Full quote for anyone interested: “I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. That is my belief.”

Franz Kafka said we ought to read ‘the kind of books that wound and stab us.’ What books wounded or stabbed you?

Suggest me 2 books. One you thought was excellent, one you thought was horrible. Don't tell me which is which.

Hi! I'm in my 20's and I'm hungry for some knowledge! Unfortunately, I have limited time to read, so that's why I'm looking for books that either are extremely relevant in one of the topics from the title (or another, for that matter) or that can offer me a general preview of the field (i.e. a general view on eastern philosophy/western philosophy/physics, summary of human history/economics, etc.) — this kind of stuff.
Thank you in anticipation and I look forward to your recommendations!

I'm in my 20's and feel handicapped about my knowledge. Recommend me books to expand my horizons! (philosophy, economics, history, psychology, physics, politics, theology, sociology)

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