Mirage Men by Mark Pilkington.

The Holy Bible

I guess it's fairly important to read the Bible, although it is useful to have a moderately skeptical set of annotations. It is also fairly important to read Homer and Shakespeare and Dickens so that one is aware of allusions that otherwise go over your head.

I think many who say the have read the Bible are lying; they may have gotten as far as Jeremiah but that is always where I bog down. I would rather read bits and pieces of it, in moderate doses. It really can get boring you know.

I read a bunch of Wikipedia articles because the core text is pretty boring.

I think I got the gist. It works for most things.

Loren Michael wrote:The Holy Bible

The Bible has no practical relevance for real life situations, unless you are trying to be a preacher or a Biblical academian (eg. Craig) to put a roof over your head.

yeah but a lot of real life situations can involve Christianity

so like

at the very least a vague fluency is useful for acquainting oneself with Christians; not necessary perhaps, but heloful

so you're wrong

I am far more familiar with Christianity than I wish I were. By the way, the Bible is hardly the way to learn Christianity anyway.

I've never read The Bible right through but, in my experience, I know more about it's origins and contents than the majority of people who call themselves Christians. That's probably true of most atheists.

Read the bible through several times, apocrypha included, and in several versions. I own three versions, and I'm about to add another, namely the Lolcat Bible.

Never could stand Dickens. Not bad stories, but a terrible writer.

As for the most important book that I think everybody should read, I'd have to go for A Brief History of Time, although I might make a different choice 5 minutes from now. It's difficult to elevate one book over another in such a manner, because I have no real metric for performing such a calculus.

It is true that there is no single most important book for everyone. Everyone's most important book is probably whatever there is that best disagrees with what they happen to think is true. For some of us that might be Let God be True(or some such) published half a century ago by The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, but don't let the first chapter put you off.

The Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan

The World According to Garp - John Irving

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

^^ Not read Garp, but the other two have always been high on my list of recommendations.

The most important book depends heavily on the situation and which knowledge you may require at the time.

For instance if you're in an aeroplane and the pilot has had the fish a 'Dummies' guide to flying might come in handy.
If after your successful-ish emergency landing you and the surviving passengers found yourself stranded out in the wilds of Alaska, a copy of Bear Grylls' Mud, Sweat and Tears is indispensable - as kindling.

Right now the most important book I could receive is one which can point out where I'm going wrong in life and push me in the right direction.

kennyc wrote:The Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan

The World According to Garp - John Irving

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

I haven't read the first two, but I couldn't agree more about The Grapes of Wrath. It hit me like a train when I first encountered it as a teenager and it has underpinned my entire political outlook ever since.

Is there something wrong with me that I've never read The Grapes of Wrath? But then I haven't read Moby Dick either.

Nothing wrong with you, no, but you'd enjoy both, I reckon.

Oh no, I absolutely hated Grapes of Wrath.

hackenslash wrote:Nothing wrong with you, no, but you'd enjoy both, I reckon.

I've tried to read both, but I can't get beyond the first couple of pages. But then I have read Plutarch, Thuycidides, Herodotus (a few times) etc etc. I loved those. I have a problem with fiction, if it's not biological fiction, I just skim read. I think that Harry Potter is probably the series I've enjoyed the most, and Game of Thrones, I've read all of those.

I also have The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Read the first chapter, and then meh! (I know blasphemy).

You can not be expected to read every classic in English literature so do not worry about that now. I myself have only read one Shakespeare and one Dickens and only because they were recommended reading at school. I have read one Orwell and one Kafka to date also. The former was excellent but not so the latter. But you can not win them all. I have read the Bible but that was just to prove to myself I could. Maybe next time I shall try to actually enjoy it as a work of literature in its own right. Also the Koran too if I ever get round to it. And Churchill and Hitchens and Asimov to name but three others off the top of my head. So many books. So little time. But better that than the other way round and so for that at one should be grateful