Doug4506 wrote:I like fiction with meaning and some depth.
All well-written fiction has some meaning. However I meditate a lot and I can expand a single sentence from Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei into a whole dissertation. Even my base writing embodies my ideals.
However, for the deep stuff, read Shibumi by Trevanian. Especially if you are not a Japanese Samurai. Much is said in there with meaning, and many philosophical ideas are presented. For example, westerners are not exactly able to understand the difference between a soldier and a warrior; they can get the topics and academically discuss it, but understanding escapes them.
This is something I've always been unaffected by... guess that's why I don't fit in well. Shibumi was one of those books that for me put into words what I already knew but couldn't explain. The concept of a warrior-- not just as far as "The Bushido Code," but the more general concept of a man with ideals and deep-seated personal philosophy that he actually understands or strives to understand--is one thing that was finally defined to me by reading this book. I cite this specifically because I've always had ideals of my own-- "never kill" is a nice thought, but sometimes infeasible; but that doesn't excuse you if it comes down to a bar fight. My training in Aikido exposed me to O-Sensei's philosophy, which started to give shape to things I couldn't express; reading Shibumi tipped in just enough for me to finally grasp what it is I was trying to form. The short of it is there is more to the warrior's philosophy than what to do when faced with a violent attacker, and exactly what was what I was trying so hard to grasp onto.
On a lesser scale, Donaldson's writing (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) and Chadbourn's (Age of Misrule) were just epic fantasy; but they taught me several things. Unearned knowledge is at best worthless; at worst dangerous. The truly strong recognize their own failure (something Covenant said in Against All Things Ending). I could go on for ages with Donaldson explaining that last one.
Ancient Awakening, Deepgate Codex, The Heretic ... these were interesting stories. But if you ask me what philosophy they embodied... I'd say I'm not tolerant of stretching so far as to dig that out of them at best. Sure you can find SOMETHING in anything; but a crude man might say these are worthless entertainment. I would recommend Age of Misrule and then The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and even The Gap Cycle-- and I think The Gap Cycle is the best of these as a story, even though I'd distance it last in this list-- before I would recommend these other things. I would lump Harry Potter with these in that respect-- I enjoy Harry Potter, but I don't think it's a philosophy treasure chest by any stretch.
So to summarize:
Definitely read
Shibumi. Right now.
Look into
Age of Misrule and
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, in that order.
Possibly
The Gap Cycle. It will at least wow you as a story, if you can handle reading it.
I assume you've seen Ender's Game etc ... I'm not a huge fan of Card, I lost interest because it's too dense and dry and poorly written.
