Improve my mind!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Poetry of Rudyard Kipling.

Another one of my favs.

[DiapDealer]

Do you like Kipling?

[Elfwreck]

Five brain-stretching public domain works:

Flatland: a romance of many dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbot (Science fiction or subversive social commentary. Or both.)
Lysistrata, by Aristophanes (Revolutionary politics; the original "make love, not war" story.)
Candide, by Voltaire (The optimist says that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true.)
Call of the Wild, by Jack London (And if you've already read it, but not recently, it's worth re-reading.)
The Chronicles of Clovis, by Saki (Sredni Vashtar, especially.)

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Flatland: a romance of many dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbot (Science fiction or subversive social commentary. Or both.)

You forgot 'primer on fourth dimensional geometry.' Great book. I wasn't aware of the satirical aspect when I first read it in grade school, and I took the SF aspect as merely the framing for the math instruction.

This is the best free edition I've found (properly illustrated):
http://www.epubbooks.com/book/300/flatland

ApK

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Five brain-stretching public domain works:

Flatland: a romance of many dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbot (Science fiction or subversive social commentary. Or both.)
Lysistrata, by Aristophanes (Revolutionary politics; the original "make love, not war" story.)
Candide, by Voltaire (The optimist says that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true.)
Call of the Wild, by Jack London (And if you've already read it, but not recently, it's worth re-reading.)
The Chronicles of Clovis, by Saki (Sredni Vashtar, especially.)

Sredni Vashtar, the beautiful! I have plenty of nutmeg, if you can supply the toast....

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

I have plenty of nutmeg, if you can supply the toast....

We can have spice, if you supply the worm

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Do you like Kipling?

Yep; very much so

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Do you like Kipling?

I don't know, I've never Kipled.

[BreezyDay]

Originally Posted by leebase
What books should a "well read" person have read? Which books will expand my mind? Which are the great histories?

A good book about history/political science is "Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missle Crisis" by Philip Zelikow and Graham Allison.

In it they describe what was going on behind different decisions that were made, give lots of real world examples to illustrate the impact / implications of various decisions that were made on different levels (national, organizational, and individual).

It was quite a fascinating read. It was difficult to get into at first, but once I did, I was hooked. The chapters alternate between discussions about decision making models and analysis of the CMC from different decision making perspectives.

Regina