RisingThumb
Imaginary manifestation of fun
The Big Book Recommendation list
I will break this down into primary reading, and further reading. Most of these follow the Western Canon.
1 - The Original Epic Poems
1.1. Reading: Homer, The Illiad. Homer, The Odyssey. Virgil, The Aeneid.
1.2. Extended Reading: C.S. Lewis, Preface to Paradise lost. Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind.
These are the original epic poems. Epic poems, aren't always in rhyme, though some translations do it in a nice rhyme. I recommend these as they make a big backbone in the little stories inside of them. Often these little stories are taken by people like Euripides and converted into plays, like one of his better known ones, the Cyclops. Extended reading: On the narrative structure, I recommend C.S. Lewis Preface to Paradise Lost. Epic poetry is narrative, not lyrical- so it is often hard to understand or enjoy by most people today if you don't understand how to read it. It's not about the individual lines, but the "argument" which is what that poem says in that canto or book. I also recommend reading Julian Jaynes "The Origin of Consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind". This will explore psychologically what is meant by Gods "speaking to people", where it is actually down to the right hemisphere dealing with primal emotions, symbols and images, but the Corpus Callosum(the small bridge between the two hemispheres of the brain) wasn't evolved enough to deal with this sort of functionality.
2 - The Socratic Philosophy
2.1. Reading: Plato, The Symposium. Plato, The Republic.
2.2. Extended Reading: Plato, Apology, Crito, Phaedo. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Secret of Secrets. Plutarch's lives, Alexander the Great
Original socratic dialogues on a number of topics. It helps to know what a socratic dialogue is and how it is done. As extended reading, Plato's other dialogues are worth reading. Aristotle is an excellent introduction to ethics and metaphysics, often invoked in Hellenistic philosophy(Greek philosophy). Secret of Secrets, is a mixture of philosophy, magic, astronomy, diet, and politics that was written for Alexander the Great whom Aristotle mentored. The Plutarch lives of Alexander the Great is an excellent overview of this, that isn't spoiled by "He was gay" and other recent historical revisionist ideas.
3 - The Stoic Philosophy
3.1. Reading: Epictetus, Enchiridion. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.
3.2. Extended Reading: Epictetus, Discourses. Seneca, Letters from a Stoic. Huxley, Brave New World
It is worth mentioning, this section is about the 3 main offshoots of hellenistic philosophy, and how to lead a good life. Stoicism, Hedonism and Cynicism. The reading here covers the principle application of stoicism. I do not know of good books by the ancients on the topic of Hedonism, so the modern Brave New World will suffice for demonstrating this(showing not just what pleasure without pain does, but what function pain has in conditioning, and a number of psychological, social and politic themes). I do not know of any good books covering cynicism, so let it suffice to say, it's the Socratic quote "I know that I know nothing" taken to the extreme towards being cynical of everything. All 3 of these philosophies are engrained into our language as adverbs, "Hedonistic", "Cynical" and "Stoic", so understanding all 3 of these is important. I would argue Stoicism is the most prescriptive and useful to people. Hedonism and Cynicism should both be treated with caution, as the latter carries the burden of the Nietzschean idea of the Abyss, which will devour your will and affirmation to life if not untangled. Hedonism, if not treated as "maximising pleasure, minimising pain" will cause issues, as it's often seen as just maximising pleasures, ignoring the hangover of too much wine, or the overdose of too much drugs.
4 - Christianity
4.1. Reading: The Bible(Genesis, Proverbs, Psalms, The Gospel of St Matthew, Revelations).
4.2. Extended Reading: The Apocrypha. The Books of Enoch. The book of Jubilee. The other books of the bible. The book of common prayer. C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape letters, The Problem of Pain. The Torah, The
The reading books I have mentioned in the bible is because they are invoked everywhere. Genesis as the Christian Creation myth. Proverbs for its proverbs. Psalms for, as Luther puts it "The little bible". The Gospel of St. Matthew as the life of Jesus. Revelations as the apocalyptic literature for the Christians. Of the extended readings, it's important to know that the Apocrypha are non-canonical books which have their own errors and inconsistencies with The Bible, and the church picks and chooses what is invoked. For the two C.S. Lewis works, The Screwtape letters gives an idea of how to pervert people away from virtue, regardless of whether virtue is a Christian virtue or not. The Problem of pain tackles, exactly that. The Book of Common Prayer is also listed as it's referenced sparsely throughout Christian writings following its inception(along a similar time as the KJV bible). It should also be noted, C.S. Lewis' works also touch on the ideas of mere christianity, the unusual nature of different churches and sects.
5 - Eastern philosophy
5.1. Reading: The Bhagavadgita. Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five rings, Dokkodo.
5.2. Extended Reading: The Vedas. The Upanishads. The Mahabharata. Confuscious, Five Classics and Four books
It is worth noting, I have not read the extended reading for this, but their work is colossal as it covers the epic poetry of India(which affects Aristotlean thought slightly). The Bhagavadgita covers Indian philosophy well, the Art of War covers chinese philosophy well, and Musashi's works cover Japanese philosophy well. These have similar concepts to those found in Stoic philosophy, regarding conflict, but regarding the world, it takes a non-dualistic view of the world, which you'll not find in the West until Nietzsche(as the Bible brings out the dualistic the thoughts of Virtue and Sin).
6 - Medieval politics, poetry and understanding the world
6.1. Reading: Dante's Inferno. Milton, Paradise lost. Machiavelli, The Prince.
6.2. Extended Reading: Isidore of Seville, Etymology. C.S. Lewis preface to paradise lost. Dante's Divine Comedy
The Etymology will explain a lot of post-ancient thought without it being skewed from modernist commentary. It is also an excellent text for learning Latin as a beginner. Dante's Inferno, could be called a Gnostic text, or a Christian text as it draws upon ideas from the Apocrypha, like the idea of Purgatory(which is not a Christian idea).
7 - Esoteric, Hermetic and Gnostic thought
This covers Hermeticism. This section is intentionally left blank as I'm not educated enough on it. I have read some of Wouter J. Hanegraff, Western Esotericism, A guide for the perplexed, and the Corpus Hermeticum but my understanding of the Esoteric is incomplete.
8 - Medieval philosophy
8.1. Reading: Shakespeare, Hamlet, Julius Caesar. The Essays of Francis Bacon.
8.2. Extended Reading: ...
There are a lot of works in the medieval philosophy. Regarding the plays of Hamlet and Julius Caesar, they had a lot of ripples in references. The Essays of Francis Bacon, shows the growing (leftist and liberal ideas) towards constitutional monarchy. I have put a ... on the extended reading, as there's a huge amount, that is utterly inaccessible by the use of Latin, and because I generally haven't read from this period very much.
9 - Enlightenment philosophy and science
9.1. Reading: Voltaire, Candide or Optimism. Darwin, On the Origin of Species. Kierkegaard, Either/Or. Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.
9.2. Extended Reading: Max Stirner, The Unique and its Property. Karl Marx, Das Kapital. Schopenhauer, The world as Will and Representation.
On the reading books, Candide or Optimism is an enjoyable tragicomedy on the random nature of the world, and how this world is not the best of all possible worlds(while also damning Christianity and a number of other ideas), it sits alongside the growing Prussian and German nationalist movements. Darwin's work is included as a scientific. . The extended reading books are less important works of Hegelian dialectics and its consequences, spiralling into the left-right, communist-fascist horseshoe theory messy soup of strangely worded dialectics designed to confuse readers. I have opted for Max Stirner and Karl Marx as the former is discrediting philosophy, and the latter tries to establish communist thought and also is very reactionary to Stirner. Kierkegaard's Either/Or shows how the dualism of living, either as the virtuous ethical... faithful man, or as the aesthetic man, and by metaphysics shows how you can't reason on any account towards either... or. Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals discusses the idea of the Categorical Imperative, and how most imperatives are of a hypotheitcal imperative form. Schopenhauer's world as will is an important text to understanding Nietzsche as Nietzsche adored him in his early work, and his later work is somewhat reactionary and condemning of Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer was also mocking in his time of Hegel(as was Max Stirner and the next generation of students after Hegel). Hegel was honestly the butt of jokes in the grand scheme, his dialectic was just another rhetoric(used by Nazis, Communists, and folks with an agenda).
10 - Nietzsche
10.1. Reading: Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Twilight of the Idols. Beyond Good and Evil.
10.2. Extended Reading: The Gay Science. The Birth of Tragedy. The Antichrist. The Will to Power, Ecce Homo, The Wagner Case. Richard Wagner, The Ring Cycle.
Before going into this, you will want to be comfortable with the following: a grasp on music, a good grasp of Christianity(AT LEAST having read the Gospel of St Matthew!). A grasp of germany at the time(Nibelungelied being the common mythology drawn upon, the german romanticist movement. How classical music is really the history of germanic music. The formation of the German state). You will also want to know your Greek and Roman mythology as he draws upon their pantheons. You will want to toss out any misconceptions of what the Übermensch is, as drawn up by WW2 and the Nazis. You will also want to know what communism is, what nationalism is, how they all draw from Hegelian Dialectics. The majority of Nietzsche's works are put as extended reading. Twilight of the Idols is a good intorduction on him. Beyond Good and Evil is his explosive ideas put into a powerful prose form. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is his explosive ideas put into a powerful poetic or storytelling form. You'll find Twilight of the Idols and Beyond Good and Evil are quoted from a lot due to their aphorisms. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is referenced a lot more so in its titles and events, as it tells a lot of parables instead. This makes it engaging even if you don't know all the work he draws upon. If you do, you have a very good idea what he's saying.
A warning on Nietzsche, he writes incredibly dense text. Picking up a secondhand student's copy will find the entire book is practically highlighted because of how much is insightful. It's exactly true what is said in Ecce Homo, that he says a book's worth of content in 10 lines, and says what many books cannot. His works relating more to music(Birth of Tragedy, Wagner Case), need a backing in what opera is, what music was like, how Beethoven was the peak of apollonian music, and following Wagner everything was more emotions and less musical structure(The Ninth legendarily features double fugues which are often difficult and very structured ideas to work upon, and often come out sounding like crap if done poorly. Bach did them well). Care should be taken reading The Will to Power and The Antichrist, they were published post-humously, and are likely subjects of editing by his sister and her boyfriend who were known anti-semites(unlike Nietzsche who was an anti-anti-semite as noted in letters damning Wagner).
A lot of stuff can be read out of order, but if you read Nietzsche without knowing the ancient philosophy, the ancient mythology, schopenhaur, and musical history and Christianity you will seriously struggle to understand him.
11 - Post-Nietzsche, Modern writings
11.1. Reading: Doestovsky, Brother's Karamazov, Crime and Punishment. Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus. George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-four. Carl Jung, The Red Book, Man and His Symbols, The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious. Theodore Kaczynski, Industrial Society and its future. Huxley, Brave New World. Thomas Carlyle, Heroes and Hero worship. Grimm's Folk tales. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings. Mikhael Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita. Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Kafka, The Trial. F. Scott Fizgerald, The Great Gatsby. Aleister Crowley, The Equinox of the Gods. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Storm of Steel, Ernst Jünger.
Strictly speaking, some(quite a few by ~100 years) of these are before Nietzsche(Doestovsky) but the majority of these fall into the categories of building upon alchemy, building upon psychology, or building upon the abyss. I have not put any of this into extended reading, as following Nietzsche, it blooms into political philosophy, magic and esotericism, and psychology. Some of these are widely known, so I will skip discussing them. The Master and Margarita is a fascinating communist work, possibly best enjoyed alongside the Gulag Archipelago. Jules Verne's works are travellogues, but his work on 20,000 leagues under the sea(while dry and boring in some areas) is exceptional and speaks to our current world where we have many mysteries and a growing interest in magic, alchemy and the esoteric(atlantis). It also speaks into current crises, with well-reasoned terrorism. Alongisde that is Kaczynski's seminal work "Industrial Society and its Future", where you see first prophecies that have rung true to our current world. Jung's work is proto-psychology, that speaks a lot on the right hemisphere, active imagination, the nature of dreams, the nature of the unconscious and gnostic mysteries. Camus gives the absurdist perspective of how to deal with Nietzsche's Abyss. Thomas Carlyle, struck closely to what Julian Jaynes talks of in the Origin of Consciousness, but his lectures and other works talks a lot about human ideal, and where it originates(Gods, Prophets, Poets, Priests, Academics, Kings). All of these can be seen as "heavy drops from the gray cloud that mark the coming of the Übermensch" to paraphrase Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Grimm's Folk tales speaks of germanic stories often heard in the west. Crowley's Equinox of the Gods, fits in here, as his Divine Law "Do What Thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" follows naturally from the the Nietzschean abyss. A cautious reading of Mein Kampf, under similar warnings about communist readings using Hegelian Dialectics as it produces anti-semites. Protocols of the Elders of Zion, is similarly anti-semitic, but has an unknown author and follows in the growing Russian and German antisemitism of the time. Anti-semitism is a curious topic, and in some ways, given the hypocrisies between the Old Testament, and the Oral Torah and the Talmud. It is understandable how antisemitism arises, when you look at the treatment of gentiles-- even more so antizionism, the nationalist Jews crusading for Jerusalem... Israel under U.S. Tax Dollars and Nazi German Marks(Haavara Agreement). The work Storm of Steel is a WW1 text that doesn't treat the war entirely as the worst thing that happened, but gives an interesting philosophical account of the war from a man who lived in it. Who understood best, arguably, what it meant to be a German.
Final Note. Some of these works you will already be familiar with, not from reading them, but from performances of them. Some of these are better seen as performances than read. I.E. Anything opera(Wagner) or theatre(Hamlet, Julius Caesar) or even plain tragedy/satyr/comedy (Plays of Euripedes like Cyclops). It may cost a bit, but if your local opera house, or theatre is doing performances of these, it is highly advised to watch it. Those works were never intended to be only read, but also enjoyed a visiual-audio spectacle. I guarantee, the first opera you see will be a spectacle that will leave you speechless and astonished.
Pinging @Hadrian Hardrada Cicero as he requested this big list. Apologies for any spelling and grammar errors, if I had more time, I'd correct them. I tried to give an overview of why particular primary texts are chosen, and why particular extended reading is chosen, but I got pretty lazy towards the end. On Medieval texts and on Esoteric texts, do leave what you would recommend as reading there! I'm curious myself what from that period of time(250 AD-1600AD) are highly recommended reading. Also apologies for messed up editing, I wrote it as a text file, and copied and pasted and made minor formatting changes.
I will break this down into primary reading, and further reading. Most of these follow the Western Canon.
1 - The Original Epic Poems
1.1. Reading: Homer, The Illiad. Homer, The Odyssey. Virgil, The Aeneid.
1.2. Extended Reading: C.S. Lewis, Preface to Paradise lost. Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind.
These are the original epic poems. Epic poems, aren't always in rhyme, though some translations do it in a nice rhyme. I recommend these as they make a big backbone in the little stories inside of them. Often these little stories are taken by people like Euripides and converted into plays, like one of his better known ones, the Cyclops. Extended reading: On the narrative structure, I recommend C.S. Lewis Preface to Paradise Lost. Epic poetry is narrative, not lyrical- so it is often hard to understand or enjoy by most people today if you don't understand how to read it. It's not about the individual lines, but the "argument" which is what that poem says in that canto or book. I also recommend reading Julian Jaynes "The Origin of Consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind". This will explore psychologically what is meant by Gods "speaking to people", where it is actually down to the right hemisphere dealing with primal emotions, symbols and images, but the Corpus Callosum(the small bridge between the two hemispheres of the brain) wasn't evolved enough to deal with this sort of functionality.
2 - The Socratic Philosophy
2.1. Reading: Plato, The Symposium. Plato, The Republic.
2.2. Extended Reading: Plato, Apology, Crito, Phaedo. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Secret of Secrets. Plutarch's lives, Alexander the Great
Original socratic dialogues on a number of topics. It helps to know what a socratic dialogue is and how it is done. As extended reading, Plato's other dialogues are worth reading. Aristotle is an excellent introduction to ethics and metaphysics, often invoked in Hellenistic philosophy(Greek philosophy). Secret of Secrets, is a mixture of philosophy, magic, astronomy, diet, and politics that was written for Alexander the Great whom Aristotle mentored. The Plutarch lives of Alexander the Great is an excellent overview of this, that isn't spoiled by "He was gay" and other recent historical revisionist ideas.
3 - The Stoic Philosophy
3.1. Reading: Epictetus, Enchiridion. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.
3.2. Extended Reading: Epictetus, Discourses. Seneca, Letters from a Stoic. Huxley, Brave New World
It is worth mentioning, this section is about the 3 main offshoots of hellenistic philosophy, and how to lead a good life. Stoicism, Hedonism and Cynicism. The reading here covers the principle application of stoicism. I do not know of good books by the ancients on the topic of Hedonism, so the modern Brave New World will suffice for demonstrating this(showing not just what pleasure without pain does, but what function pain has in conditioning, and a number of psychological, social and politic themes). I do not know of any good books covering cynicism, so let it suffice to say, it's the Socratic quote "I know that I know nothing" taken to the extreme towards being cynical of everything. All 3 of these philosophies are engrained into our language as adverbs, "Hedonistic", "Cynical" and "Stoic", so understanding all 3 of these is important. I would argue Stoicism is the most prescriptive and useful to people. Hedonism and Cynicism should both be treated with caution, as the latter carries the burden of the Nietzschean idea of the Abyss, which will devour your will and affirmation to life if not untangled. Hedonism, if not treated as "maximising pleasure, minimising pain" will cause issues, as it's often seen as just maximising pleasures, ignoring the hangover of too much wine, or the overdose of too much drugs.
4 - Christianity
4.1. Reading: The Bible(Genesis, Proverbs, Psalms, The Gospel of St Matthew, Revelations).
4.2. Extended Reading: The Apocrypha. The Books of Enoch. The book of Jubilee. The other books of the bible. The book of common prayer. C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape letters, The Problem of Pain. The Torah, The
The reading books I have mentioned in the bible is because they are invoked everywhere. Genesis as the Christian Creation myth. Proverbs for its proverbs. Psalms for, as Luther puts it "The little bible". The Gospel of St. Matthew as the life of Jesus. Revelations as the apocalyptic literature for the Christians. Of the extended readings, it's important to know that the Apocrypha are non-canonical books which have their own errors and inconsistencies with The Bible, and the church picks and chooses what is invoked. For the two C.S. Lewis works, The Screwtape letters gives an idea of how to pervert people away from virtue, regardless of whether virtue is a Christian virtue or not. The Problem of pain tackles, exactly that. The Book of Common Prayer is also listed as it's referenced sparsely throughout Christian writings following its inception(along a similar time as the KJV bible). It should also be noted, C.S. Lewis' works also touch on the ideas of mere christianity, the unusual nature of different churches and sects.
5 - Eastern philosophy
5.1. Reading: The Bhagavadgita. Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five rings, Dokkodo.
5.2. Extended Reading: The Vedas. The Upanishads. The Mahabharata. Confuscious, Five Classics and Four books
It is worth noting, I have not read the extended reading for this, but their work is colossal as it covers the epic poetry of India(which affects Aristotlean thought slightly). The Bhagavadgita covers Indian philosophy well, the Art of War covers chinese philosophy well, and Musashi's works cover Japanese philosophy well. These have similar concepts to those found in Stoic philosophy, regarding conflict, but regarding the world, it takes a non-dualistic view of the world, which you'll not find in the West until Nietzsche(as the Bible brings out the dualistic the thoughts of Virtue and Sin).
6 - Medieval politics, poetry and understanding the world
6.1. Reading: Dante's Inferno. Milton, Paradise lost. Machiavelli, The Prince.
6.2. Extended Reading: Isidore of Seville, Etymology. C.S. Lewis preface to paradise lost. Dante's Divine Comedy
The Etymology will explain a lot of post-ancient thought without it being skewed from modernist commentary. It is also an excellent text for learning Latin as a beginner. Dante's Inferno, could be called a Gnostic text, or a Christian text as it draws upon ideas from the Apocrypha, like the idea of Purgatory(which is not a Christian idea).
7 - Esoteric, Hermetic and Gnostic thought
This covers Hermeticism. This section is intentionally left blank as I'm not educated enough on it. I have read some of Wouter J. Hanegraff, Western Esotericism, A guide for the perplexed, and the Corpus Hermeticum but my understanding of the Esoteric is incomplete.
8 - Medieval philosophy
8.1. Reading: Shakespeare, Hamlet, Julius Caesar. The Essays of Francis Bacon.
8.2. Extended Reading: ...
There are a lot of works in the medieval philosophy. Regarding the plays of Hamlet and Julius Caesar, they had a lot of ripples in references. The Essays of Francis Bacon, shows the growing (leftist and liberal ideas) towards constitutional monarchy. I have put a ... on the extended reading, as there's a huge amount, that is utterly inaccessible by the use of Latin, and because I generally haven't read from this period very much.
9 - Enlightenment philosophy and science
9.1. Reading: Voltaire, Candide or Optimism. Darwin, On the Origin of Species. Kierkegaard, Either/Or. Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.
9.2. Extended Reading: Max Stirner, The Unique and its Property. Karl Marx, Das Kapital. Schopenhauer, The world as Will and Representation.
On the reading books, Candide or Optimism is an enjoyable tragicomedy on the random nature of the world, and how this world is not the best of all possible worlds(while also damning Christianity and a number of other ideas), it sits alongside the growing Prussian and German nationalist movements. Darwin's work is included as a scientific. . The extended reading books are less important works of Hegelian dialectics and its consequences, spiralling into the left-right, communist-fascist horseshoe theory messy soup of strangely worded dialectics designed to confuse readers. I have opted for Max Stirner and Karl Marx as the former is discrediting philosophy, and the latter tries to establish communist thought and also is very reactionary to Stirner. Kierkegaard's Either/Or shows how the dualism of living, either as the virtuous ethical... faithful man, or as the aesthetic man, and by metaphysics shows how you can't reason on any account towards either... or. Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals discusses the idea of the Categorical Imperative, and how most imperatives are of a hypotheitcal imperative form. Schopenhauer's world as will is an important text to understanding Nietzsche as Nietzsche adored him in his early work, and his later work is somewhat reactionary and condemning of Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer was also mocking in his time of Hegel(as was Max Stirner and the next generation of students after Hegel). Hegel was honestly the butt of jokes in the grand scheme, his dialectic was just another rhetoric(used by Nazis, Communists, and folks with an agenda).
10 - Nietzsche
10.1. Reading: Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Twilight of the Idols. Beyond Good and Evil.
10.2. Extended Reading: The Gay Science. The Birth of Tragedy. The Antichrist. The Will to Power, Ecce Homo, The Wagner Case. Richard Wagner, The Ring Cycle.
Before going into this, you will want to be comfortable with the following: a grasp on music, a good grasp of Christianity(AT LEAST having read the Gospel of St Matthew!). A grasp of germany at the time(Nibelungelied being the common mythology drawn upon, the german romanticist movement. How classical music is really the history of germanic music. The formation of the German state). You will also want to know your Greek and Roman mythology as he draws upon their pantheons. You will want to toss out any misconceptions of what the Übermensch is, as drawn up by WW2 and the Nazis. You will also want to know what communism is, what nationalism is, how they all draw from Hegelian Dialectics. The majority of Nietzsche's works are put as extended reading. Twilight of the Idols is a good intorduction on him. Beyond Good and Evil is his explosive ideas put into a powerful prose form. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is his explosive ideas put into a powerful poetic or storytelling form. You'll find Twilight of the Idols and Beyond Good and Evil are quoted from a lot due to their aphorisms. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is referenced a lot more so in its titles and events, as it tells a lot of parables instead. This makes it engaging even if you don't know all the work he draws upon. If you do, you have a very good idea what he's saying.
A warning on Nietzsche, he writes incredibly dense text. Picking up a secondhand student's copy will find the entire book is practically highlighted because of how much is insightful. It's exactly true what is said in Ecce Homo, that he says a book's worth of content in 10 lines, and says what many books cannot. His works relating more to music(Birth of Tragedy, Wagner Case), need a backing in what opera is, what music was like, how Beethoven was the peak of apollonian music, and following Wagner everything was more emotions and less musical structure(The Ninth legendarily features double fugues which are often difficult and very structured ideas to work upon, and often come out sounding like crap if done poorly. Bach did them well). Care should be taken reading The Will to Power and The Antichrist, they were published post-humously, and are likely subjects of editing by his sister and her boyfriend who were known anti-semites(unlike Nietzsche who was an anti-anti-semite as noted in letters damning Wagner).
A lot of stuff can be read out of order, but if you read Nietzsche without knowing the ancient philosophy, the ancient mythology, schopenhaur, and musical history and Christianity you will seriously struggle to understand him.
11 - Post-Nietzsche, Modern writings
11.1. Reading: Doestovsky, Brother's Karamazov, Crime and Punishment. Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus. George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-four. Carl Jung, The Red Book, Man and His Symbols, The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious. Theodore Kaczynski, Industrial Society and its future. Huxley, Brave New World. Thomas Carlyle, Heroes and Hero worship. Grimm's Folk tales. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings. Mikhael Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita. Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Kafka, The Trial. F. Scott Fizgerald, The Great Gatsby. Aleister Crowley, The Equinox of the Gods. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Storm of Steel, Ernst Jünger.
Strictly speaking, some(quite a few by ~100 years) of these are before Nietzsche(Doestovsky) but the majority of these fall into the categories of building upon alchemy, building upon psychology, or building upon the abyss. I have not put any of this into extended reading, as following Nietzsche, it blooms into political philosophy, magic and esotericism, and psychology. Some of these are widely known, so I will skip discussing them. The Master and Margarita is a fascinating communist work, possibly best enjoyed alongside the Gulag Archipelago. Jules Verne's works are travellogues, but his work on 20,000 leagues under the sea(while dry and boring in some areas) is exceptional and speaks to our current world where we have many mysteries and a growing interest in magic, alchemy and the esoteric(atlantis). It also speaks into current crises, with well-reasoned terrorism. Alongisde that is Kaczynski's seminal work "Industrial Society and its Future", where you see first prophecies that have rung true to our current world. Jung's work is proto-psychology, that speaks a lot on the right hemisphere, active imagination, the nature of dreams, the nature of the unconscious and gnostic mysteries. Camus gives the absurdist perspective of how to deal with Nietzsche's Abyss. Thomas Carlyle, struck closely to what Julian Jaynes talks of in the Origin of Consciousness, but his lectures and other works talks a lot about human ideal, and where it originates(Gods, Prophets, Poets, Priests, Academics, Kings). All of these can be seen as "heavy drops from the gray cloud that mark the coming of the Übermensch" to paraphrase Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Grimm's Folk tales speaks of germanic stories often heard in the west. Crowley's Equinox of the Gods, fits in here, as his Divine Law "Do What Thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" follows naturally from the the Nietzschean abyss. A cautious reading of Mein Kampf, under similar warnings about communist readings using Hegelian Dialectics as it produces anti-semites. Protocols of the Elders of Zion, is similarly anti-semitic, but has an unknown author and follows in the growing Russian and German antisemitism of the time. Anti-semitism is a curious topic, and in some ways, given the hypocrisies between the Old Testament, and the Oral Torah and the Talmud. It is understandable how antisemitism arises, when you look at the treatment of gentiles-- even more so antizionism, the nationalist Jews crusading for Jerusalem... Israel under U.S. Tax Dollars and Nazi German Marks(Haavara Agreement). The work Storm of Steel is a WW1 text that doesn't treat the war entirely as the worst thing that happened, but gives an interesting philosophical account of the war from a man who lived in it. Who understood best, arguably, what it meant to be a German.
Final Note. Some of these works you will already be familiar with, not from reading them, but from performances of them. Some of these are better seen as performances than read. I.E. Anything opera(Wagner) or theatre(Hamlet, Julius Caesar) or even plain tragedy/satyr/comedy (Plays of Euripedes like Cyclops). It may cost a bit, but if your local opera house, or theatre is doing performances of these, it is highly advised to watch it. Those works were never intended to be only read, but also enjoyed a visiual-audio spectacle. I guarantee, the first opera you see will be a spectacle that will leave you speechless and astonished.
Pinging @Hadrian Hardrada Cicero as he requested this big list. Apologies for any spelling and grammar errors, if I had more time, I'd correct them. I tried to give an overview of why particular primary texts are chosen, and why particular extended reading is chosen, but I got pretty lazy towards the end. On Medieval texts and on Esoteric texts, do leave what you would recommend as reading there! I'm curious myself what from that period of time(250 AD-1600AD) are highly recommended reading. Also apologies for messed up editing, I wrote it as a text file, and copied and pasted and made minor formatting changes.
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