I have a lot of thoughts and l like words — like to write etc. But I’m naive about the world and history, and I don’t think I can meaningfully contribute to topics I’m interested in (politics; economics; philosophy; the arts in general) yet. I hope to someday write a book of my own on one of these topics. I really look up to thinkers like Chris Hitchens — I’d like to one day have a mind as capacious as his was. But I don’t know where to start, and I’m an inveterate procrastinator… any suggestions?
by Fluffy-Dog5264
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You can start with his favourites: Orwell, George Eliot’s Middlemarch, all the Jeeves & Wooster books by P. G. Woodehouse,… The days I used to look up to him as a thinker are gone, but I still have some appreciation for his wit and style. So his essays are also not a bad place to start. Several of his books are also available as audiobooks, which can help (or not, depending on individual preference).
Political / moral philosophy in the form of classic speculative fiction:
George Orwell: *1984* & *Animal Farm*
Aldous Huxley: *Brave New World*
Ray Bradbury: *Fahrenheit 451*
Mary Shelley: *Frankenstein*
I also recommend Shelley’s mother’s nonfiction book, *A Vindication of the Rights of Woman* by Mary Wollstonecraft
When Madeleine L’Engle (author of *A Wrinkle in Time*) asked her literature professor what to read to become a great writer and he said Shakespeare and the King James Version of the Bible.
I also recommend Jane Austen’s *Pride & Prejudice* and Oscar Wilde’s *The Importance of Being Earnest* for their wit and writing style.
Instead of Joseph Conrad, I recommend Chinua Achebe’s *Things Fall Apart* for an Indigenous perspective on African History.
*Two Old Women* by Velma Wallis provides an Indigenous perspective of the North pre-contact.
Indigenous nonfiction books I recommend are *Braiding Sweetgrass* by Robin Wall Kimmerer and *Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back* by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.
ETA Octavia Butler’s *Parable of the Sower* and *Parable of the Talents* are great examples of a writer who picks up on clues in our world to create fiction that eerily predicts future events. Margaret Atwood’s *Handmaid’s Tale* & *Year of the Flood* are other excellent examples of this.
Gracious, that’s a tall order. These first come to mind.
* William Golding, *Lord of the Flies*. (About school-age children stranded on an island, but a study in society, order, chaos, tribalism, and humanity).
* Ralph Ellison, *Invisible Man*. (Not sci-fi, about an African American in the 1950s).
* A book of John Keats’ poetry.
* A collection of Shakespeare’s plays. The language may be difficult, but they’re worth it.
* Plato, *The Republic*.
* Stephen Hawking, *A Brief History of Time*.
* A collection of Calvin & Hobbes comics.
* Jane Austen, *Pride and Prejudice*.
Genesis & the Book of Job & The Gospel According to John
Ideally in the King James version
Influenced European literature tremendously.