Philoscifi

Third Culture Kids (TCKs)
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Philosophy related

Fiction
Hesse, Hermann, Siddhartha | our thoughts - Rosner’s is a great translation of this Nobel Laureate’s masterpiece. Story of a man who meets the Buddha yet chooses to walk his own path to Enlightenment. This remarkable 150 page could change your life, if you are so inclined.

Maugham, W Somerset, The Razor’s Edge - A young man comes back from WWI changed forever. He cannot return to his previous life, so he wanders the world in search of answers and of himself.

Nonfiction
Aurelius, Marcus, Meditations - A gem of wisdom from the stoic Roman emperor: how to live in peace though surrounded by war. The best translation is that of George Long.

Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy - A timeless personal testament on the power of philosophy to elevate and heal the human heart.

Dalton, Jerry, Tao Te Ching: Backward Down the Path - A decent version of Tao Te Ching, the ancient Chinese wisdom text.

Durant, Will, The Story of Philosophy - If you’re marooned on a desert island with just one book, this intro to great philosophical personalities is a good one to have. Even better, there’s a top-notch Audio CD version in two parts (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) to keep you company on the road.

Needleman, Jacob, The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders - Talks about the need for heroes, among other fine points.

Spinoza, Benedict, Ethics - Quite possibly the most magnificent and difficult book in the history of philosophy. In these 200 pages, one will find the spirit of modern thought, the light that inspired Albert Einstein and Will Durant, and a path to blessedness. Worth every ounce of effort, but the challenge is no joke. It is not to be read; it is to be studied. Readers new to Spinoza might want to begin with Scruton’s friendly little intro Spinoza and Runes’ abridgment The Ethics Of Spinoza: The Road to Inner Freedom before trying to tackle the original. Nadler’s Spinoza’s Ethics: An Introduction is a great companion.

Thoreau, Henry David, Walden - A beautiful guide to life, nature, and self discovery.

Sites
Thinkexist - Excellent source of quotes.
Will Durant Foundation - Learn more about Will Durant, the person who inspired me to create this website.

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Science and sci-fi/fantasy related

Fiction and games we like - Require a little work, but well worth it

- video games -

Xenogears - The most mind blowing RPG story of love, war, and fate. Words hardly do it justice. (Playstation)
Chrono Trigger - Time travel, interesting storyline - one of the best RPGs we’ve played. (Playstation, SNES)
Ico - Video games can be art. This game is simply enchanting. If you like Ico, also try Shadow of the Colossus. (Playstation 2)
Valkyrie Profile - Lovely cell-shaded art and creative adaptation of Norse mythology. (Playstation)
Katamari Damacy - Do games get any more quirky than this? (Playstation 2)
Killer 7 - Killer 7 defies lucid explanation. Dark masterpiece, dystopian arthouse game-experiment? Surreal, pretentious meditation on modernity, democracy, East vs. West, and US-Japan relations? Whatever it is, it has style. It takes huge risks and enters deep territory. You’ll either love it or hate it. But like The Fountain (see below in movies), it will leave its mark, and rarely if ever will you see its like. (Playstation 2)
Psychonauts - One of the most creative and brilliantly designed platforming games ever designed. You jump into people’s warped minds to fix their psychological problems. Too bad this game didn’t do well on the market. One can only hope that future developers will follow Tim Schafer’s lead in making games this charming. (Playstation 2, PC, XBOX)

- fiction -

Asimov, Isaac, Foundation trilogy - The thousand-year fall of a galactic empire, the struggle for civilization that follows, and the power of history and psychology, all in three slender and quick paced volumes? Yes! A classic from the granddaddy of sci-fi.

Card, Orson Scott, Ender saga | our thoughts 1, 2 - The back story is interesting, but this is really dialogue, character driven SF. It follows Ender’s journey from child-soldier to “Speaker for the Dead.” Species and family relationships are prominent themes in the third book, Xenocide. The fourth and last book (Children of the Mind) gets very metaphysical.

Card, Orson Scott, Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus - What if we could change history for the better by changing the life of one influential historical figure?

Herbert, Frank, Dune - Arguably the most groundbreaking, single volume SF to date.

Keyes, Daniel, Flowers for Algernon - A touching story of an experiment to increase human intelligence.

Simmons, Dan, Hyperion series | our thoughts - It’s packed with action and ideas; you might get a migraine from reading it too fast. Some are duds, but some are just brilliant. The first two books (Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion) involve the evolution of man, and the last two (Endymion, Rise of Endymion) are about the redemption of man.

Non-fiction
Rees, Martin, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe - Explains some of the “magic numbers” of our universe. Change any one of them, and we would not exist!

Sagan, Carl, Cosmos - The classic 1980 PBS show (based on Sagan’s bestselling book) on DVD. Good introduction to the spiritual aspects of science.

Sagan, Carl, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space - Sparkling with wit, lucidity, and scientific wonder, Sagan’s essays help us see the preciousness and fragility of our little blue planet in the cosmos with fresh eyes.

Movies - No time to read or play games?
Gattaca | our thoughts - In a world where genes are everything, there is no gene for the human spirit.
Contact - Are we alone? Science and religion are both searching for the answers to our deepest questions. Based on the book by the late, great Carl Sagan.
The Matrix - There is a reason why this is often copied and parodied. Watching it the first time was mind blowing, especially since I didn’t expect it to be good.
Defending Your Life - Need a break from all this heavy stuff? Here’s a romantic comedy about life after death–and about one of life’s great purposes: to overcome your fear!
A Scanner Darkly - One of the most innovative, intelligent, and heartbreakingly honest anti-drug stories ever told. A Linklater adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s sci-fi novel about our not-so-distant future. Come with an open mind.
The Fountain - This sci-fi film by Darren Aronofsky touches some of humanity’s oldest themes–death, pain, and loss–in such a remarkable way that it is easy to forgive its flaws. Is death a destructive or a creative force? Suffused with symbolism and sure to confuse as well as stimulate, this film contains some amazing images that are worth the price of admission. You’ll never see anything else quite like it.

Sites
Genographic Project - Seeks to trace human ancestry by sampling DNA from many groups of people worldwide.
NASA’s WMAP mission - Created a map of the early universe by measuring the temperature of cosmic background radiation.
The 26 Best RPGs - a decent list compiled by Gamepro
Top 100 SF lists - good lists of top SF books, movies, and shows
Filmsite.org - a great site with film histories, lists, quotes, and more