I recently returned from an elightening journey to Burning Man. Burning Man is a 7 day long festival int he desert which express radical self-reliance and radical self-expression. It is quite a relief to know that there are still people out there who choose to think freely and not allow the status quo to be the blueprints of the life they live. The creativity, art, costumes and overall feeling that I experiences there was truly unique and I hope to make the trip back again next year.
One of the days I spent about 5 hours walking around and asking fellow burners for some book recommendations. There was no criteria, simply let me know a book which you have read that you enjoyed and would like to spread the word on to others. Below is that list, in the order in which I gathered it. There is quite the variety on here and enough new books to keep anyone busy for a long time. Please pass this on to anyone who you might think would be interested in unusual and inspiring books….
-Neuromancer by William Gibson
-The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
-Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans
-T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone (Autonomedia New Autonomy Series) by Hakim Bey
-The Queen’s Gambit: A Novel by Walter Tevis
-Kes by Lawrence Till and Barry Hines
-She Came to Stay by Simone de Beauvoir
-The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan W. Watts
-Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 1) by Neale Donald Walsch
-Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway (r) by Susan Jeffers
-Anybook by Andrew Weil M.D.
-The Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I, Genius Of The Golden Age by Christopher Hibbert
-Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
-the Culture Code by Clotaire Rapille
-Psycho-Cybernetics, A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life by Maxwell Maltz
-A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
-Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda
-The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence by Deepak Chopra
-Tribes: How Race, Religion and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy by Joel Kotkin
-Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism by Daniel Pinchbeck
-2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck
-The Phantom Toolbooth by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer
-The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
-The Secret of Light by Walter Russell
-Myths To Live By by Joseph Campbell
-The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
-THE BIG BOOK OF JOKES & RIDDLES by kidsbooks
-The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz
-Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
-Any title by William Gibson
-Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer
-Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, -Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness by Daniel G. Amen
-My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor
-Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World by Bill Plotkin
-1776 by David McCullough
-The Monster Who Ate Stars by Souther Salazar
-A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
-Illusions by Richard Bach
-Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
-Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time by Krishna Dharma
-Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose
-Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day
-The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World by Lynne McTaggart
-The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby
-Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution by Terence McKenna
-Shantaram: A Novel by Gregory David Roberts
-The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter
-The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge
-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
-Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl
-Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles
-The World According to Garp by John Irving
-The Milagro Beanfield War: A Novel by John Nichols
-Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
-Lord of the Flies by William Golding
-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson
-The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Patricia Reilly Giff
-The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
-The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
-The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
-A Friend of the Earth by T.C. Boyle
-Drop City by T.C. Boyle
-The Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq and Gavin Bowd
-Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
-Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach
-Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn
-Any Title by Charles Bukowski
-The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
-House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
-The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
-His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman and Nicholas Wright
-A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
-The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot
-The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
-Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
-Lust for Life by Irving Stone
-You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
-The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
-Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
-I, Monty by Marcus Bach
-A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
-The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
-The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
-Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
-Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments by Alex Boese
-The Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins
-Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
“The Singularity Is Near” by Ray Kurzweil definitely needs to be added to this list. I think most burners would appreciate it.
What about BLOGS??? I’m a blogger with dreams of catching a publishers eye. I am a 7 year burner. My book begins at Burning Man. It’s all here and then some…on my blog. (someone give me a new name for Blog. Blogs not working for me)
greenmonkeytales.blogspot.com
Love and Light, Green Monkey
Wow, I’m surprised by how many I have already read! One I would add as a must read is
‘The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in Direct Perception of Nature’ by Stephen Harrod Buhner.
Two suggestions:
1) replace each item on your list with a click-able link to the book & author at Amazon.com. This would make it easy for people browsing your list to to find out more about the book & author.
2) Via the Amazon affiliates program include a reference to the charity of your choice (e.g. Black Rocks Arts Foundation). Purchases, at Amazon, made via the links will raise money for for the selected charity.
So many good ones on here…looks like I have some good reading ahead of me.
May I add to the list? I’ve found anything by Robert Anton Wilson to be truly amazing, from Illuminatus! Trilogy to his non-fiction Prometheus Rising, one of the greatest self-growth guides ever written.
Awesome. I bookmarked this page. Don’t ever take it down.
any book by Richard Dawkins, especially:
The Selfish Gene
The Extended Phenotype
The God Delusion
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence For Evolution
I just finished reading The Celestine Prophesy and I am putting the ideas toward my own life. We’ll see how it goes. Any ideas on this book?
Thanks,
Lacey
I would add to that all of Martin Prechtels books: Secrets of the talking jaguar, Long life honey in the heart, and the toe bone and the tooth(may now be called Stealing Benefecios roses). Some of the most soul enriching writing Ive ever read.
Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Thanks for publishing this. I’m going to investigate the titles and authors I’m not already familiar with. I would add The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Thanks so much.
Rose, The Reiki Lady
found this book by ANDREW NEWBERG, MD., and others off the movie, “what the bleep do we know?” loved it! it discusses the connection between the brains pituitary functions and how that affects our influences during a religious/meditative response…makes one think about reality…is all just some sort of hormonal or synaptic response? we may all REALLY be unalive!
OOPSY! sorry, the book is called “WHY GOD WON’T GO AWAY”
peace,
rahbia
OK, obviously I’m hopelessly biased, but I would be remiss not to mention my own The Blood Price (HarperCollins, 2005) – the last fifth of which takes place at Burning Man 2003.
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson
Also not to be missed:
Nine Kinds of Naked, and,
Just a Couple of Days,
by Tony Vigorito
(www.tonyvigorito.com)
Could you also start a movie list? Andre Tarkovsky’s Stalker influenced the San Francisco Cacophany Society, back when there were only 7 copies in existence. Either that or it was pure synchronicity, as they drew a line in the dust the first year on the playa, and stepped into “The Zone.” My favorite Tarkovsky film.
As for books, I would vote for Another Roadside Attraction over Still Life as more in the crazy spirit of the playa but this is just a personal bias. Oh, and “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins is mind-blowing and action-packed reality from a dude that studies shamanism far more than international economics these days. Oh!!! and 1984 by Orson Welles or Animal Farm. Anybody who pulls off a stunt like his radio program “War of the Worlds” deserves to be on this list somewheres. A good Rumi collection should be in here somewhere too….
thanks for the list.
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
Returning to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice by Rupert Ross
The Raven Steals the Light: Drawings and Stories by Bill Reid & Robert Bringhurst
Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings by Rob Brezsny. Great chapter on Burning Man
The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson
I was also going to add A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, which I’m re reading after 20 years but I’ve noticed you already have it. It’s even funnier than I remember. Cheers
Surprised not to see
Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi)
I Ching (Yì Jīng), or Classic of Changes
But I would also like to add (from the last twenty years):
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and
Gig: Americans talk about their jobs
I always take The Fifth Sacred Thing by StarHawk
Thanks for starting this. Here are some of the most helpful books I’ve read so far. Obviously, the list is interminable, but one might as well start somewhere. These are some of the books I would start with:
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut;
any title by Lewis Carroll;
The Logic of Sense by Gilles Deleuze;
Harmonium by Wallace Stevens;
Happy Days by Samuel Beckett
(Cheers)
The Mayan Factor by Jose Arguelles
Thank you. You read my mind!
In peace & positivity, K
The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan
Records the Dust Bowl storms in the midwest during the Great Depression. An ecological story that Burners can relate to with all the dust storms at BM. Fascinating read.
just thought i’d offer another one to the list…….
Trypatamine Palace by James Oroc
anyone who’d enjoy the books on that list would appreciated that book as well. Thanks for the info….MUCH appreciated!
Laurie
One of our book titles, “Sacred Places North America: 108 Destinations” 2nd edition features a write up on Burning Man and includes a short interview with Larry Harvey who makes an important case for BRC as a sacred site.
See page 54:
http://cccpublishing.com/sacred-places-north-america-108-destinations
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Such an awesome idea! ~ Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz can i have two
???
>>>> Never Trust a Rabibit Jeremey Dyson Rocks your socks is a collection of short stories.
I already love you
The Man Burns Tonight – This is a murder mystery by Donn Cortez is based loosely on BRC-2003. The time pressure is obvious; solve the mystery by Saturday night before all witnesses and suspects…go home.
Please add the following books:
Bloodline of the Holy Grail by Laurence Garner
The Magalene Legacy by Laurence Garner
The Shadow of Solomon by Laurence Garner
Realm of the Ring Lords by Laurence Garner
Lost Secrects of the Sacred Ark by Laurence Garner
Genesis of the Grail Kings by Laurence Garner
Something in This Book is True by Bob Frissell
Nothing in This Book is True, But It;s Exactly How Things Are by Bob Frissell
The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life vol.1 and 2 by Drunvalo Melchizedek
Wild Things They don’t tell Us by Reg Presley
HACKED High Tech Election Theft in America by DeLozier and Karp
Evolve your BRAIN by Joe Dispenza, D. C.
The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth-The-Atlantean by Doreal
The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Too bad no one chose the one book that more than any other, REALLY exercises your mind, ‘Ethics’ by Aristotle. Read it sometime, it contains more truth than any of the books in the list.
Wow,.- what a list. !!
There is a book called— Atlantean_Secrets-Sleeper_Awaken by Samuel Sagan
very very good .. :
No thought, Only Dragon.
for a number of years I ran the 451 Bookmobile at the Burn – and as I was volunteering with the DPW, BMorg always gave me good locations.
my recommends are:
the Jefferson Bible (he was Unitarian, if you take out the miracles it’s a real short book)
Deathbed Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman ( there are lots of poems that describe BM)
the Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
the Short Stories of Joseph Conrad (particulary Youth and Heart of Darkness)
all of the Ancinet Greek Plays
everything by Shakespeare esp. Misummers night Dream
Scott
what a great undertaking… I wish I had thought of it. I am always asking folks I meet for book recommendations. I have come to Burning Man 4 years now and I am not at all surprised at the large number of books that are metaphysical… and the variety! …pleasantly surprised that I have read many of them. I desperately wanted to see Daniel Pinchbeck last time we were together… after hearing him on NPR and tv and then realizing he wrote the forward to a coffee table book on BM… but I could not find the lecture place.
If you want to expand the project or want help next year, I volunteer.
Louise Hay is the Earth Mother. I have seen Terrance McKenna lecture ( he died) and he was truly amazing. People asked questions on shamanic drugs and he answered with specific information on differences between them from having done them with certain tribes! he was Harvard educated and I thought that odd at the time. I could go… but I do want to add to the list ‘The Long Walk to Freedom’ by Nelson Mandela. They say he was South Africa’s George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and ML King all rolled into one. It is an astounding story… Love Undetectable (Andrew Sullivan) has an amazing treatise on friendship that is not to be missed. Thank again for the list and your labor of love! Rick Hendel
this was a bloody brilliant idea!! thanks heaps! i’m always looking for recommendations for books. now i have a few years worth of reading to catch up on! cheers mate!!
Very nice effort!
Along some mostly untapped veins in your list, I offer: The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman; Man of Steel and Velvet by Aubrey Andelin; The Go-Getter by Peter B. Kyne; and Your Personality Tree by Florence Littauer.
Thank you for this! A most amazing and wonderfully written book is “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel.
Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
Great collection ! I’ve probably read a quarter , and have wanted to read another half ,and now have even more to persue ! I would add ‘ Letters from the Earth ” by Mark Twain .
You gotta have
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates By: Tom Robbins on the list!!!!
Excellent project! Any way you could provide a periodically updated “complete” list?
My suggestions:
Daniel Quinn’s Beyond Civilization
Robert Heinlein’s Fear No Evil
Brilliant!
“Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell
“Authentic Happiness” by Martin Seligman
“David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens (fun to read!)
“The Blank Slate” by Steven Pinker
“Special Topics in Calamity Physics” by Marisha Passl
“Cruddy” by Lynda Barry
“Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang” by Joyce Carol Oates
Yes, Mikey re Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins!
Also, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving – all time favorite.
Great idea, btw!
Peace & love, Burners.