One Book...
Lara has tagged me.
1. One book that changed your life:
Bertrand Russell,Why I Am Not a Christian.
This is easily the book that has had the most impact. It is impossible to overstate the extent of the changes Russell triggered in my beliefs and opinions.
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
I've read it straight through two or three times, and specific passages countless times.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Also fulfills the requirements for #2 (i.e. I've read it 4 times) but if it's the only book I get to take I'd want to be sure it's one I'll enjoy.
4. One book that made you laugh:
Joseph Heller, Catch-22.
But you have to be in the mood for slightly absurd humour.
5. One book that made you cry:
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men.
I don't think I cried but it's certainly one of the saddest books I've read.
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Peter Lowenbrau Griffin, Harry Potter and the Half Black Chick.
Particularly if it were released as a book on tape read by Betty White.
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Percival Davis & Dean H. Kenyon, Of Pandas and People.
I'm not one for censorship but this purports to be a science textbook; they should be charged under fair-trade laws, if nothing else!
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Robert T. Pennock, Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism
A philosopher of science, who is also a Quaker.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia.
There are many that fulfil this criterion but I think that this is the one I've been meaning to read for the longest time. (I'm waiting until my Italian is a little better and I have the time to do it properly.)
10. Now tag five people:
Let's see, who reads this blog and has a blog of their own? Not sure but I'll say
Baden, Cameron, Pooja, Ayako
Go ahead and answer these same questions on your own blogs. (You don't have to but I would be interested to see your taste in books.)
posted by Nick @ 11:51 am
5 comments
5 Comments:
I was aware of that but the question asked for a book I wished had actually been written, which means anything. I'd also like to see Betty White read some of Peter Griffin's other titles such as Angela's Asses or Shaved New World.
But thanks for the quote. I can just hear Betty White's voice in my head as I read it!
Hey Nick, when you said that Why I Am Not A Christian was the book that had the most impact, did you mean just that essay itself, or the book as a whole with all the other pieces?
I've read the first two essays in that book and I don't think I really got much out of it. Perhaps that's because I was an atheist already. Dunno, I'll have another look.
I meant the whole book but certainly the first two essays are the most important. (Most of the others don't really have as much impact but "Nice People" is hilariously droll and "On Catholic and Protestant Sceptics" I found to be a terrific characterisation of the differences between myself and Jimmy.)
I think you need to be on the road to find out before it can have such a large effect as it had on me. Certainly for someone who has never been a Christian, it doesn't have nearly as much to offer.
Why I am not a Christian is a fantastic book! I was given it by a man reading it on a train when I was quite young - after talking about it for a while he decided I could use it more than me. Bertrand Russell is now my all-time favourite philosopher. I really enjoyed the essay Nice People too, and In Praise of Idleness, whcih isn't int hat book (you can find it on the net). I'm so pleased to find somebody else who likes him.
What a lovely story! I left my copy of Why I am not a Christian in Sydney but if I ever get a chance I'll be sure to give it to a stranger.
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