Robert.adlington: Created page with "== Books to Buy == Used: * [https://www.amazon.fr/Nightmare-Reason-Life-Franz-Kafka/dp/0374523355/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3UVJCLJFIY2CS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.u3RaalBtg8bvWBbE8fVyXaCIirwCIkTLbUk5cwh_aYdlxQvg0yct5WxpF8hlFrbZxzIlPisTw_LJ-XermdOvrvQTKJR1xhGnjBQeBOOkj7UvLDqubVbBqOs4xWZlUjrzTneCM3AQNtLpEPT7T52XEL13eNQRCBZrMnVuSMk128RVqDk4IOYDPBhUWZzf9mHNv9T-yqA9Qv2JRg8l61zGhg.6VgqDbi7D-Vl19NQyoPSj86-nLG9IM98Vpm9Z9m-uGo&dib_tag=se&keywords=nightmare%2Bof%2Breason&qid=1783763181&sprefix..."

2026-07-26T16:01:57Z

Created page with "== Books to Buy == Used: * [https://www.amazon.fr/Nightmare-Reason-Life-Franz-Kafka/dp/0374523355/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3UVJCLJFIY2CS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.u3RaalBtg8bvWBbE8fVyXaCIirwCIkTLbUk5cwh_aYdlxQvg0yct5WxpF8hlFrbZxzIlPisTw_LJ-XermdOvrvQTKJR1xhGnjBQeBOOkj7UvLDqubVbBqOs4xWZlUjrzTneCM3AQNtLpEPT7T52XEL13eNQRCBZrMnVuSMk128RVqDk4IOYDPBhUWZzf9mHNv9T-yqA9Qv2JRg8l61zGhg.6VgqDbi7D-Vl19NQyoPSj86-nLG9IM98Vpm9Z9m-uGo&dib_tag=se&keywords=nightmare%2Bof%2Breason&qid=1783763181&sprefix..."

New page

== Books to Buy ==

Used:
* [https://www.amazon.fr/Nightmare-Reason-Life-Franz-Kafka/dp/0374523355/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3UVJCLJFIY2CS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.u3RaalBtg8bvWBbE8fVyXaCIirwCIkTLbUk5cwh_aYdlxQvg0yct5WxpF8hlFrbZxzIlPisTw_LJ-XermdOvrvQTKJR1xhGnjBQeBOOkj7UvLDqubVbBqOs4xWZlUjrzTneCM3AQNtLpEPT7T52XEL13eNQRCBZrMnVuSMk128RVqDk4IOYDPBhUWZzf9mHNv9T-yqA9Qv2JRg8l61zGhg.6VgqDbi7D-Vl19NQyoPSj86-nLG9IM98Vpm9Z9m-uGo&dib_tag=se&keywords=nightmare%2Bof%2Breason&qid=1783763181&sprefix=nightmare%2Bof%2Breason%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-1&th=1&psc=1 The Nightmare of Reason]: A Biography of Franz Kafka- Pawel i know that you know that I know - George Butte [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dormant-Einstein-Wittgenstein-Frankenstein-Re-Inventing/dp/0670804800 Einstein, Gertrude Stein, Wittgenstein and Frankenstein] : Reinventing the Universe by John Brockman
* Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Name-This-Book-Recreational/dp/0486481980 What is the Name of this Book]: Raymond Smullyan
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thought-Contagion-International-Engineering-Paperback/dp/B00FDVRANQ Thought Contagion]: How Ideas Act Like Viruses - Aaron Lynch
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Language-Thought-Other-Biological-Categories/dp/0262631156 Language, Thought, and other Biological Categories]: New Foundations for Realism - Ruth Garrett Millikan

Paperbacks:

* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1399417509/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SQM7Fcey4aad63hBfUW3aw.ctIlU9WAvr7a0KcGQ6Trzvv10dT7aouxiR_JgFN38Qc&qid=1784816314&sr=8-1 The Illuminated Man]: The Life, Death, and Worlds of JGB (apr 27)
* [https://www.amazon.fr/Center-Cannot-Hold-Journey-Madness/dp/1401309445/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=30LPLKNP3IZ6T&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1ymUySu7SSRnF7VrIuk7F9G8mDn0vUlYjj2Ku5JZ3_PYON6iIUmcNCX9ai20Y0vZox6uJDtrT6HWKPcMOwUgffTs0AKgu-nJljkfuSqPliiinzJYFv3sqyAMrGqzWIfw1fGZbsff-kHjLgzZIx0OxtARGswv-lBF3OKikrjGNBjWl7yb3jt78g-xLiJJZ7UBKQF4OOJNYWJrOzJwiNmtFQ.o-6a46h4dxUo_ekLzSagCPkaFyAF6FjIdkVnB7TcOUI&dib_tag=se&keywords=elyn+saks&qid=1783197867&sprefix=elyn+sa%2Caps%2C193&sr=8-1 the center cannot hold]: my journey through madness - Elyn Saks
* [https://www.amazon.fr/One-Cares-About-Crazy-People/dp/0316341134/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1G9JUB6IDN3BF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8pmsCx59KiaAt10bvF9HMZoqKCLpjaKJ384UkB8fA1A.YfWbCZxI4NByVLmIFTKMyWu3fJ8kBRIsi0sDSjv8Yrg&dib_tag=se&keywords=no%2Bone%2Bcares%2Babout%2Bcrazy%2Bpeople&qid=1783198086&s=books&sprefix=no%2Bone%2Bcares%2Babout%2Bcrazy%2Bpeople%2Cbooks%2C146&sr=1-1&th=1&psc=1 no one cares about crazy people] - Ron Powers Born on a Blue Day - Daniel Tammet
* Pellis - [https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1851687602/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.H3yYZI7yMy8UMo0DZRtBXC7wbyUv2gRGlVcNGkDlLMJgXzHKvH1465fjUMkPxFfF6Gy4SxJZF5iHJj2-KPFajMqmXBiYahwhe5kfd66JSukAwSqbKylXct02KUMpWpWQCIW6bCM_Ht6bSd14GU33N14R__7O6CnhnzxNZy9X2zb3i5AfMj6mzwHRCKmg4ksQwKR6te7VhUOppALivblKNw.VKJXzbK6PkVwM-NWQcVACHw9NKJAMBuwXSLAEcjus40&qid=1775903643&sr=8-1 The Playful Brain]
* Strauss - The Three Waves of Modernity
* Peter Handke - Insulting the Audience
* Lorrie Moore - Self Help
* La Modification - Michel Butor
* Un Homme qui dort - Georges Perec
* How Like a God - Rex Stout

* Time and Narrative - Paul Ricoeur
* Flight of Icarus - Raymond Queneau
* Nausea - Sartre
* [https://www.amazon.fr/Seven-Joanna-Kavenna/dp/0571338151 Seven], [https://www.amazon.fr/Zed-Joanna-Kavenna/dp/0571245161 Zed], etc by Joanna Kavenna. See [https://blog.adlington.fr/index.php/2026/01/12/seven-or-how-to-play-a-game-without-rules-by-joanna-kavenna/ blog].
* Building a second brain
* how to solve it
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adam-Eve-Paradise-E%C3%A7a-Queir%C3%B3s/dp/0811239144 Adam and Eve in Paradise] - eca de queiros
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bounds-Possibility-Puzzles-Modal-Variation/dp/0198910770 The Bounds of Possibility] - Philosophy book about categories
* Nicola Barker - [https://www.amazon.co.uk/TonyInterruptor-Nicola-Barker/dp/1803512563 Tony Interrupter] [https://www.amazon.co.uk/H-PPY-Nicola-Barker/dp/1785151142 Happy], etc
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Growth-Form-Canto-Classics/dp/1107672562 On Growth and Form] - D'Arcy Thompson
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpha-Omega-Jane-Ellen-Harrison/dp/1961341417 Alpha and Omega] - Jane Ellen Harrison
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Willard-Gibbs-Whole-Simpler-Parts/dp/1961341158 the Whole is Simpler than its Parts] - Willard Gibbs
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stranger-Than-Fiction-Lives-Twentieth-Century/dp/152992572X Stranger Than Fiction]: Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel - Edwin Frank
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gray-Matters-Biography-Brain-Surgery/dp/1836430396 Gray Matters]: A Biography of Brain Surgery - Theodore Schwartz
*

Hardbacks:

* Mark Solms - The Only Cure - Freud and Neuroscience

* [https://kottke.org/26/03/beginning-comes-after-the-end The Beginning Comes After the End] - Rebecca Solnit
* [https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/02/being-and-time-an-annotated-translation.html Being and Time Annotated] or [https://www.amazon.com/Heideggers-Being-Time-Paraphrased-Annotated/dp/1786613417/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22NKOIU8DE86V&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DTYI13qU7soxuiueo4-e128MDF_Ax3dyLaUSGkoN5Ia4UdUOk_Dq1I7NCzXbEWWQnCsZ_8TnpI_r-Aut-ca4ur7QoC5kObPu2gII5w37OPLBu35YwyZZIcQAH6cz3tSLhX00snAOwxwxFPCfiq2S-wt5XmSjCN3Hg5m3Btu2C-mHF7lEv6A6EaaeWIdcwChz23nuiyKnrHs62cHAUXQspCNW8TuE65y1CydE89Xp8as.iBxvGfEz3Ac-ZaaYxIBUO8lpCpF0iHOejymlghbifJ4&dib_tag=se&keywords=thomas+sheehan&qid=1771981151&s=books&sprefix=thomas+sheehan%2Cstripbooks%2C198&sr=1-1 paraphrased] ?
* [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/dec/23/capitalism-by-sven-beckert-review-an-extraordinary-history-of-the-economic-system-that-controls-our-lives Capitalism]: A Global History-Sven Beckert
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Violent-Saviours-Capitalism-Without-Consent/dp/1399811215 Violent Saviors]: How the West Conquered the Rest - William Easterly
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Master-Contradictions-Thomas-Making-Mountain/dp/0300233744 The master of contradictions]: Thomas Mann and the making of the Magic Mountain
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-CO2-Everything-Planetary-Experiment/dp/0241631165 The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything]: A Planetary Experiment
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/M%C3%B6bius-Book-Catherine-Lacey/dp/1803511494 the moebius book] - Catherine Lacey
* Chance and Necessity - Jacques Monod
* L'homme microscopique - Pierre Auger
* Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Maths Behind Modern AI (out in paperback Jan 30 2025)
* A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (awaiting paperback)
* The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium
* Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as Civilization
* Consolations - David Whyte

== Books to Read ==

* Reading to Learn - William Zinger
* Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut

== Currently Reading ==

* [[Atomic Habits]] - James Clear
*[[Die Montez-Juwelen]] - Sabine Vôhringer
* [[The Book: A Cover-to-Covet Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time]] - Keith Houston
*[[Understanding Media]] - Marshall McLuhan (re-read)
*[[The Practice of Not Thinking]]: A Guide to Mindful Living - Ryunosuke Koike
*Congo: Une Histoire

== Books Read ==

=== 2026 (week 30) ===

* 32. [[The Art of Logic]]: How to Make Sense in a World that Doesn't - Eugenia Cheng
* 31. [[Why Read]] - Will Self
* 30. [[The Collected Schizophrenias]] - Esmé Weijun Wang
* 29. L’Intranquille Monsieur Pessoa (BD) - Nicolas Barral
* 28. [[Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain]] - Lisa Feldmann Barrrett.
* 27: [[Nine Minds]]: Inner Lives on the Spectrum - Daniel Tammet
* 26: [[Ambigrammia]]: Between Creation and Discovery - Douglas Hofstadter
* 25. [[Once Upon a Prime]]:The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature - Sarah B. Hart
* 24. [[Short Stories in German for Beginners]] - Olly Richards (reread - with Ricky)
* 23. Books v. Cigarettes - George Orwell
* 22. Der Nasse Fische - Volker Kutscher (in German!)
* 21. [[We Are Our Brains: From the Womb to Alzheimer's]] - Dick Swaab
* 20. [[Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife]] - Francesca Wade
* 19. [[How the World Made the West]] - Josephine Quinn
* 18. [[Formulations on the Two Principles of Mental Functioning]] - Sigmund Freud
* 17. [[This is Your Mind on Plants]]: Opium - Caffeine - Mescaline - Michael Pollen
* 16. [[Open Socrates]]: The Case for a Philosophical Life - Agnes Callard

* 15. [[Consciousness: How Our Brains Turn Matter Into Meaning]] - John Parrington
*14. [[The Happiness of Dogs]]: Why the Unexamined Life is Most Worth Living - Mark Rowlands
*13. [[The Hidden Spring]] - Mark Solms
*12. [[The Interpretation of Dreams]] - Sigmund Freud
*11. [[A Certain Lucas]] - Julio Cortazar
*10. [[The Intentional Stance]] - Daniel Dennett
*9. [[La Conquête de Plassans]] ([[Les Rougon-Macquart]] 4) - Zola
*8. [[Why We Read Fiction]]: Theory of Mind and the Novel - Lisa Zunshine

* 7. On the Calculation of Volume: 3 - Solvej Balle
* 6. [[Unnatural Voices]]: Extreme Narration in Modern and Contemporary Fiction - Brian Richardson
* 5. The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie
* 4. [[Le Ventre de Paris]] ([[Les Rougon-Macquart]] 3) - Zola
*3. [[The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative]] (2nd Edition) - H. Porter Abbott
* 2. [[Autocracy Inc]]: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World - Anne Applebaum
* 1. [[The Secret Life of the Periodic Table]] - Dr Ben Still

=== 2025 ===

* 55. The White Priory Murders - Carter Dickson (re-read)
* 54. [[How Life Works]]: A User's Guide to the New Biology - Philip Ball
* 53. [[Who Killed Father Christmas]]? and Other Seasonal Mysteries - Martin Edwards
* 52. [[Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction]] - Peter Atkins
* 51. [[The Scheme of Things]] - Allen Wheelis
* 50. [[La Fortune des Rougon]] ([[Les Rougon-Macquart]] 1) - Zola
* 49. [[Cause for Alarm]] - Eric Ambler
* 48. [[The Man from the Future]]: The Visionary Life of John Von Neumann - Ananyo Bhattacharya
*47. [[Everything is Predictable]]: How Bayes' Remarkable Theorem Explains the World - Tom Chivers
* 46. [[The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are]] - Alan Watts
* 45. [[La Curée]] ([[Les Rougon-Macquart]] 2) - Zola
* 44. [[The Emperor of All Maladies]]: A Biography of Cancer - Siddhartha Mukherjee
* 43. [[La Bête Humaine]] ([[Les Rougon-Macquart]] 17) - Zola (re-read)
* 42. [[The Society of Mind]] - Marvin Minsky
* 41. [[Le Père Goriot]] - Honore Balzac
* 40. [[Gravity's Rainbow]] - Thomas Pynchon (re-read)
* 39. [[Le Colonel Chabert]] - Balzac
* 38. [[Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett]] - James Knowlson (re-read)
* 37. [[Reading for the Plot]]: Design and Intention in Narrative - Peter Brooks (re-read)

* 36. [[Steps to an Ecology of Mind]] - Gregory Bateson (re-read)
* 35. [[Le Bilan de L'intelligence]] - Paul Valéry
* 34. [[Zero]] - Charles Seife
* 33. [[Alan Turing: The Enigma]] - Andrew Hodges
* 32. [[How to Do Things with Words]] - J L Austin
* 31. [[The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society]] - Norbert Wiener
* 30. [[The Mind is Flat]]: The Illusion of Mental Depth and the Improvised Mind - Nick Chater
* 29. [[Possible Minds: 25 Ways of Looking at AI]] - John Brockman
* 28. [[A Little History of Philosophy]] - Nigel Warburton
* 27. [[All Fours]] - Miranda July
* 26. [[Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern]] - Douglas R Hofstadter
* 25. [[The French Lieutenant’s Woman]] - John Fowles
* 24. [[Short Stories in German for Beginners]] - Olly Richards
* 23. [[On the Calculation of Volume: 2]] - Solvej Balle
* 22. [[Deep Simplicity: Chaos, Complexity, and the Emergence of Life]] - John Gribbin
* 21. [[Das Ludwig Thoma Komplott]]- Sabine Vöhringer
* 20. [[Maus]] - Art Spiegelman
* 19. [[On the Calculation of Volume: 1]] - Solvej Balle
* 18. [[The Concept of Mind]] - Gilbert Ryle
* 17. [[Cognitive Neuroscience: A Very Short Introduction]] - Richard Passingham
* 16. [[The Experience Machine]] - Andy Clark
* 15. [[Why We Remember: Revealing the Hidden Power of Memory]] - Dr Charan Ranganath
* 14. [[From Bacteria to Bach and Back]] - Daniel Dennett (re-read)
* 13. [[The Village of Eight Graves]] - Seishi Yokomizo
* 12. [[Science: A History]] - Richard Crockett
* 11. [[Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World]] - John Gribbin
* 10.[[The Inugami Curse]] - Seishi Yokomizo
* 9. [[The Rise and Reign of the Mammals]]
* 8. [[Four Ways of Thinking]] - David Sumpter
* 7. [[I've Been Thinking]] - Daniel Dennett
* 6. [[Serendipities: Language and Lunacy]] - Umberto Eco
* 5. [[I Am Dynamite: A Life of Friedrich Nietzsche]] - Sue Prideaux
* 4. [[A Brief History of Intelligence]] - Max S. Bennett
* 3. [[Foucault’s Pendulum]] - Umberto Eco (re-read)
* 2. [[Kant and the Platypus]] - Umberto Eco
* 1. [[Le cerveau m’a beaucoup déçu. L’esprit, non]] - Antoine Sénanque

=== 2024 ===

* The Plot - Will Eisner
* The Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco
* The Nonjin Murders - Seishi Yokomizo
* When We Cease to Understand the World - Labatut
* Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig (reread)
* The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities - Fauconnier and Turner
* The Singularity is Nearer - Ray Kurzweil
* Physics and Philosophy - Werner Heisenberg
* Le Ton Beau de…
* The Origins of Creativity - Edward O Wilson
* Psychonauts -
* The MANIAC - Benjamin Labatut
* In Search of Memory - Eric R. Kandel
* Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction - Hobson
* Les Effinger - Gabriele Target
* Triad - Tom Keve
* Nietzsche - Stefan Zweig
* The Weirdest People in the World - Joseph Henrich
* How Language Works - David Crystal
* The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wolf
* [[The Song of the Cell]] - Siddhartha Mukherjee
* [[Gödel, Escher, Bach]] - Douglas Hofstadter
* [[From Bacteria to Bach and Back]] - Daniel Dennett

== Challenging Books (per ChatGPT) ==
That’s a great (and slippery) question, because “challenging” can mean different things: difficulty of language, density of allusion, fractured narrative structure, philosophical depth, or even sheer length. Here’s a map of novels often considered among the most challenging, grouped by ''what makes them hard'':
----

=== 1. Language & Style Difficulties ===

* '''James Joyce – ''Finnegans Wake''''' (1939) Probably the hardest novel in English: dream-logic, multilingual puns, and invented words.
* '''William Gaddis – ''The Recognitions'' (1955)''' and ''JR'' (1975) Huge cast, little exposition, dialogue-driven (often without quotation marks).
* '''Samuel Beckett – ''The Unnamable'' (1953)''' Interior monologue collapsing into language itself; syntax dissolves.

----

=== 2. Length & Scope ===

* '''Marcel Proust – ''In Search of Lost Time''''' (1913–27) ~4,000 pages, long sentences, obsessive detail, profound reflections on memory.
* '''David Foster Wallace – ''Infinite Jest'' (1996)''' ~1,000 pages + 100 pages of endnotes; encyclopedic, fragmented plotlines.
* '''Norman Mailer – ''Harlot’s Ghost'' (1991)''' or ''Ancient Evenings'' (1983) Dense, sprawling, philosophically ambitious.

----

=== 3. Experimental Structure ===

* '''Thomas Pynchon – ''Gravity’s Rainbow'' (1973)''' Fragmented narrative, technical language, paranoia, hundreds of characters.
* '''Clarice Lispector – ''The Passion According to G.H.'' (1964)''' A single, intense interior monologue; metaphysical and unsettling.
* '''Julio Cortázar – ''Hopscotch'' (1963)''' Offers multiple reading orders; disruptive structure.

----

=== 4. Philosophical / Esoteric Depth ===

* '''Hermann Broch – ''The Sleepwalkers'' (1931–32)''' Mixes fiction with philosophy and essay.
* '''Robert Musil – ''The Man Without Qualities'' (1930–43)''' Massive unfinished modernist work, blending narrative with philosophical treatises.
* '''Thomas Mann – ''Joseph and His Brothers'' (1933–43)''' Retells biblical myth with immense erudition and depth.

----

=== 5. Dense Intertextuality ===

* '''James Joyce – ''Ulysses'' (1922)''' Homeric parallels, stylistic experiments, deep allusion to Irish politics and myth.
* '''Roberto Bolaño – ''2666'' (2004)''' Five interlinked novels, ranging from literary criticism to detective fiction to Holocaust history.
* '''José Lezama Lima – ''Paradiso'' (1966)''' Baroque Cuban prose, mythic density.

----

=== 6. Postmodern Labyrinths ===

* '''Mark Z. Danielewski – ''House of Leaves'' (2000)''' Multiple narrators, typographical experimentation, layered commentary.
* '''Viktor Pelevin – ''The Sacred Book of the Werewolf'' (2004)''' (or ''Generation “P”'') Satirical, reality-bending narratives.

----

=== A few contenders often called “the hardest of the hard”: ===

* ''Finnegans Wake'' (Joyce)
* ''The Recognitions'' (Gaddis)
* ''The Man Without Qualities'' (Musil)
* ''Gravity’s Rainbow'' (Pynchon)
* ''In Search of Lost Time'' (Proust)

Category:Books - Revision history