The Best Book Ever

[mrlucky8ball]

Hi! I am an avid reader and a middle school English teacher. I have decided to find out what readers consider to be the best book ever so I created a website called thebestbooks(dot)org. Please help me on my mission by leaving a review or two on the website.

Thank You!!

[Bowlie]

I posted two ratings--there aren't enough books on there though. Will you be adding any others?

[melissa]

Uhmmm... For me, the best book ever would be the Bible!
It teaches us a lot of great lessons about love and life in general.

[Skodt]

I do hope your joking about the Bible. The lessons are far and few between. The lessons I have learned from the Bible are of Hate, Bigamy, Slavery, Greed, Homophobic fear, jealousy, sodomy.

There are far more passages in the Bible full of that then of Love, and Peace. Read the Bible and tell me there is not a lot you would disagree with in it.

[melissa]

Hi Skodt,

I think what's great about reading is that it can trigger our imagination in a lot of ways, and some people may have read the same book but has different interpretations. My point is that, you might have focused on the other side while I've been focusing on the opposite perspective... Though we have something in common, we learned! Cheers!!!;)

[ChrisSamsDad]

Uhmmm... For me, the best book ever would be the Bible!
It teaches us a lot of great lessons about love and life in general.

It certainly teaches you that that a bunch of cobbled-together, translated and re-translated PR blurb written hundreds of years after an event and based on a chinese-whisper like oral history about a homicidal desert tribe and their attempts at reform is no basis for a manual on how to live your life.

For a great antidote, Christopher Hitchens "God is not Great" is currently my favourite book - it systematically and remorselessly lists everything that is wrong with religion and why, not only is it utter nonsense, but dangerous nonsense as well.

[andr70]

Hm.., interesting project! thanks for sharing the information., I'll check it up!

[emmauk007]

Yes it brings new meaning to the words "Bible bashing" instead of referring to a person throwing religion down your throat, it is someone (mainly an antheist/evolutionist) trying to discredit a book, that more often than not they have never even read. At the end of the day if you read a book with a critical eye, you are always going to find fault. That can be said of any book, not just a religious one. From the days of Galileo until now, theologians have tried to demean the authenticity of the Bible. In his book Galileo Galilei, biographer L. Geymonat noted: “Narrow-minded theologians who wanted to limit science on the basis of biblical reasoning would do nothing but cast discredit upon the Bible itself.” That they did. Actually, it was the theologians’ interpretation of the Bible—not the Bible itself—that put unreasonable constraints on science. Religious fundamentalists try to do the same today, therefore is it any wonder that people stay away from religion altogether.

The actions of those who say they follow the Bible often besmear the reputation of the book they claim to revere. So-called Christians have shed one another’s blood in the name of God. Yet, the Bible admonishes followers of Christ to “love one another.”—John 13:34, 35; Matthew 26:52.

Some clergymen fleece their flocks, wheedling hard-earned money from them—a far cry from the Scriptural instruction: “You received free, give free.”

Clearly, the Bible cannot be judged according to the words and actions of those who simply quote it or claim to live by it. An open-minded person may therefore want to discover for himself what the Bible is all about and why it is such a remarkable book.

[Moore]

I think that there is no such a thing as the best book. In different life situations people like different things and different books. When you are happy you like to read about romance and happiness. And vice versa...

[marvelmite]

my favorite currently would be slaughter-house five by kurt vonnegut. gret book that takes his real life experiences of being in normandy during the allied fire bombing and turning it into a great dark commedy/sci-fi.

now on the bible topic, i do agree that many people who attack have never read it, but just as many who hold it up and through it in other peoples faces as "the only way to be saved" haven't read it. I thnk the book holds many great lessons on life and how to live in harmony (some of the commandments, the golden rule etc) but is also full of bigotry, hypocrasy, and hatred by people who interpited events centuries after they occured and then were picked by a group of people who wanted to use the bible to unify and control a new rome. its propaganda only recognized as vital by those who believe in it, otherwise its just another book. and most of the events and stories are acctually culled from other ancient religions like the egyptians babylonians and hindus. even the virgin birth and reserection arent new to christianity

[frger]

The Bible
The great controversy, by E.G.White

[hania5]

There are far too many to pick one. I can never pick a favourite anything, it depends on my mood.
Some books I have put down after a couple of chapters numerous times, only to come back to years later and finish and really enjoy.

[The Mythwriter]

I assume this is more a question of what book is everyone's favorite, since there is no "best book" that would ever be agreed upon.

Hmm honestly I even have a hard time choosing. I suppose if I were to be confined with only one book for a year, I would choose Dracula. So much imagery, metaphor, ties to folklore and an awesome story.

And I'm not even going to touch the Biblical debate with my personal beliefs, and I rather hope it goes no further. It's irrelevant to the topic, and trust me, it'll go nowhere. I'm happy it's been (mostly) decent up to here, but you either trust its authenticity or you don't. It's history is so complex and rooted in so many different studies that I won't pretend to have even scratched the surface, though I have studied its history. It's anything but simple, and I'm skeptical that anyone here or anywhere actually has even a remotely complete idea of what everything actually is.

I probably offended everyone else who discussed the topic. That's my life.

[Elvis]

If I may be too bold to say, To kill a mocking bird!

[victorian.noire]

I do hope your joking about the Bible. The lessons are far and few between. The lessons I have learned from the Bible are of Hate, Bigamy, Slavery, Greed, Homophobic fear, jealousy, sodomy.

There are far more passages in the Bible full of that then of Love, and Peace. Read the Bible and tell me there is not a lot you would disagree with in it.

I partway agree with this....there may not be a lot of good lessons in the bible (one of them being what to take a sa good trade when selling your daughter into slavery...wow), but there are quite a few good stories, my favorite being the book of ruth.

if you read the bible with no guides going in, it isnt too bad....but then you put into context that people live their lives by it and it gets pretty scary. in my opinion, it isnt the book itself thats so bad, its the injustice, bigotry, close-mindedness, fear and hate that most people who call themselves christian try to shove down your throat...aka fred phelps. but there are good true christians out there still.

and my favorite book of all time, for the present moment as it is always changing, is "Long Walk for Freesom" by Nelson Mandela