Over the next 6-7 months I want to embark on a heavy reading program of books on the humanities, philosophy, history, theology, etc. before I start my university degree.

While I have quite a few books I can think of that I want to read, I thought I'd ask SEN what they suggest for reading material of a more serious nature. What books do you all recommend?

The List (so far, continually adding to it):
War and Peace -Tolstoy
The Qu'ran -Various
Paradise Lost -John Milton
Discourse on Method -Descartes
Meditations on First Philosophy -Descartes
Leviathan -Hobbes
The Republic -Plato
Critique of Pure Reason -Kant
1984 -Orwell
Democracy and Education -Dewey
Thus Spake Zarathustra -Nietzsche
Institutes of Christian Religion -Calvin
Systematic Theology -Berkhof
A History of the Early Church -Lietzmann
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions -Kuhn
Summa Theologica -Aquinas
The Hidden Origins of Islam -Ohlig and Puhn

Some of them I have started but not finished.

Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker
Richard Dawkins, Climbing Mount Improbable
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth
Richard Dawkins, The Magic of Reality

Ishmael, David Quinn. (Amazon)
Mere Christianity, CS Lewis. (Amazon)
Animal Farm*, George Orwell. (Amazon)
Nineteen Eight-Four*, George Orwell (Amazon)
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut (Amazon)
Catch-22, Joseph Heller (Amazon)

Not particularly the genre you're looking for, though one can almost always extract other commentary from science fiction:
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (Amazon) (AKA Tiger! Tiger!)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip Dick (Amazon) (AKA Blade Runner)
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Amazon)

*You can read all of George Owell's stuff here. Those books are listed with the novels.

There are a ton of "Great Books" at http://books.mirror.org/

I do believe it's 1984.

Also, Anthem by Ayn Rand.

I think you should read some of the great Greek plays and tragedies...namely Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Medea, mostly because I know I enjoyed them, not for any really deep meaning. Also...

The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton


Nothing incredibly deep, but those are some things I think are must-read.

Quote from Oh_Man

Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker
Richard Dawkins, Climbing Mount Improbable
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth
Richard Dawkins, The Magic of Reality

Letter to a Christian Nation - Sam Harris. Not trolling. It's written as an explanation of atheist beliefs to (primarily American, but I think still relevant to others) Christians. If you're actually interested in the other side of the theistic coin, that's the book I'd recommend.

EDIT: The Greatest Show on Earth is actually a fascinating read about biology, but you seemed to be focusing more on humanities.

I don't mind reading into other fields, although I'll start with the humanities. The sciences are of interest to me as well.

Jack, if you read "Letter to a Christian Nation" I strongly suggest you put aside enough time to read it in one sitting - which shouldn't be hard or too time consuming. :-D If you do read it, PM me.

If you read one russian classic, make it Master and Margarita, not War and Peace.

What's wrong with War & Peace? I really enjoyed War & Peace. Though for russian classic, I'd also recommend Crime & Punishment by Dostoyevsky, or however the hell you spell his name.

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Stranger - Camus
Lord of the Flies - Golding

Quote from JaFF

If you read one russian classic, make it Master and Margarita, not War and Peace.

FFFU YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT THREE HUNDRED PAGES AGO (ノ°□°）ノ彡┻━┻

They party a lot in this book...

Nothing's wrong with War and Peace, but with all due respect, Master and Margarita is on a different level. Once you start reading it, you'll know why.

Edit: actually you might not know why... because that depends on the translation. I don't know how well can the best translation represent it, but it is widely regarded (and I agree) as the ultimate demonstration of the beauty of our language. So if the translation is anything short of perfect then there may not be a difference what to read.

Dang... -And, here I was about to suggest not reading War & Peace, but it looks like that joke already ran its course.

Quote from JaFF

Nothing's wrong with War and Peace, but with all due respect, Master and Margarita is on a different level. Once you start reading it, you'll know why.

Edit: actually you might not know why... because that depends on the translation. I don't know how well can the best translation represent it, but it is widely regarded (and I agree) as the ultimate demonstration of the beauty of our language. So if the translation is anything short of perfect then there may not be a difference what to read.

Then the english language has probably slaughtered it.

@Oh_Man

Oh snap, i'm reading The God's Delusion right now

City of God by E. L. Doctorow

Instead of Heart of Darkness, I prefer Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim.
Also, check out the Divine Comedy by Dante - definitely a must read if you want to go back to some of today's literary roots.
If college philosophy taught me anything, it's that Descartes is full of crap. Kantian philosophy is far more reasonable.
If you read James Joyce, I'd start with The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It's definitely one of his more accessible works.
William Anchor's The Gamer's Sex Guide will literally open your mind LSD-style about modern society. I'd also check that one out.

Really? You're going to pitch your friends book in this thread too?

Although I do agree with the Divine Comedy.

That last one was clearly a joke.

Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom