ITT: Books You Wish You Read Before You Turned 18

[Anonymous No.6940290]

[Anonymous No.6940301]

The Greeks

[Anonymous No.6940358]

>>6940290
I read 48 laws before I became 18

I've regretted it ever since

[Anonymous No.6940368]

>that op book

Oh my...

[Anonymous No.6940472]

[Anonymous No.6940491]

>be 16
>have to read a book that influenced European history
>choose Plato because he was in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
>mfw

[Anonymous No.6940504]

>>6940301
i wish i read homer when i was a kid but my mom made me gay ass virgil instead, man fuck the romans

[Anonymous No.6940505]

>>6940491
four hundred keks

[Anonymous No.6940519]

>>6940491

That never happened.

[Anonymous No.6940523]

Homer
The Stranger
Dubliners + Portrait
Kafka
Dostoevsky
Divine Comedy

[Anonymous No.6940529]

>>6940519
why u say that? sounds plausible enough really

[Anonymous No.6940544]

>>6940529

... how? What about that actually seems realistic? The implication is that they needed to read a book that influenced European history, and they knew enough about Plato to know he did. But then they magically didn't know who Plato was outside of a stupid movie?

Or, let's say that they didn't know who he was and just recognized the name alone - we're expected to believe a person like that is intelligent enough to just pick up Plato and understand everything fully?

It's bullshit, that anon is a lying shit, and you're a dumbshit for believing it. Fuck, /lit/, Get your shit together.

[Anonymous No.6940553]

>>6940544
right, the fact that some kid picked plato for a paper cuz he saw him in a movie isn't believable, but hitler killing six gajillion jews is legit. oooh kay then.

[Anonymous No.6940562]

>>6940290
I wish I had read it so I could be more of a teenage edgelord.

[Anonymous No.6940573]

i'm about to turn 23. what should i have read by now?

[Anonymous No.6940581]

>>6940573
Stendhal's The Red and the Black.

[Anonymous No.6940584]

>>6940544
Chill out dude. Also understanding everything fully in a text is a meme concept. No one has ever understood s text fully. No author has ever produced a fully coherent representation of their meaning. The signified doesn't exist. As soon as you come to terms with that you might actually learn something from a text.

[Anonymous No.6940588]

>>6940472
I just read a review that said this book is more autobiographical while the sequel "Rules of the Game" is more how-to, what do you think

[Anonymous No.6940599]

>>6940584

If you defend your writing by saying "my meaning can't be fully determined by my writing", you're a shit writer.

[Anonymous No.6940600]

>>6940588

But The Game was far more inspirational. I don't give a shit about the actual rules, I just cared about the story. That made far more of a difference than anything else.

[Anonymous No.6940603]

>>6940544
The teacher gave out a list of books, you horrendous faggot. Get a grip.

[Anonymous No.6940604]

>>6940600
so why is it good for someone turning 18 to read?

[Anonymous No.6940606]

>>6940603

... in which case you were ignorant to have no idea who Plato was, but you still read through it and fully understood it? At 16?

tippest toppest kek, you're a fucking faker and it's pathetic how much you want to seem smart to fit in.

Tell me, was this yesterday? Last week? This summer or the past, right?

[Anonymous No.6940609]

>>6940472
>>6940588
>>6940600
>>6940604
Isn't this all just a bunch of PUA bullshit? Protip: if you need to read a book to be 'alpha', there was never any hope for it in the first place.

[Anonymous No.6940611]

>>6940606
stop posting, go outside, and just look at the sky for a while.

[Anonymous No.6940613]

>>6940606
>Plato is soooo hard to understand!
Not everybody is as retarded as you are, friend

[Anonymous No.6940614]

>>6940604

It removes some of the mystique that people have with one another. Forget men to women, it's really human to human. It delves into some of the depths that the male psyche can fall into, and in a pretty honest manner. What you take away from it is up to you, but to me, it was pretty interesting - you can fake it all you want, but your partner needs to be interested in the real you. It's exactly the opposite to the lesson it teaches for 4/5 of the book, and it's that sort of turnaround that really shows how much the human aspect matters.

But what truly matters is the journey. It's not who you end up with, it's about how you end up. And who is the best fit for you once you get there. Those are two very different things, and that's the point.

[Anonymous No.6940619]

>>6940606
lel, i read symposium without much difficulty (or actual understanding, but the point remains) when i was 15

[Anonymous No.6940623]

>>6940609

No.

If you want some PUA tips, read something else. A few of my friends were into that shit, so I kinda heard about it and this book came up because it was one of the first. They didn't really read it, which showed, because it's actually a pretty damning account of that world. Neil Strauss is a pretty badass reporter. Everybody Loves You When You're Dead or whatever it's called is pretty cool to read.

Self help is never not alpha. It's the most alpha thing you can do. If you think there's a single alpha guy out there that doesn't think about this sort of stuff, you're lying to yourself. Alpha, leader, those sorts of titles mean something to those guys. And they work for it, just like you can.

[Anonymous No.6940630]

>>6940619

lel, i so smart

[Anonymous No.6940661]

Got a story for you all. 1/2
>be on high school debate team, freshman year
>join because my brother did it and it sounded fun
>there's only one girl
>comes to every meeting in a suit
>says nothing, just reads in the corner
>a new book almost every week
>ask one of the seniors about her
>he says she's the best
>never seen her debate so I'm skeptical
>one day I decide to challenge her
>she puts down her copy of 'Being and Time' and rolls her eyes
>go first
>think I've wrecked her
>she stands up immediately after I finish and starts talking
>verbally annihilates me for the next 45 minutes
>frozen in my seat the entire time
>she finishes and goes back to reading
>everyone's staring at me
>bolt out of the room
>never went to another meeting out of sheer embarrassment

[Anonymous No.6940676]

>>6940661
>45 minutes

Shit story m8, you didn't even say which debate format you guys were following, and literally NONE of them allow 45 minutes of uninterrupted speech. Not to mention that if she took that long to refute you then she's an idiot for wasting her time.

Also you're a retard if this is true, pussying out after a single schooling was likely your biggest mistake since HS speech and debate was one of the most worthwhile experiences from those years.

>Dem sexually frustrated intellectual qts on the bus ride home from tournaments

[Anonymous No.6940680]

>>6940491
Kek Plato wasn't even in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

[Anonymous No.6940690]

>>6940661
2/2
>mom yells at me for quitting debate
>grounded for a month
>spent the entire time playing video games and watching Dragon Ball Z
>grades start slipping
>people started calling me 'Vanilla Shake' because of how I was shaking in my chair that fateful afternoon
>so afraid of the girl from debate that I mapped out her classes and made a route to avoid her
>don't have any friends because all my old friends had joined debate too
>almost fail the year, but patents force me to study
>last day of school
>the seniors are graduating
>secretly glad because she was a senior and I wouldn't have to see her again
>heard that she got accepted into Harvard, which was across the country
>would never have to think about her again
>last period of the day, only minutes from summer vacation
>I'm_glad_it's_over.jpg
>remember I left something in my locker
>open it and see a small, brown package that I hadn't seen before
>open it up
>it's a copy of The Republic
>open the book
>a note falls out
>on it, it's her signature
>it says, "Psssh...nothin personal, kid"
>mfw

[Anonymous No.6940710]

>>6940676
But wait, there's more!
>>6940690

[Anonymous No.6940803]

>>6940491
that was someone else. i'm tryna think of the name but it's not coming up..

[Anonymous No.6940808]

>>6940491
>>6940803
it was socrates

[Anonymous No.6940839]

>>6940491
>yfw you realized the pronunciation of socrates (So Krates) is closer to the actual ancient greek then (saw kraties)

[Anonymous No.6940995]

Does it really matter? I read Ulysses before I was 18 and I'm a fuck up. I don't see how it matters if you ever read, really.

[Anonynous No.6941046]

>>6940358
>I've regretted it ever since
Why?

[Anonynous No.6941048]

>>6940609
>Protip: if you need to read a book to be good at something, there was never any hope for it in the first place.

[Anonymous No.6941413]

Accepting the fact that I was a moron at 16 and anything intelligent I would recommend would be misunderstood, I would say, try 'An idiot's guide to Nietzche/Sartre/Plato/Whoever'. That way I wouldn't have read those books in vain as is the case now.

I almost may as well have not bothered reading them then. I'm not sure why I thought reading anything other than the primary source was cheating.

I suppose I'd thrown in Strunk and White and the Art of Fiction by Gardener. It probably would have been useful to have the basics down at 16.

[Anonymous No.6942238]

>>Post thread expecting quality responses
>>Go to sleep
>>Wake-up to find board flooded with 16-year olds and meme books

Why is /lit/ so /shit/

[Anonymous No.6942263]

>>6940606
>ignorant to not know who Plato was
>implying everyone not ignorant is born with knowledge of Plato

Everyone's got hear about something for the first time eventually m8

[Anonymous No.6942267]

>>6940613
I don't normally save pepes but this one is fucking dope.

[Anonymous No.6942272]

>>6940290

I never heard that book mentioned until 7 months ago and now every semi-awkward beta type I know is talking about it.

[Anonymous No.6942274]

>>6940581
Mon négro

[Anonymous No.6942284]

>>6942263
Except I heard of him when I was like 12 or 13. Unless you live in a shithole you can't have not heard his name.

[Anonymous No.6942300]

[Anonymous No.6942314]

>>6940609
Why does the "PUA is bullshit" meme exist? The main message of it is "go out and approach a lot" and that obviously works. If routines are getting you going, self-help feel good books, fitness or whatever, then so be it. But did the people who say it's bullshit actually try it for some months?

In any case, it wouldn't be among my recommendations to myself to read before 18, because then I'd be a completely different person.
What I'd recommend myself, probably, is learning one or two programming languages and do some projects.

>>6940491
rustles me pretty badly that you mix up Plato and Socrates.

[Anonymous No.6942335]

>>6940661
>>6940690

I knew from the first line that this was both terribly written and a bait story but I continued just to confirm it.

Honestly kill yourself this is aids tier greentext

[Anonymous No.6942351]

>>6942284
Thats like those people on youtube bragging about not having heard of the music from a movie or videogame or something.

[Anonymous No.6942363]

[Anonymous No.6942536]

>>6940290
"Common Sense on Mutual Funds" by John C. Bogle

[Anonymous No.6942548]

>>6942536
you probably won't even have money to invest (unless you're stem/wealthy) for a while. the wiki is a pretty good tl;dr tbh

[Anonymous No.6942555]

>>6942238
>frogposting
Go back to your containment board

[Anonymous No.6942560]

>>6942548
i was unemployed for like 10 years but i still built up like 20k in investments, just imagine if i had a job lol

[Anonymous No.6942569]

>>6942548
I am wealthy.

But I agree, the most important information can be found online, for free.

[Anonymous No.6942583]

>>6942569
if ur wealthy then u dont need to invest lol

[Anonymous No.6942585]

>>6942560
how'd you imagine that

[Anonymous No.6942596]

>>6942583
wew lol

[Anonymous No.6942610]

>>6940661
>>6940690
0/10

[Anonymous No.6942615]

>>6942314
>implying Plato didn't ghostwrite Sokrates

[Anonymous No.6942616]

>>6942585
i'm smarter than you i guess, i donno lol

[Anonymous No.6942617]

>>6942585
*manage that

[Anonymous No.6942643]

>tfw born patrician
>tfw learn to read at 2
>tfw read the odyssey at 5
>tfw read the inferno at 9
>tfw read the bible at 10
>tfw big fan of alexander the great and leonardo davinci at 11
>tfw socrates, plato, aristotle, st. tom a, bede, epicurus, calvin and hobbes, thomas hobbes, confucius by high school
>tfw i keep reading everything i hear about
>tfw parents proud, out read everyone they know
>tfw i want to learn everything, start reading textbooks on math and science, reading electronics manuals for fun
>tfw turn 25
>tfw dont care anymore
>tfw everything new is dissapointing
>tfw retreat to old favorites
>tfw turn 30
>sick of old favorites
>everything new is dissapointing
>post here like a messages in a bottle

[Anonymous No.6942648]

[Anonymous No.6942728]

[Anonymous No.6942739]

>>6942643
well I'm glad you didn't succeed anon or else I'd feel bad about myself
you're a great hope for everyone

[Anonymous No.6942783]

>>6942728
protestant?

[Anonymous No.6942801]

>>6942643
I know this is fake, but there's some truth in this.

Once the big and small classics are done, there's nothing worthwhile to see, unless you learn new languages--but then you lack skills or motivation.

[Anonymous No.6942803]

>>6940301
>>6940523
>>6940581

Only serious answers in the thread so far. Anyone else?

[Anonymous No.6942822]

100% serious, i never knew a working class person without an elite education could accomplish such things, totally blew my fucking mind to be honest. it instantly dispelled the communist bullshit i had been tricked into by communist professors and trustfund activists

[Anonynous No.6943086]

>>6942314
>But did the people who say it's bullshit actually try it for some months?
B-but if you actually have to put effort into something, its not worth doing. Did you even read this guy's post? >>6940609

[Anonynous No.6943101]

>>6942783
It's not a religious book at all, ya dingus.

[Anonymous No.6943397]

[Anonymous No.6943436]

>>6942822
one out of a billion are good odds right friendo? :^)

[Anonymous No.6943454]

>>6943436
here's a crazy secret that the communists don't want you to know: one out of every hundred people is in the one percent! it's not one in a billion that make to the one percent but actually one out of a hundred, you have to be really good at math to figure this out i know but still it's true! and i'm sure you can think of ninety nine people lazier and more stupid than yourself, go ahead give it a try...

[Anonymous No.6943549]

>>6942728
It didn't do much for me. Pretty much just says to be slimy and let people walk all over you to get what you want.

[Anonymous No.6943564]

>>6943549
you've obviously never read it.

[Anonymous No.6943617]

>>6940613
RARE....get it while it's hot boys

[Anonymous No.6943771]

>>6943564
I read it. Most of the advice is "give people what they want and pretend to like them a lot more than you actually do."

Repeating names, trying to start conversations about random shit in their office when they try to interview you, never defending yourself or your opinions, etc.

[Anonymous No.6944065]

>>6940661
Are you an anime character ?

[Anonymous No.6944131]

>>6943771

Most of that is fine, though, and it does leave an impression on people. Outside of business relationships, it's a pretty good guide for how to get the most out of casual relationships and just general encounters with strangers. I mean, come on, there's usually no harm in small talk or just letting people rant, and the book, if I remember correctly, does address how to deal with stuff like that if you're trying to get out of it.

I wouldn't use it as a guide for how to run everything about your relationships and interactions with friends, significant others, or families, unless you're going after parts of them that you're trying to mend or change.

For what it's worth, Carnegie also allegedly, according to a biography of him, meant to include a chapter about people who you would never be able to get along with, but it never got included. Probably because "How To Win Friends and Influence People, except for these assholes" wouldn't have the same ring to it.

[Anonymous No.6944226]

Logic and improvement of the mind by Isaac Watts.

If somebody had told me that woman and indulging of their bodies made you stupider I would've probably become the second coming of Faraday.

[noko No.6944481]

>>6940290

The black swan.

>>>6944131

>was going to say "how to win friends and influence people" Such a great fucking book.

[Anonymous No.6944543]

>>6943771
and how is any of that being slimy?

[Anonymous No.6945167]

>>6940680
Plato is Socrates, Socrates never existed.

[Anonymous No.6945204]

>>6942803
>an entire culture
>a bunch of entry-level shit
>serious answers

[Anonymous No.6945221]

>>6942300

This tbh.

[Anonymous No.6945236]

>>6941046
because its a shit book m8

[Anonymous No.6945369]

>>6940544
>this fucking post

[Anonymous No.6945390]

I had to read Crime and Punishment when I was 17 but it's not like I actually read it. I was a stud in high school. Now I wish I had read it all the way through rather than half, so I could better understand in hindsight my dank AP scores.

Also you niggers that say you wish you would've read dosto or kafka. You're 17 y/o version, if you weren't a total twink, wouldn't have given a fuck about that because you were too busy reading accessible, but unbelievably shitty, intros to philosophy and trying to fuck 100 girls but being actually focused on the 2.

Projecting

[Anonymous No.6945410]

>>6945204
the point is to name entry level stuff

[Anonymous No.6945425]

>>6945167
You're not wrong but that doesn't mean that the jump from Socrates-> Plato is obvious enough for a kid basing his choice of literature off of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

[Anonymous No.6945801]

>>6943454
???????????????????????

[Anonymous No.6947060]

>>6942803
,lol

[Anonymous No.6947106]

"What to Listen For in Music" by Aaron Copland. Would've saved me a lotta trouble trying to justify liking melodic music but not liking mainstream pop.