10 Books That Screwed Up The World

[GPDP]

http://www.amazon.com/10-Books-That-Screwed-World/dp/1596980559/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230971971&sr=1-1

Anyone read this? Already I can tell it's nothing but an unsubstantiated attack on just about everything that the author does not agree with - namely, evangelical Christianity.

Some gems on that book include The Communist Manifesto and State and Revolution (on the 5 Books That Didn't Help section, I believe). Somehow, the Manifesto "wins the award for the most malicious book ever written".

He has Mein Kampf in there, at least.

Honestly, it's books like this that make me not want to walk around the politics section of bookstores. Nothing but attack books on some shady enemy like "the liberals", "the atheists", "the socialists", the "immigrants", and "the neocons" (some liberal authors are just as guilty of writing drivel of this caliber). Nothing new is brought forth, no new ideas or revelations. Just book-long rants on an enemy or set of enemies of choice, put together so as to market it to a specific group that would be interested in seeing how "the liberals are destroying America", or how Bush is to blame for everything and how Obama will fix it all.

[bcbm]

Well, before science, reason and political theory came along the world was a wonderful utopia free of genocide, murder, etc, etc so I see his point.

[LOLseph Stalin]

Haha. I love how they call the Communist Manifesto malicious. Yes, maybe if you have tyrants like Stalin abusing it. Other than that there's nothing wrong with it. Marx and Engels were great to have written down such ideas. At least Mein Kampf is there. Hitler fails! :p

[OneNamedNameLess]

Thank fuck Mein Kampf is there!

My advice to everyone would be to avoid this like the plague. It's as artless as his paintings. I considered writing a review about this on amazon and the praise from some readers was staggering. I suggest everyone has a look. Talk about mislead fuckers.

[MarxSchmarx]

Bogus.

Let's post our own lists. Here's mine:

1. The New Testament - new age gibberish is gibberish no matter how old.
2. Confucius's Analects - Because I told you so.
3. Atlas Shrugged - The amount of time one spends complaining about incompetent idiots is inversely proportional to one's competency.
4. Plato's Republic - Dictatorship in a cave.
5. Mein Kampf - Plan B when art school didn't work out.
6. The Qur'an - Enslaving infidels like us since 610 AD
7. The Road to Serfdom - Why we can't trust fire fighters.
8. The Old Testament - It's just a stupid apple.
9. Locke's Two Treatises on Government - And that is why the crops my serf harvests belong to me.
10. The Fountainhead - Atlas Shrugged for those with better things to do.

What are your guys's?

[LOLseph Stalin]

Wow! Your list was hilarious! xD

[GPDP]

I'd add Anthem and Dianetics to that. The former because it's basically the sociopath version of Animal Farm (and a shitty Rand book, and more of Rand's books need to make the list), and the latter because it's fucking Scientology (and it sounds like dialectics, so that gives off some lols).

[Kassad]

MarxSchmarx's list covers it pretty well, but don't forget

- Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea by Irving Kristol
- Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
- The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
- Anything and everything by Margaret Thatcher, Ayn Rand, Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, Murray Rothbard, Ludwig Von Mises and F.A. Hayek.

I guess some of them don't fit into the category of the 'worst', since I think religious texts top the list, but they definitely find their way into the top of the broader list.

[black magick hustla]

no book has ruined the world. only the intellectually bankrupt and people consumed by ideology would say that.

[GPDP]

no book has ruined the world. only the intellectually bankrupt and people consumed by ideology would say that.

Indeed. That's part of the reason why I brought this up. It is actions that change history, not mere ideas.

[Bilan]

no book has ruined the world. only the intellectually bankrupt and people consumed by ideology would say that.

Bingo.
Although, to completely contradict myself, I'd say things like the bible have done some damage. :lol:

[Bilan]

Background on this author speaks for itself, really.


Articles by Benjamin Wiker

(http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=submitSearchQuery&query=Benjamin%20Wiker&orderBy=date&orderDir=DESC&searchBy=author&searchType=all&includeBlogPosts=true) Benjamin Wiker holds a Ph.D. in Theological Ethics from Vanderbilt University, and has taught at Marquette University, St. Mary's University (MN), and Thomas Aquinas College (CA), and Franciscan University of Steubenville.

A political analyst and historian, who has a Ph.D Theological Ethics?
Well, I never!
What did you expect? "Well, communism is great, but only when god says so!''

Wasting your time looking for objectivity in some rubbish like this.

Though, funny mentioning the Communist Manifesto, and skipping things like Capital.
Why not mention the little red book, or even, the The Little Red School Book even?!

Funny he skipped on Mussolini's writings, and so on.

Goes to show that people often substitute rational thought with religion, stupidity, and endless pages of nothing.

[Angry Young Man]

Bogus.

Let's post our own lists.

Out of curiosity I bought a book called 'People who changed the world'. After purchase I realised it was published by Time Warner.
Had a particularly vicious biography of Lenin and one of a messianic JFK

[DesertShark]

the only way a book can screw things up is when people use a book as the sole truth of everything and does what it says instead of forming their own opinions or thinking for themselves

[LOLseph Stalin]

the only way a book can screw things up is when people use a book as the sole truth of everything and does what it says instead of forming their own opinions or thinking for themselves


Just like the Bible, Qur'an, etc. ;)

[ZeroNowhere]

10. Atlas Shrugged.
9. Capitalism and Freedom.
8. The Prince.
7. New Testament.
6. Qur'an.
5. Two Treatises on Government.
4. Mein Kampf.
3. Old Testament.
2. An Essay on the Principle of Population. I put this at second because modern Malthusians are so bloody annoying, and also give excuses for war and such.
1. Twilight.

[hugsandmarxism]

1. Twilight.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that piece of shit should be at the top! :laugh::laugh::thumbup1:

[ev]

Books don't screw up the world, people do.

[LOLseph Stalin]

Whoever listed Twilight as number one is amazing. It's just another crappy excuse for fangirls, my friends included. O_O

[Revolutionary Youth]

Here is my list:
1.Hamlet.
2.Shakespeare's Sonnets- My secret weapons that I used them to woo my GF.
"O fair Yuki, shall I compare thee to a summerday? Thou art more lovely and more temperate..."
3.Stephen Hawking's "The Universe in a Nutshell".
4.Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time".
5.Aristotle's "Metaphysics".
6.The Communist Manifesto.
7.The Prince
8."Marxism-Leninism Philosophy"-textbook used by any Vietnamese university(compulsory subject)
9.The Poetic Edda.
10.Christopher Hitchens' "God is not great".

[LOLseph Stalin]

Communist Manifesto? Aren't you commie though? :confused:

Unless you're referring to Stalin and Mao's interpretation...

[The Intransigent Faction]

1. "The Black Book of Communism" (if nothing else, anyone posting here will agree that they have no business writing about supposed 'atrocities of Communism' when the title clearly demonstrates that they have no clue what Communism actually is).
2. Twilight.
3. Romeo & Juliet (I enjoy Shakespeare, but can't stand this one).
4. The Bible.
5. The Talmud
6. The Qu'ran
7. Mein Kampf
8. Anything by Ayn Rand.
9. Anything by Bill O'Reilly.
10. Anything by Ann Coulter.

...and more.

I put Ann Coulter last because anyone who takes her seriously is sad, strange, and just more of a joke than a threat in the end.

[Revolutionary Youth]

Communist Manifesto? Aren't you commie though? :confused:

Unless you're referring to Stalin and Mao's interpretation...
Ha ha, that list is just a joke, comrade! (Don't worry, it is actually a list of my favourite books! :p)

[Sarah Palin]

I would rewrite this book.

"3 Books That Have Been, and Continue to Screw Up the World"

The Bible, Qu'ran, and the Talmud

[LOLseph Stalin]

Ha ha, that list is just a joke, comrade! (Don't worry, it is actually a list of my favourite books! http://www.revleft.com/vb/10-books-screwed-t98417/revleft/smilies/001_tongue.gif)

Haha! Ok. That's good to know. :)
Without it we would be...well just Capitalists.