Comments on: The Essential Man's Library

The Essential Man's Library

kd — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:29:13 -0800

100 Must-Read Books (for dudes) Men just have different ... needs ... than women, so apparently they need to read different books as well. However (as a chick myself) I tend to check this sort of thing out in a futile but ongoing attempt to figure out men. Hmmph. Men. Go figure ....

By: youarenothere

youarenothere — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:34:03 -0800

I think I'll read these over a niiiice big glass of discounted orange juice.

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:35:50 -0800

Men use height and width to rescale their images, while women use Photoshop. Amirite?

By: Guy_Inamonkeysuit

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:35:51 -0800

A good list, I guess (I've read a lot of the titles), but I question the need include all those really big scans of the book covers.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:37:21 -0800

Is it insulting to remark that blogs like this one are just a cat turd's toss away from those phony blogs SEO people generate to hype ranking numbers?

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:39:13 -0800

You see, with the 100 Must-Read books for dudes, the first two chapters are full of instructions on how to hock snot, scratch yer boys, belch, and grow body hair in nostrils and ear canals. Then you get to the really good stuff.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:39:15 -0800

There's some really overrated books there.

By: kittens for breakfast

kittens for breakfast — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:39:55 -0800

Men like books with pictures... ...REALLY FUCKING BIG PICTURES

By: Kiablokirk

Kiablokirk — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:40:04 -0800

Apparently, men need 50% of their literature to be self improvement books. I guess we were worse off than we realized?

By: sleepy pete

sleepy pete — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:40:21 -0800

They forgot Deliverance.

By: msalt

msalt — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:43:08 -0800

I tend to check this sort of thing out in a futile but ongoing attempt to figure out men. Hey, if you have questions, just ask away. We'll set you straight.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:43:35 -0800

However (as a chick myself) I tend to check this sort of thing out in a futile but ongoing attempt to figure out men It's probably just best to ask us.

By: nasreddin

nasreddin — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:44:00 -0800

It's pretty obvious that the guy just swiveled his head to the right and copied down the titles of all the books on his bookshelf, whether or not he'd read them. I mean, the Politics? Atlas Shrugged? Are you kidding?

By: Dormant Gorilla

Dormant Gorilla — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:44:06 -0800

So this is...basically a list of classics that everyone's read, plus the Boy Scout Handbook? How is this man-specific? Are us unfortunate chicks supposed to be too busy thinking about shoes to cope with all the big scary words? Machiavelli and Jack London are "man books"? I like wolves and manipulation just as much as my betesticled brethren, thanks.

By: MrVisible

MrVisible — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:45:18 -0800

WARNING: I've read all of these, and I'm still gay. The list, it does nothing!

By: ferdydurke

ferdydurke — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:46:06 -0800

These "100 essential" lists should have a sworn statement at the beginning that "the author has, in fact, read all books listed below in their entirety."

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:46:15 -0800

I thought it was a shit list. I've read a handful of them, but the only one of those I've read I'd call a 'must read' was The Master and Margarita. But the very idea of 'must read' lists are bollocks anyway. Read what you enjoy. Apart from The Master and Margarita. *Everybody* must read that. But only because its inconceivable to me that there could be anyone who wouldn't enjoy it.

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:46:18 -0800

Yes, they have different needs. Paramount among these needs is the desire to have the world acknowledge the immensity of their genitals. From that desire stems the inclusion of a number of the books in this list, including Wealth of Nations, Atlas Shrugged, and a Teddy Roosevelt biography. I''m also convinced that that the author of the list never read the books on it, as it is difficult to square the inclusion of something like Brothers Karamazov with some of the above proto-fascist texts. Men need a little less "manliness" and a little more brains and compassion. Read a biography of Ben Franklin. Not only was he a polymath and a true Renaissance man, but if it's traditional manliness you're after, Franklin "scored more chicks" in his seventies than Roosevelt did in his entire life.

By: saladin

saladin — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:47:32 -0800

Did they seriously call Longstreet a Colonel? Seriously?

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:48:13 -0800

Dormant Gorilla: " I like wolves and manipulation just as much as my betesticled brethren, thanks." Hee! Quote of the day for me.

By: Avenger

Avenger — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:49:24 -0800

Why does the fact that I have a penis mean that I need to read Atlas Shrugged and Swiss Family Robinson?

By: nasreddin

nasreddin — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:51:31 -0800

Men need a little less "manliness" and a little more brains and compassion. Read a biography of Ben Franklin. Not only was he a polymath and a true Renaissance man, but if it's traditional manliness you're after, Franklin "scored more chicks" in his seventies than Roosevelt did in his entire life. Well, his autobiography is there, but if I recall correctly the chicks were elided.

By: notsnot

notsnot — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:55:29 -0800

I could do without Atlas Shrugged in there. Great story my ass - hackneyed to fit her "philosophy". I suppose I'm glad I read it in the way you're glad a root canal is over, but *jebus*. What a waste of an otherwise blissfully lazy summer, reading and re-reading and re-reading and re-reading each passage, trying not to fall asleep just cuz it was something that one was "supposed" to read.

By: Green Eyed Monster

Green Eyed Monster — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:57:27 -0800

I think it's pretty much the recommended college-bound reading list from my senior year of High School - minus the Jane Austen.

By: JustKeepSwimming

JustKeepSwimming — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:02:18 -0800

Explain to me how this isn't just a high school reading list without the female or multicultural authors?

By: Dormant Gorilla

Dormant Gorilla — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:05:51 -0800

Yeah, and the presence of Atlas Shrugged gets even creepier when you consider that it's basically just one long rape fantasy, sandwiched amidst some rambling and a bunch of stuff about trains. Still better than Kerouac, though.

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:07:10 -0800

I tend to check this sort of thing out in a futile but ongoing attempt to figure out men. Hmmph. Men. Go figure .... Men are actually pretty simple to figure out. They're all obscenely wealthy and come across as jackasses at first while being down-to-earth and kindhearted deep down inside unless they come across as obscenely wealthy and kindhearted at first, in which case they're actually broke, womanizing curs. Look, Jane Austen told me all about it. It's easy.

By: blucevalo

blucevalo — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:08:14 -0800

I don't know. I liked the book cover photos quite a bit myself.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:09:38 -0800

There are some good suggestions on the list, but there are also a lot of classics that probably wouldn't be too interesting to most 21st century men. Do we really need two books by Teddy Roosevelt and two books about him? And two books by Jon Krakauer? A book by a Winston Churchill that's not the Winston Churchill? I'd add The Things They Carried, The Right Stuff, and High Fidelity. Drop The Pearl and Cannery Row since The Grapes of Wrath is on the list. Replace For Whom the Bell Tolls with The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:10:11 -0800

Explain to me how this isn't just a high school reading list without the female or multicultural authors? If you count her as human, Ayn Rand was female.

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:10:31 -0800

Well I do have a copy of Atlas Shrugged sitting on my toilet, for those manly ... excuse me *MANLY* ... long sits. I reckon that's where it belongs. You know, just in case you run out. I even read the pages that are still there occasionally. Oh, and I've read most of the other ones but nothing says 'backup' like Ayn Rand. And nothing is more manly than being prepared.

By: ornate insect

ornate insect — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:12:07 -0800

You favorite man-book sucks.

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:15:07 -0800

Read a biography of Ben Franklin. Franklin's autobiography is on the list. And, if he had to include Rand, I'd say The Fountainhead over Atlas Shrugged.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:18:59 -0800

I don't know why anyone has a problem with Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It's about "Exploring the "virtue" of living for ourselves" ROFLLOLZ!!!1!

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:19:02 -0800

Real men don't read.

By: naju

naju — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:19:06 -0800

I suspect the guy who put together this list subscribes to that Iron John idea that dudes need to go out into the wild and rediscover themselves by howling at the moon naked and eating raw meat or whatever. Walden, Into the Wild, Call of the Wild, etc. Along with the inane comments (Dharma Bums is about "appreciating nature" and not, you know, Buddhist enlightenment.)

By: Relay

Relay — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:24:00 -0800

No Hunter S. Thompson?

By: JustKeepSwimming

JustKeepSwimming — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:30:16 -0800

If you count her as human, Ayn Rand was female. Does anyone really count Ayn Rand as a human?

By: ornate insect

ornate insect — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:35:59 -0800

A parody list with the SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas, and some Proust, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Plath, Anais Nin, Helene Cixous, Simone de Beauvoir, Edith Wharton, would have been much better. As it is, it's too GQ-crocodile dundee-Hemingway-Ian Fleming-man-sweat by half.

By: Stylus Happenstance

Stylus Happenstance — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:37:06 -0800

Real men don't read. We read, as long as the book isn't written by a black dude or a woman, unless it's telling us to be selfish.

By: sciurus

sciurus — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:39:57 -0800

Is Starship Troopers on there?

By: Stylus Happenstance

Stylus Happenstance — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:40:31 -0800

In fairness, I should note that my favorite book is on the list, and the people I know who love it are all men, and the ones who hate it are all women.

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:45:05 -0800

I don't know. I liked the book cover photos quite a bit myself. So did I, but I think they're swiped from Flickr, all of them. I don't have time to look into this (CC licenses and who stole from who and so on and so forth), but here's Machiavelli, here's Vonnegut and here's Homer, at least.

By: The Power Nap

The Power Nap — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:45:14 -0800

The only thing you NEED to read as a man, is the manual to Yahtzee. If you don't have a peepee, you won't understand.

By: binturong

binturong — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:49:43 -0800

I read Little Women. Am I still a man?

By: bradth27

bradth27 — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:50:53 -0800

I've read all of these books, and after looking over the list... I have one thing to say. El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha. That is all.

By: Science!

Science! — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:00:10 -0800

I read most of these during my four years at a Jesuit high school. Lousy Jesuits, making me read books and think about stuff. Now as an adult I'm free to sit around drinking beer and playing video games.

By: grobstein

grobstein — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:10:03 -0800

Previously, on Metastar Filactiter.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:10:51 -0800

The description of "Into Thin Air" is really dumb, and really wrong: This book details the author's fateful ascent up Mt. Everest in which eight other climbers were killed in a storm. Perhaps the most inspiring story is that of one climber who was left for dead, but awakened 12 hours after being abandoned and hiked back to camp in sub-zero weather. This man is an example to all men that when the will of survival is strong enough, a man can overcome any obstacle. "Into Thin Air" is neither inspiring, nor an example of "the will of survival". The book is a horror story and an examination of human hubris, folly and greed. So I'm wondering what kind of man would read every book on that list.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:19:50 -0800

Gee, ladies, I sure do love The Great Gatsby! I hope this post has enlightened you all.

By: msalt

msalt — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:25:44 -0800

Paramount among these needs is the desire to have the world acknowledge the immensity of their genitals. From that desire stems the inclusion of a number of the books in this list, including Atlas Shrugged How immense were Ayn Rand's genitals? This is starting to get interesting after all.

By: fook

fook — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:27:15 -0800

Dumb litany fodder.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:30:37 -0800

I sense...that this list will contain...an overabundance...of Hemingway. *swishy sound* Wow, only one. Paint me genuinely surprised. And added points for Foucault's Pendulum. These are subtracted immediately, of course, for the inclusion of White Noise and the racist witterings of Stephen Ambrose. Cool list, though. Thanks, subby!

By: kingbenny

kingbenny — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:33:32 -0800

Like kirkaracha said. I question an all-time literature list that is 4% Teddy Roosevelt.

By: MaryDellamorte

MaryDellamorte — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:00:03 -0800

What about the book about sweater puppies, I think it's called something like Where the Red Fern Grows.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:03:17 -0800

Science!: "I read most of these during my four years at a Jesuit high school. Lousy Jesuits." Really you read nearly 25 books a year? Figure a 9 month school term that's almost 3 books a month or almost 1 a week. And these are not light books one breezes through. In my high school we usually read one to three books per term, or maybe 2 to 6 per year, plus I might get a couple in over the summer. That gave us lots of class time for discussion and paper writing and stuff. Maybe the problem is the Jesuits gave you ADD with such a quick reading schedule. Recommend re-visiting as an adult when you have more time and experience to reflect! Swiss Family Robinson? It has a crazy translation history with add ons and changes by translators. The Penguin Classic version by John Seelye is best for the closest to the original German without all the dumb stuff added by later writers. It's modeled on Robinson Cruse (thus, a Swiss Family Robinson - their last name is not Robinson) and contains a lot of Rousseauian philosophy. It's pretty interesting from a historical perspective, and the opening couple chapters are very entertaining, they shipwreck with tons of cool stuff to start a new civilization with and are very clever in making useful things out of unlikely objects.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:27:26 -0800

I did have to break up with one guy because he was very keen on Ayn Rand," said Laura Miller, a book critic for Salon.

By: jayder

jayder — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:29:57 -0800

It is basically tattered-paperback porn, which, as someone who has spent way too much time prowling cramped bookstore aisles, appeals to me.

By: Science!

Science! — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:53:54 -0800

stbalbach: Really you read nearly 25 books a year? " I didn't read all of these, but we read a hell of a lot. One history class alone required 4 novels and two biographies in a semester. Plus there was 'highly encouraged' but optional reading, and summer reading lists. Whatever, that was all a decade ago, no hard feelings. If boys are too busy reading they won't discover beer or girls. It's not true, but that's what they must have been thinking.

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:01:32 -0800

In fairness, I should note that my favorite book is on the list, and the people I know who love it are all men, and the ones who hate it are all women. Well, which one is it?

By: lekvar

lekvar — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:09:50 -0800

Really you read nearly 25 books a year? It's not beyond the realm of possibility. I read about a quarter of those books before I hit High School, and another quarter during, mostly on my own time. Some people really enjoy reading.

By: Rubbstone

Rubbstone — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:26:13 -0800

Really you read nearly 25 books a year? Is that alot?

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:29:18 -0800

A men's reading list? So those of you with the patience to let all those pictures load, tell me: does it weight toward Tom Clancy or Stephen King/Dean Koontz?

By: tkolar

tkolar — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:40:59 -0800

It's more of a boy's reading list. If you want men's reading, start with Jan Willem van der Wettering's Amsterdam Detectives series. That will sort you out.

By: christhelongtimelurker

christhelongtimelurker — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:41:36 -0800

Methinks the author of the list doth emphasize his masculinity too much. There is merit in reading many items of in but I failed to see any cohesion nor depth of consideration to the items he chose. Also, gender roles are too complex to fairly mention but lists like these help to manufacture narrow minds. However, I agree with any promotion of reading or self improvement.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:03:36 -0800

Stories for Men!

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:35:14 -0800

Also, gender roles are too complex to fairly mention but lists like these help to manufacture narrow minds. Absolutely. The fact that this list doesn't include works that throw binary gender itno question - like Judith Butler's Gender Trouble - reveals it to be anti-masculist. That is, if the very concept of a gendered reading reading list wasn't profoundly anti-masculist to begin with. And what's the big idea behind deliberately crippling guys by not including even the most obvious & basic feminist texts, like A Room of One's Own, or The Second Sex?

By: Grimgrin

Grimgrin — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:35:25 -0800

I liked their blurb for "Catch-22" "Nothing is worse than a man being caught using language of which he is unfamiliar with its proper meaning or origin. Also, it is a great book." While I think you can (and should) substitute 'person' for 'man' there, the general principle is an admirable one.

By: jayder

jayder — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:59:09 -0800

It's weird, kd, that you've been silent for six years on these boards and then decide to make your entrance again by posting such a pathetic link. I don't think it's pathetic. Maybe this is odd, but I think this kind of stuff is actually "best of the web." I think it's cool how the author trolled Flickr looking for photos of the books. At the same time, I disliked the list of "top best-of rock albums" that was posted a few days ago.

By: unmake

unmake — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:26:11 -0800

More like: 97 books written by men, and 3 that weren't. How very Atlantic Monthly.

By: msalt

msalt — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:56:47 -0800

"Nothing is worse than a man being caught using language of which he is unfamiliar with its proper meaning or origin. Also, it is a great book." I like to run and apples.

By: msalt

msalt — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:00:44 -0800

Stories for Men!: Stories For Boys.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:28:16 -0800

Science!: "I read most of these during my four years at a Jesuit high school. Lousy Jesuits." Stbalbach: "Really you read nearly 25 books a year?" Rubbstone: "Is that alot?" lekvar: "It's not beyond the realm of possibility." ---- For high-school school assignments? I've never heard of such a thing. Reading in school is different from reading for pleasure - there are classroom discussions, papers, tests, quizzes, glosses and commentaries by other writers etc.. it takes more than a week and ceftainly not sustained 4 years straight, no matter how good the Jesuits are. I don't mean to give Science! a hard time, I'm sure he read them, but don't blame the Jesuits (except to expand his self learning).

By: EatTheWeak

EatTheWeak — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:59:43 -0800

Clearly, this list is bollocks. Another Roadside Attraction is fucking god awful. It's the second worst Tom Robbins book available - only Even Cowgirls Get the Blues stinks worse. Only recently did Robbins figure out that massive leftist screeds are awfully distracting when you're trying to read a story - huge blocks of the author's opinions make disbelief pretty hard to suspend. Second, where's Cryptonomicon? A "men's reading list" without the ass-kicking, haiku-writing Bobby Shaftoe on deck is no reading list at all. And seriously, could we not have traded one Teddy Roosevelt tome for a little Mickey Spillane? You want a window into the male mind, kd? Go read I, The Jury and you're off to a pretty good start.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:14:38 -0800

I'm also convinced that that the author of the list never read the books on it, as it is difficult to square the inclusion of something like Brothers Karamazov with some of the above proto-fascist texts. I'm convinced you never RTFA, it was compiled by four people. Which explains the apparently bewildering mix of opposing philosophies, though not the giant boner for Teddy Roosevelt. Four books? Really? Me, I like the pitchers. Lotta them are purty and more interesting than the write-ups. I was going to say two Kerouacs were two too many, but golly, I just love that Jason cover.

By: Juglandaceae

Juglandaceae — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:24:56 -0800

I have a lot of reading to do.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:01:14 -0800

List posts suck, AMIRITE?

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:16:14 -0800

List posts suck, AMIRITE? I love posts of lists of OMG BEST THINGS EVAR because, disliking just about everything in them, it merely reinforces my confidence that my sense of theology and geometry hasn't gone completely off the rails.

By: ewkpates

ewkpates — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:27:00 -0800

Since so many of you men have read all of these and developed the erudition to know which aren't so good, I'm expecting the quality of your freakin' contributions to threads to go up. Oh. Too late. Better start with the Greeks and work your way through again. And RLS should be on the list. That is all.

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:27:56 -0800

Sorry for the derail, but lukemeister, thanks for that link...without it I'd never know that there was something called The Atlasphere, a dating site for admirers of Ayn Rand. I'm sure there's comedy gold in there, but they want you to join to view it.

By: saladin

saladin — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:51:53 -0800

And RLS should be on the list. That is all. R. L. Stein?

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:34:41 -0800

Robert Louis Stevenson (Kidnapped, Jekyll and Hyde, Treasure Island) .. agreed.

By: genefinder

genefinder — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:19:52 -0800

I couldn't get through A Confederacy of Dunces no matter how hard I tried. As always with these lists, some books I liked and a some I didn't. And a bunch I never tried. Maybe if I went to a Jesuit school instead of public, I would have read more.

By: Vindaloo

Vindaloo — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:30:08 -0800

This list lacks some decidedly manish books like a BBQ cookbook, a Conan novel, an issue of playboy (or hustler), and a batman or superman comic. This list was just abunch of classics, meh.

By: msalt

msalt — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:22:02 -0800

Cryptonomicon? I liked Snow Crash a lot, but Crypto has the worst female characterization and THE.WORST.SEX.SCENE.EVER. Oh my god, 600 pages of buildup for a description of pneumatic pumping? I'd put "Sometimes a Great Notion" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Kesey way above either.

By: rush

rush — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:24:08 -0800

God, the photos are really large, aren't they? Ok, if you just want the list in easy Amazon format, here you go: Part I Part II Part III Part IV For my two cents, I'd say I enjoyed the vast majority of these, and would recommend them, without hesitation, to a bunch of guys that have probably already read them.

By: rush

rush — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:37:20 -0800

Stylus Happenstance - I'll bite. Which one?

By: donfactor

donfactor — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:09:09 -0800

I've seen most of the movies. Does that count?

By: alasdair

alasdair — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:21:07 -0800

How can these be books for men? They're fiction.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:21:07 -0800

God, what idiots. I mean, here's the first clue: Machiavelli's Prince is given as a must-read without listing a translation. And treating it as a blueprint for political manipulation is a pretty facile reading—I'd argue that it's the least interesting way to read the book, since it ignores a lot of the context and will be particularly flat and unrewarding without a basic knowledge of the political philosophies that he's reacting against. Likewise, to just say "Read The Republic," without noting differences in translations, or noting that the book is a dialogue and thus best experienced as part of a class, is stupid. Yes, everyone should read The Republic. But that reading should be in a much broader context, unless you want to read it again and again. Some genius autodidacts can get a lot out of it, but even still, it's a hard thing to get much worthwhile out of without considering it a lot more broadly. I mean, yeah, I read it in high school (twice), and have now read it (polisci minor!) about five more times, and each time I get a much more full regard for the book even as I disagree with Plato about fairly central contentions. I guess that's part of why I hate this list—the list seems fundamentally unreflective, as if there's great knowledge in these books that can simply be gleaned by osmosis, or as if just saying "I read that" is some sort of badge. Any moron can read The Republic. It takes some brains to get anything out of it, which doesn't seem to have happened for these authors.