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Advanced Nihilism
Reading List
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NON-FICTION |
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100 Suns
by Michael Light, Knopf 2003. A large-format depiction
of American above-ground nuclear tests. 100 Suns is an
artistic look at the testing of mass-destruction. |
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The
Antichrist
by
Freidrich Nietzsche. |
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Beyond Good and
Evil,
by
Nietzsche |
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The Case Against
the Global Economy, and for a turn to the local,
by
various authors, 1996 Sierra Club. Excellent work that
cohesively covers the issue of globalization and more
importantly ways to combat it and improve life. |
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The
Catechism of a Revolutionist by Sergei
Nechayev, 1869.
The hyperlink is to a local
excerpt. |
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The Crowd -
A Study of the Popular Mind,
by
Gustave LeBon 1895, Dover Publications 2002. |
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Dada art and
anti-art,
by Hans Richter, 1964, translated from the German by
David Blitt, Thames & Hudson world of art, 2004
reprint. Informative and revealing look at the
nihilism and nihilists active within the dada art
movement as witnessed by one of the founding members.
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The Dictionary
of Modern Revolution
by Edward
Hyams. a who's who of famous revolutionaries as well
as groups and organizations you didn't know existed.
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Ecclesiastes,
Old
Testament. Best book of the Bible, short yet concise. |
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Essential Works
of Lenin,
edited by Henry M. Christman, Dover publications,
1987. |
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An Introduction
to Existentialism,
by Robert G. Olson, 1962. |
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Freidrich
Nietzsche,
by H.L.
Mencken. An entertaining and very readable translation
with commentary. |
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God and
the State, by Michael Bakunin.
Where anarchism meets
nihilism - covers religion as slavery, science in
society and other topics. |
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The
God Delusion,
by Richard Dawkins, 2008. This is an easy-to-read book
that carefully explains why God and religion are false and
how such fantasies harm our collective well-being. |
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Going Local
creating self-reliant communities in a global age,
by Michael H. Shuman, 2000. Alternative economies and
currencies plus much more. |
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Human
Nature and Conduct
by John Dewey, 1922, Dover publications. |
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Mein Kampf,
by
Adolph Hitler. It's best not to criticize what you
haven't read. |
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The Meme Machine
by Susan Blackmore, Oxford University Press 1999. |
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MiniManual of the Urban
Guerrilla
by Carlos Marighella. |
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The Montessori
Method
by Maria Montessori, 1912, Dover Publications reprint
2002. Maria's book is profoundly enlightening, she
takes Nietzsche's semi-mystical philosophy and turns
it into a practical and constructive methodology, then
by directing it at education she leverages this into
measurable impacts that benefit not just the
individual but society as a whole. Montessori defeats
both the flaws of Ayn Rand social atomism and
Nietzsche's abstractions and has the results to prove
it. Truly an astounding work. |
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Notan
The Dark-Light Principle of Design
by Dorr Bothwell & Marlys Mayfield, Dover
Publications, 1991. A philosophy and method of art and
design that places equal consideration for the
'nothing' as well as the 'something', the dark as well
as the light. |
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Persuasive
Images,
Hoover
institution 1992. A collection of political and war
propaganda posters covering about the last 100 years. |
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The
Philosophy of Andy Warhol, by A. Warhol, 1975. |
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Ragnar's Action
Encyclopedia of Practical Knowledge and Proven
Techniques,
by Ragnar
Benson 1995. An excellent volume for all your survival
needs and then some. Covers everything from skip
tracing to building your own claymore mines.
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Report From Iron
Mountain
by Leonard
C. Lewin 1967. Fake government document with a life of
its own on why peace is un-profitable. Alternates
between scary and funny. |
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The Revolution
of Nihilism - A Warning to the West,
by Hermann
Rauschning 1939. |
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Ponzi Schemes
Invaders from Mars & more Extraordinary Popular
Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
by Joseph
Bulgatz 1992. This is one of my favorite books and has
only been surpassed by LeBon's The Crowd when it comes
to group-think analysis. |
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Reconstruction
in Philosophy
by John Dewey 1920 & 1948. The famous human thought
analyst discusses the origins of logic and philosophy,
morality, the nature of thinking and other topics. |
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Religion
Explained – The Evolutionary Origins of Religious
Thought, by Pascal Boyer, 2001,
Basic Books. In this anthropological and sociological
study the author contends that religious beliefs and
practices are a byproduct of the way the human brain
processes and attempts to explain perceived events. |
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The Sacred Chain
by
Norman F. Cantor - A look at Jewish culture from the
beginning to today and beyond with a philosophical
viewpoint. Also full of historically enlightening
information such as the Jewish origins of Las Vegas
and modern Hollywood. |
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The SCUM Manifesto
by Velerie Solanas 1967. |
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The Selfish Gene
by
Richard Dawkins 1976. Puts biology and all of life in
perspective. It's a genes world. |
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On The Social
Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
1762 A vastly influential work, a 'Bible' for
constitution and modern political science. |
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Timescale
by Nigel Calder 1983. A 'big picture' view of time,
history, and human events. |
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Unrestricted
Warfare,
by Qiao
Liang and Wang Xiangsui, Beijing: PLA Literature and
Arts Publishing House, February 1999. |
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Uprising!
by
David Irving - The people of Hungary versus the Soviet
Union. A great [true] urban guerilla warfare story but
with a tragic ending. |
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Vietcong
by
Douglas Pike 1967. Cool book on VC / NVA agit-prop
techniques, organization, motivations etc.
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The Virtue of
Selfishness, by Ayn Rand 1961-1964. |
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Weird History
101,
by John
Richard Stephens, 1997 Adams Media. Unusual
perspectives on major historical events, eyewitness
accounts, etc. Very interesting and amusing book.
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The Will to
Power,
by
Nietzsche. Examines the nature of nihilism and its
evolution into the 'anti-Nihilist' archetype.
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The
World Within The World
by John D.
Barrow, OUP, 1988. Covers enormous territory from
philosophy of science to natural laws, what's fact
what's fantasy? The author knows the material well and
creates a readable product. More than any other book
in a long time made me think and ponder and to be
honest that's the only thing I really value - thought. |
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Zionism,
Militarism, and the Decline of US Power,
by James Petras, Clarity Press Inc. 2008. Petras
delivers revealing insight into Israel’s control over
US policy, starting wars around the world not for oil
but for Zionism, and the consequential decline and
collapse of freedom and the United States. |
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FICTION |
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1984
by
George
Orwell. A classic but bleak story of future
authoritarian dystopia. |
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The
Assassination Bureau, Ltd
by Jack
London. Great book, shows London's nihilistic side.
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The
Country of The Blind,
one of the most powerful short stories ever written,
H.G. Wells shows among other things that the phrase
"in the country of the blind the one-eyed man is
king," may not be so accurate after all. |
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Fathers and Sons,
by
Turgenev. It's a running narrative written in a
typically Russian way but not overly long. Turgenev
romanticizes the role of the Nihilist to create an
entertaining novel. |
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Fight Club
by
Chuck Palahniuk, (book and film) 1999. |
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The Iron Heel,
by
Jack London. The story of a turn of the century
socialist / working-class revolution in America. |
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Mind Over
Matters,
by Michael J. Nelson, 2002. A smart, funny book of
short stories on everything from pop-culture to
philosophy. Mike Nelson is the thinking man's Dave
Barry. |
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Notes From the
Underground,
by
Dostoyevsky. This story is much closer to the
nihilistic ideal, basically a first person exposition
of life in (or at least near) the gutter. |
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The Trial
by Franz Kafka.
A novel of
the individual being ground down and persecuted by the
weight and capricious whim of the system. |
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The Turner
Diaries by Andrew MacDonald, 1978.
Few books have provoked such blind rage amongst
mainstream authorities as this one. Don't let them
form your opinion, read it for yourself. |
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The War of the
Worlds,
(unabridged/ complete version) by H.G. Wells. Poignant
tale of the realization that man and in this case the
British Empire is not the God or apex of evolution
people take it to be. Original and imaginative for its
day although in some ways the battle fails to live up
to modern cinematically influenced expectations " This
isn't a war," said the artilleryman. "It never was a
war, any more than there's a war between man and
ants." |
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FILM |
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Baraka
(1993) I think it has a nihilistic quality in the way
it tries to show things as they naturally are without
any overt bias or propagandistic twists. Baraka
is a very anti-Hollywood movie, it doesn't even have a
script or any kind of story arc. |
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The Battle of
Algiers,
La Battaglia di Algeri, (1965). Vivid recreation of
the Algerian resistance to the dirty tricks and
mass-repression characteristic of imperial authority
(France in this case), with relevance to current
events. |
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Bloody Sunday,
(2002) by director Paul Greengrass. Intensely
realistic recreation of the 1972 protests and violent
military response that served as the trigger for civil
war in Northern Ireland. |
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Bus 174
(2004) is a documentary of a bus hijacking that
explores the causes and consequences of violence,
poverty and social injustice in urban Brazil. The Bus
174 hijacking forced the Brazilian public to confront
issues they would otherwise prefer to ignore such as
police corruption, a culture of violence and the power
of the camera to distort as well as record events. |
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City of God,
Cidade de Deus, (2002) in Portuguese with English
subtitles. City of God is based on real events and
portrays a young photographers view of life (and
plenty of death) in the very violent gang controlled
Brazilian slum of Cidade de Deus. |
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Danger: Diabolik
(1968) |
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Eraserhead
by David
Lynch (1976) A Kafka-esque classic. |
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Falling Down
(1993) Features the delightfully unappealing Michael
Douglas as one angry dude pushed way past his limit
and set against an inhospitable society. |
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Dr. Strangelove
'or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb'
(1964) By Stanley Kubrick, a classic Cold War satire. |
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Hearts and Minds
(1974) by Peter Davis. Eye opening look at America's
involvement in Vietnam. It's all there: the brutality
and the subterfuge, the lying politicians, the dying
soldiers. Sadly, still profoundly applicable to
current events and easily one of the best
documentaries about the Vietnam conflict. |
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Koyaanisqatsi 'Life out of balance'
(1983),
changes your viewpoint and alters your perception of
life events which leads to a better understanding of
both; a very enlightening movie. |
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One Day in
September,
(1999) directed by Kevin MacDonald. A dramatic
documentary about the 1972 Munich Olympic games where
members of the Black September terrorist group held
Israeli athletes hostage, thereby capturing the
attention of the entire world. |
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Satyricon
(1969) by Federico Fellini. A fantastic, bizarre and
outrageous trip through the culture and myths,
decadence and violence of the Roman Empire. |
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Sledge Hammer!
(1986) TV series on DVD. David Rasche plays Sledge
Hammer, a renegade cop and self-described nihilist who
talks to his revolver, uses the wall of his apartment
for target practice, drives to the scene of the crime
in a bullet-hole riddled car and generally acts as
destructive and over-the-top as possible. |
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Touching the
Void
(2003) directed by Kevin McDonald. |
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Triumph of the Will
(1935) by
Leni Riefenstahl. A better title might be Triumph
of Propaganda but whatever you think of the
politics behind it the film itself is a masterpiece in
visual form and easily exceeds its intended objective.
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Unknown
Pleasures,
Ren Xiao Yao,
(2003).
Portrays the apathy and alienation that pervades
contemporary Chinese youth in the decaying remnants of
state run industry and ideology. |
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The Weather
Underground
(2002)
This informative documentary examines the past and
present of the SDS and the Weather Underground
revolutionary group as well as its ideas and actions.
Directed by Bill Siegal. |
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Z
(1969)
directed by Costa-Gavras. Takes place in Greece and
presents a credible example of what a revolution is
really like, and the corrupt people and institutions
that will do anything to stop it. |
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Zardoz,
(1974) with Sean Connery, written, produced and
directed by John Boorman. |
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NEWS
It's important
to not just read about past people and events but to stay
informed of current ones as well. Here are a few online news
sources that are better than average and will provide you
with current daily news that's well worth reading. |
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