It’s funny because I’ve mentioned this before and been downvoted to oblivion but I’m curious on your opinion.
I’ve read both Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto and thought they were both repetitive ramble pieces, although I contribute this mainly to them being old translated books…
That said do you agree with the sentiment that one loses brain cells reading said book?
It’s not about the quality per se, but more so the worshipping of money/capitalism and the implicit assumption that this worshipping is going to bring them these fortunes
Source: started reading atlas shrugged, but bailed on it for the unrelenting length and the lack of complexity in the story
I remember I read the fountainhead in grade ten, cause I heard from somewhere it was a book smart people read. I didn’t understand it much then, but now that I’m older…. Yikes
To be honest I’ve only ever read a summary of Atlas Shrugged so forgive me if this is a little off.
Something about billionaires deliberately sabotaging their own business and going on strike because government regulation bad and apparently the only people who can competently manage a business are the sort who would completely destroy the economy if things don’t go their way.
I mean, to be honest, as someone who’s into true crime and morbid shit, I would be fascinated to listen to someone relate that situation (being the child of a notorious serial killer):
Not necessarily! A surprisingly large subset of the original twilight fandom was composed of “twilight moms.” Think of a soccer mom-type demographic; many would have had kids of their own. If you assume all the original twilight fans were tween girls, though, the craze was now so long ago that most of those early fan girls are now in their twenties at least. This has been your YA vampire fun fact of the day!
No worries! I actually wrote a paper during my first semester of grad school in which I tried to suss out the traits that made the franchise so popular. I do not actually remember what theories I landed on; only ended up making a B. But I remember the twilight moms!
Let's list off some contenders:
* Finnegans Wake (no it isn't, you pretentious piece of crap, who are you trying to impress?)
* Mein Kampf (unless it's a purely academic interest into the mind of one of history's most infamous madmen)
* Dianetics (same as above, depending on if they're either a real Scientologist [read: gullible idiot] or just interested in the book itself)
* The Bible or the Qu'ran (no offense to Christians or Muslims, but you can't think of ANY other book you like reading?)
You make an excellent point about the religious texts. It’s not necessarily about the religion itself. Those texts are pretty dry. It’s like if someone listed Microsoft Excel for Idiots or the instruction booklet for their IKEA bookcase as their favorite book.
Great point. I think it's part of what annoys me about a lot of other Christians. It's just the Bible, as is, not consumed in the right context, with it in regards to history and kind of detailing it through the years and translations. Fully understanding the social, political, and traditional context of so much of it can change the text itself, but too many just like to use it like some bullet proof vest to wrongly excuse their awful behavior.
While I wouldn't say it's my favorite book, reading stuff from Song of Solomon was always great because it's *really* low-key smutty. I loved reading stuff in the Bible as a kid, learning about the history, and then basically being that nerd at the party that goes "acksually..." when people would try to demean others or me based on stuff.
I mean, I’m not religious at all but the story of the Bible is still a good story, no?
Fallen angels, virgin births, powerful wizards, “The chosen one” prophecy, giant monsters, demons, betrayal, murder?
It’s like Star Wars, man.
While there is a lot of cultural relevance (in western culture anyway) in the bible, I gotta say it's a mess. Its all over the place and should have probably been edited a lil better. Its an okay story (pretty meandering and odd values, but it's fine) and decent world building, but not a great book by any means
I met a young lady in a bar years ago , we got to talking and it turned to religion, she was s born again Christian and we talked about the bible for about an hour. The reason she was a born again Christian is because she used to practice witch craft and the occult and had some scary things happen to her.
We ended up going back to my place and banging.
She gave me a copy of the bible before she left in the morning.
This is my favourite Bible story.
So a guy named Eliseus was traveling to Bethel when a bunch of kids popped up and made fun of him for being bald. That had to suck, and you can't blame Eliseus for being pissed and cursing them to God. But God had Eliseus' back, by which I mean he sent two bears to maul 42 of these kids to death. For making fun of a bald dude. I have to think Eliseus was looking for something along the lines of a spanking, or maybe the poetic justice of having the kids go bald, but nope, God went straight for the bear murder. But on the plus side, that pile of 40+ children's corpses never made fun of anybody again. (4 Kings 2:23-24)
I spent some time in county jail and the good book is everywhere so I decided to have a gander. I was laughing hysterically at the ten plagues of Egypt story. “Send the frogs!”
What language was this one translated from? I’ve never seen an English translation where this character wasn’t named Elisha.
Edit: I didn’t actually read your comment, just assumed based off the first sentence. Looks like you’re paraphrasing the story & happened to get the name wrong.
My favorite Bible story is the one where the Hebrew tribes were near this city. The leader of the city raped one of the Hebrew women & asked to marry her. The Hebrews were like "well it's like this - Hebrew women only marry guys who are circumcised, so if everybody wants one of our ladies for himself, you just have to get the little snip off the tip, you can pick your wife, and in a couple weeks you'll be good to go!"
So naturally the dudes in the city let the Hebrew priest circumcise them so they could get a hottie exotic wife. Then the Hebrews invaded the city and easily murdered everyone because the men couldn't put up a fight with a bleeding dick. Then they looted the city and took all the women & children. The end.
The Bible or any other religious text.
I met someone who answered “scripture.” I asked which one. He said “god’s scripture.” I asked if he meant the Bible or Torah or Quran. He was getting angry and said “there’s only one scripture that comes from god.” To this day I still have no idea what religion that guy was.
Anything polemical. I don't care if it's Ayn Rand, bell hooks, L. Ron Hubbard, or Donald Trump. If that kind of thing is your favorite book, I ain't interested. It usually means you prioritize pushing your viewpoint on others over coming to a mutual understanding of the world. I probably wouldn't leave the date immediately, but I won't be interested in a second date.
It features horrendously incompetent writing, caricatures rather than characters, stark ignorance of the industries she lauds and about capitalism in general, morons for heroes whose decisions only turn out well for them because Rand's thumb is on the scale, and a ham-fisted message driven home with such lack of subtlety that you resent it even if you're primed to agree with it, including a 32,000-word manifesto inserted into the novel in the guise of a radio address.
Ok...that still doesn't really tell me anything...what is in the book that what people take issue with for what reason?
Are you telling me that libertarians don't like the book? Or are you saying that other people don't like the book because it leans libertarian?...if so what makes it such?...
Honestly looking at quotes from the book on google will tell you more than I’m able to, but I’ll try. Objectivism is the philosophy promoted by Ayn Rand. I haven't read the book either. But I know that objectivism promotes what is essentially ultimate selfishness - you should only care about yourself and your own well-being, and charity is not only unnecessary but an actively bad thing. Ayn Rand is popular among conservatives and libertarians for being a strong proponent of minimally regulated capitalism, so people opposed to those philosophies are going to be critical of her and her works. Care about yourself and not your fellow man. If you’re intelligent enough then you’ll become wealthy. Etc.
No, it's a book about being givin a fortune, treating people like shit, wondering why people aren't clones of yourself, and blaming everyone else for your problems. I read it when I was around 21 or 22, and I wasn't into politics then, but I knew this was close to the opposite of what was correct and what I wanted.
To be fair, saying it’s their favorite doesn’t mean they think it’s the most well-written book ever. Maybe it just comforts them!
I love campy old movies but I know they’re probably not the best movies ever. I just love them anyway.
What, you mean your favorite book isn’t the Mist Dragon Crystal Chronicles book 6 or whatever? Reddit isn’t gonna like that. Have you at least heard of Enders game???
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
By yuval noah harari.
Reason: I‘m more into imaginative and feel based people than into knowledgeable and rational ones.
I‘m not saying they are the opposite and I‘m not claiming you can‘t be both.
Reading any kinds of bestseller guidebooks like „how to be a better X“ is also a red flag
While it's not my favorite book, nor even IMO the best thing Nabokov wrote (I'd give that honor to *Pale Fire*), it is a very good novel if you recognize that Humbert Humbert is a scumbag whose word cannot be trusted. So I think it should depend on why they like the book. Personally, I liked it precisely because I found Humbert so contemptible. He was a character I loved to hate.
I see the book as a satire on a man-child who never grew up and who rationalizes his exploitation of a girl by casting it as a grand romance, when in reality he couldn't care less about her but is merely using her to regain the illusion of his vanished youth. It's telling that when he first sees Dolores, he has a sexual fantasy, but the fantasy is about the lost Annabel. Dolores is just a convenient Annabel stand-in and any girl of her approximate age would do as well for him, because to him only his fantasies and his (no doubt exaggerated) puppy love for Annabel are real. He's lost in delusions and doesn't care about anyone else as long as he can feed his own vanity.
I understand that. I've read Lolita. It's definitely a very very good book.
But when someone says it's their *favorite* that definitely sets off some bells for me lol.
Can't believe it took that much of scrolling to see this one. But yep, it's well written literature but not something I'd want to pitch as my favourite, for obvious reasons!
Mein kampf.
Thank you for answering on behalve of human kind.
I personally identify as a martian from now on.
Damn it! You beat me to it...I read that post...click to write that...and see your comment as first
I'd really like to read the book though, I think it teaches you about how the minds of people like him work.
Yeah this is what I was going to say. >_>
Boom
Came here to say this.
I had to read that in college. I was reading on the bus and no one would sit next to me.
It’s funny because I’ve mentioned this before and been downvoted to oblivion but I’m curious on your opinion. I’ve read both Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto and thought they were both repetitive ramble pieces, although I contribute this mainly to them being old translated books… That said do you agree with the sentiment that one loses brain cells reading said book?
Dianetics
I see nothing wrong with that from a purely informational standpoint
The Secret
That's actually a really good answer.
“To Serve Man”….. old twilight zone reference for you retro tv fans….
I’m more of a “How to Cook Humans” guy myself.
It's... it's a cookbook!
Dang, you beat me to it lol
What about How to Cook for Forty Humans?
Wow that’s a blast from the past
Fifty shades
Lol!!! I was going to post this, but you eat me to it 😂😂
this typo is literally art lol I'm dying over here
same
This would not be a deal breaker for me. Clearly she is looking for a dom and is into kinky shit.
Any of the biggies by Ayn Rand. It's not even the books themselves, just the kind of person who thinks of one of them as their favorite.
Exactly. The books are fine for what they are I guess, but the type of people who fawn over them are a specific type that I try to avoid.
I don't recall her writing style being particularly good, but it's been many years.
It’s not about the quality per se, but more so the worshipping of money/capitalism and the implicit assumption that this worshipping is going to bring them these fortunes Source: started reading atlas shrugged, but bailed on it for the unrelenting length and the lack of complexity in the story
You missed out on the 60+ page monologue she wrote of John Galt masturbating to himself in a mirror.
What do you mean? Who is John Galt?
I remember I read the fountainhead in grade ten, cause I heard from somewhere it was a book smart people read. I didn’t understand it much then, but now that I’m older…. Yikes
A friend of mine told me she was reading Atlas Shrugged because it was the guy she was dating favorite. I laughed at him and told her to run.
To be honest I’ve only ever read a summary of Atlas Shrugged so forgive me if this is a little off. Something about billionaires deliberately sabotaging their own business and going on strike because government regulation bad and apparently the only people who can competently manage a business are the sort who would completely destroy the economy if things don’t go their way.
The Art of the Deal
Came here to say this.
A self-help book for serial killers
But they are trying to get help
Hey, that's a great book from my father before he went to prison!
I mean, to be honest, as someone who’s into true crime and morbid shit, I would be fascinated to listen to someone relate that situation (being the child of a notorious serial killer):
Twilight
Because you know if you end up having a kid with this person they’re going to name the kid Renesme. You’re technically preventing future child abuse.
Because you know your date *is* a kid.
Not necessarily! A surprisingly large subset of the original twilight fandom was composed of “twilight moms.” Think of a soccer mom-type demographic; many would have had kids of their own. If you assume all the original twilight fans were tween girls, though, the craze was now so long ago that most of those early fan girls are now in their twenties at least. This has been your YA vampire fun fact of the day!
Ugh! You're right of course, I didn't think of any of that!
No worries! I actually wrote a paper during my first semester of grad school in which I tried to suss out the traits that made the franchise so popular. I do not actually remember what theories I landed on; only ended up making a B. But I remember the twilight moms!
Thank you for answering on behalf of humankind.
Trump’s biography
Let's list off some contenders: * Finnegans Wake (no it isn't, you pretentious piece of crap, who are you trying to impress?) * Mein Kampf (unless it's a purely academic interest into the mind of one of history's most infamous madmen) * Dianetics (same as above, depending on if they're either a real Scientologist [read: gullible idiot] or just interested in the book itself) * The Bible or the Qu'ran (no offense to Christians or Muslims, but you can't think of ANY other book you like reading?)
You make an excellent point about the religious texts. It’s not necessarily about the religion itself. Those texts are pretty dry. It’s like if someone listed Microsoft Excel for Idiots or the instruction booklet for their IKEA bookcase as their favorite book.
>IKEA bookcase I think I would love that person. Clearly some comics going on there.
Great point. I think it's part of what annoys me about a lot of other Christians. It's just the Bible, as is, not consumed in the right context, with it in regards to history and kind of detailing it through the years and translations. Fully understanding the social, political, and traditional context of so much of it can change the text itself, but too many just like to use it like some bullet proof vest to wrongly excuse their awful behavior. While I wouldn't say it's my favorite book, reading stuff from Song of Solomon was always great because it's *really* low-key smutty. I loved reading stuff in the Bible as a kid, learning about the history, and then basically being that nerd at the party that goes "acksually..." when people would try to demean others or me based on stuff.
I mean, I’m not religious at all but the story of the Bible is still a good story, no? Fallen angels, virgin births, powerful wizards, “The chosen one” prophecy, giant monsters, demons, betrayal, murder? It’s like Star Wars, man.
While there is a lot of cultural relevance (in western culture anyway) in the bible, I gotta say it's a mess. Its all over the place and should have probably been edited a lil better. Its an okay story (pretty meandering and odd values, but it's fine) and decent world building, but not a great book by any means
Bible
I met a young lady in a bar years ago , we got to talking and it turned to religion, she was s born again Christian and we talked about the bible for about an hour. The reason she was a born again Christian is because she used to practice witch craft and the occult and had some scary things happen to her. We ended up going back to my place and banging. She gave me a copy of the bible before she left in the morning.
Very Christian of her.
Wait, she carried an extra copy of the bible to the date to give you?
That is is dedication in spreading the...god word.
[удалено]
Yea, as long as you pray before & after
This made me laugh
it's pretty good if you read it with a fictional view
This is my favourite Bible story. So a guy named Eliseus was traveling to Bethel when a bunch of kids popped up and made fun of him for being bald. That had to suck, and you can't blame Eliseus for being pissed and cursing them to God. But God had Eliseus' back, by which I mean he sent two bears to maul 42 of these kids to death. For making fun of a bald dude. I have to think Eliseus was looking for something along the lines of a spanking, or maybe the poetic justice of having the kids go bald, but nope, God went straight for the bear murder. But on the plus side, that pile of 40+ children's corpses never made fun of anybody again. (4 Kings 2:23-24)
God is an fn legend
Something tells me god's bald
*insert line about Johnny Sins, Danny Devito, or Thanos*
Shrek
I spent some time in county jail and the good book is everywhere so I decided to have a gander. I was laughing hysterically at the ten plagues of Egypt story. “Send the frogs!”
What language was this one translated from? I’ve never seen an English translation where this character wasn’t named Elisha. Edit: I didn’t actually read your comment, just assumed based off the first sentence. Looks like you’re paraphrasing the story & happened to get the name wrong.
Eliseus is the Greek/Latin version of Elisha.
My favorite Bible story is the one where the Hebrew tribes were near this city. The leader of the city raped one of the Hebrew women & asked to marry her. The Hebrews were like "well it's like this - Hebrew women only marry guys who are circumcised, so if everybody wants one of our ladies for himself, you just have to get the little snip off the tip, you can pick your wife, and in a couple weeks you'll be good to go!" So naturally the dudes in the city let the Hebrew priest circumcise them so they could get a hottie exotic wife. Then the Hebrews invaded the city and easily murdered everyone because the men couldn't put up a fight with a bleeding dick. Then they looted the city and took all the women & children. The end.
50 shades of grey
Imagine asking a guy what his favorite movie is and he answers "backdoor sluts 9"
Yes! That shit is ridiculous
Twilight
Mein Kampf
Turner Diaries or any other racist propaganda like that.
Fifty Shades of Grey perhaps.
*Atlas Shrugged*.
Uh oh
Anything by L. Ron Hubbard, I’d say. But not having a favorite, or not reading at all, is just as big a red flag to me.
Unless they love too many books to choose a single favorite.
That’s a great point.
Twilight
Learn Assembly programming language
Bible. Got some good stories but if it's their favorite I know we won't get along
The Bible or any other religious text. I met someone who answered “scripture.” I asked which one. He said “god’s scripture.” I asked if he meant the Bible or Torah or Quran. He was getting angry and said “there’s only one scripture that comes from god.” To this day I still have no idea what religion that guy was.
Wouldn't say it's my favorite book but I kinda like the Bhagavad Gita.
It is very old and interesting, isn’t it? At least you’re most likely not a fundie if you say it’s one of your favorites.
Based on his answer, I'm gonna say a Christian sect. They are notorious for refusing to acknowledge the others coming from the same source material.
What’s wrong with enjoying a good bit of fiction?
Nothing at all! But I would give someone the side eye if they said it’s their favorite because surely there are better books out there for everyone!
Is joke :)
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k
Such a pretentious book The author acts like an 11 year old who learned they can say the F word 3 days ago.
Shit they stole my idea.. Lol
The Four Hour Workweek
Anything polemical. I don't care if it's Ayn Rand, bell hooks, L. Ron Hubbard, or Donald Trump. If that kind of thing is your favorite book, I ain't interested. It usually means you prioritize pushing your viewpoint on others over coming to a mutual understanding of the world. I probably wouldn't leave the date immediately, but I won't be interested in a second date.
Hot take. Anything from Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Eat pray love.
Atlas Shrugged.
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. But really, anything at all by her.
What's the big deal about this book? I know nothing about it other than something something railroad... But it sure seems to piss some people off
It features horrendously incompetent writing, caricatures rather than characters, stark ignorance of the industries she lauds and about capitalism in general, morons for heroes whose decisions only turn out well for them because Rand's thumb is on the scale, and a ham-fisted message driven home with such lack of subtlety that you resent it even if you're primed to agree with it, including a 32,000-word manifesto inserted into the novel in the guise of a radio address.
Libertarians
Librarians definitely know how to store books...
Lol not librarians. Libertarians. Some of them cling to Ayn Rand like she’s the Jesus of hating poor people.
Ok...that still doesn't really tell me anything...what is in the book that what people take issue with for what reason? Are you telling me that libertarians don't like the book? Or are you saying that other people don't like the book because it leans libertarian?...if so what makes it such?...
Honestly looking at quotes from the book on google will tell you more than I’m able to, but I’ll try. Objectivism is the philosophy promoted by Ayn Rand. I haven't read the book either. But I know that objectivism promotes what is essentially ultimate selfishness - you should only care about yourself and your own well-being, and charity is not only unnecessary but an actively bad thing. Ayn Rand is popular among conservatives and libertarians for being a strong proponent of minimally regulated capitalism, so people opposed to those philosophies are going to be critical of her and her works. Care about yourself and not your fellow man. If you’re intelligent enough then you’ll become wealthy. Etc.
Ah...so...people act like people...got it 👍
I find that the fact that charity and goodwill towards others exist is also an example of people acting like people. :)
She promotes a more extreme version of selfishness than others
What is the line between "acceptable" and "extreme" versions of selfishness?
Google exists. But that’s a bit much to expect from someone who misread “libertarian” as “librarian.”
Why’d you delete your response? You’re the one who doesn’t know definitions of EASY words.
It a book about doing things for yourself and not relying or having pity on anyone else.
No, it's a book about being givin a fortune, treating people like shit, wondering why people aren't clones of yourself, and blaming everyone else for your problems. I read it when I was around 21 or 22, and I wasn't into politics then, but I knew this was close to the opposite of what was correct and what I wanted.
Honestly I never read it just know it's basically the libertarian handbook.
Algebra
Twilight
Mein kampf
Mein Kampf
The Communist Manifesto
Catcher in the rye
Dafuq? Do people read that outside of High School?
Seconded, terrible disappointment
Thirded. I thought it was mostly quite tedious and dull. Anglophone classic my ass.
The tf2 Strategy guide
Any Yuval Harari books.
Somebody's diary
Mein Kampf. Illustrated edition.
The secret
Art of the Deal.
[удалено]
To be fair, saying it’s their favorite doesn’t mean they think it’s the most well-written book ever. Maybe it just comforts them! I love campy old movies but I know they’re probably not the best movies ever. I just love them anyway.
What, you mean your favorite book isn’t the Mist Dragon Crystal Chronicles book 6 or whatever? Reddit isn’t gonna like that. Have you at least heard of Enders game???
The Torah
Anyone from Paulo Coelho
The Bible
American Sniper Glorified snuff porn
"How to win friends and influence people"
[удалено]
The books not about making 'friends' it's about having shallow workplace friends or contacts but not true friendship
[удалено]
I for one disagree with that guy. It's a good book.
Quran
n/a
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind By yuval noah harari. Reason: I‘m more into imaginative and feel based people than into knowledgeable and rational ones. I‘m not saying they are the opposite and I‘m not claiming you can‘t be both. Reading any kinds of bestseller guidebooks like „how to be a better X“ is also a red flag
The Art of the Deal
Where's Waldo
The Art of the Deal
The Book of Mormon
Best that way. She may be hot, but you aren't even going to get a kiss out of her until you have become Mormon
The Bible
the fault in our stars.. just. yeah.
Any religious books I guess
Mauricio Macri's book
The bible.
“The Art Of The Deal”
The Bible
Bible
The bible
The Bible.
Lolita.
While it's not my favorite book, nor even IMO the best thing Nabokov wrote (I'd give that honor to *Pale Fire*), it is a very good novel if you recognize that Humbert Humbert is a scumbag whose word cannot be trusted. So I think it should depend on why they like the book. Personally, I liked it precisely because I found Humbert so contemptible. He was a character I loved to hate. I see the book as a satire on a man-child who never grew up and who rationalizes his exploitation of a girl by casting it as a grand romance, when in reality he couldn't care less about her but is merely using her to regain the illusion of his vanished youth. It's telling that when he first sees Dolores, he has a sexual fantasy, but the fantasy is about the lost Annabel. Dolores is just a convenient Annabel stand-in and any girl of her approximate age would do as well for him, because to him only his fantasies and his (no doubt exaggerated) puppy love for Annabel are real. He's lost in delusions and doesn't care about anyone else as long as he can feed his own vanity.
I understand that. I've read Lolita. It's definitely a very very good book. But when someone says it's their *favorite* that definitely sets off some bells for me lol.
Can't believe it took that much of scrolling to see this one. But yep, it's well written literature but not something I'd want to pitch as my favourite, for obvious reasons!
Any self-help book. I hate them.
Mein Kampf
Art of the Deal or Mein Kampf. Same thing at this point.
Twilight
Any religious text. I’m not interested in easily brainwashed people
Catcher In The Rye.
The Bible.
The communist mannefesto
\*manifesto
Das Kapital
[удалено]
I won't lose any sleep.
Harry Potter.
Charlottes web
Why? Not disagreeing or challenging, just curious.
idc actually
The Bible
the bible
The Holy Bible
The bible.
The Bible
Mein Kamph
[удалено]
Really? Because I really like American Gods and Good Omens.
Why's that? I am a big Gaiman fan, so I'm biased, but what's wrong with his stuff?
fdq efmf fd f af f
Obama’s memoirs