/lit/ - Literature

>Math Books

Euler's Elements of Algebra

Euclid's Elements

Supplement with Lang's Basic Mathematics and maybe take a look at Axler's Pre-Calculus.

Then Apostol or Courant's calculus books.

>History

Durant's Story of Civilization (it has 11 volumes)

Herodotus

Thucydides

>General

Homer

Plato

Aristotle

Henry James the self education

it really depends on when you dropped out and what you plan to do but here are some books that will either help you get ahead (socially or otherwise) or are known and commonly referenced, meaning you should benefit from knowing them:

to help get ahead:

The 48 Laws of Power- Robert Greene

Influence–The Psychology of Persuasion- Robert Cialdi

How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie

commonly referenced:

To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee

1984- George Orwell

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury

Lord of The Flies- William Golding

and any Shakespeare or Greek works (namely The Odyssey and The Iliad)

im actually going into my senior year this fall so i dont quite know what advice i can give you beyond that but im very glad you made it as far as you did! school as an institution is probably one of the most poorly executed ideas ive seen or had the ~pleasure~ to take part in. i hope these help you!!

additionally, most of these books should be available for free on places such as:

http://xfmro3e2pkpej6tw.onion/

http://libraryqtlpitkix.onion/library/

Introduction to Film Studies; Narratology

Just read whatever you want retard

>>16406

Films suck. If I wanted to see actors I'd rather watch a play.

>>16461

A fair sentiment. It's really hard to start on nothing though.

>>16333

>>16515

In lieu of repeating myself, take a look through this thread >>14399 as well. Some very good suggestions to be found there.

What is your favorite genera? Scifi, fantasy, sports, etc.?

>>16515

>Films suck.

You make me sad. Most of the flicks that get advertised in the theaters these days are worthless trash, but there have been some really great films in the past 100 and more years. D.W. Griffith's Intolerance is a visual spectacle the likes of which had never been made before and hasn't been made since. Orson Wells' Citizen Kane is a heartwrenching character-study on par with several works of classic literature. Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker is subtly disturbing in ways that recent content creators of all stripes have so far failed to reproduce.

Nothing against theater; there's certainly something to be said for the experience of a live performance. But theater does have certain limitations. Most importantly, you can't get up-close and personal with the characters' faces in a stage play the way you can in a film. And of course, actually going out to a play is expensive and can be a lot of trouble, plus the total sum of your local theaters will only be playing maybe half a dozen at any given time, reducing the odds that they'll be playing one you'll be interested in. Classic films can be watched on the cheap from the comfort of your own home, and at any given time it'll be possible to access almost any film you've ever heard of that sounds interesting. You should give the classics of cinema a try before dismissing the entire medium.

>It's really hard to start on nothing though.

I managed to get a ton of classic books read by just scanning long lists of books and picking out the titles that sounded interesting. You don't have to go anywhere obscure to find these lists. You can go to wikipedia and find the page that lists every work of existentialism ever made, which is how I found No Longer Human and CS Lewis' Space trilogy. You can go to Project Gutenberg Australia or Canada and skim the list of books for texts you can download right then and there, which is how I discovered Zane Grey, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Cordwainer Smith, Doc Smith, Gone With the Wind, and much, much more. Just pick out titles that sound interesting and google their descriptions to see if they sound good.

>>16333

Obviously The catcher in the Rye

>>16515

>films suck. If I wanted to see actors I'd watch a play.

Most ignorant comment I've ever heard in my entire life. It's so bad in fact that I legitimately believe it brought bad luck upon me since as I did a pale colored bug tried crawling into my eye.

>>16617

The bug of purity spiral just nearly crawled into your world view. Thank your sprite of choice it did not.

>>16617

Films (in large) bore me. They do not meet my standards. Nothing 'ignorant' about it.

>>16548

>Orson Wells' is good because character-study on par with literature

A movie that's limited in many ways could never have on-par character study, whatever that implies. Why try to praise its weaker points as if it's something accomplished? It just means whatever you compared it to wasn't much to begin with. For me movies are over before I get the time to truly invest myself in a story or its characters. But I did not mean to imply all movies suck, just that it's an activity I do not enjoy doing over other things I prefer doing, resulting in said activity feeling more like a chore I have to finish and quickly get back to things that I do enjoy. Since they're classic and everyone HAS to see them I feel pressured and I don't like feeling pressured. Sorry to have written such a terrible bait line earlier on, I don't know what I was thinking back then. I usually put a bit more effort in my writings.

"GED Test Prep; The Complete Preperation Guide"

Start with that.

Go back to school dude.

The Anarchist’s Cookbook

>>16688

Based on titles alone my initial feeling was favorable, though with some of the choices seeming peculiar. As general introductory guides go, I have had my share of undergraduate college textbooks of course. Unfortunately, with one exception, I am not familiar with any of the specifically named works cited. On further reflection, I am sensing a mild misleading addenda.

Hm. What to do?

For an introductory sort of guide, you want works that survey the subject, done by experts who get right to the key points. Add in some analysis of the flaws and strengths of a given art, or topic. Maybe a comparison to related subjects. Sketch in historical development, and give at least an impression of how the subject is used today.

/lit/'s old saw "start with the Greeks," followed by a list of original works, is the classic wrong approach in this regard. If one follows that route, that's fine. Philosophers tend to build on on their predecessors, yes? Yet, you are still missing out on thousands of years of enlightening commentary and analysis by people who are, almost certainly, better thinkers than you are. Not only better thinkers, but people who actively want lesser thinkers to understand the subjects at hand.

Anyone who wants to wade through Jacques Derrida's oeuvre is either insane, or so educationally specialized as to be beyond the reach of general guides. Likewise Immanuel Kant, and Kant wasn't even trying to be a willfully obscure obstructionist cunt. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for being ignorant of their ideas. Veritable armies of graduate students and their ilk have done all the hard fussy work of cognitive translation for you.

Yeah. I'm all for general guides.

Given all the more generalized higher level citations in this list, citing the Bible is the primary objection I am leading up to. This is like recommending Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica as an introduction to calculus, or the more minimally focused title of Principia Mathematica as your guide to logic. Likewise Kant and Derrida in the original.

For the bible, I would like to recommend Asimov's Guide to the Bible as an accessible introduction for general readers. Would like, but we live in a time on the chans were the chaos of the cultural wars reigns supreme. No matter. My six pack of Belgian White as well as my enthusiasm for this subject both runeth dry. Another time, then.

Anyway, I'm getting a hard-on for The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing and A Primer in Positive Physiology. This week I'll take a brief viewover of the various entries and see if I can come up with some counter suggestions done in the spirit of the list as it stands.

>>16691

>Thousands of years of commentary and analysis

So all but some early work is derivative? What are the most recent original works?

>For an introductory sort of guide, you want works that survey the subject, done by experts who get right to the key points. Add in some analysis of the flaws and strengths of a given art, or topic. Maybe a comparison to related subjects. Sketch in historical development, and give at least an impression of how the subject is used today.

This is a good criteria.

> hard-on for . . . . A Primer in Positive Physiology.

Inductive slip. Psychology.

I mostly want to go through it for information I could pass onto others, pick up some good habits, and ways of analyzing the competence of others.

>>16688

Well I made some additions.

come on

>>16688

>>16712

>>16714

>>16717

Thanks for these.

Any more suggestions on materials and techniques to improve reading ability, comprehension and thinking skills? What about improving the functioning of the brain on a physiological level?

>>16333

why did you drop out

>>16720

Warning: Ccru is a meme addition so I might replace it with Jussim's "Social Perception Social Reality: Why Accuracy Dominates Bias and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy".

If you want brain control you need to study philosophy, mathematics and computer science. Then 'games' as in puzzles from the perspective of game theory or mathematics/computer science and try to see if anything has any relevance to philosophical topics or whether it poses unique philosophical questions (possibly with corresponding answer(s) ). Social interaction or the addition of the social element to anything is often composed of many many games you can dominate or master, so dominating the 'social sphere' or any sphere where the social has an impact will definitely improve your cognitive power.

Reaching for the squishier side of things you get neuroscience or cognitive biology often with a mathematical/game theory and computer science lens. There's also nootropics, and a broad body of medical literature for various dietary aids to boosting cognitive ability, and the various physical practices that boost cognitive ability (such as meditation – specifically breath-focus meditation).