Here are 100 books that Through the Looking-Glass fans have personally recommended if you like
Through the Looking-Glass.
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I am a lawyer and novelist with a Masterās degree in philosophy. I read philosophy and its history to seek wisdom, knowledge, morality, meaning, and the means by which to think well. That is also why I read fiction. And a great philosophical novel can do what a treatise cannot: it can enlighten by style, perspective, the elicitation of empathy, by poignancy and aesthetic awe, and other qualities unique to good fiction. Although I could not possibly represent all the great philosophical novels in this short list, Iāve tried to present a meaningful cross-section. I hope you find these novels as enjoyable and meaningful as I have.
Nausea does not rely on the extreme or outlandish scenarios of science fiction to explore philosophical themes. Rather, this novel is about a personās growing malaise over his conscious relationship to objects, people, and ultimately himself. It reaches into some very fundamental aspects of our relationship to the world, and asks you to look at the mere structure of existence after all particularities (names, shapes, colors, history, etc.) are wiped away, and then asks you how you feel about it. Through an existentialist lens, it also explores certain political questions. And for those more technically interested in philosophy, the novel does a better job of showing existentialismās relationship to phenomenology than many academic papers.
Nausea is the story of Antoine Roquentin, a French writer who is horrified at his own existence. In impressionistic, diary form he ruthlessly catalogs his every feeling and sensation. His thoughts culminate in a pervasive, overpowering feeling of nausea which "spreads at the bottom of the viscous puddle, at the bottom of our time - the time of purple suspenders and broken chair seats; it is made of wide, soft instants, spreading at the edge, like an oil stain."
Winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature (though he declined to accept it), Jean-Paul Sartre - philosopher, critic, novelist, andā¦
As a child, one of my favorite places was in the top branches of a tree. From up there I could watch the world pass by, remaining invisible. I could make up stories about the world below and no one would challenge me. The second best place for me was inside the story of a book, the kind that took you to magical places where children always found a way to win the day. I knew when I āgrew upā I would write one of those empowering books. I became a middle school teacher and have since read many wonderful books for this age. Enjoy my list of favorites.
For me, Maryās abandonment by the adults around her, came close to home. I rooted for her to free her soul. It was the beauty of the garden and the gentle robin that first melted the ice around her heart by connecting her with nature.
Then along came Dickon, who had grown up deeply connected with the earth and inspired her further, and finally Colin, who, like her, had been neglected. They healed each other as they revitalized the garden, experiencing the joys of mother earth.
It reinforced my own faith in mother nature, who also supported me whenever I grappled with my reality.
Rediscover the magical story of Mary Lennox, who arrives in the wild and windswept Yorkshire a sickly and miserable girl - until she discovers a forgotten, Secret Garden.
As Mary works hard to bring the garden back to life, its magic begins to work on her too . . .
This classic and beloved story has been beautifully retold by Claire Freedman and brought to glorious visual life by new illustration talent Shaw Davidson
I was born in Scotland. I grew up in Scotland. The family house contained no television, but it did contain a vast wealth of books, music, and life. As a result, I learned to read at a really young age and then set about working my way through my fatherās myriad books. Stories, songs, and Nature have always been my solace. In addition to being Scottish, the five books on my list are so innovative that they transcend mere words on a page; thereās a lyrical quality to the lines, music in their cadence, and animals (non-human onesāthe best kind!) infusing the stories with deeper significance and subtext.
As a kid, I was hooked on this story's vast, wide-open freedom. The notions of hidden treasure maps, buried fortunes, stealthy smugglers, and dangerous pirates affected me in profoundly positive ways, stimulating a wanderlust and a love of adventure.
Although Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson set this swashbuckling tale on the south coast of England and the elusive Treasure Island in the Caribbean, it was inspired by his childhood experiences in Scotland, most notably trips with his dad to rocky islands and promontories (RLSās father was a lighthouse engineer who designed and built many iconic lighthouses).
When my father took the five-year-old me to The Admiral Benbow en route to a family holiday in Cornwall, I was amazed to find that the inn was a real place. It felt bristlingly alive to me, for this was the same inn where Billy Bones had lodged with the treasure map while hidingā¦
Penguin presents the audio CD edition of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Following the demise of bloodthirsty buccaneer Captain Flint, young Jim Hawkins finds himself with the key to a fortune. For he has discovered a map that will lead him to the fabled Treasure Island. But a host of villains, wild beasts and deadly savages stand between him and the stash of gold. Not to mention the most infamous pirate ever to sail the high seas . . .
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorāand only womanāon a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
I have a passion for this because I feel that books nowadays focus more on being dark to shock, and while everyone deserves to read what they like, I donāt want people to lose sight of things such as happy endings. Thereās enough darkness in the world and reading should make people smile.
This charming YA Fantasy takes you on a whimsical adventure! When Talia Benson, a sweetheart of a teen with a knack for art is swept into a fantastical world far out of her comfort zone, sheās pulled into an adventure like no other! I love this tale because it reminds me of the stories I read growing up! Lighthearted adventures with hopeful outlooks, loveable characters, and an awesome animal sidekick.
Stargazer and artist Talia Benson never wanted an adventure. The titles of student, dutiful daughter, and crazy cat lady suited her just fine. But when sheās swept into an unknown world where sentient animals exist, monsters roam, and angelic beings sway fate, sheās forced to adjust to adventuring as she embarks on a quest to return to her quiet Canadian life.
Jarrett is the best runner in the Nine Realms. Well, maybe not the best, still heās proud of the reputation heās built for himself. But with only a squirrel for company during his extensive travels, his social skills haveā¦
I have a passion for this because I feel that books nowadays focus more on being dark to shock, and while everyone deserves to read what they like, I donāt want people to lose sight of things such as happy endings. Thereās enough darkness in the world and reading should make people smile.
Another story from my childhood, this tells the tale of the Bastable children, sweet siblings who are searching for treasure to help the father who recently lost everything. Stories about siblings have always piqued my interest as I myself have 3 siblings :) and stories about siblings who treat each other good are often my absolute favorites!
Who knows why, but I have always been enticed by absurdities, paradoxes, incongruities ā I use them in my talks, articles, and books ā of everyday lives, our humanity, and mysteries of our āgoing on.ā Reflections on being human can be triggered by humour such as CambridgeāsBeyond the Fringe and New Yorkās sitcom Seinfeldā within which I wallow ā as well as by lengthy philosophical works and novels. My work draws on bafflements: for example, shampoo instructions āLather, rinse, repeatā (making shampoo-ing infinite?); Barmaid to Peter Cook, āBitter?ā, reply being āJust tiredāā and Samuel Beckettās āI canāt go on. Iāll go on.ā Yes, I go on.
The title was sufficient to draw me in ā for I warm to lifeās absurdities, and clowning is one form of absurdity. For decades, I have been actively involved with Humanism, so the absurdities in Clownof the hypocrisies in Catholicism naturally appealed, yet more so were the exposures of hypocrisies in love, relationships, and social and political pronouncements ā indeed, in being human. Yes, Catholicism is attacked here, but so, also, Humanity. To quote: āGoodbye,ā I said, āand thank you for so much humanity.ā
Acclaimed entertainer Hans Schneir collapses when his beloved Marie leaves him because he wonāt marry her within the Catholic Church. The desertion triggers a searing re-examination of his lifeāthe loss of his sister during the war, the demands of his millionaire father and the hypocrisies of his mother, who first fought to āsaveā Germany from the Jews, then worked for āreconciliationā afterwards.
Heinrich Bƶllās gripping consideration of how to overcome guilt and live up to idealismāhow to find something to believe ināgives stirring evidence of why he was such an unwelcome presence in post-War German consciousness . . . andā¦
Who knows why, but I have always been enticed by absurdities, paradoxes, incongruities ā I use them in my talks, articles, and books ā of everyday lives, our humanity, and mysteries of our āgoing on.ā Reflections on being human can be triggered by humour such as CambridgeāsBeyond the Fringe and New Yorkās sitcom Seinfeldā within which I wallow ā as well as by lengthy philosophical works and novels. My work draws on bafflements: for example, shampoo instructions āLather, rinse, repeatā (making shampoo-ing infinite?); Barmaid to Peter Cook, āBitter?ā, reply being āJust tiredāā and Samuel Beckettās āI canāt go on. Iāll go on.ā Yes, I go on.
In days of youth, I would have short holidays on Greek Islands and in countries such as Turkey and Egypt. Later, I briefly lectured in philosophy at the University of Khartoum. The atmosphere of those places ā the cultures tied to religions, the hazy hot climate, the pace ā well, I found those in Justine (set in Alexandria). The book still appeals to bringing out the fluidity of relationships, ways of seeing others, of interpretations. It is the first volume of The Alexandria Quartet; other volumes look at the same events, but through the eyes of other characters.
The Egyptian city of Alexandria once boasted the world's greatest library, home to scholars dedicated solely to the pursuit of knowledge. But on the eve of World War II, the obsessed characters in this mesmerizing novel find that their pursuits lead only to bedrooms in which each seeks to know-and possess-the other.
Who knows why, but I have always been enticed by absurdities, paradoxes, incongruities ā I use them in my talks, articles, and books ā of everyday lives, our humanity, and mysteries of our āgoing on.ā Reflections on being human can be triggered by humour such as CambridgeāsBeyond the Fringe and New Yorkās sitcom Seinfeldā within which I wallow ā as well as by lengthy philosophical works and novels. My work draws on bafflements: for example, shampoo instructions āLather, rinse, repeatā (making shampoo-ing infinite?); Barmaid to Peter Cook, āBitter?ā, reply being āJust tiredāā and Samuel Beckettās āI canāt go on. Iāll go on.ā Yes, I go on.
I frequently return to Plato and his portrayal of Socrates. The Phaedrus intrigues me. It is a difficult work for piecing together, yet with fascinating thoughts, taking us from rhetoric to erotic love to the search for Beauty, Truth, the Good. What it is to be human continues to baffle me ā not least because we often do have a sense of 'going beyond' the mystical. Yes ā I do write as an atheist.
Phaedrus is widely recognized as one of Plato's most profound and beautiful works. It takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus and its ostensible subject is love, especially homoerotic love. This new translation is accompanied by an introduction, further reading, and full notes on the text and translation that discuss the structure of the dialogue and elucidate issues that might puzzle the modern reader.
I was hooked on brain science from the moment in the 1980s when I saw the first blurry images that revealed the physical markers of thought. I set out to find out all I could about this astonishing new area of discovery, but there was practically nothing to be found ā neuroscience as we know it barely existed. I pounced on every new finding that emerged and eventually wrote what was one of the first books, Mapping the Mind, that made brain science accessible to non-scientists. There are hundreds of them now, and these are some of the best.
This is the one to get if you are shipwrecked on a desert island ā or forced into another lockdown. Or, for that matter, if you need a doorstop that happens to contain fascinating essays on aspects of brain and mind from Abacus to Wittgenstein. Dip into it for a guaranteed good read or use it as a superior Google when you want to know things like why mirrors only reverse one way or the origin of the phrase āmad as a hatterā. It wonāt disappoint.
The Oxford Companion to the Mind,edited by Richard L. Gregory, is a classic. Published in 1987, to huge acclaim, it immediately took its place as the indispensable guide to the mysteries - and idiosyncracies - of the human mind. In no other book can the reader find indiscussions of concepts such as language, memory, and intelligence, side by side with witty definitions of common human experiences such as the 'cocktail-party' and 'halo' effects, and the least effort principle.
Richard Gregory again brings his wit, wisdom, and expertise to bear on this most elusive of subjects. Research into the mind andā¦
Winner of the Robert F. Lucid Award for Mailer Studies.
Celebrating Mailer's centenary and the seventy-fifth publication of The Naked and the Dead, the book illustrates how Mailer remains a provocative presence in American letters.
From the debates of the nation's founders, to the revolutionary traditions of western romanticism,ā¦
Peter Mark Adams and his wife, Kenzie, have shared a healing and personal development practice for more than 20 years specializing in energy and meridian therapies, breathwork, and meditation. Peter and Kenzie have practiced and taught a range of meditative and energy-based techniques, including Mind Connection Healing (MCH), Usui Reiki, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Mindfulness, Vivation, Integrative and Rebirthing Breathwork. Peterās non-fiction is published by Inner Traditions and Scarlet Imprint; literary prose and poetry by Corbel Stone Press and Paralibrum. His essays on energy healing have appeared in the peer-reviewed Paranthropology Journal and the Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology as well as on his academia.edu page.
The amazing results achieved with energy healing raise profound questions concerning the nature of consciousness and the human energy anatomy and how these suggest the existence of a much broader conception of reality than consensual thought allows for, and it is with respect to this broader conception that Rupert Sheldrake proves such an informative guide. His central concept - that of the existence of āmorphic fieldsā connecting all sentient life-forms and the influence that they exert on our emotional and physical lives through the phenomena of āmorphic resonanceā - provides the āmissing linkā in our understanding of consciousness and as well as the root causes of much of the mental, emotional and physical ill-health that we encounter as healers.
Explains how self-organizing systems, from crystals to human societies, share collective memories that influence their form and behavior
ā¢ Includes new evidence and research in support of the theory of morphic resonance
ā¢ Explores the major role that morphic resonance plays not just in animal instincts and cultural inheritance but also in the larger process of evolution
ā¢ Shows that nature is not ruled by fixed laws but by habits and collective memories
In this fully revised and updated edition of The Presence of the Past, Cambridge biologist Rupert Sheldrake lays out new evidence and research in support of hisā¦