I think its the King James Version Bible, you?
The Cat in the Hat.
Alan Sherman’s The Rape Of The AP*E**.
Moving this to Cafe Society.
The Great Santini
My biased, humble opionions -
Lord of the Rings
Nomadic_one
I just have to ask…why do you think the king james bible is the greatest book of all time?
I’ll put a second to Lord of the Rings.
And put out a few more - A Confederacy of Dunces
Extraordinary and Popular Delusions and the Maddness of Crowds
Chaos
Oh there’s just too many.
So welcome to Nomadic_One. What else do you like to read besides the bible? Any non-fiction?
the thesaurus
Well, not sure if I could say the best ever written but I enjoy (over and over again):
Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein)
hmmm…
Lord of the Rings
Chaos, Genius
Autobiography of a Yogi
“Discourses on Livy” by Machiavelli. Specifically the two volume translation by Walker:
The Discourses of Niccolo Machiavelli
Translated from teh Italian
With an Introduction
and Notes by
Leslie J. Walker, S.J.
*First published in 1950
Reprinted, with new Introduction and Appendices, 1975
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
New Introduction and Appendices © Cecil H. Clough, 1975*
You want the version with the notes because there are so many references to historical events from Livy’s Histories (duh) but also ancient Greece and “modern” Italy. At the end of the errata table, it is remarked that
That’s a lot of stuff to know and the notes fill the reader in on much, if not most, of it.
The book itself is what should be taught in political science, not The Prince. Machiavelli has been done a great disservice through that mistake. Indeed, we’ve all been done a disservice The Discourses are about republics, i.e. there is stuff that actually applies to our lives in it.
Something that suprises everybody whom I’ve mentioned this to: Machiavelli argues convincingly that popular governments are better than principalities. For example in book 1, discourse 58 he discusses how “The Masses are more Knowing and more Constant than is a Prince”. The following discourse argues that a republic is more trustworthy than a prince.
Anywho, that’s my vote.
Well, since the Bible is a collection of 66 books, I can’t really say the whole thing is the greatest book.
I will say Matthew(the gospel) is the greatest book of all time, if only for the Sermon on the Mount.
In terms of novels, it’s either Lord of the Rings or Brothers Karamazov
Lord of the Rings
Because “God” wrote it…well, through man…err, whatever.
Anyways, I stand by 2001: A Space Odyssey as the best book I’ve read.
If I had to pick one, I think the King James Bible is a pretty good place to start, if only for the extraordinary influence it had (directly and indirectly) on so much literature, art, and politics for hundreds of years after it’s publication. And of course it contains “the Greatest Story Ever Told” so maybe that makes it the greatest book by default.
Although I’m a huge LOTR fan, I can’t serioiusly consider it the greatest book of all time by any meaningful standard.
If I were pressed to name a book of fiction and I heard you say “you already said the Bible” I would go for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But that’s probably just the greatest American book of all time. IMHO, of course.
Not one, not two, but three posters named LotR as the greatest book of all time. My faith in the intelligence of humanity, already at an all-time low, has had the bottom dropped out of it. Sob.
One humble vote for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
It started this dude on his voracious sci fi habit (and I still carry a small towel in my car trunk)
Yea the Hitchhiker’s Guide isnt too shabby, but my personal fav is The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse… it kinda makes you think.
If anyone knows of some books along this line, im glad to hear about them.
Don Quixote is the world’s best book say the world’s top authors
I never read it myself but want to after looking at Lost In La Mancha over the weekend.
My favourite? 1984.
what about
Animal Farm
1984
Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
The Scarlet Letter
Honestly IMHO Lord of the Rings… not that great of a book. GRANTED its good, but overall not truely GREAT.
However I must say Hitchikers Guide has to be one of my top 20. There is so much modern philosophy in that book, its uncanny.
-x out