What books should any intelligent person have read?

Aatami: What books should an intelligent person have read?
Any books: prose, poetry, biographies etc.
I often have to be with people who are very intelligent, know a lot and are learning more at the moment. And you know in such companies there are certain items which you have to be familiar with. Although I think of myself as an intelligent person, I’d like to know what classic books and authors are considered a must-read ones?

Answers and Views:

Answer by daffyduck
You should have already read Romeo and Juliet, To Kill A Mocking Bird, And Gone with the wind {only because its a classic, and I love it}.

Answer by Thought
An intelligent person should read those books which interest them most, and as many of those as possible.

Mind you, this isn’t to say that an intelligent only reads those books that they like. An intelligent person is usually willing to struggle through a book that they don’t like because they do like what they will gain from it.

This should naturally lead you to a select group of texts that most intelligent people have read, but there is a fine distinction between people who read those texts out of interest and those who read those texts to appear intelligent.

Answer by smiletoexit
https://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm/content_id.22845/Books

I’ve found that list covers a lot of really significant books…

Answer by Rip Van W
An intelligent person should be intelligent enough to answer that question 😛

Answer by FIGJAM
Are talking about classics? Fiction? Non-fiction?
Because most “intelligent” people read any books they want or find interesting. I prefer history and philosophy books because they interest me. My dad like to read economic theory type books but i think that sound HORRIBLE.

Some authors to think about (ALL fiction writers)
Shakespeare
Salinger
Steinbeck
Twain
Virgil
Rand
Lewis (C.S. and Sinclair)
Dostoevsky
Dickens
Joyce
Austin

Answer by elohimself
I read and enjoyed “The Determination of Orbits” by A. D. Dubyago, “Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics” by Smith & Jacobs, and “Numerical Analysis” by Burden & Faires.

Answer by rebecca2007
Freakonomics

Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity

Answer by Snow Globe
https://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/boost-your-skills/23628.html

Here are some lists of classic books from sites that recommend them for “college-bound” students. I think they are good basic lists. When you read an author that you really enjoy, try some others that he/she has written. I’m glad you are seeking to improve yourself — it’s a life-long quest.

Answer by mead_clarke
I think that anything that makes you think and go on to analyze everyday life is important no matter who wrote it. The reason writers become famous is because they make you think and sharpen analytical skills. This is especially true with authors in the Western canon.

But if you need a list…

Personal favorites (from classics): Salinger, Hemingway, Austen, Chopin, any of the Brontes…

Answer by Sirius Black
Classics my dear, always the classics. If you are not sure what a classic novel is, look it up, there is a long, never ending and continual list, start reading.

Answer by styx78321
I’m not sure about intelligent people, but EVERYBODY should read the Harry Potter series. I love them to death!!

Answer by Katharina K
Try reading the top 10 of unfinished books if you want to appear really intelligent 🙂

1 Vernon God Little, DBC Pierre
2 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
3 Ulysses, James Joyce
4 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis De Bernieres
5 Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
6 The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
7 The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
8 War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
9 The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
10 Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky

But really, you should just read the books you like.

Answer by lithisium
I won’t even begin to pretend that I am intelligent, but I’ll recommend some of my favourite books.
Dostoevsky – Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The House of the Death, Notes from Underground
Kierkegaard – Fear and Trembling, Diary of a Seducer
Willaim Burroughs – Naked Lunch, Queer, Port of Saints
Zola – Therese Raquin
Gore Vidal – Myra Breckinridge
Oscar Wilde – Picture of Dorian Gray
Augustan (sp?) Burroughs – Running with scissors, Dry

Poetry – Ginsberg, Byron and Rimbaud.