What is the best method of discovering the most worthwhile books?

Please stop depressing me anon, I've already stopped reading any novels to read more philosophy and political theory.

>>9166468
That's tough as those are some of the most dense genres.

>>9166453
Getting a list of potential books and asking on decent forums would be a good start. Someone has to have read it to find out if it's shit, and you may be able to find one

>>9166652
The only problem is, how can I be sure the people I'm asking would know more about the intent of a book than I myself would know had I read it?

I'm thinking of just sifting through the most well known quotations from a book and just determining its quality that way, i.e. https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/543143-tropic-of-cancer

This book sounds too self-important and weak.

File: AntonioCiseriEcceHomo.png (2MB, 1280x986px)

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>>9166693

i'm a grad student teaching at a sanctioned, accredited ivy league--i see a lot of my job as just directing people to the right/worthwhile material. some reading lists, even at the university level, get you no where; others can save you 50+ years of aimless meandering.

what exactly are you looking for? those who desire broad knowledge ultimately end up inarticulate oceanae 3-inches deep; the more concentrated, but open to amendment and expansion, your focus is, the more you will naturally navigate bodies of literature and find serviceable interconnections.

you know what machiavelli says the best way to achieve glory is? he turns to theseus: no short cuts, no lies, no trickery. you just go out and do something great, especially something devoted to the common good; the best way to do this is to pursue your own interests, rather than trying to imitate some (nonexistent) "ideal" western mind that, though harold bloom would like to maybe argue otherwise, has existed only as mythos.

>>9166453
just read whatever you like man

>I'm of the opinion that writing is more beneficial than reading
pleb confirmed

>>9168059
Thanks

I guess the best way is to give you my current favorite authors. My favorite book is the Stranger by Camus, I enjoy Hemingway's novels and short stories, I enjoy Anton Chekhov's plays and short stories, Dostoevsky's stuff, Gogol, Asimov's Foundation series

But I'm trying to branch out and see what the experimental side of literature has to offer, but I don't know exactly what I would like. Not Joyce's experimental style although I do enjoy his short stories.

Some interesting plotlines that I would enjoy:

~ alternate realities and how they relate or interact or simply differentiate from each other, butterfly effect and that kind of stuff

~ utopia and utopian ideals and their potential impact on the human psyche (stuff like Brave New World maybe)

Nietzsche's my fave philosopher and his will to power has been instrumental in shaping my personality; the "hero" archetype is interesting to me although I don't want cliche stuff (Homer, Goethe, Dante, Voltaire or novels like Don Quixote are good, but they haven't impacted me in the way that I'd like, for whatever reason).

I'm also not too fond of the introspective, spiritual stuff that seem to go nowhere, stuff like Murakami or Hesse. I want something that's dynamic, full of complex psychological turns and motivations.

Maybe my favorite movies would be helpful too: I like pretty much all of Lynch's output, Hitchcock (Vertigo), Welles's stuff, Vampire's Kiss, Punch Drunk Love, American Psycho, Dogville)

>>9168059
So give me some books on psychology, more precise the field of forensic psychology, criminology, not profiling, more info the area of deviance.

>>9168153
bump

>>9168059
can you link some good reading lists

http://sonic.net/~rteeter/grtbloom.html

>>9169622
you this guy: >>9168059
?