One of the books I’ve read recently took a trip through history and gave an overview of 15 books that have had a pervasive negative influence on the world. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s titled 10 Books that Screwed Up the World and 5 Others that Didn’t Help, by Benjamin Wiker.) They’re generally what you might expect (full list of the 15 below), but what surprised me perhaps most of all was the author’s view about reading them. Far from advocating for censorship or banning of the books, he encourages one to read these books, to critically think through the defects and errors of ideas, and the resulting consequences as these faulty ideas have worked their way into society.
Personally, I’m thankful for the high-level overview of each book, as well as the Cliff Notes version of the effects on culture. The world is full of books that I actually want to read, far more than I’ll have sufficient time to get through. After reading Wiker’s summaries, I feel no need to add these to my to-be-read list. I do think it’s wise to be aware of the influence and to have an understanding; I just don’t think it’s vital to read them myself.
The complete list: Machiavelli’s The Prince, Descartes’ Discourse on Method, Hobbes’ Leviathan, Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men, Marx’ The Manifesto of the Communist Party, Mill’s Utilitarianism, Darwin’s The Descent of Man, Neitzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, Lenin’s The State and Revolution, Sanger’s The Pivot of Civilization, Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Freud’s The Future of an Illusion, Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa, Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique.