/lit/ - Literature

>>14343724
>1. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
>2. The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli
>3. 1984 - Orwell
Read them in that order. Although I'm not sure what you're doing.

>>14343740
I'm 22, currently I'm in a fucked up state of a lost identity. In my past, I was heavily gifted and kinda intellectual in high school and could've gone places yet I fucked up in an effort to take multiple advanced classes harder than I could handle at 16.

I've been trying to wake my life up and improve my existence through absorbing as much knowledge in my youth. I don't care if it numbs my outlook because I'm already jaded

I have nihilistic & Machiavelli tendencies (kinda dark triad) but am not one who is completely for nihilism. I am not trying to be edgy "dude Stoicism brooo" cause at my core, I resonate with stoic principles and remain unaffected by external forces

Originally I was going to look into Buddhism's interesting portrayal of life & the external energies, however I don't think it will help me that much

I feel like my interest lies in philosophical approaches whether traditional or political as well as having a deeper understanding of the 'state' and its elements. Therefore I wanted to start with the Greeks/Classical and expound my path from there

>>14344076
read, a bit, then hike/walk in scilence

>>14343724
>>14344076
So you never went to university?

>>14343724
The prince is a meme and only worth reading if you like history. 1984 is a great novel. Meditations is also sort of a meme but it's a lot better than the prince. I haven't read wealth of nations so I'm assuming it's trash.

You'll only understand the prince if you read nicky's other writings

>>14343724
'The Wealth of Nations' is absolutely foundational if you have any interest in political economy. Despite what you may have heard, it is not a defense of capitalism (a term that hadn't even been coined when Smith wrote the book). It is key to understanding later thinkers across the full spectrum from left to right.

>>14344076
This forbidden knowledge/ life energy/ chakra bullshit is really just that. Reading for me is more about recognizing and understanding my enculturation, and then chipping away at the harmful parts.
>>14344083
Then repeat. Walking in nature should be given equal priority as reading. Read zhuangzi and Ralph Emerson.

>>14344116
My fucking sides

>>14344076
Something a NEET says

>>14343724
The Prince is the book I always recommend to people if they want to start getting a more realistic view of politics.

>>14343724
Meditations. Absolutely meditations, please. It's my personal favorite book.

>>14343724
None of them and here is why:
>Machiavelli
There are many things I dislike about this book. One thing is it's pure rhetoric and not true philosophy. Although the man who wrote the book is smart; he wrote "The Prince" for leniency much like Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf" to establish a political presence. There are more differences between the two than you might think. If you like politics then I would read it but take it with a grain of salt.
>Wealth of Nations
You're not an economist or a politician yet so I would avoid.
>Meditations
Don't. Our resident tripfag likes this book. Stoicism is seriously flawed just as much as Cuckstianity is.
>1984 by Orwell
Not really philosophical. If you go on reading this book expect your fellow peers to say "that can't possibly happen in America/Britain/etc.". Skip it because it's really aimed for middle school kids. (That is when I read it at least)

>>14343724

>>14343724
Meditations, Prince, Wealth of Nations, 1984.

Meditations is a necessity.

>>14344123
Retard

>>14345168
Retard 2.0

>>14344076
you should get out into the real world instead of staying inside reading books if ur looking to get a healthier approach to life

>>14343724
Read Meditations and skip the rest. Unironically. It seems like it'd be good for you right now.

You will not make it 5% of the way through WoN.

Prince is a meme.

1984 is okay to get you thinking about the effects of propaganda etc, just try not to be reddit about it after you read it

Read Plato, then The Bhagavata Gita, then read the Prince. It'll make you a man.

>>14343724
What a fucking pseud midwit lmaoooo

>>14344076
>I was heavily gifted and kinda intellectual in high school
Fucking Americans, man.

>>14343724
I just puked

here's the real ranking:
>wealth of nations
>the prince
>meditations
>1984
make sure you understand the proper context of the prince both within machiavelli's own life and work, and in the intellectual debates of renaissance humanism at the time. the wealth of nations really is a genius work of political economy and sociology, even if it suffers from the 'so influential it seems obvious' effect because his ideas have become hegemonic. it's one of those texts that define an entire subject of study. meditations is okay, but i think it ranks ranks quite low even in the stoicism corpus; good life advice, but not the best representation of stoicism as a philosophy. i have no love for 1984, but it's a decent novel i guess.

>>14344076
The content matches the formatting.

let me guess, you wish to become a status quo conservative politician in the next ~5 years?

this is brilliant

>>14344076
Bro, you're totally cringe. Wake the fuck up. Stop kidding yourself and sort yourself the fuck out. You're 22 and you've achieved nothing. Just meditate on that for a fucking minute.

>>14343724
Read Smith, skip the rest.

>>14346664
Yeah those first two are valuable. :3

strong start but not much follow up material
7/10
good troll, promising future for op

>>14344076
>Kinda intellectual in high school

This is exactly what the most boring and useless people say in order to delude themselves into thinking they are anything more than NPC's

>>14343724
What >>14345168 is too uneducated to draw out from his own discourse is that you should read these books for their historical context, how a roman emperor kept his shit together, how a diplomat played 4d chess with all of italy etc
Do we really imagine scholars reading these books for their face value ideas? To get any kind of value from any book it's going to take time and effort
And FYI the order is >>14343740

>>14345168

>>14344076

>I have nihilistic & Machiavelli tendencies (kinda dark triad) but am not one who is completely for nihilism. I am not trying to be edgy "dude Stoicism brooo" cause at my core, I resonate with stoic principles and remain unaffected by external forces

Utterly fucking cringe. I am only a year older than you, and I want you to know that I cringed immensely at your personality and writing.

>>14343724
i have the perfect book for you

>>14344076
Is there anyone on this board who is normal?

>>14350032
Yes. What are you reading anon?
I am reading For Whom the Bell Tolls and I am enjoying it. University leaves me with little time for reading, so I am looking forward to some time off after the finals.

>>14343724
Throw all of those in the fucking rubbish bin

>>14343724
>>14344076
everytime

>>14350631
taleb and scott adams aren't midwit

>>14344076
dude, bend over to schiller and accept that the purpose in life lies in aesthetics

>>14350631

>Atlas shrugged
>The communist manifesto

I'll have one of whatever you're having

>>14350631
what the hell, I have't read a single one of those apart from like 10 pages of Stirner, I need to catch up, where do I start?

>>14344123
I disagree. Machivellianism is pretty essential knowledge

>>14350718

The Greeks

>>14350750
political philosophy is split into pre and post Machiavelli

>>14347801
What does someone who is 22 should have acomplished?

>>14350790
An album like Pet Sounds, which brian wilson achieved at age 22, or a book like this side of paradise, which fitzgerald wrote when he was 22

>>14350817
Ok, so shit

>>14350832
don't even try that. They're both obviously the works of young artists, but not in any negative way. And you haven't read this side of paradise

>>14350817
>you aren't a genius so you're a failure
damn...

>>14350885
To be honest I don't really believe that, but inspiring despair in others under the guise of motivation is part of the /lit/ ethos

>>14350783
it's more split between pre and post-hobbes.

>>14350750
No the prince is a meme book, as in Machiavelli didn't actually believe what most people believe he did. Discourses on Livy on the other hand is based

>>14343724
Not gonna lie but those books are cringe, besides wealth of nations for historic purposes.
>>14344076
get some self awareness
also you type like a redditor

>>14344076
>I was heavily gifted and kinda intellectual in high school and could've gone places yet I fucked up
99% of all the people I've met that say shit like this are idiots with no work ethic (i.e. the worst kind of an idiot). I sincerely hope you're in the 1% and get your shit together eventually.

>>14345168
W E W
E
W

I have the perfect webm for such a shit take, but it has sound. So I'll leave this and hope you realize you are a tasteless faggot

>>14350759
is the "start with the greeks" shit a meme?

>>14352737
It's a meme, but one well worth falling for.

yikes