The mother of all lists!

xibalban · 08-21-2014, 12:15 PM

Hey folks,

I'm very close to acquiring my first eInk based eReader. I've been struggling with ePubs on my Smartphone for sometime now, and I wish to re-Kindle my passion for reading classic books on my Kobo Aura HD.

I will be using the device primarily for reading journals and technical PDFs but I've decided to devote some serious time toward reading classics.

The biggest problem arises with the choice of books, with thousands of great books to begin with. The internet is flooded with lists and book suggestions I just can't get past browsing through. There is the TIME Magazine's all time top 100, Amazon's top 100, Modern Library's, etc, etc! I simply don't understand where to begin.

Hence, here I am, trying to re-invent a custom list, and I plead all the good folks here to help me build a list of books based on the following preference:

1. Genre: "Influential" - implying books which inspired or influenced a lot of people in History. It could be a simple "Think & Grow Rich" kind of book or "Aesop's Fables" or the "Religious Scriptures" as well.
2. Language: English (or translated to English)
3. Type: Public Domain or Free
4. Format: ePub - provide download links if possible
5. Generation: Any

Now for the most difficult part. I desired just one list:

The Mother List: Suggest just one book. The "one" book that one must read before one dies.

Thanks in advance.

UPDATE - 29th August 2014
````````````````````````

I have below the list of books recommended by various users in order of the date on which it was recommended based on polls:

To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee Harper
The Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan
The Iliad and The Odyssey - Homer
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
The Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
Time Traders - Andre Norton
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
The Young Man's Guide - William Alcott (currently reading - 90%)
The Republic - Plato
The Big Questions - Simon Blackburn
Dragon's Egg and Starquake - Robert L. Forward
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandré Dumas

Books already read, but considered good.
Walden - H D Thoreau
Sherlock Holmes Series - A C Doyle
The Mahabharata - Ved Vyasa
Utopia - Thomas More
The Holy Bible
The Complete Works of Shakespeare

I intend to convert this list to a rating based one, through polls. I request everyone to participate, and wish to thank you for your time.
Click here for the current poll results.

crich70 · 08-21-2014, 01:07 PM

I'd suggest Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan as one to read. You can find it here at MR MR copy and there is an annotated text at Feedbooks (also free) Feedbooks. The man who did the annotated copy also made a concordance to go along with it: Concordance.

bfisher · 08-21-2014, 01:14 PM

Homer the Iliad and the Odyssey

crich70 · 08-21-2014, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bfisher

Homer the Iliad and the Odyssey

MR Link Got you covered.

Angst · 08-21-2014, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xibalban

Please don't include these books because I've already read them.

1. Walden by Thoreau
2. Sherlock Holmes Series
3. The Mahabharata
4. Utopia by Thomas More
5. The Holy Bible
6. The Complete Works of Shakespeare

That will be it. Thanks in advance.

Damn! I've read some of Sherlock Holmes, The Bible and Shakespeare, but not ALL of them.

I am impressed!

...and welcome to Mobile read!

The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

xibalban · 08-22-2014, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

I'd suggest Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan as one to read. You can find it here at MR MR copy and there is an annotated text at Feedbooks (also free) Feedbooks. The man who did the annotated copy also made a concordance to go along with it: Concordance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bfisher

Homer the Iliad and the Odyssey

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

MR Link Got you covered.

Thanks for the suggestions, and thanks especially to crich70 for the MR Links.

xibalban · 08-22-2014, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angst

Damn! I've read some of Sherlock Holmes, The Bible and Shakespeare, but not ALL of them.

I am impressed!

...and welcome to Mobile read!

Oh, I read them quite a long time ago on Hardcover books borrowed from the local library. Thanks for the book suggestions.

I'd thought that I'd start with "The Catcher in the Rye", should I?

HomeInMyShoes · 08-22-2014, 05:17 PM

To Kill a Mockingbird > The Catcher in the Rye if I had to pick one.

Luffy · 08-22-2014, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

To Kill a Mockingbird > The Catcher in the Rye if I had to pick one.

Seconded. Harper Lee's ONLY book, won the Pulitzer Prize, and the movie adaptation won an Oscar for best film.

crich70 · 08-22-2014, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xibalban

Thanks for the suggestions, and thanks especially to crich70 for the MR Links.

You're quite welcome xibalban. Happy reading.

Rbneader · 08-23-2014, 03:59 PM

Andre Norton was a grandmaster in fantasy and sci-fi who wrote a lot of influential and excellent books. I've also recommended her 3 times today, oops. Oh well, she's a great writer. Her public domain books are at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7021. I'd start with Time Traders which is the first book in her Time Traders series.

crich70 · 08-23-2014, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rbneader

Andre Norton was a grandmaster in fantasy and sci-fi who wrote a lot of influential and excellent books. I've also recommended her 3 times today, oops. Oh well, she's a great writer. Her public domain books are at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7021. I'd start with Time Traders which is the first book in her Time Traders series.

Are any of her books actually in PD? She only died in 2005. granted some of her books were written in the 30's but are some of them in the clear due to the old copyright laws?

bfisher · 08-23-2014, 06:11 PM

She may not have renewed copyright on some on them.
Many of her books are free or inexpensive at amazon.

Rbneader · 08-23-2014, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

Are any of her books actually in PD? She only died in 2005. granted some of her books were written in the 30's but are some of them in the clear due to the old copyright laws?

Yes.

Until a few decades ago, copyright needed to be renewed regularly. Some books got renewed and some didn't. The ones that didn't are in the public domain in the US, regardless of author age. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright is your friend. Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...pyright_length

PG does their own research. They wouldn't be up at PG if not. I'm not sure why you think I'd link to a pirate site, dude.

issybird · 08-23-2014, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luffy

Seconded. Harper Lee's ONLY book, won the Pulitzer Prize, and the movie adaptation won an Oscar for best film.

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch won the Best Actor Oscar, but Lawrence of Arabia won for Best Picture that year.

08-21-2014, 12:15 PM	#1
xibalban Connoisseur Posts: 77 Karma: 54562 Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Gangtok (Sikkim), India Device: Kobo Aura HD	The mother of all lists! Hey folks, I'm very close to acquiring my first eInk based eReader. I've been struggling with ePubs on my Smartphone for sometime now, and I wish to re-Kindle my passion for reading classic books on my Kobo Aura HD. I will be using the device primarily for reading journals and technical PDFs but I've decided to devote some serious time toward reading classics. The biggest problem arises with the choice of books, with thousands of great books to begin with. The internet is flooded with lists and book suggestions I just can't get past browsing through. There is the TIME Magazine's all time top 100, Amazon's top 100, Modern Library's, etc, etc! I simply don't understand where to begin. Hence, here I am, trying to re-invent a custom list, and I plead all the good folks here to help me build a list of books based on the following preference: 1. Genre: "Influential" - implying books which inspired or influenced a lot of people in History. It could be a simple "Think & Grow Rich" kind of book or "Aesop's Fables" or the "Religious Scriptures" as well. 2. Language: English (or translated to English) 3. Type: Public Domain or Free 4. Format: ePub - provide download links if possible 5. Generation: Any Now for the most difficult part. I desired just one list: The Mother List: Suggest just one book. The "*one" book that one must read before one dies. Thanks in advance. UPDATE* - 29th August 2014 ```````````````````````` I have below the list of books recommended by various users in order of the date on which it was recommended based on polls: To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee Harper The Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan The Iliad and The Odyssey - Homer The Art of War - Sun Tzu The Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger Time Traders - Andre Norton Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith The Young Man's Guide - William Alcott (currently reading - 90%) The Republic - Plato The Big Questions - Simon Blackburn Dragon's Egg and Starquake - Robert L. Forward The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandré Dumas Books already read, but considered good. Walden - H D Thoreau Sherlock Holmes Series - A C Doyle The Mahabharata - Ved Vyasa Utopia - Thomas More The Holy Bible The Complete Works of Shakespeare I intend to convert this list to a rating based one, through polls. I request everyone to participate, and wish to thank you for your time. Click here for the current poll results. Last edited by xibalban; 09-08-2014 at 10:49 PM.

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View Poll Results: Which one would you rate the best?
The Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan	1	6.25%
The Iliad and The Odyssey - Homer	2	12.50%
The Art of War - Sun Tzu	2	12.50%
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith	0	0%
The Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger	2	12.50%
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee	6	37.50%
Time Traders - Andre Norton	1	6.25%
The Young Man's Guide - William Alcott	0	0%
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson	1	6.25%
The Republic - Plato	1	6.25%
The Big Questions - Simon Blackburn	0	0%
Voters: 16. You may not vote on this poll

08-21-2014, 01:07 PM	#2
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,310 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	I'd suggest Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan as one to read. You can find it here at MR MR copy and there is an annotated text at Feedbooks (also free) Feedbooks. The man who did the annotated copy also made a concordance to go along with it: Concordance.

08-21-2014, 01:14 PM	#3
bfisher Wizard Posts: 1,638 Karma: 28483498 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Ottawa Canada Device: Sony PRS-T3, Galaxy (Aldiko, Kobo app)	Homer the Iliad and the Odyssey

08-22-2014, 05:17 PM	#8
HomeInMyShoes Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,226 Karma: 67780237 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	To Kill a Mockingbird > The Catcher in the Rye if I had to pick one.

08-23-2014, 03:59 PM	#11
Rbneader Fanatic Posts: 503 Karma: 2661351 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: None	Andre Norton was a grandmaster in fantasy and sci-fi who wrote a lot of influential and excellent books. I've also recommended her 3 times today, oops. Oh well, she's a great writer. Her public domain books are at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7021. I'd start with Time Traders which is the first book in her Time Traders series.

08-23-2014, 06:11 PM	#13
bfisher Wizard Posts: 1,638 Karma: 28483498 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Ottawa Canada Device: Sony PRS-T3, Galaxy (Aldiko, Kobo app)	She may not have renewed copyright on some on them. Many of her books are free or inexpensive at amazon.