Out of Control (mentioned below): On the complex, chaotic interconnectedness of all things. You'll start to see just how little we really know about how to build complex things.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: How self-reference and paradox is built into the structure of language and thus into the very structures of our minds themselves.

Guns, Germs, and Steel (previously referenced here): Why the shape of the continents is the determining factor in the fate of human societies. This book is the definitive answer to the question, "Why is it that Eurasia prospered and Australia, the Americas, and Africa did not?"

The Selfish Gene (referenced whenever I or anyone else uses the term "meme"): How evolution works, not simply in biology, but in everything. This book will cause you to apply evolutionary thinking to all aspects of life. At least, that's what it did to me.

Consciousness Explained and/or Kinds of Minds: Either of these books by Daniel Denett will show you that the way you think you think isn't really how you think at all. These will make you wonder whether "you" really exist in any meaningful sense at all.

# posted by Gerry Canavan @ 1:07 PM  |