My 18 year old brother got sentenced for murder last year and he recently started asking for philosophy books. I want to be careful with this because i know some philosophical ideologies could be a bad influence to him given where he’s at. Any ideas?
by Correct_Brick_2319
11 Comments
The Tao of Pooh
The Last Days of Socrates collection of dialogues by Plato.
Musashi by Eije Yoshikawa
Sophie’s World is a history of philosophy in novel form.
Talk about “shoot first ask questions later”
The meditations by Marcus Aurelius are pretty accessible and I found it pretty uncontroversially helpful.
Also man’s search for meaning is a great one that’s a blend of philosophy, self help and nonfiction, and that you can’t really go wrong with recommending.
The Discourses and Selected Writings of Epictetus
what kind of thing is he interested in specifically? Are we talking existentialism, or the kind of currently popular dude-broed philosophy, or social critique, or what kind of thing do you think he’d like? 🙂
Philosophy 101 by Paul Kleinmen and Stoicism 101 by Erick Cloward are good primers. The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday is a year-long book if he’s looking for small doses every day.
Sartre: “Existentialism and Human Emotions.” It’s got a great commentary on choice and responsibility he might find enlightening under the circumstances.
These three are all very positive:
All About Love by bell hooks
Our Practices, Ourselves by Todd May
Tao Te Ching translated by Ursula K Le Guin
My husband & I just finished a great book about a variety of philosophies in a fun way. The Socrates Express by Eric Weiner. We’ve ordered another book by the same author, The Geography of Bliss.