All -

  10??? Oh, well . . .

  When I was a kid, my parents installed this in the living room (you can still 
sometimes find it in used book stores -- saw one a few years ago for $150, 
missing Marx and Freud !).  I learned a lot :-)    :

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World

  Some years ago, I was asked for "recommended reading" (by a group of 
students), and I pulled this together:

     Fiction - July, 2001 (html)  (mostly 20th century, but some other stuff . 
. . This needs to be updated :-)

  This semester, in a class I am teaching, we're reading (among other things, 
including "Pandora's Hope" by Bruno Latour).

     Earth Abides, by George Stewart
     Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig
     The Goldbug Variations, by Richard Powers

  In prior years of the class, we've also read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by 
Walter Miller, "The Golden Notebook" by Doris Lessing, "Naked Lunch" by William 
Burroughs, and "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad (so we could watch 
Apocalypse Now  :-).     I guess if I'm ready to require students to read them, 
I must think they're worthwhile . . .

tom


On Oct 8, 2010, at 12:44 PM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote:

> Ok, so I've decided my literary education is somewhat lacking and would like 
> to know this group's recommendations for the "10 Best Literary Works" I 
> should read.  They have to be works of fiction and available in English and 
> not just say of 2009 but of all time.  Google searches tend to list the best 
> of a year or be listed by one particular publisher.   This is a good group to 
> poll since you all (most) have at least some kind of scientific/technical 
> bent.  So I know the suggestions will be good ones for me!
> 
> Once I have a list of all suggestions maybe I'll ask you all to vote on them.
> 
> My list currently starts with Frank's recommendation today:
> 
>    "Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West" by Cormac McCarthy
> 
> Thanks!
> Robert C.
> 
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