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Message: [QUOTE="miguk, post: 147559, member: 1510"] I'll give you a few books to get you started on some good authors: [LIST] [*]Noam Chomsky: a lot of books to go through; avoid his linguistic ones unless you are studying that for uni, focus on reading his others (which you most likely will read at least a little of for uni, considering he's the most cited living author). I suggest starting with [I]Manufacturing Consent[/I]. You can also read [I]The Chomsky Reader[/I] for a variety pack of his ideas. [*]Howard Zinn: I'll get eyerolls from the history majors for this (fair enough; I have my differences with him too). Nonetheless, [I]A People's History of the United States[/I] is a good starting point for understanding US history in real depth beyond the usual stuff found in school textbooks. (There are also various spin-offs by both Zinn and associates that are worth checking out, usually starting with [I]"A People's History of"[/I] in the title.) [*]Naomi Klein: A really good author for understanding 21st century economics and how it effects day to day life. [I]No Logo[/I] is the classic book from her, and [I]The Shock Doctrine[/I] is also a good choice. [*]Barbara Ehrenreich: More economics, though more focused on microeconomics than the macro that Klein covers. [I]Nickel and Dimed[/I] is the classic, with [I]Bait and Switch[/I] being basically a sequel. [*]Susan Faludi: Not a lot of people are comfortable with reading feminist books, but Faludi is probably one of the better ones to start with, as she can be quite considerate of men's concerns as well as the problem of misogynistic women. [I]Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man[/I] is a good start if you need to get straight into the pro-men stuff, but [I]Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women[/I] is her classic. [*]Eric Schlosser: Good journalist often concerned with consumers. [I]Fast Food Nation[/I] is big enough that you likely heard of it before, and [I]Reefer Madness[/I] is interesting if you want to learn about the history of the black market. [/LIST] A few books I'd recommend based on the topics: [LIST] [*]Rational thinking: [I]The Demon-Haunted World[/I] by Carl Sagan and [I]Why People Believe Weird Things[/I] by Michael Shermer. Both go over situations where people are tricked into believing things that don't make rational sense while ignoring more rational considerations. I'd also include [I]The Culture of Fear[/I] by Barry Glassner, which goes over a similar topic. [*]Philosophy: If you've never taken a philosophy course, I must warn you that the whole subject can be a hard read. Nonetheless, [I]Simulacra and Simulation[/I] by Jean Baudrillard and [I]The History of Sexuality[/I] by Michel Foucault are both good reads. [*]Human interest: [I]Into the Wild[/I] by Jon Krakauer is a very controversial book (a lot of people hate the person written about), but it is nonetheless a really good read. (Just remember that the subject is not exactly in his right mind and should not be imitated.) [I]Despite Everything[/I] by Aaron Cometbus is interesting if you like the punk scene. [*][I]A Very Short Introduction[/I] series (various authors): Good short reads by legit academics that give you a quick overview of various subjects before diving deeply into them. There are literally hundreds of books in this series, so you should be able to find something you are interested in. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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