Favorite Books

2009-1-27 04:12:00

Susan Cater made this post on the David's Outcast list:

"The other day while daydreaming I wondered if I could only take 10 books with me on a Deserted Island what would I want to bring? Scriptures don't count. What other 10 books would you want? I thought this would be a fun and enlightening exchange. When I was dating I always wanted to go to a guys home after a few weeks so I could check out books in the bookshelves (and see if there actually was a bookshelf!)

"1-3 'My Big T.O.E.' by Thomas Campbell.

"4-6 'Esoteric Psychology, Astrology and Externalization of the Hierarchy' by Alice A. Bailey (DK books).

"7 'The Molecular Relationship' by JJ Dewey.

"8. The not yet published book by Joel Skousen, 'Foundations of the Ideal State.'

"Slots 9 and 10 are more difficult. Would I want one of Max Skousen's books? A collection of short stories by Orson Scott Card or the Complete Works of Shakespeare or my old Literature book from college with all those great stories and poems in it? I am thinking a reference book to the most famous paintings in the world would be nice with full color reproductions. Then I am thinking a health book would be wise, but maybe something simple like Louise Hays, 'You Can Heal Your Life.'

"What would make your list?"

JJ:

I thought this was a good idea, but would like to alter the assignment a little for this list. For one thing if I were to go on a deserted island I would take books I have not read rather than books I have read. I rarely read a book twice with the exception of the scriptures and the Alice A. Bailey books.

A few years ago on the list we named our ten favorite movies. Now let us list our ten favorite books, writings and or authors that we have read. After this tell us of a book or two that you would like to read.

Here is my list:

  1. The scriptures.
  2. All of Alice A. Bailey books.
  3. Ray Bradbury's works. He has the most creative writing style of any author I have read and have studied it and incorporated some of it into my writings.
  4. Fredric Brown's science fiction. He has the most stimulating imagination of any author I have read.
  5. American Comics Group comic books which include "Adventures into the Unknown," "Forbidden Worlds," and "Unknown Worlds." These were published between 1948-1968 and had the most creative stories of any comic books I have read -- putting Batman and Spiderman to shame in my opinion. These inspired my imagination in many ways.
  6. Two very similar books. First "How to Sell Yourself to Others" by Elmer Wheeler, and "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. I read these when I was 16 and they changed my life. I liked Elmer Wheeler's the best even though it was not nearly as popular as Carnegie's.
  7. "Joseph Smith, the First Mormon" by Donna Hill. I think this book did the best job of presenting the man and the history the way they were.
  8. Dennis Wheatley's Books. My favorite two are "To the Devil A Daughter," and "The Devil Rides Out." Great fiction with a metaphysical slant on fighting the forces of evil.
  9. "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. Quite a bit better than the Da Vinci Code. Really kept me on the edge of my chair and will soon come out as a movie, again staring Tom Hanks.
  10. "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer. I hated history until I read this book (in my early twenties) which made history come alive and made me aware of how fortunate we are to have won World War Two.

On my list "to read" is:

"The Story of Civilization," -- an eleven volume set of the history of the world. I'm about half way through and looking forward to finishing.

I have hundreds of articles and books from Theosophical publications I am looking forward to reading.

I am looking forward to reading more books on history and economics. I appreciate the fact that there are more good books out there than I can ever read, but I will try. What really helps me get through my reading now is that I convert books to text and the text to MP3 audio and listen to them while I am doing other things.