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Below are some of the most beautiful books that I have read in my life... and i have read many more than is listed here .... I still don't understand Shakespeare I have to admit... I also have a confession to make: I despise poetry that is written with rhyme because I believe in the unfettered expression of ideas...
1. Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich W. Nietzsche (Existentialist Philosophy)
2. The Birth of Tragedy - Friedrich W. Nietzsche (Theory of Art)
3. Thus Spake Zarathustra - Friedrich W. Nietzsche (Existentialist Philosophy)
4. L'Etranger (The Stranger) - Albert Camus (French/Algerian Nobel Laureate - the Existentialist Absurdist poignant world-view. Camus has an unequaled faculty of describing inner torment and anguish)
5. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (Sick but hair-raising scientific theory - with this book I killed the ugly ogre named Science)
6. Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair - Pablo Neruda (Chilean Poet - Nobel Laureate). I read this book in Los Angeles.
7. Eros, Eros, Eros - Odysseus Elytis (Greek Nobel Laureate)
8. The Axion Esti - Odysseus Elytis
9. The Prophet - Gibran Khalil Gibran (Lebanese Writer who migrated to the US)
10. Moby Dick - Herman Melville. Powerful book.
11. The Last Temptation of Christ - Nikos Kazantzakis. Walk with Christ as He carries His cross... This book is something else...
12. The Hero With A Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell. Campbell is one of the Giants. Climb on his shoulder.
13. Come Follow Me (Vol 1.) - Talks On The Sayings of Jesus Christ - Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The book starts out very boring, and bear with Rajneesh when he glorifies himself, but in page 57 I experienced an ecstatic Epiphany and after that the book became a page turner.
14. The Tao of Physics - by Fritjof Kapra. An amazing book which tells how modern physics and Eastern mysticism are converging, how the rational and the spiritual, practical and mystical, matter and emptiness, Confucianism and Taoism, the Ying and the Yang complement each other and are all manifestations of the ultimate reality: Brahman (in Hinduism) or Tao (in Taoism). This book taught me that all things are interconnected and derive their being and nature by mutual dependence (in other words, Freedom defined as being self-sufficient is false). Kapra does not dismiss science even though he recognizes that it is an approximation, a map, but not the territory. It's usefulness lies in building bridges and flying airplanes. However, to taste Absolute Knowledge, one has to elevate themselves to the spiritual realm which is irrational.
15. Love Is Dog from Hell - beautiful poetry book by Charles Bukowski. Some of my favorite poems are : "One for the Shoeshine Man", "The Insane Always Loved Me", "How to Be A Great Writer".
16. The Essential Rumi - Coleman Barks
17. Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
18. King Jesus - Robert Graves - One of the greatest books that I have read... ever....
19. Vreme Razdelno (Time of Parting) - Anton Donchev - Bulgarian Masterpiece
20. Zorba The Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
21. Satan In Goray - Isaac Singer Bashevis (Jewish Nobel Prize Laureate)
22. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
23. The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
24. The Idiot by Dostoevsky. One of the lighter, more uplifting Dostoevsky readings.
25. Jesus the Son of Man - Gibran Khalil Gibran
26. Master and Margarita - Bulgakov. Beautiful book.
27. HUNGER - KNUT HANSUN
28. Fathers and Sons - TURGENEV - another Russian master
29. Thais by Anatole France (French Nobel Prize Laureate). A very touching book.
30. The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass (German Nobel Prize Laureate)
31. The End of Certainty by Ilya Prigogine (Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry)
32. L'Homme Qui Rit by Victor Hugo. Powerful book. Masterpiece that few people have heard of...
33. The International Jew by Henry FORD - despicable book but full of strategy
34. The Philokalia - Christian Orthodox Compilation of the Teaching of the Saints. This book is powerful and I discovered while reading it that the science of psychology that is attributed to Freud has its earlier beginnings in the writings of the Christian fathers...
35. St John Climacus - The Ladder of Divine Ascent. The most powerful psychology book you can read, fore-runner of Sigmund Freud.
36. Freedom or Death by Nikos Kazantzakis - powerful book
37. The Broken Wings by Gibran Kahlil Gibran
38. The Nag Hamadi Library -- Hair Raising accounts of the aftermath of Jesus's Crucifixion and the forensic investigation led by the Sanhedrin into his resurrection....
39. The Greek Myths in two parts by Robert Graves - very deep book
40. Karl Marx - The Communist Manifesto
41. A God Who Hates by Wafa Sultan. Powerful book by the Syrian woman who stood up to the ossified, petrified backward sheikhs of the Middle East.
42. Ecce Homo by Friedrich Nietzsche
43. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
44. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - masterpiece of Russian literature
45. The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel - Poem by Nikos Kazantzakis
46. The Odyssey by Homer
47. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
48. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
49. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
50. Middlemarch by George Eliot who is actually a lady writer
52. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann - masterpiece
53. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
54. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - weird book
55. The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
56. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
57. The Castle by Franz Kafka
58. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
59. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - classic
60. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
61. Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama
62. The Bhagavad Gita - Hindu Holy book
63. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Hindu Holy book
64. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - a despicable book but seminal
65. Saint Francis Book by Nikos Kazantzakis
66. The Divan of Hafez - after Rumi there is Hafez
67. Hundred thousand Songs of Milarepa Book by Milarepa
68. Letters Upon the Aesthetic Education of Man Book by C F Von Schiller -powerful book
69. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett - despicable depressing book but powerfully existentialist
70. The Bardo Thodol (Tibetan:"Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State"), commonly known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead
71. The Torah, Book of Prophets, Psalms and the New Testament (aka The Christian Bible)
72. Gospel of Bartholomew
73. September by Geo Milev - powerful Communist poem by Bulgarian one-eyed poet Geo Milev who is from Radnevo, Bulgaria.
74. Kapitan Petko Voyvoda by Nikolay Haytov
75. Bai Ganyo by Aleko Konstantinov
76. The Gerak Family and Zemya (Earth) by Elin Pelin
77. The Iron Oil Lamp and The Bells of Prespa by Dimitar Talev
78. The Genealogy of Morals - by Friedrich W. Nietzsche. I read this book in my early university years at the AUB in Lebanon and it strengthened my atheism.
80. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
82. Journey by Moonlight is among the best-known novels in contemporary Hungarian literature. Written by Antal Szerb.
83. Nikolai Gogol - The Nose - weird book and The Viy - also made into an excellent Russian movie.84. 1983 by Victor Hugo - Powerful Book about the French Civil war. Larger than life characters.
.85. L'Homme Qui Rit by Victor Hugo - Powerful Book
86. Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann - Very powerful book that delves with cinematic detail into the Biblical story of Joseph the Beloved Son of Jacob
87. The Road to Calgary by Alexei Tolstoy - a trilogy about the life of two sisters during the Russian Civil war and Bolshevik uiprising. Shows the pain and suffering that war causes as well as the absurdity of it and how both sides of the conflict have a point so the Middle Way is the way to go.
88. The Lover by A.B Yehoshua, israeli author and father of modern Hebrew. A beautiful book about forbidden Love.
89. Grave and Gay by Frigyes Karinthy a Hungarian genius90. The Antichrist by Joseph Roth - a Powerful book
91. Job by Joseph Roth - this book made me cry tears like a baby such a beautiful book.
92. The Idea of the Holy by Rudolph Otto, creator of the concept of the Mysterium Tremendum Et Fascinans
93. Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl the Holocaust survivor and father of Logotherapy or psychotherapy through the search for meaning. Powerful book.
94. The Book of Isaiah from the Holy Bible. A very powerful book.
95. The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy
96. Muhammad by Karen Armstrong - Portrays the prophet of Islam as a kind and very intelligent human being. Brings the Koran into life.
Rami Elias Kremesti BS, MS, CIWEM, CSci, CEnv
Last Updated: August 3, 2023 - A Very Special Day
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PS: Please email me with any worthy suggestions of great books worthy of this list.