As someone who teaches in the Philosophy field, I would agree with some of the others here who suggested that you go wherever your curiosity takes you. If you want to study it more systematically, then at some point you might need to direct your readings in a more critical, methodical manner, but for now just read the things that seem to address questions or topics that you find philosophically interesting.
In general, I would start with texts that are well written and reasonably accessible (i.e. texts that don't assume a broad background in philosophy).
If you want to read a good counterpoint to Wilson, then Mary Midgley's Beast and Man is a good read. She writes in a very accessible manner and provides an interesting critique of reductionism, including the kind of sociobiological view expounded by Wilson.
You might find books on the philosophy of technology interesting. David Rothenberg's book, Hand's End: Technology and the Limits of Nature is a good, accessible introduction to the field. Also, while he's not a philosopher per se, Neil Postman has also written some interesting books on technology that might qualify as 'light' philosophical reading. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology comes immediately to mind.
There are many good introductory texts in philosophy out there as well. Robert Martin's wonderful book There are Two Errors in the Title of This Book is a great introduction to philosophical thought in general. Similarly, a little book like Stephen Mumford's Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction is a good introduction to the kinds of questions that philosophers tend to ask.
There are lots more, of course, but these are some that immediately come to mind.
As for fiction, I second Neal Stephenson's Anathem. It is a fun read that draws on a lot of philosophical work. His more recent book Reamde is also a good read. It's a kind of thriller that involves international spies, online gaming, and so on. Great fun.
Cormac McCarthy is one of my personal favorites.I would recommend pretty much anything by him, but The Crossing or The Road kind of stand out for me.
Neil Gaiman is a good one if you like fantasy/science fiction. American Gods is great, as is his more recent, haunting little book The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Great to see you trying to expand your mindset by reading these kinds of things. I wish more people would do the same.
Another EE weighing in.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
Fer de Lance by Rex Stout
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
Spinoff by Charles Sporck (President of National Semiconductor)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
To Build a Fire, and other stories by Jack London
Kelly: More Than My Share Of It All by Kelly Johnson (designer of SR-71 Mach 3 airplane)
Market Wizards by Jack Schwager
Digital Dice by Paul Nahin
Numerical Recipes by Press et al. This nonfiction book will save your buttocks countless times, in your EE career
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
Fer de Lance by Rex Stout
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
Spinoff by Charles Sporck (President of National Semiconductor)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
To Build a Fire, and other stories by Jack London
Kelly: More Than My Share Of It All by Kelly Johnson (designer of SR-71 Mach 3 airplane)
Market Wizards by Jack Schwager
Digital Dice by Paul Nahin
Numerical Recipes by Press et al. This nonfiction book will save your buttocks countless times, in your EE career
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver
while a college student in a Science program I didn't have time for Russian Novels
on the Science/Engineering side you can find many putting forth the claim that Maxwell's equations are one of the greatest pieces of poetry of the physical world, certainly of the 19th century - and college students deprived of its language and poetry are severely intellectually impoverished
and if want further analogy to Literature there is a history of the "language" of Maxwell's Equation's evolving from the 1st publication ~ Sonnet length in "Cartesian" form to nearer Hiaku in Quaternions
and of course Maxwell's Equations violation of Galilean Invariance leads to Einstein's Relativity
too much philosophical musing can ruin good technical works
Hamilton's Quaternion writings are pretty unreadable, Tait really developed the practical system that Maxwell wrote his 2nd pass in, which then lost the war of ideas with Gibbs/Heaviside "Vector Algebra"
Grassman had a superior system that was buried even deeper in philosophical musings that caused the few to try penetrating it to comment on needing to take up smoking
but Clifford's recognition, extension of Grassman's system gives a single line equation for EM in Cl(3,1) - so now its a Koan
more fun with "big L' literary pretension: Shakespeare in the Bush | Natural History Magazine
on the Science/Engineering side you can find many putting forth the claim that Maxwell's equations are one of the greatest pieces of poetry of the physical world, certainly of the 19th century - and college students deprived of its language and poetry are severely intellectually impoverished
and if want further analogy to Literature there is a history of the "language" of Maxwell's Equation's evolving from the 1st publication ~ Sonnet length in "Cartesian" form to nearer Hiaku in Quaternions
and of course Maxwell's Equations violation of Galilean Invariance leads to Einstein's Relativity
too much philosophical musing can ruin good technical works
Hamilton's Quaternion writings are pretty unreadable, Tait really developed the practical system that Maxwell wrote his 2nd pass in, which then lost the war of ideas with Gibbs/Heaviside "Vector Algebra"
Grassman had a superior system that was buried even deeper in philosophical musings that caused the few to try penetrating it to comment on needing to take up smoking
but Clifford's recognition, extension of Grassman's system gives a single line equation for EM in Cl(3,1) - so now its a Koan
more fun with "big L' literary pretension: Shakespeare in the Bush | Natural History Magazine
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We're talking novels for engineers, correct? -- how about merchant seaman Josef Conrad -- "Heart of Darkness", "Narcisus", "Typhoon", "Lord Jim" -- they'll all make you perspire.
Winston Churchill was a fan of H.G. Wells, and lifted some of his ideas as when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. H.G. Wells "Anticipations" is available as a digital reprint.
Not a novel -- I would highly recommend Alfred P. Sloan's "My Years with General Motors", all that stuff which went on in Dayton, OH
John Brooks is probably most noted for "The Go Go Years" (highly readable), and "Once in Golconda". He was a great writer for The New Yorker, follower of business and compiled a number of tales of failure in "Business Adventures".
One of the priest I know said he wishes they taught mechanical engineering and accounting in the seminary.
Winston Churchill was a fan of H.G. Wells, and lifted some of his ideas as when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. H.G. Wells "Anticipations" is available as a digital reprint.
Not a novel -- I would highly recommend Alfred P. Sloan's "My Years with General Motors", all that stuff which went on in Dayton, OH
John Brooks is probably most noted for "The Go Go Years" (highly readable), and "Once in Golconda". He was a great writer for The New Yorker, follower of business and compiled a number of tales of failure in "Business Adventures".
One of the priest I know said he wishes they taught mechanical engineering and accounting in the seminary.
jcx
I think it's misplaced for anyone with as poor a grasp of spelling, punctuation and grammar to be offering advice on English composition.
I have seen you berate posters who were no more than ill-informed about some aspect of electronics as having 'learning difficulties'.
All-lower-case without punctuation is no less irritating than all-caps, betrays an indifference to the discomfort of the reader, and many of your sentences are as impenetrable as the pronouncements of the Oracle at Delphi.
Get a reality check and stop being so rude.
I think it's misplaced for anyone with as poor a grasp of spelling, punctuation and grammar to be offering advice on English composition.
I have seen you berate posters who were no more than ill-informed about some aspect of electronics as having 'learning difficulties'.
All-lower-case without punctuation is no less irritating than all-caps, betrays an indifference to the discomfort of the reader, and many of your sentences are as impenetrable as the pronouncements of the Oracle at Delphi.
Get a reality check and stop being so rude.
Everything he's stated above is correct and is excellent advice. My personal experience has been that a lot of Engineers and Techs are very bright, but come across as being practically illiterate. Reading good (Classic) literature is helpful to one's own ability to communicate effectively and quite often will open avenues to other interests and ideas.
Best Regards,
TerryO
Yeah, and if one day you want to start a blog, write an article or just express yourself correctly follow this guy Tube CAD Journal not this other guy http://www.labjc.com/
Guess which one of the two sounds better. Hehe.
BTW what's wrong with Mr Morrison, did he get a bad shock or something?
https://www.google.es/url?sa=t&rct=...9SH7ed3URi2DztyOBtG6t4w&bvm=bv.99804247,d.d2s
Guess which one of the two sounds better. Hehe.
BTW what's wrong with Mr Morrison, did he get a bad shock or something?
https://www.google.es/url?sa=t&rct=...9SH7ed3URi2DztyOBtG6t4w&bvm=bv.99804247,d.d2s
everyone gets to be a critic and that is part of my point
I don't claim to be a good writer, and as to style forum posts are quite different than other forms of writing too
otherwise thanks for the writing tips but I think I'll just continue talking with my decades long climbing partner and downstairs tenant who has taught creative and technical writing at the university for most of that time, his girlfriend who was an editor at a major publisher and now works in the Humanities department, both as lecturers teaching the budding engineers and scientists writing
while I haven't climbed with Jim recently for a few years, he is a Humanities Professor and was a frequent addition to our climbing trips, got drafted as head of the department for a bit
spent lots of time with them on road trips, in the car, climbing, dinning, listening in on their conversations which often turned to their work: teaching, student difficulties, course design
hard to recommend books with so little info - most of my recreational/escapism reading is Science Fiction and Fantasy
Neil Gaiman can be good, Charles de Lint, Kage Baker, Jay Lake...
for technology and culture interaction Jared Diamond wrote a couple more books after Guns, Germs, and Steel that may be worth reading
I don't claim to be a good writer, and as to style forum posts are quite different than other forms of writing too
otherwise thanks for the writing tips but I think I'll just continue talking with my decades long climbing partner and downstairs tenant who has taught creative and technical writing at the university for most of that time, his girlfriend who was an editor at a major publisher and now works in the Humanities department, both as lecturers teaching the budding engineers and scientists writing
while I haven't climbed with Jim recently for a few years, he is a Humanities Professor and was a frequent addition to our climbing trips, got drafted as head of the department for a bit
spent lots of time with them on road trips, in the car, climbing, dinning, listening in on their conversations which often turned to their work: teaching, student difficulties, course design
hard to recommend books with so little info - most of my recreational/escapism reading is Science Fiction and Fantasy
Neil Gaiman can be good, Charles de Lint, Kage Baker, Jay Lake...
for technology and culture interaction Jared Diamond wrote a couple more books after Guns, Germs, and Steel that may be worth reading
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Mine also. I liked Suttree
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suttree
And no one has said East of Eden. Everyone, engineer or not, should try it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_of_Eden_(novel)
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