# What is your favorite book whose viewpoint differs from your own? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404 "2010-07-29T01:55:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/21 "2010-07-30T20:50:04Z")
The books The Sparrow and Children of God, by Mary Doria Russell. Way too spiritual for my tastes, but great Sci Fi reads nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/22 "2010-07-30T20:53:55Z")
Although I have no interest in owning (or being) a slave or engaging in bondage-oriented sex, I still thoroughly enjoy John Norman’s \*Gor \*novels. And I love _Star Trek_ in all its incarnations, but really can’t stomach their anti-capitalistic philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/23 "2010-07-30T23:11:05Z")
The Shakespeare canon. Shakespeare clearly liked the “lower classes” the way some people like animals, and showed that he believed they needed a strong ruler to keep them properly in line. I have more respect for the poor than that (hey, I _are_ one), and am an anarcho-libertarian. Aside from that, Damn! the fellow could turn a phrase! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/24 "2010-07-30T23:21:24Z")
The works of HP Lovecraft. There are jaw-dropping levels of racism in some of his stories. I totally disagree with those ideas, but like his stories. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/25 "2010-07-31T00:08:39Z")
Tom Clancy. I don’t agree with his politics but I like his books. At least until they started getting sloppy. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/26 "2010-07-31T02:17:20Z")
Not a fan of Orson Scott Card’s world view but like several of his books. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/27 "2010-07-31T03:08:32Z")
Probably inevitable someone would bring it up, but Ayn Rand’s _The Fountainhead_. I think the overbearing philosophy and stilted prose (in places) of _Atlas Shrugged_, and of course the fact that it’s Ayn Rand, causes people to overlook some of the merits of her earlier novel. There are a few scenes in there I found rather moving, or chilling, at turns. But I don’t agree with her world view. Regarding the OP, not gonna name names, but I have two particular far left and atheistic Dopers in mind: wondering whether they would be able to answer the OP or even acknowledge such a thing is at all possible. ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/28 "2010-07-31T03:38:12Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis. Add on the entire _Narnia_ series, in fact. Till We Have Faces is the one I was going to mention too. If you can’t guess, I’m an atheist. Isn’t everything by C.S. Lewis somehow tied to his Christianity? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/29 "2010-07-31T03:48:31Z")
Barry Goldwater’s views on economics and labor are far from mine, so I like to read them. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/30 "2010-07-31T06:38:59Z")
I love William S. Burroughs’ writing, although I found his misogyny repulsive. (And if I didn’t _know_ he was a queer fella I would have thought he was a terrible homophobe, as well.) Misanthropic son-of-a-bitch, when you get right down to it. Bukowski is a also pleasure to read, though perverse pride in not having one’s shit together is a quality that I have no tolerance for in the day-to-day. (Maybe a little too close to home.) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/31 "2010-07-31T07:20:20Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > > > Pretty much anything by P.J. O’Rourke. I like the way he thinks and writes, and love his humor, but seldom share his conclusions. > > > > . > > Damn you **TreacherousCretin**! You stole my post! > > Yeah, P.J. is astonishingly wrong-headed politically, but he is so enjoyable a writer. I also came in to mention O’Rourke, especially “Parliament of Whores” which I think would make a great reading for a civics class. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/32 "2010-07-31T07:27:17Z")
Nickeled and Dimed. Fascinating human interest and personal research (not to mention sacrifice) by the author. And I sympathize (and empathize) with the people in the case studies, having been there myself. A few times. But I completely disagree with her take on the issues, causes and possible solutions. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/33 "2010-07-31T07:29:41Z")
Reading a work of fiction despite the author’s racism, misogyny, elitism, etc., doesn’t really seem to meet the OP’s criteria of “Read articles and books with entirely different points of view from your own and try to learn something” since it’s something you try to ignore, not learn from. It’s not the best match either (since it’s not a book at all), but what first popped into my head was _The Daily Show_. Beyond that, there are some books on my dissertation topic that I find to be of value because they make interesting arguments, even though I feel their conclusions are completely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/34 "2010-08-03T11:36:06Z")
I can answer the question, but I don’t know how helpful it would be. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/35 "2010-08-03T15:38:37Z")
_The Emperor’s New Mind_. I remember yelling at the book a lot, but I did enjoy reading it, and I think I learned quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/36 "2010-08-03T15:46:37Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > > [@gaffa](#): > > > > Damn you **TreacherousCretin**! You stole my post! > > > > Yeah, P.J. is astonishingly wrong-headed politically, but he is so enjoyable a writer. > > I also came in to mention O’Rourke, especially “Parliament of Whores” which I think would make a great reading for a civics class. I also want to mention P.J. O’Rourke - specifically _Eat the Rich_. Also, Christopher Hitchens. Pretty much everything. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/37 "2010-08-03T15:52:02Z")
_Life of Pi_, maybe. Also the Narnia books, for the same reason. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/38 "2010-08-03T15:56:01Z")
> [@fervour](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis. Add on the entire _Narnia_ series, in fact. > > Till We Have Faces is the one I was going to mention too. If you can’t guess, I’m an atheist. Isn’t everything by C.S. Lewis somehow tied to his Christianity? Well, the TWHF link is as subtextual as the Lord of the Rings’ link to Tolkien’s Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/39 "2010-08-05T00:32:01Z")
I’ve got a few. I think Michael Crichton was a shitty guy with a shitty personality who wrote shitty books using shitty science and his own shitty viewpoints on things he didn’t know shit about, such as business, politics, and . . . well, other shit. That said, I can’t pick up a book of his without reading it all the way through. The man wrote shit, but he wrote it _very_ well. Stephen King seems to be a much better person than Michael, but in a lot of his books, he gets hung up on the evil influences of technology. He also relies a lot on his characters solving problems or at least progressing through them through faith alone (hardly surprising considering his genre, but still . . . I happen to think that many more problems have been solved through skepticism than faith.). But really, is there any bookworm alive who can pick up a Stephen King book and put it back down before finishing every word eight hours later? I went through a German lit phase waaayyyyyyy back in the day, and while I despise Bertold Brecht’s communism, I really–and I mean _really_–enjoy reading his plays. The man was a fucking master. ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404/40 "2010-08-05T00:53:50Z")
J.R.R. Tolkein seemed to think that little people who want to good will get a lot of help from the world at large and perhaps the world above in their quest against evil, which is somewhat at odds with my often pessimistic worldview . . . yet I love _The Lord of the Rings_. I’m not much of an existentialist, but I really like some of Albert Camus’s work. As far as religion goes, well, I’m not a Christian but I think everybody should read Saint Augustine. And for that matter, The Holy Bible. Others already mentioned in this thread include Milton and H.P. Lovecraft (whose worldview I kind of agree with, save for the racism mentioned by **Anne Neville** ). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-whose-viewpoint-differs-from-your-own/548404.md?page=3)