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Recommend me a book and tell me why I should read it

And nothing like this please:

the bible
why: becuz you will go to hell if you don't.

the nova express
why: becuz you will go to hell if you don't.

1) There is no such place as hell.
2) What is the Nova Express?

This is the most recent that I have read, and I have enjoyed it greatly. You could enjoy it too, boo whoo!

http://pubimages.randomhouse.co.uk/g...&cla ss=books

A smashing book. It’s so rare to find a writer who makes you chuckle and think, and who can strike a balance between laughter and integrity…David Wilson has done it brilliantly and touchingly
MAVIS CHEEK

Only two big facts are known for certain: you are on a large spinning rock hurtling through space at about 67,000 miles an hour, and one day your body is going to die. Will a new pair of shoes really help?
Worth’s 12th Law of Shopping

George Worth is a grumpy lifestyle columnist who works in a woman’s world. He hates fashion, mobile phones, computers and Young People. At night he goes home to a borrowed Labrador and feelings of guilt about his dead wife.

Justin Smith is a Young Person. A bright newcomer, he’s always on his mobile to his girlfriend, surfing the Net and keeping abreast of the latest trends.

Then comes the day when Justin’s girlfriend throws him out and he finds himself having to share a flat with George. As the women around them watch and wonder both men start to work out what really matters among the obsessions and distractions of modern life.

Laugh-out-loud funny, moving and revealing, this is a novel that confronts the big questions: Can shopping solve everything? Why are boxers better than Y-fronts? Are lifestyle writers secretly in the same mess as everyone else? And if life is a journey, who the hell changed all the signposts?

‘Witty, perceptive, observant, provocative, wise; funny but never played just for laughs; the best book I’ve read this year’ TOM HOLT

Witty, perceptive, observant, provocative, wise; funny but never played just for laughs; the best book I've read this year
TOM HOLT

^
That sounds just the sort of book I like to settle down with on holiday. I shall keep an eye out for it, and then hope for the chance to go on a holiday and read it.

The last funny, thought-provoking thing I've read was Richard Feynman's short work collection The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. Which is to say that it was lacking in the funny department at times. I'll try to look for this David Wilson book although I'm more on the "hate fashion" side.

Flatland - it's about a 2d world and its people and their exposure to a 3d world.

It's a really quick read (100 pages) and it's quite satisfying.

http://www.amazon.com/Flatland-Roman...5898199&sr=8-5

They're amusing and a good way to pass a little time each day. The same goes for all Christopher Brookmyre's books, with the exception of A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil, which isn't as good. Brookmyre's often described as a Scottish Carl Hiaasen, and his books do have a fairly similar feel.

^
I've met him a few times. Very nice man.

I reccommend the Penguin standard edition of Ovid's metamorphoses. It's got blood, guts, Gods, gore, rape, comedy, metamorphoses, curses and pretty much anything else you'd want from a book. Plus, you get to look like a right snooty cunt while in fact you're reading something quite absurd.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glice

I recommend avoiding the Penguin black classics and read something you might actually enjoy instead.

Oh, here's another one - The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

Find out why it's not shocking that the astronauts are getting drunk before being launched into space. I know I probably would. "flying and drinking, drinking and driving"

Also, Wolfe's style is very easily accesible and entertaining. I've read both this book and the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test (about some famous beat figures, Ken Kesey and Timothy Leary and an acid fueled road trip across country) and both books are really fun to read. You're either on the bus or off the bus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pookie

I recommend avoiding the Penguin black classics and read something you might actually enjoy instead.

I would recommend pithy put-downs that aren't very funny, but apparently you're way ahead of me.

Read Being and Nothingness, then call yourself a man for finsihing it.
I've tried three times.

Read Influence: The Psycholog of Persuasion. This is a book that is actually practical for your life. :)

i didn't liek the electric kool-aid acid test. it was a good read at first, but it turned out to be really repetitive and predictable in a way. i dunno. it's a good filler read i guess

Quote:

Originally Posted by mellonmellow

Read Influence: The Psycholog of Persuasion. This is a book that is actually practical for your life. :)

Ironically, I could use some more persuading.

Alice and Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass- Because they are classics, are very amusing, surreal, but very logical.

Boy & Going Solo- very good autobiography by Roald Dahl

Quote:

Originally Posted by mangajunky

I like the sound of this. Reminds me of the time me and my old roommate stayed up all night trying to figure out what the fourth dimension is. I think we got it too.