Books have the ability to make us something higher, to open our mind to the thoughts of others in a way merely interacting cannot. These are books I have read and got something meaningful from, most of them have changed the way I think.
Amazon Site | How the Great Religions Began : Joseph Gaer |
Like it or not statistics say that 96% of humanity consider themselves religious. A huge percentage of them subscribe to a handful of faiths, buddhism, confucianism, taoism, judaism, islam and christianity. If you would like to understand the mind of humanity, what drives it in so much of its day, I'm not sure you can do so without at least a basic understanding of the religions which they follow. If you would understand the world, you should read a book like this, in fact this one is pretty good even if Amazon doesn't have a picture for it, so perhaps read this one. |
Great Philosophes of the East : E.W.F. Tomlinson | |
This is one of the most influential books I have ever read, and Amazon doesn't know anything about it. I can't even find a decent link to it on the web, so no chance of anyone buying a copy, and I am unlikely to lend it either. It would be wrong to think that this is merely a book about Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, it ranges far deeper than that. It was meant to be a companion to his other book called Great Philosophers of the West, and he seems to have tried to cover everything else of major note in this book. It starts out talking about some of the oldest (then) known philosophy that of ancient Egypt, looking at songs and poems with interesting insights familiar to modern man. It moves on to Babylonia, Israel and then settles down to specific religions, in order Zoroastarianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Hindu Systems, the Chinese Sages and Mohammed. He doesn't just talk about them, he thinks about them, he inspires you to think about them. It's interesting that many of the best books I have read are dedicated to peoples children, this one his son. I can imagine any intelligent western father would be pleased to share with his son the knowledge that people in other places and times, were thinking deeply and beautifully. We often forget that other parts of the world had advanced civilizations, whilst our forefathers were still hunter gatherers, this book is an antidote to our western centred ways of thought. It is such a pity this book isn't widely published, I've read other similar books but they just weren't anywhere near as good. If you are interested you will just have to come over to my place and read it. |
Free Online | The Koran/Quran : Various Authors |
I read the Koran in 1997. It was a real trial to get through it. Mohammed was basically a small time warlord, and the only reason he ever gave for people following his version of the faith was that God said so. If you don't believe in God and you are looking for any other sort of wisdom in this book, I am afraid you will be dissappointed. High points include the part where he says to beat your wife if she is disobedient, or the bit where he says that God has revealed to him he can sleep with pretty much any women he desires, but no one else can. The whole tone he takes as well is disturbing, people who don't believe aren't worth talking to, they are "deaf dumb and blind", and you certainly shouldn't be friends with "people of the book" as he refers to Christians and Jews. I found it really hard to finish the Koran, if people are interested in learning about the Muslim culture which contributed so much to world culture for a thousand years, I would skip the Koran and find a good book on Islam instead. Maybe I just didn't get it but when I had finished my main thought was exactly the same as when I tried to read the Old Testament, "there is no wisdom in this book". |
Free Online | The Bible : Various Authors |
I first tried to read the bible beginning with the Old Testament. It was about as much fun as reading the Koran was, and when I got to a part where they were justifying why you should stone someone to death, I decided "there is no wisdom in this book" and stopped reading. Anyway a Christian friend at my work pointed out that the New Testament was nowhere near as long, and lent me a copy so I gave it a read. I must say it is a much more enjoyable and engaging read than the Koran or the Old Testament, and there is a lot more in it to like. There are also some really disturbing parts, anyway I have written a whole article on it, complete with quotes so you can read more about my thoughts here. |
If there is a book you think I should read, send me the reasons why and I will see if I can get around to it. If you are really keen send it to me.
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