Books you recommended for people who disagree with you?

[Tarricoe]

*In the line to buy morning tea pastries at a tiny, local bakery. after two minute of small talk segway into a loudly escalating argument*
Me: "..And that's why I'm right"
A literal stranger: "OK, can you back these claims with evidence?"
Me: "omg uhhhh sweety, educate urself, like uhhh read a book, here spend all your free for the next week or say reading these large tomes, don't forget the three introductions or the volumes of secondary materiel *sips tea* Once you're done with that you see I am totally correct"
A literal stranger: "I think since you made the point, you should be able to cite the evidence and summarize any information that is relevant to your argument. Being told to read this book seems like you can't make a convincing point despite claiming to be familiar with sources on it. or this is a desperate attempt filibuster this discussion. Nonetheless I have some free time over the weekend so I'll try to read it"
Me: *sweating profusely, and dripping tea everwhere* "omg lmao sweety, just remember, if you try to refute the evidence cited with new information, those sources are biased, and if you.."
A literal stranger: "come to a different conclusion than you or the author then I didn't understand it properly?"
Me: *visibly panicked* *whispering* "he stole my favourite trick.."
A literal stranger: "Before we part ways I have something for you" *reaches into bag, withdrawing a massive book easily twice the size of my own* "If I am going to read the book you suggested, it seems only fair that you return the favour, It's written in German, there are no translations, oh and it's printed in fraktur. Normally I wouldn't suggest this, but digesting the information here shouldn't be a problem for you... unless... ur a dumdum"
Me: *the chattering of fine china increases as the dripping tea begins to become a hazard for other customers*
A literal stranger: "Well are you?"
Me: *choking back tears, and falling to my knees* "I...I... concede...I have been bested" *I pass out on the bakery floor*
The baker: "Oh not this shit again"

[Bear Stearns]

I encourage anyone with an ax to grind about the private equity industry to read Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco. It is about how the modern leveraged buyout came into existence and what leverage means in practical terms.

I like your recommendations. Could you telegram me a list? It would be appreciated.

I actually keep a reading list on my desktop.

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham - only investing book Warren Buffet has ever endorsed (it's very surface level, however)
Oil 101 by Morgan Downey - everything you've wanted to know about the oil industry and oil prices
The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean & Peter Elkind - the definitive book about the Enron scandal
Principles by Ray Dalio (a renowned private equity investor), more philosophical than financial, but it's about looking at things from a perspective of value
The Fed & Lehman Brothers by Laurence Ball, account of the final days of Lehman Brothers from the perspective of the people involved
Finance and the Good for Society - Robert Schiller - why finance is important in today's world
Known and Unknown - Donald Rumsfeld - good read in general

And then some silly books that I enjoy
American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis - no comment needed
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe - American Psycho before American Psycho was even written
Decision Points by George W. Bush
The Devil's Financial Dictionary by Jason Zweig (journalist at the Wall Street Journal) - a funny book about commonly used terms in finance with a satirical take on them (usually about debauched activities)
Straight to Hell by John LeFevre - former investment banker retells debauched stories about his tenure at Goldman Sachs

[Strahcoin]

*In the line to buy morning tea pastries at a tiny, local bakery. after two minute of small talk segway into a loudly escalating argument*
Me: "..And that's why I'm right"
A literal stranger: "OK, can you back these claims with evidence?"
Me: "omg uhhhh sweety, educate urself, like uhhh read a book, here spend all your free for the next week or say reading these large tomes, don't forget the three introductions or the volumes of secondary materiel *sips tea* Once you're done with that you see I am totally correct"
A literal stranger: "I think since you made the point, you should be able to cite the evidence and summarize any information that is relevant to your argument. Being told to read this book seems like you can't make a convincing point despite claiming to be familiar with sources on it. or this is a desperate attempt filibuster this discussion. Nonetheless I have some free time over the weekend so I'll try to read it"
Me: *sweating profusely, and dripping tea everwhere* "omg lmao sweety, just remember, if you try to refute the evidence cited with new information, those sources are biased, and if you.."
A literal stranger: "come to a different conclusion than you or the author then I didn't understand it properly?"
Me: *visibly panicked* *whispering* "he stole my favourite trick.."
A literal stranger: "Before we part ways I have something for you" *reaches into bag, withdrawing a massive book easily twice the size of my own* "If I am going to read the book you suggested, it seems only fair that you return the favour, It's written in German, there are no translations, oh and it's printed in fraktur. Normally I wouldn't suggest this, but digesting the information here shouldn't be a problem for you... unless... ur a dumdum"
Me: *the chattering of fine china increases as the dripping tea begins to become a hazard for other customers*
A literal stranger: "Well are you?"
Me: *choking back tears, and falling to my knees* "I...I... concede...I have been bested" *I pass out on the bakery floor*
The baker: "Oh not this shit again"

The stranger in this dialogue has a point. While facts are objective, their interpretation is not. This is why different people may have vastly different ideologies, and giving the same book to these people may lead to vastly different interpretations.

[Chernoslavia]

What's the author's name? ISBN?

Anyone who reads an introductory text on microeconomics with market failures and then reads the same for macroeconomics and doesn't come out the other side as some kind of lefty, didn't understand what they read.

Oh goody a Keynesianist But anyways I'm recommending it against Socialism.

[Chernoslavia]

Basic Economics for those who think Socialism is the way to go.

What's the author's name? ISBN?

Thomas Sowell

[Tokora]

The Bible. Republicans who insist that Jesus was the god of capitalism and racial purity are going to be in for disappointment.

[Cekoviu]

Enoch Powell was Right -Raheem Kassam

The Phoney Victory -Peter Hitchens

Can you elaborate on why you feel these books are suitable?

[Kowani]

Anyone who reads an introductory text on microeconomics with market failures and then reads the same for macroeconomics and doesn't come out the other side as some kind of lefty, didn't understand what they read.

Oh goody a Keynesianist But anyways I'm recommending it against Socialism.

Imagine being against Keynes.

[Bear Stearns]

If someone could recommend a book on mercenaries in Africa in the 60s and 70s, that'd be great.

[Chernoslavia]

If someone could recommend a book on mercenaries in Africa in the 60s and 70s, that'd be great.

There's Congo Warriors a biography about Mad Mike Hoare.

[Evacillian]

I personally dislike the writing style of Clive Cussler.
Therefore, if someone disagrees with me on the topic of books and writing styles- I would recommend them to read one of his books.
I know many people who like them, so I don't judge him too badly. It's just annoying that his name is given as a recommendation for me all the time.

[Forsher]

Anyone who reads an introductory text on microeconomics with market failures and then reads the same for macroeconomics and doesn't come out the other side as some kind of lefty, didn't understand what they read.

Oh goody a Keynesianist But anyways I'm recommending it against Socialism.

I'm going to go ahead and say you didn't understand what you read.

Imagine being against Keynes.

Quite... the creator of macroeconomics and the main source of the fiscal policy analyses that an introductory text would, today, have. Of course, such a text would also have monetary policy which focusses on inflation and so forth but that's not really the point.

Given the persistent low inflation and low interest rates of the post-NAFC (I no longer say GFC) years I'm really not sure why fiscal policy hasn't been more adventurous... it's cheap debt... at least in the relatively low debt economies. The easy fiscal policy advantages without the trade-offs that motivated the monetarist revolution in the first place...

Economics as a whole isn't really aligned with politics but introductory economics really should make the discerning reader a lefty. The microeconomics really is a crash course in "why markets don't work and the government could do more" and that's then followed up with macroeconomic teachings like "flatten the business cycle" that give government a very active role.

[Greater Loegria]

Enoch Powell was Right -Raheem Kassam

The Phoney Victory -Peter Hitchens

Can you elaborate on why you feel these books are suitable?

Enoch Powell Was Right -Raheem Kassam
This book analyses Enoch Powell’s controversial ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech which he made to a Conservative party gathering in 1968. It also covers Enoch’s other speeches and the context of the time as well as tying them into the modern day to show the extent to which Powell was not only right but grossly underestimated the levels of immigration and social segregation this country would face. For those that don’t know Enoch Powell was a British MP, a Tory of the old breed and was a very eminent scholar and successful soldier in the war. His infamous speech predicted that whites were to become a minority and that immigration would increase to huge levels and raised many concerns of his constituents. It’s one of the least understood speeches in history: whether you agree with it or not. This book unravels that. It also highlights the subsequent betrayal that occurred: Enoch’s speech struck a chord across the country and somewhere over 70% of the country agreed with him. Even his opponents conceded if he’d been prime minster and had a general election he’d have won by a landslide; winning over core working class voters who were most affected by such immigration. Yet no one in power listened to this really and they continued the flow of migrants regardless of public sentiment.

The Phoney Victory -Peter Hitchens
This is a quite provocative book and indeed when I first touched on the themes of this book a little before it was published they were hard pills to swallow. Essentially it establishes WW2 as a Pyrrhic victory for Britain and it’s empire and whilst affording no quarter to the Reich either calls into question whether it was the right time and place to combat Hitler. It debunks many of the myths about it being a ‘good war’.

[Old Tyrannia]

For anyone wishing to understand my political beliefs and coming from a different political perspective, the key texts I'd recommend are Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, Joseph de Maistre's Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions and other Human Institutions, and most importantly of all Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Constitution of Church and State.

Demons and Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky are also helpful reads, as are Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World when read with an open mind and without preconceptions. The problem many people have, particularly when reading 1984, is that they read the book that they are expecting to read rather than the book Orwell wrote.

[Servilis]

A Grade 6 NS Textbook, let 'em skip to changing of natural states and stuff like that.

Let 'em know that calling a neovagina "a penis" is the equivalent of calling a wooden chair "a tree", which is the equivalent of calling a shard of ice "water", hence the book.

[Munkcestrian Republic]

Northumbria: History and Identity 547-2000

[UniversalCommons]

In Stocks
After looking at this list, I would also say, Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd which is the deeper book which Warren Buffet wrote a foreword to.
Also Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip Fisher

In Philosophy and Religion
The Tao Te Ching
The Bible (Actually Read It) Cover to cover, not look at the small pieces. Reductionism and little pieces of the bible out of context annoy me.
Lucretius De Rerum Naturae (On The Nature of Things)
Epictetus the Enchiridion

Fiction
The Golden Ass by Apuleius
Dune by Frank Herbert
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

Classics
Dante Inferno
The Odyssey by Homer (My father read this to me.)

History
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars (The section on Caligula is marvelous).

Writing/Journalism
We The Media, Grassroots Journalism by the People for the People by Dan Gilmor
The Elements of Style by E.B. White (The illustrated edition is better.)

Children's Books(Formative)
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Reference
The Science Fiction Encyclopedia

Meditation
The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction by Howard Zinn

Poetry
Bob Kaufman Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness
Charles Bukowski Love Is a Dog from Hell

Green Economics
Winning the Oil Endgame by Amory Lovins
Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins

[Crysuko]

Northumbria: History and Identity 547-2000

oh it's you!

[Munkcestrian Republic]

Northumbria: History and Identity 547-2000

oh it's you!

Going to read it, then?

[Chernoslavia]

Oh goody a Keynesianist But anyways I'm recommending it against Socialism.

I'm going to go ahead and say you didn't understand what you read.

Imagine being against Keynes.

Quite... the creator of macroeconomics and the main source of the fiscal policy analyses that an introductory text would, today, have. Of course, such a text would also have monetary policy which focusses on inflation and so forth but that's not really the point.

Given the persistent low inflation and low interest rates of the post-NAFC (I no longer say GFC) years I'm really not sure why fiscal policy hasn't been more adventurous... it's cheap debt... at least in the relatively low debt economies. The easy fiscal policy advantages without the trade-offs that motivated the monetarist revolution in the first place...

Economics as a whole isn't really aligned with politics but introductory economics really should make the discerning reader a lefty. The microeconomics really is a crash course in "why markets don't work and the government could do more" and that's then followed up with macroeconomic teachings like "flatten the business cycle" that give government a very active role.

Whatever helps you sleep sweet heart.

[Chernoslavia]

Oh goody a Keynesianist But anyways I'm recommending it against Socialism.

Imagine being against Keynes.

Dude I'm Libertarian.

[Kowani]

Imagine being against Keynes.

Dude I'm Libertarian.

Even worse...

[Chernoslavia]

Dude I'm Libertarian.

Even worse...

...for authoritarians.

[Kowani]

Even worse...

...for authoritarians.

If that was supposed to be an insult, it didn’t work.

[Chernoslavia]

...for authoritarians.

If that was supposed to be an insult, it didn’t work.

Although I do think you are somewhat authoritarian, no it wasn't an insult and if you don't believe me you're free to take it up with the mods.