Books are like drugs, only legally and safely. Books expand consciousness, help to look at the world differently, give answers to the most complex, sacred, philosophical questions.
Finding the right book at the right time is worth a lot. Books are able to change the worldview, break the shackles of old stereotypes, remove pink glasses, books help to cope with depression, push new thoughts and ideas, inspire, delight us every day.
And some authors are especially talented in their ability to change human consciousness by the power of words. Be sure to read these 10 books - and start thinking broader!
10. Goethe. Faust
Dr. Faust brought a lot of good to the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, but his soul was tormented by doubts whether he had done enough, learned enough knowledge over the long years of his life ... In a fit of despair, he, ready to poison himself, almost commits suicide - but faith in the Lord God takes away him from sin. But Mephistopheles, the treacherous messenger of heaven, is sure that Faust will not be able to save his soul. He appears in his house in the form of a dog, and then, turning himself, invites the hero to try all the charms of earthly and heavenly life.
9. Aristotle. Politics
What is the state? And what role does the family play in its formation - the first and main unit, the unit of any society? Why do we need war and household? What forms of power exist, why are they good and what are bad? Who is more important - artisans and peasants or the military? Officials or merchants? Who should create laws, who should comply with them, and who should be judged for misconduct? And what is patriotism, and justice, and freedom? How to educate youth? And what is happiness? Why is it the highest good, without which everything else simply does not matter?
8. Tal Ben Shahar. Be happier
All people are divided into three types. Among us there are participants in the rat race: study, work, home, business, career, family, to be in time, not to be late anywhere, not to fall face down, to be taller, stronger, faster ... but does it bring pleasure? There are scorched hedonists: clubs, discos, dances until you drop, delicious food, alcoholic cocktails, good sex, long sleep ... but does it bring pleasure? There are nihilists: disappointment in life, amorphism, indifference, depression, chronic fatigue, exhausting communication, life from the weekend to the weekend ... but does it bring pleasure? Tal Ben-Shahar knows exactly what happiness is, how to find balance in life and understand harmony within oneself. It’s not in vain that three thousand people attend his author’s course at Harvard University in a year ...
7. The Taoist book of parables. Chuang tzu
The doctrine of Taoism is one of the oldest religious and philosophical practices, the main essence of which is to renounce the mortal world, fuss and passions, and become part of a vast universe, calm and proud in its greatness. The parables of the doctrine of Tao are self-knowledge, the search for harmony outside and inside oneself, the pacification and enjoyment of higher matters.
6. Alexander Belyaev. Air seller
Georgy Klimenko is a young meteorologist, but his youth does not prevent him from going to the coldest regions of the planet, to Yakutia, to study natural aerial anomalies. At first, observations and experiments did not bring tangible benefits, but then something strange happened to him: he throws him into the crater of an extinct volcano with strong winds, and there, miraculously surviving, he, along with his partner, discovers a secret laboratory in which air is removed from the atmosphere and sorted him in special capsules ...
5. Lewis Carroll. Alice in Wonderland
This sunny day was supposed to be just one of many in a series of sunny days, if not for one “but”: the agile and eared White Rabbit, in a hurry for its important affairs, did not fit into the picture of the world. Confused, bewitched, full of curiosity, Alice immediately went after the fairy-tale hero and ... now she’s already flying into the tunnel, and amazing things begin to happen around her: she grows and shrinks, swims in the sea of her own tears, gets acquainted with the Caterpillar and Cheshire cat, meets The queen of hearts, plays croquet, and finally - is sentenced to death ...
4. Victor Pelevin. Chapaev and the Void
Emptiness is not only a complex concept denoting the absence of everything, but also just a surname. Peter Pustota has a talent for poetic decadence, a ward in a psychiatric hospital of gloomy Soviet post-perestroika, a sense of existence in two time periods, and an existential crisis. But there is good: he knows Vasily Chapaev - or he thinks so. In a civil war, they fight mortal battles hand in hand, and in a psychiatric hospital, Void fights with neighbors in the ward: almost-suicidal Serdyuk, Prosto-Maria, who is in love with Schwarzenegger, and a gangster.
3. Carlos Castaneda. Teachings of don juan
1960 year. Hot Arizona. Bus stop. It is here, on the outskirts, that the two main characters meet: Carlos, the author of the book and a university student in California, and Don Juan, an Indian who has special knowledge and belongs to an ancient tribe. After talking, both men are imbued with sympathy and trust in each other, and Don Juan offers Carlos to become his student. Carlos agrees - and soon learns that the only way to know the wisdom of life and become part of the universe is to use hallucinogens and enter into a special trans ...
2. The Strugatsky brothers. It's hard to be a god
Arkanar is a state on another planet. The race of humanoids living there is outwardly indistinguishable from humans, and in terms of development they are located approximately in the earthly late Middle Ages. That is why it is so easy for earthlings to observe Aborigines. Entering society, they study alien inhabitants, not even suspecting what kind of thunderstorm will break out very soon ...
1. Chuck Palahniuk. Fight club
The narrator suffers from insomnia, goes to support groups for people with various diseases, hates the consumer society, hates himself. Tyler Durden is proud of his nihilism, knows how to create explosives, makes soap from human fat, works on strange jobs. Marla Singer is lying about her illnesses, she is afraid that she has breast cancer, nervously smokes and steals other people's things. Interesting company, isn't it? And all together they solve such questions of being and creation, which ordinary people have never dreamed of.