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Originally Posted by Rupert 'Stiles' Stilinski
Although I may get shit for this...
If you're young and looking for something challenging but readable that could really impact your world view, you might want to read some Ayn Rand non-fiction. She is an "objectivist" and though I don't completely buy into the extremes that she preaches, it did do quite a bit of good for my willow wild mind when I was in my late teens and early twenties.
She doesn't even compare to the "greats", but just a thought for something a little different.
I really like "The Virtue of Selfishness" which has several authors (mostly Rand) discussing practical lifestyle tips on how to live a virtuous life in an irrational society.
Or you could just listen to the new Liars album and let your mind wander???
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so, i'm not the only sane person here. i would like to add that introduction to objectivist epistemology is the most well thought out work on the subject of which i'm aware. also try atlas shrugged -- it is philosophy even though it's enshrouded in a work of fiction.
other than that, aristotle's organon is a must, since logic is the foundation of philosophy (and all human inquiry for that matter) . . . as are the nicomachean ethics and the physics. also, i seriously despise kant, but since he's so obscenely influential if you can try foundations for the metaphysics of morals or the critique of pure reason (although i would recommend reading prolegomena to any future metaphysics instead, since it's shorter and SLIGHTLY more intelligible) go for it, though be prepared to read summaries and go to outside sources for clarification.
for some somewhat lighter reading try plato's dialogues (namely, the apology, the crito, the meno, the phaedo, the symposium) or descartes's meditations. locke's essay concerning human understanding, berkeley's dialogues between hylas and philonous, nietzsche's thus spake zarathustra, hume's enquiry concerning human understanding, and js mill's utilitarianism are also all classics, though if you're conscious you'll find something objectionable in all of those.