Topic: Political Literature
Earth 101: Essential Reading
A short list of some of the best books and essays for both breadth and depth of awareness. by J. Todd Ring
So many good books, so little time.....but so few truly great books.st century human beings on this small blue speck in space. 38 books, 9 essays one hell of a tour of human existence.
J. Todd Ring
"Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations." - Henry David Thoreau
"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all." - Henry David Thoreau
Links to all texts not online are listed below
Civil Disobedience - Henry David Thoreau - full text
Necessary Illusions; Thought Control in Democratic Societies - Noam Chomsky
Year 501: The Conquest Continues - Noam Chomsky
The Dispossessed - Ursula Leguin
Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance - Ronald Wright
The Chalice and the Blade - Riane Eisler
The Ecology of Freedom - Murray Bookchin
Roads to Freedom - Bertrand Russell
Escape from Freedom - Erich Fromm
The Power Elite - C. Wright Mills
The Corporation - Joel Bakan
A History of God - Karen Armstrong
The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell
No Boundary - Ken Wilber
Dialogues With Scientists and Sages Renee Weber
Dreamtime and Inner Space Holgar Kalweit
The Holographic Universe Michael Talbot
Mysticism and the New Physics Michael Talbot
World As Lover, World As Self Joanna Macy
Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra with Commentary Jamgon Kontrul and Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso
The Mother of the Buddhas Lex Hixon
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying Sogyal Rinpoche
The Gospel of Thomas Marvin Meyer, transl.
Tao Te Ching Jane English, transl.
Chuang Tsu: The Inner Chapters Gia-Fu Feng, transl.
Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Harvard Divinity School Address
Thoreau's Walden
Tao: The Watercourse Way Alan Watts
The Way of Zen Alan Watts
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are Alan Watts
Psychotherapy East and West Alan Watts
The Art of War Sun Tzu (Shambhala Dragon Edition translation matters!) The classic text on both strategy and conflict management: decidedly anti-war.
A Short History of Progress - Ronald Wright
Ancient Futures Helena Norberg-Hodge
The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies - Richard Heinberg
Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance - Noam Chomsky
Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War - Christopher Simpson
The CIA's Greatest Hits - Mark Zepezauer
The Threat of a Good Example - Chomsky Example Odonian
A Marxist Threat to Cola Sales?
Rollback
Drain The Swamp And There Will Be No More Mosquitoes - Chomsky
The Responsibility of Intellectuals
Scientific American Mind: The Samaritan Paradox
Their Libertarianism And Ours
Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior Chogyam Trungpa
Where to find them:
full links below, or search with these tools
Powell's Books
Alibris: Used, Rare & Out-of-Print Books
AbeBooks: New & Used Books, Textbooks, Rare & Out of Print Books
The Internet Classics Archive: 441 searchable works of classical literature
Internet Sacred Text Archive
Earth 101: Essential Reading Who or what are we?
Cosmology, epistemology, ontology, philosophy
Alibris: Dialogues with Scientists and Sages: The Search for Unity - Renee Weber
Amazon.com: Dreamtime and Inner Space: Books: Holger Kalweit
Amazon.com: The Holographic Universe: Books: Michael Talbot
Amazon.com: Mysticism and the New Physics (Arkana): Books: Michael Talbot
Amazon.com: World as Lover, World as Self: Books: Joanna Macy
Powell's Books - The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
Powell's Books - Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, the - Revised Edition: New Spiritual Classic from One of the Foremost Interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism by Sogyal
Buddha Nature
Amazon.com: Mother of the Buddhas: Books: Lex Hixon
The Gospel of Thomas - Marvin Meyer, transl.
Amazon.com: Tao Te Ching, 25th-Anniversary Edition: Books: Lao Tsu,Gia-Fu Feng,Jane English
Amazon.com: Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters: Books: Gia-Fu Feng
Amazon.com: Tao: The Watercourse Way: Books: Alan Watts,Al Chung-liang Huang
Amazon.com: The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are: Books: Alan Watts
Amazon.com: The Way of Zen : Books: Alan W. Watts
Amazon.com: Psychotherapy East and West: Books: Alan W. Watts
Amazon.com: No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth: Books: Ken Wilber
The Harvard Divinity School Address, Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Amazon.com: The Portable Emerson: New Edition (Viking Portable Library): Books: Ralph Waldo Emerson,Carl Bode,Malcolm Cowley
Amazon.com: Walden: (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau): Books: Henry David Thoreau,J. Lyndon Shanley,John Updike
Amazon.com: A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Armstrong, Karen): Books: Karen Armstrong
Human Society: Understanding the Basics
Anthropology, social theory, political philosophy
Amazon.com: Civil Disobedience and Other Essays (Dover Thrift Editions): Books: Henry David Thoreau
Amazon.com: The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future: Books: Riane Eisler
Amazon.com: The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy: Books: Murray Bookchin
Amazon.com: Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism & Syndication: Books: Bertrand Russell
Amazon.com: Escape from Freedom: Books: Erich Fromm
Ancient Futures
Understanding Human Society part two:
History, sociology, political economy
(The categories over-lap of course, both within these sections and between sections: phenomenon are non-dual, interdependent categories are a function of thought, not actual boundaries in reality. "Naming is the mother of the ten thousand things." Lao Tsu)
Amazon.com: Year 501: The Conquest Continues: Books: Noam Chomsky
Amazon.com: Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies: Books: Noam Chomsky
Amazon.com: The Dispossessed: A Novel (Perennial Classics): Books: Ursula K. Le Guin
Amazon.com: The Power Elite: Books: C. Wright Mills,Alan Wolfe
Amazon.com: The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power: Books: Joel Bakan
Amazon.com: The Art of War (Shambhala Classics): Books: Sun Tzu
Amazon.com: Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance in the Americas: Books: Ronald Wright
Amazon.com: A Short History of Progress: Books: Ronald Wright
Amazon.com: The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies: Books: Richard Heinberg
Amazon.com: Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (The American Empire Project): Books: Noam Chomsky
Amazon.com: Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War: Books: Christopher Simpson
Amazon.com: The CIA's Greatest Hits (The Real Story Series): Books: Mark Zepezauer
Amazon.com: Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior: Books: Chogyam Trungpa
Labels: alternatives , anthropology , books , Buddhism , Christianity , cosmology , history , philosophy , politics , psychology , reading , religion , resources , science , sociology , spirituality , world religions
Writings of J. Todd Ring
Earth 101: Essential Reading
On Libertarianism: Right & Left
Did you like this article?2
thumbs so far
Facebook Share:
Share
Share on Twitter
Other social bookmarks
for this article
del.icio.us
Digg It
Google
Newsvine
reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo MyWeb
©2008 J. Todd Ring,
all rights reserved. You must have written permission from
the author in order to republish this work.
The views expressed
in this article are those of J. Todd Ring only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
J. Todd Ring is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Report violation by J. Todd Ring of Nolan Chart LLC's
terms of use policy .
Be A Columnist
Tell A Friend About This Article Leave A Comment
Reader Comments:
Posted By: Derac
Short list? Excellent choices, no doubt, and many I have read myself, but over a lifetime! A little overwhelming for potential neophytes, don't you think? Consider the secret to the original Reader's Digest success. Time is a limited commodity and most people simply don't have enough to embark on an extensive study of the scope you suggest. Please don't consider this criticism, as I appreciate being reminded of these excellent works and totally agree with your intent. Only to remind you that your audience may not have the inclination or opportunity to devote to such an extensive program of scholarship.
Report violation
Want to comment on
this article? Leave your comment
here . Your email address is required to track your
comment. However, we will neither publish your email
address nor distribute it to other organizations or
persons. The only reason we might use it would be if
we needed to contact you regarding your comment. All
comments are subject to our
terms of use policy .
