What books would you recommend everyone should read?

[kgbsquirrel]

The Republic - Plato

Also, surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet...

War and Peace - Tolstoy

[gunsmith]

I've read a great deal of Tolstoy but really think the short stories are more consumable - I've never gotten through War and Peace

i know its one of the greats but it just drags on.... What Men Live By for instance, a great short story with a powerful timeless message. You have to read it.

Ayn Rand Anthem how did I forget that on my first list, its her best and really needs to be a movie, reading goes by fast and I feel like I've seen the movie but know I've only read the book.

Moon is a Harsh Mistress must concur, everyone needs to read it.

[freakazoid]

All of Tolstoy's short stories & Resurrection.

The Kingdom of God is Within You and other writings is really good.

The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobe

All of his The Case for books are great.

I cannot beleive no ones mentioned Heinlin, here of all places.

While Starship Troopers is really good, Glory Road is my favorite. I own The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, just haven't read it yet. It's actually in my stack of to be read books I brought with me this deployment.

Matthew Bracken's Enemies Foreign and Domestic, only read the first one but it was really good. For fighting back against a government gone crazy I would recommend John Ross's Unintended Consequences. It is fantastic in how it goes back to the beginnings of anti-gun legislation starting with the NFA and people within the gun culture.

Sam Keith's One Mans Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey along with Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild both also greatly shaped me I think.

[Perd Hapley]

The Republic - Plato

So that they will never, ever read any philosophy again?  I don't see how "everyone" would be well-served by reading that book. Its politics is horrifying, its philosophy is convoluted, and it's just not a good read. "Everyone" would give that book about two pages before he set it aside for something else. And he wouldn't be missing much.

[kgbsquirrel]

So that they will never, ever read any philosophy again?  I don't see how "everyone" would be well-served by reading that book. Its politics is horrifying, its philosophy is convoluted, and it's just not a good read. "Everyone" would give that book about two pages before he set it aside for something else. And he wouldn't be missing much.

Did a teacher force you to read it during your freshman year or something? That's certainly not what I took away from it, but then again I wasn't using it as a how to, but as a mental exercise on my part to think through avenues I might not otherwise have.

[Perd Hapley]

No, I just read it because it is a book anyone who wants to be all erudite and worldly should probably plow through (yes, I'm still working on the erudite and worldly thing). I guess it could be thought-provoking, but not enough to make it required reading for just anybody. Much better books out there.

Then again, anything from the ancient/classical Greeks just puts me off. Don't get me started on Homer.

[BlueStarLizzard]

The Kingdom of God is Within You and other writings is really good.

All of his The Case for books are great.

While Starship Troopers is really good, Glory Road is my favorite. I own The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, just haven't read it yet. It's actually in my stack of to be read books I brought with me this deployment.

Matthew Bracken's Enemies Foreign and Domestic, only read the first one but it was really good. For fighting back against a government gone crazy I would recommend John Ross's Unintended Consequences. It is fantastic in how it goes back to the beginnings of anti-gun legislation starting with the NFA and people within the gun culture.

Sam Keith's One Mans Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey along with Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild both also greatly shaped me I think.

My favorite Heinlin is actually one of his young adult books, Podkayne of Mars. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers are more "good for anyone". I also really do like Stranger In A Strange Land, but I think a lot of people get hung up on the... oddities towards the end.

[makattak]

As I see others have included the most important economics works already (Wealth of Nations, Road to Serfdom, The Law, Economics in One Lesson) and Tolkien/C.S. Lewis, I'll have to toss out some lesser works:

The Count of Monte Cristo (not a lesser, work, though)
The Aenid
Beowolf
The Once and Future King
The Brothers Karamozov
The Sea Wolf (or White Fang or Call of the Wild. I'd prefer all three.)
Huckleberry Finn
The Silmarillion (you have to be a significant Tolkien fan and mythology buff to enjoy the beginning of this one, though.)
Dr. Faustus
The Gallic War (de Bello Gallico)
Livy's History of Rome
The short stories of Edgar Allen Poe (my preference is for his detective stories, I believe the first of their kind). Be careful with Poe, though. He well understood the darkness of the human soul, generally focusing on madness and evil. (Though not solely; his detective stories are some of the exceptions.)
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Frankenstein
The Tempest

(I had better stop because I'm pretty sure I'll keep coming up with works if I continue to think on this.)