What books and other written works have had major impact on this world? - Page 2

Velociryx · February 10, 2003, 15:44

Thanks man....now, if I can just get BlackWidow to read it and swoon....

-=Vel=-

Az · February 10, 2003, 16:33

The Ramayana epic.

It didn't change the world, since it wasn't published at a single time, but it's a very important book.

has anyone read it? I wrestled through it, and don't remember a single shread of info.

Drogue · February 10, 2003, 17:14

Quote:

Originally posted by DuncanK
Isn't the Declaration of Independence a copy of the Magna Carta?

No, The Magna Carta was written well before there was a USA, 1215 IIRC. It is the nearest to a British Constitution that we have, and basically removes some of the absolute powers of the monarch. It was almost a list on consessions from the King (King John?) to the Nobles, who weren't happy with his rule.

mactbone · February 10, 2003, 17:32

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Plato's Republic
Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by Locke

DuncanK · February 10, 2003, 17:34

Damn, I was just about to say Descartes

DuncanK · February 10, 2003, 17:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Drogue

No, The Magna Carta was written well before there was a USA, 1215 IIRC. It is the nearest to a British Constitution that we have, and basically removes some of the absolute powers of the monarch. It was almost a list on consessions from the King (King John?) to the Nobles, who weren't happy with his rule.

Were you thinking that I said the Magna Carta was a copy of the Dec. of Ind.?

DuncanK · February 10, 2003, 17:36

DP

Drogue · February 10, 2003, 17:54

Quote:

Originally posted by DuncanK
Were you thinking that I said the Magna Carta was a copy of the Dec. of Ind.?

No. I see where you're coming from, but I don't think they have that much to do with each other. The Magna Carta wasn't declaring independence, it laid down a few guidelines and rules for the King. I think they're pretty different, in almost all respects.

Grrr · February 10, 2003, 17:57

I'm going to get killed for this:
The story about the Turtle and the Hare.

Referances to that story are EVERYWHERE. For instance on our tractor there are pictures of turtles and hares.

Boris Godunov · February 10, 2003, 18:04

Grrr, you could just say Aesop's Fables in general, which do seem pretty ubiquitous.

Alex Woehr · February 10, 2003, 18:46

How about The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant (plus works metioned earlier)?

Agathon · February 10, 2003, 18:50

Parmenides' Poem esp. "The Way of Truth"

The inaugural work of Western philosophy (everything before that was just bad science).

"Never shall this prevail
That what-is-not should be
But, thinking, restrain your thought
from that path of inquiry."

The most pregnant words ever uttered....

DuncanK · February 10, 2003, 19:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Drogue

No. I see where you're coming from, but I don't think they have that much to do with each other. The Magna Carta wasn't declaring independence, it laid down a few guidelines and rules for the King. I think they're pretty different, in almost all respects.

I think they are duplicated idea for idea in sequence.

DuncanK · February 10, 2003, 20:25

On second thought I think I could be wrong. It's the Bill of Rights that is based on the Magna Carta. The Declaration of Independence comes from John Lockes idea of social contract.

Ironikinit · February 10, 2003, 20:46

I may be a philistine (hey, a Bible reference), but very few of the books mentioned have made my reading list. I couldn't find a good article to support Robert A. Heinlein as an influential author, but a google search for the words "heinlein influential" got 2840 hits. "Stranger in a Strange Land" definitely, IMO, had an effect on 60s counter-culture. Not to mention his huge influence over the field of science fiction. I feel that reading RAH led me to become an atheist, an optimist (particularly in regards to the effects of technology and the basic goodness of mankind), and a pragmatist. I couldn't begin to guess how many young people decided to major in engineering or astronomy due to RAH's writings.

Some works that influenced me directly (as in, I read them and not just authors who were influenced by them):

The Painted Bird, by Jerzy Kozinski
All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque
An Incomplete Education, Archer and Jones
Huckleberry Finn, Twain
Lord of the Flies, Fielding (a bit of an antidote for too much Heinlein)
1984, Orwell (the antidote for too much optimism in general. Damn book is the cure for happiness.)

I read all these during my formative years, with the exception of An Incomplete Education which I first read in college. IMO the books read in the teen years are the most influential.

A couple of authors I who I think went unmentioned in this thread but who had great influence: Freud, Kipling, and that Marx fellow mentioned in the previous poster's sig.

mrmitchell · February 10, 2003, 22:57

Ironikinit--True, 1984 scared the effin **** out of me after I finished it. Thank God we still have a few decades left before we are bowing down to a Big Brother.

The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells
(this book and author launched sci-fi into being you could say, I'm a little rusty on scifi from the time period tho)

Aro · February 10, 2003, 23:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Ironikinit
I may be a philistine (hey, a Bible reference), but very few of the books mentioned have made my reading list. I couldn't find a good article to support Robert A. Heinlein as an influential author, but a google search for the words "heinlein influential" got 2840 hits. "Stranger in a Strange Land" definitely, IMO, had an effect on 60s counter-culture. Not to mention his huge influence over the field of science fiction. I feel that reading RAH led me to become an atheist, an optimist (particularly in regards to the effects of technology and the basic goodness of mankind), and a pragmatist. I couldn't begin to guess how many young people decided to major in engineering or astronomy due to RAH's writings.

Man, you said all.

The books and authors already mentioned, of course (well, almost all of them

)

Oh, and two more:
Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes, and... Hamlet, by the Bard himself!!!

molly bloom · February 11, 2003, 00:39

The 1612 King James Bible, Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and the collected works of William Shakespeare all helped to make English a world language. The use of the Bible and the prayer book by missionaries helped to change societies as far apart as Arctic Canada and Western Australia.

In pure literary terms, there are many candidates: Samuel Richardson's 'Pamela' set a vogue for epistolary novels Europe wide; Goethe's 'Sorrows of Young Werther' helped shape the consciousness of his time. In poetry, Wordsworth's 'Prelude and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'Lyrical Ballads' kick-started life into Romanticism and reinvigorated nature poetry, both of which in various forms, are still present today.

Moses Maimonides's 'Guide for the Perplexed' influenced Christian, Muslim and Hebrew thought. Euclid's 'Elements' has vexed many a school child whilst still being a fundamental part of Western science and mathematics.
Chairman Mao's 'Red Book' is the only the latest in a line of written works from China influencing how China operates- the 'Tao Te Ching' and the 'Analects' being two others.
Plato's 'Symposium', Clausewitz's 'On War', the Mahabharata, the Rule of St. Benedict- they've all had a part in bringing about the world as we know it.

Goingonit · February 11, 2003, 00:52

"Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson (started environmentalism to a large extent)

Timexwatch · February 11, 2003, 01:08

Paradise Lost - John Milton

DanS'ed

JohnT · February 11, 2003, 01:12

Paradise Lost... John Milton, perhaps?

Timexwatch · February 11, 2003, 01:17

My bad. I'm confusing my English Literature. I'm going to pull a DanS...

molly bloom · February 11, 2003, 01:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Timexwatch
Paradise Lost - Thomas More

Err, shurely shome mishtake?

Thomas More is better known as the author of 'Utopia'- John Milton is the author of 'Paradise Lost', 'Paradise Regained' 'Samson Agonistes' and 'Lycidas'- and that seminal work in defence of free speech and literature, 'Areopagitica'.

http://www.d-holliday.com/tmore/life2.htm

.