At least a years worth of books to read

For all the people who were at the Birmingham Library event yesterday (and everybody else) here are some books you may enjoy!

1984-George Orwell
Brave New World-Aldos Huxley
WE-Yevengy Zamayatin
Blindness-Jose Saramago
Of Water and the spirit-Patrice Some
Native Son-Richard Wright
100 years of solitude-Gabriel Garcia Marquez
They Came Before Columbus-Ivan Van Sertima
The African Origin of Civilisation Myth or Reality?-Cheikh Anta Diop
The Secret Life of Plants-Peter Tompkins
The Fountainhead-Ayn Rand
The Black Jacobins-C.L.R James
1491-Charles C Mann
The Shock Doctrine-Naomi Klein
The Prophet-Kahlil Gibran
The Awakening of intelligence-J.Krishnamurti
Self Reliance-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep-Phillip K Dick
The Glass Bead Game-Herman Hesse
The Urban Heritage Of West Africa
The First Emperor Of China-Clements
Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome-Joy Leary
The Ruins Of Empires-C.F Volney
Song Of Solomon-Toni Morrison
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35 responses
Thanks for this list AKALA i will check some of these out for sure .

In relation to 1984 i would reccomend Edward Bernays Propaganda as a must read along with Chomskys Media control.

peace.

— jj
Thanks for the list akala, enjoy brasil.
JJ, chomsky is always a good read, good heads up there dude
— Aiden
Agreed Aiden, i would of also mention Fahrenheit 451 , Slaughterhouse-Five and V on the novel front for 1984 related material.
— jj
If you're into Chomsky then Norman Finkelstein has some interesting reads too
— Adil
thanks for the list man. i've got two of these now, as well as reading perilous power by chomsky. i'll check out finkelstein as suggested Adil.
— Veronica
You should add The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath..Im reading Small Island by Andrea Levy, good book!
— Japeth
Chomsky!!
— Haifa Choudary
Nausea by Satre, Money by Martin Amis ( yh he's a cunt now but this is some of the finest post modern english lit), The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
— sammi Ferhaoui
The Outsider Albert Camus
— sammi Ferhaoui
i have read all of chomskys books highly recommended.also read the trial by kafka
— maria mouskos
The Island-Aldos Huxley is also a very good book
— do jams
Bethink Yourselves! by Leo Tolstoy as well as his other essay books are inspirational as well. Although it is not as long as 1984 and seemingly cliched, Animal Farm by Orwell should not be forgotten. The way the rules are adapted in the farm and the maipulation of power is an eerie prophetic image of Bush and The Patriot Act. But time cycles right? Oh and before leaving Orwell, interesting trivia: originally he wanted to title his book 1948, but was not allowed, showing not just prophetic intent, but also metaphoric for how he felt at the time under the current system. So he just switched the last two numbers and viola, 1984.

When I started reading dystopian literature as a way of broadening my view on politics, I learned that Fyodor Doystoevski, a russian novelist, inspired George Orwell, he is another great political metaphorist. (if thats not a word, I just created it. your welcome. :) just kdin) and has wrote a number of great books. Mark Twain, Charlse Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, and James Joyce also critiqued the system. Although not quite a classic novelist, Hunter S Thompson can also be quite cathartic for those frustrated because hes recent and never ever held back. Kurt Vonnegut, a novelist, is also recent and beautifully empathetic.

I was hesitant to the point of avoidance on Ayn Rand, as Orwell and Dostoy were democratic socialist, Rand put capitalism on a pedastel over socialism. But I caved, and I read We The Living. Rand is educational because it teaches us we can romantisize one way due to our own corrupt environment. She lived under and made metaphor out of what was known as socialism, but was actually hypocritical top-down fascism. Its useful to feel this and understand it, as once again time cycles. Also it teaches us the selling points of captalism and makes the arguments against our current system even stronger: aka the 'american dream' and everyone being treated equal, when in reality our system denies all circumstance of birth and location and keeps wealthy oligarchy in place with an elevated 1%. It also helps solidify a notion that I've been restling with, that socialism never really failed because it never really existed.

Emma Goldman is a great place to start when delving into the philosophy of anarchy. This extreme is wonderful to delve into because it allows us to analyze government to its bare bones and not just platue at 'well its whats only possible'. It also critiques the notion that chaos and anarchy is married, a common misconception. I don't preach anarchy because I don't preach but it
helps for those lost, angered, and active in the critique of our current reality. Its also useful for artists trying to express empowerment. And like it because it battles that barbaric 'human nature' notion. Personally I don't believe in human nature, I think its a patrionizing and demonizing way to box us all in and justify dominance, at least thats the predominant use I've seen for the
notion. Its also the biggest stereotype ever. Anyways, Peirre Joseph Proudhon is another anarchist philosopher. Although long, the first book I found that sent me swirling into anarchic thoughts was Demanding The Impossible: A History of Anarchism by Peter Marshall, which skipped over the 'yeah fuck the man' platuea. Surpisingly both Leo Tolstoy and Ghandi were elogantly brought up. Heres a good short essay link of others too:
http://www.spunk.org/texts/intro/sp000282.txt
Its also always refreshing to see these notions have been around and felt for so long.

Playwright and essayist George Bernard Shaw as well as poet and essayist Percey Bysshe Shelley and his wife Mary Shelley (auther of Frankenstein) are also great writers who critqued the system in which they lived.

For those into comic books and graphic novels, Marvel Civil War was a wonderful recent metaphoric take on the Patriot Act (with none other than Captain America leading an underground resistance against the so-called Registration Act) and the current on-going DMZ is wicked, following an independant news reporter caught up in a post-revolution manhatten, with the governement and the people at a stand-still. The DMZ, standing for De-Militarized Zone, manhatten is a metaphor for those in places like Iraq and Afghanastan. They take this complicated situation (thats watered down in the media) and place it at the heart of a not-so futuristic New York and bring in a million different perspectives (as good art usually does.)

When I first jumped into the deep end of the political pool I went head first into documentaries, classes, websites, and the news. But art. Art. The use of subtext, metaphor, expression. Its a wonderful way to expand your thoughts on the history of politics and the politics of history, as its predominantly written for the people and how a society feels at the time, which is just as if not more important than the text that is written by conquerers or the wealthy who could afford mass
publication.

....I realize this is quite the ramble. If you cant tell, the use of subtext in any type of wordplay is a passion of mine. Its rare to be able to go indepth about this and not
feel socially awkward and out of breath. But hopefully those interested in this particular post by Akala would find at least some of this information useful.

And to Akala, keep it up friend!

:)

— Michelle Segal
thanks for the list, will be sure to check some of these out.

another book I would reccommend is tropic of cancer, by arthur miller, although it's definitely not suitable for a youger audience

— Samuel
Great list, I have just finished reading 1984 and found Orwell's section on the class system honest and eye opening. He said throughout history there has always been the high, the middle and the low, The high wish to remain in power, the middle wish to replace the high and the low want an egalitarian society. The high and middle often get their wish but the low never get theirs.

Read a bit of the Black Jacobins at Uni, complex writing definitely. Other than that I have a year's worth of material, thanks :)

BTW Life of Rhyme was great, would have been nice to see more females though

— RoLo
'beelzebub's tales to his grandson' - G. I. Gurdjieff,
'In search of the miraculous' - P. D. Ouspensky,
'How nonviolence protects the state' - Peter Gelderloos
'Papillon' - Henri Charriere
'The vegetarian myth' - Lierre Keith
— shelley tank
have you checked out: Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars and: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism? please do
— ellay rosse
have you checked out: Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars and: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism? please do
— ellay rosse
Yo you checked this Akala? sometimes I wunder if white peo[ple think they came out of know where!http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01...
— k c
Yo you checked this Akala? sometimes I wunder if white peo[ple think they came out of know where!http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01...
— k c
civil rights discussion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MruG888gH50
— apple
civil rights discussion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MruG888gH50
— apple
Just ordered 1984 for £3.50 off Play.com. Small Island by Andrea Levy is rubbish.I had to study it for my English Literature A2. Do not read it lol
— london writers
the giver lois lowry should be there too :)
— Hansika
Guys I also recommend the bhagavad gita I get alot of my metaphysics, universe, non-hatred, so and so forth knowledge from there.
— Akala
serpent of light by Drunvalo Melchizedek and
The Mayan Ouroboros: The Cosmic Cycles Come Full Circle by Drunvalo Melchizedek
— josh zsule
All of these are good recs thanks! A couple of others that are worth reading and have fed my soul are— The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther (Luther’s response to Erasmus on the question: is the will ‘free’?), The Reason for God by Tim Keller (was on the NYT best seller list for donkeys, Keller is an evangelical who engages with the urbanite post-modern worldview), To Live in Peace by Mark Gornik (Gornik provides a Biblical vision for the inner city), Intellectuals by Paul Johnson (good look at the men behind various philosophical movements), Eyes Wide Open by William Romanowski (Theological look at pop culture). Thanks again, both for thoughtful and provocative music and also for the reading list.
— Drew Waller
Try out the island - Aldous Huxely
— sutharshan
Thanks. JB Priestley's - 'An Inspector Calls' is a great play that perfectly illustrates the mechanics of social responsibility
— Paul Hampartsoumian
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