most crucial political, philosophical, or ideological book?

[seang]

Natural Cures "they" don't want you to know about, by Kevin Trudeau

[heliochrome85]

The Little Prince http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince yeah, its good. Deal with it.

And

The Looming Tower. http://www.amazon.com/Looming-...1486X

[DroptopDrifting]

school in the carribean, i was thinkin about doin that, settled on Miami instead. leavin in a few weeks. how is it goin to school down on an island like that?

The Little Prince, wasn't that a children's book?

[heliochrome85]

I looked at DO and decided I didn't want to do it. Since Indiana only has one medical school, if you dont get in (aka, they met their white male quota before you), then you are kinda SOL. Out of states dont want you, and private schools generally have very very high numbers, so you need to be stellar to overcome the out of state gap.

Either case, life down here is fine. School is fairly intense. I study from about 12pm to about say 11pm on every given school day, and all day on weekends. There is lots to do, but if you want to do well, you gotta keep up. Plus, the allure of the beach wears off fairly quickly.

[DroptopDrifting]

Understandable. No matter which med school you go to, there's going to be tons of studying to do, but atleast when you aren't studying you can enjoy being in the carribean. Good luck down there.

[heliochrome85]

ha. definately. if you have any questions, hit me up on aim or something.

[BusyBadger]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent or Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.

Given that BO is a a lifelong follower of Alinsky I'd like to quote the third and ninth Rule for Radicals:

The third rule of the ethics of means and ends is that in war the end justifies almost any means.

The ninth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.

Hmmm...I wonder if either of these apply to anything the US might currently be involved in. Maybe BO needs to brush up on his reading.

Since Indiana only has one medical school, if you dont get in (aka, they met their white male quota before you), then you are kinda SOL.

I'd say if you're not cool with white male quotas, Indiana isn't where you need to be. Next you'll be looking for a non-smoking hotel room in Kentucky.

[Desert Rat]

Making fun of other people's mothers in the politics forum is not germane to the discussion and considered an ad hominem attack.

bud

The Got Dam Germans got nuthin to do wit it!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Vote #2 for Atlas Shrugged. It was written in 1957 by Ayn Rand, and it's amazing how relevant the notions discussed in that novel are in today's political environment.

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Honestly, I don't see the big deal with the Art of War. Most of what it talks about is tremendously basic and obvious. If you have more men you have better odds. Directly attacking well defended targets is unwise. Winning with the least amount of fighting is ideal. Maintaining a balance of power on the battlefield is crucial. You can't expect poor leaders to achieve good results. Of course...next you're going to tell me I'm supposed to use the accelerator in my car when I want to speed up.

It's one of those "look at me, I'm impressive and have a cool book on my bookshelf" books.

That said, it's on the Air War College's reading list, so it has SOME value.

[ishkabibble]

Atlas Shrugged

I finished that the other day. Interesting viewpoints, but Rand is so repetitive in her writing, I wanted to pound my head against the wall.

My votes: 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Walden

[MinisterofDOOM]

Just finished reading Phillip K. d!ck's The Man in the High Castle. The book is set in 1962 after a WWII that ended in an Axis-powers victory. It explores what the world might have been like if that had happened. The real depth of it, though, is that all the major characters (in typical d!ck fashion) are all interconnected through their fascination with a book about what might have happened if the Allies had won the war. It's a neat look into the differences in culture and the ways war can affect the world (even if both are a little oversimplified).

While I don't think it's very accurate, it was still an interesting read. It wasn't necessarily supposed to be accurate...just to offer a vision of a possible alternative.

[dusred]

Liberty and Tyranny - A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin

A conservatives best friend.

Gosh, I hardly recognize any of the books posted here. I need to get doing more reading.

[Cold_Zero]

My votes: 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Walden

I agree, very good list.bud

[heliochrome85]

also known as the usual high school reading requirement.

[Urabus GodofTraction]

also known as the usual high school reading requirement.

Yeah. While a few of those books are good...

[srellim234]

Democratic leaders can't be put under this rule either?

The only one I can't really make a claim against would be helping the downtrodden because that's what they claim to do. However, I'm sure after some analysis that it could be found that their policies actually make the downtrodden worse off, such as rent control laws. Ooo, I just found one, never mind.

Democratic representatives in southeastern Michigan are going through a hard time right now. So far, two highly thought of families (certain members) in the Democratic party in Michigan have been convicted of extortion, bribery, perjury, misuse of government property, affairs, among other corruption-related crimes.

Bernard Madoff was a democrat, although not a public servant. Anyone else find it ironic that his last name is Madoff?

Modified by smockers83 at 7:53 PM 6/29/2009

Sorry I took so long to answer, smockers83. I've been on a 5,804 mile road trip.

The primary reason I singled out the Republicans is that they are constantly claiming the moral high ground, using religion as a tool to get votes rather than using religion as a tool to live their own lives by. They're very good at telling everyone else to live by it.

I agree with you that both parties need to read it, learn from it and apply it to their lives, but the Dems don't flaunt their religion nearly to the extent that the Republicans do.

[heliochrome85]

The primary reason I singled out the Republicans is that they are constantly claiming the moral high ground, using religion as a tool to get votes rather than using religion as a tool to live their own lives by. They're very good at telling everyone else to live by it.

I agree with you that both parties need to read it, learn from it and apply it to their lives, but the Dems don't flaunt their religion nearly to the extent that the Republicans do.

HERE HERE