What are the top 25 books you should read?
The origin of species - Charles Darwin, because understanding evolution is key to understanding almost any aspect of life.Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler, to teach you how dangerously convincing a well worded argument can be even if it is utter gibberish.Studies in Hysteria - Sigmund Freud, to understand how little we know of ourselves.The Antichrist - Friedrich Nietzsche, To destroy any remaining vestige of unrealistic optimism that you may have left inside you after reading the previous three. Also, to understand the dynamic of humanity.The sorrows of young Werther - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, to witness literature at its highest form.The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien, The best book ever written.Broca’s brain - Carl Sagan, to give you an unforgettable perspective on life.Pale blue dot - carl sagan, to make yourself understand the insignificance of our existence and also why we should be proud of it.Napoleon - Emil Ludwig, the biography of a great man, written exceptionally well.The hitchiker’s guide to the galaxy - douglas adams, to see comic genius and layered satire at workValis - Philip K Dick, to experience the melting of a brain on paper.Frankenstein - Mary Shelley, To read a beautiful tale about the monster that is man.Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - R. L. Stevenson, a fascinating tale of man's duality.The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath, to thoroughly disturb oneself.The Second Sex- Simone De Beauvoir, to understand every aspect of feminism and come to respect and love it.The Oresteian Trilogy - Aeschylus, Greek Drama at its finest.Empress at Blandings - PG Wodehouse, or any book of his, to be honest. They're all wonderful..Sophie’s world - Jostein Gaardner, for a philosophy beginner's kit.The story of Philosophy - Will Durant, for a detailed philosophy overview.The Time Machine - HG Wells, Disturbing sci fi at its best.Labyrinths - Jorge Luis Borges, Enough thought experiments to drive you insaneThe sorrows of Satan - Marie Corelli, A unique story with no heroesIncest - Marquis de Sade, to make you reconsider everything you’ve taken for grantedThe selfish gene - Richard Dawkins, to understand life in a microcosm.Ayn Rand - The Virtues of Selfishness, to bust the Socialist myth.
Question About Slavery and the Civil War?
To Knowledge: The Civil War was clearly about slavery. The South secceeded from the Union because the north tried to say that no new states can have slaves and that slavery was bad. The South finally got fed up with the North's meddling in its affairs. Abolitionists like John Brown became terrorists and attacked trains with Southerners on them in Harper's Ferry. As far as what incentive did a Southern soldier have, well, for one, he didn't want free blacks to compete with him for jobs. That is the most basic incentive anyone could have. When is the last time anyone who replied to my question quit his/her job to graciously give it someone else more needy? None of your arguments make any sense. I still don't know what a northern white guy's incentive was during the Civil War.