Whats the most intellectual book you have read?

Question

And did you struggle through it, or enjoy reading it?

Answer 1

The Kama Sutra! Struggle with it - he'll i'm still practising it.......as for enjoying it - what do u think?

Answer 2

I highly recommend:
Love, Power and Justice - The Dynamics of Authentic Morality by William S Hatcher.

It's a brilliant piece of theological philosophising that really helps get you on the right track for a more satisfying and productive life.

Hatcher (sadly late) was a brilliant mathematician, philosopher and educator who specialized in the philoshophical interpenetration of science and religion.

He is one of the few people who I have read who actually manages to get his point across clearly and succinctly so that reading his book/s leaves you feeling enlightened and with a greater understanding of the real fundamental meaning of 'religion'....and why MOST people totally misunderstand it!

At first I thought this book would be a struggle... but a few pages in the intial feeling of challenge and struggle transmuted into a feeling of 'yes this guy is absolutely right' as if the scales had fallen from my eyes...

If a learned tome is no challenge and the process of learning and enlightenment is no struggle...then you are left with the question 'have I really learnt?'...If a book does not 'change' you in a fundamental way, then you have not learnt.

PS: I do not think the concept of 'struggle' and 'enjoyment' are independent concepts when applied to reading a book...I think that you sometimes 'enjoy' a book because you have to 'struggle'...Like most things in life...if you do not have to 'work for it' you aren't likely to 'appreciate it' fully.

Answer 3

Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce. I had a copy that I put off reading for nearly fifteen years, then one evening I gave it a shot. It was hard going, but in the end I really did enjoy it. Enough to reread it a few times.

Well read people laugh at the mere mention of it. Very rarely have any of them tried to read it. I understand the fear: it is not a normal book. Written entirely in the vernacular of dream, it is not in English or any other language, and it is not 'about' any concrete thing. It attempts to view history as if humanity were a sleeping giant, and the language is the flowing river of words passing through the slumbering mind.

To me, a measure of great art is that its very existence upsets some people. By this measure, the Wake may be the greatest book of all time.

Answer 4

Intellectual can mean so many different things. For me, the most thought-stimulating books are those written from someone not of my cultural background. Authors like AB Yehoshua (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._B._Yehoshua) and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez) look at the world very differently from the way that I have been taught. I enjoy reading books by authors with a different world perspective than mine. Try "The Lover" by Yehoshua if you want a book that is written in a very interesting and unique style. Marquez' "Love in the Time of Cholera" is very interesting and you will learn alot about an interesting culture. Of course, if you are going to read Marquez, you really must read "One Hundred Years of Solitude". Also try Sami Michael's "Trumpet in the Wadi" for an emotional novel that is very thought provoking. All of these books are well translated and are not difficult to read at all. At the same time, you will definately learn a lot about culture, history and society. Have fun!

Answer 5

Illuminatus trilogy by Ian Anton WIlson

I'd read stream of concioussness novels before and novels that supposedly made good use of characterisation and use of plots and sub-plots but never really appreciated just what literature can do before I read this book.

Ian Anton Wilson is best known as a sixties generation philosopher and i've read some of his books on anthropology but everything you need to know about his ideas is in this book cleverly entwined in the characters and plot.

The book is about a huge conspiracy theory set during the 1960s counterculture movement and involves uncovering many of the political institutions and civil rights movements of the time as red herrings for something far more sinister and supernatural. Having said that, the humour is spot on and the characters are likeable.

It took me a few times to read this book as it is quite heavy but i got there in the end and it was well worth it. I will definately read this book again!

Answer 6

"Ulysses" by James Joyce, which I read while I was still at school. I had to wait quite a while to get it out of the library and was automatically given six weeks to read it because they expected people to take that long to struggle through it. I read it because I had seen so many mentions of it in reference books and found myself enjoying it. I'm not sure that I would wish to embark on it again, but it is a book which has stayed with me and which I find myself glad to have read.

Answer 7

Intellectual is an adjective with multiple meanings depending on one's perspective. If you are talking about a book that is thought-provoking and therefore increases intellect, this will differ depending on who you are. If you are unable to grasp the meaning of a book, your intellect will not increase. If you are a closed-minded individual you might reject the ideas, and again there will be no change in your state of mind.

If you mean the author is intellectual, well there are a slough of authors out there who are genius, and they write for a variety of audiences.

Books that illuminated ideas or changed a perspective for me (that were written by brilliant authors) were:

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (couldn't put it down. I put some effort into keeping the characters straight, because the names are unfamiliar to me, but it was worth it. I may have also used a dictionary for unfamiliar vocabulary, which I do often.)

Siddartha by Herman Hesse (couldn't put it down.)

Life of Pi (easy read, but thought-provoking)

Wicked (great character development, questions the root of evil, so well written...couldn't put it down)

Answer 8

Right now I'm reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; I don't understand a lot of the symbolism, but what I do understand I enjoy. It's a very funny book, but you have to have the right sense of humor to pick up on some of it.

Answer 9

Henri Bergson "On Laughter". It was hardwork and a bit of a waste of time.
I do like Amartya Sen "Development as Freedom". I like his arguments and find his style of writing very easy. I want to read his new book, but can't remember what it's called.
I know very little about science, so sciency books are always very challenging for me, but I thought "Phantoms in the Brain" by VS Ramachandran was really interesting.

Answer 10

the most intellectual book, was one called " how to swim with the sharks,and not get eaten alive," by Bill McKay.... It tell you how to outsell,outmotivate,outdo, your competition,and to succeed in whatever you want to do. I read it and I am a believer in it. The Bible is an instruction manual,and a history book,so I really can't say it is intelectually a good read. It tells us what to do, not lets us think for ourselves.

Answer 11

roald dahl The Witches and Little Miss Fickle. Struggled a bit on The Witches but the words are a lot smaller and there were hardly any pictures.