Reddit reviews Social and Political Philosophy: Readings From Plato to Gandhi
We found 2 Reddit comments about Social and Political Philosophy: Readings From Plato to Gandhi. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Social and Political Philosophy. Is the best place to start in my opinion. A lot of good excerpts that would give you a good understanding of where the major thinkers stand of various political and social issues. You can go on from there once you've decided what thinker interests you the most.
Also, take a look at:
Political Thinking by Glenn Tinder
Matt Lawrence's Like a Splinter in Your Mind: The Philosophy Behind the Matrix Trilogy - This is a MIND-BLOWING book!
For AI, I have to recommend The Jesus Incident by F. Herbert. It will also fulfill your Machiavellian theme.
On philosophy, I really love Social and Political Philosophy edited by J. Somerville and R. E. Santoni. It's a collection of "readings," important chapters of everyone from Plato to Ghandi. I especially like the sections on Thomas Jefferson, and Rousseau. Marx, Hitler, and Lenin are also in it but so are Gandhi and Dewey; Machiavelli, too. You should at least take a look at it. The Walter Kaufman book Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre is also darned good.
Also, although not on your list, Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction is a great read about evolution, and the first part is a sort of biography on Darwin on how and why he came up with the theory (I thought this was a humorous part of the book) and the book in its entirety is about evolution, but it's also a great narrative story, and i guarantee you will learn a lot.
There's a couple of novellas, Taratuta / Still Life with Pipe, that come together by a South American writer named Jose Donoso that are more or less about art and existentialism, but they're super easy to read but also philosophical. I just mention them if you're interested in novellas. And if you're going to read fiction, I would love to suggest Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel, which is a collection of his essays explaining how and why he creates art. It's interesting and not dry at all and it may help you appreciate plot, metaphor, etc, on your 52 book journey.