heir of the Empire
Dark Force Rising
The Last COmmand
A WInd in the Door
A swiftly Tiltiing Planet
Contact

AND MANY MORE!
 
  • #16
BTW can you guys PLEASE make this a sticky like in the old PF?
 
  • #17
in nonfiction, my favorite books are historical and biographical books. in fiction, my favorite would have to be "beloved" by toni morrison.
 
  • #18
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Through the Looking Glass
To Kill a Mockingbird
The American Ephemeris (different version for different years)
The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe
James and the Giant Peach
Starseed
 
  • #19
Originally posted by Kerrie
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Through the Looking Glass
To Kill a Mockingbird
The American Ephemeris (different version for different years)
The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe
James and the Giant Peach
Starseed

I second "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the looking glass".
 
  • #20
mentat, both books from lewis carroll (aka charles dodson) were meant to teach children about logic...
 
  • #21
Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Twain's Huck Finn
Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
Some other stuff by Hemingway/Twain/Fitzgerald and a few others.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's stuff is really good, his writing is so grand and poetic, it really is amazing. "Gatsby" is a really good read, I'd highly recommend it.
 
  • #22
I have heard that to kill a mockingbird is a good book (inside PF and outside) but what is it about? I don't think I would like it. I like science fiction and fantasy mostly and i don't think that it is either of them...hehe
 
  • #23
Originally posted by Kerrie
mentat, both books from lewis carroll (aka charles dodson) were meant to teach children about logic...

Yes, I know, and I read them over and over again when I was younger.
 
  • #24
Anything by Orson Scott Card is good. And fantasy is the best genre.:smile:
 

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