Gimme shit to read. The world overwhelms meh.

[CynicalIdealist]

Seriously.

I sort of want to know everything but I get overwhelmed easily. EVERYTHING.

There's so much that I don't understand so I feel like I should start with basics and work my way up. The point of this topic is for the rest of you to just recommend me books so that I don't feel like I'm choosing between a million of them. I also don't want to read a book where I feel like I have little context or point of reference.

So yeah, tell me what to read. Anything. History, theory, Marxism, maths, philosophy, whatever. I have an unquenchable desire for knowledge. @[email protected]

[Battlecat]

Tried here? (http://www.marxists.org/)

A good place to start would be the Manifesto. If you understand that then go onto some other things such as The Civil War In France and maybe even try Capital if you feel up to it.

Of course, you can always read the Theory section of different parties' websites. They generally have a good summary of the main points, in an easy to read format.

But, basically everything you need is on MIA

[Os Cangaceiros]

"Cosmos" by Carl Sagan, perhaps? Pretty good book.

[Nikolay]

ABC of Anarchism - Alexander Berkman
Conquest of Bread - Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin
Das Kapital, V. I, II & III - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
The State and Revolution - Vladimir Lenin
Grundrisse - Karl Marx (only read if you're really interested in Marxian economics)
Anarchist FAQ, V. I - Iain McKay
Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

[Rocky Rococo]

Explore: http://www.marxists.org/

have fun!

[tir1944]

War and Peace by Tolstoy

[TheGodlessUtopian]

"A Peoples History of the United States" by Howard Zinn.

A great history book packed with info that few mainstream people know.

[socialistjustin]

Wage Labor and Capital

No Gods No Masters by Daniel Guerin

Anything by Chomsky

Parecon by Michael Albert

An Economic History of the Soviet Union by Alec Nove

[The Idler]

People's History of the World by Chris Harman.

[bricolage]

live working die fighting by paul mason

[brigadista]

franz fanon..

[Ballyfornia]

Bill Bryson - A short history of Nearly Everything.
Pretty good it basically gives a complete rough guide to everything in science

[blackandyellow]

You could spend your whole life reading the try 19th century and early 20th century people will recommend to you, or political sects hack theory and still be an idiot (take a look at revleft)


As to what you should read, erm, theres so much its hard to say. Some good books i read recently:

Mark Mazower - Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century. Highly recommend for a very very readable and interesting overview of 20th century European history - something every communist should know about. Cant stress how much you should read this book.

Mazower - The Balkans. Also very readable, accesable and short book, probably not as neccesary reading as the first Mazower book but the Balkans are cool so you should learn about them in my opinion.

Tariq Ali - Clash of Fundamentalisms. This books a bit all over the place. Has a brief history of Islam from Muhammed to the Ottoman Empire, then a political history of a lot of Muslim countries such as Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, as well as American Imperialism

Kenan Malik - Fatwa to Jihad. This book also is a bit all over the place. Part history of the Rushdie affair, part personal history of anti-racist organising in the UK from an old Trotskyist in the UK, part history of the rise of Official Multiculturalist politics in the UK and the authers criticism of it (dont confuse his criticism of multiculturalism as racist or anti-immigrant peice at all though, the author is South Asian himself, supports open borders, and was involved in the 1980s in fighting racists who attacked Asian homes. By multiculturalism he is talking about it as an official government policy of dividing people along cultural lines, not as a lived experience of multiple cultures in one place), part defense of free speech, part history of political Islam in the UK. Read it, it all comes together and makes sense.

[bricolage]

studs terkel, working
andy beckett, when the lights went out (britain in the 70s)
federici, caliban and the witch

or just read aufheben back issues :)

[bricolage]

live working die fighting by paul mason
but this is the best one. seriously.

[Rooster]

Bill Bryson - A short history of Nearly Everything.
Pretty good it basically gives a complete rough guide to everything in science

I was going to recommend this.

But seeing how I was beaten to the punch, you could read Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time.

Or, failing that, then you should maybe look into getting those Very Short Introduction books. Some of them are really quite good (especially the history ones) and some of then are really rather hit and miss, such as the one on the EU.

[ZeroNowhere]

You could spend your whole life reading the try 19th century and early 20th century people will recommend to you, or political sects hack theory and still be an idiot (take a look at revleft)

Um (http://www.revleft.com/vb/many-you-have-t156897/index.html?t=156897).

[RED DAVE]

History of the Rusian Revolutin – by Leon Trotsky (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/)

Enjoy the finest work of political history ever written.

RED DAVE

[Mr. Natural]

Cynical Idealist, Joel Kovel's Enemy of Nature (2003) is mostly clearly written and does an excellent job of discussing capitalism and communism, and it outlines a grassroots, "ecological" revolutionary process. This latter content is rare in left circles. Other than saying the working class will lead the way, you won't find any? many? other outlines of a revolutionary movement.

Kovel is the Marxist head of the American ecosocialists. See the "Ecosocialist Manifesto," co-written with Michael Lowy, that is easily located on the Web.

I am not associated with the ecosocialists, but Enemy is a comprehensive, friendly read.

[Spets]

The S Word - John Nichols. About socialism is the United States.

[Sam Varriano]

Just be like me and start to read Das Kapital.

[W1N5T0N]

"Dune" by Frank Herbert.

oh and try "chomsky on anarchism", good stuff.