Scholarly??? What do you need..

[Falchion]

The Golden Bough- Frazer
Structural Anthropology- Levi-Strauss
Orientalism- Said
Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes- Emerson
Anthropology and Modern Life- Franz Boaz
Indian Myths of South Central California- Alfred Kroeber

Also read Foucault, Lacan, Derrida, and Durkheim.

After reading these you will have a grasp of modern socio-cultural theory and anthropological practices, and you can head out to the wild, untrammeled places of the earth. Have fun!

[D'Art]

For basic general chemistry, General Chemistry by Ebbing (I've got the 5th edition, though there's at least one more out since mine).

For basic organic chemistry, Organic Chemistry by McMurray

For basic general biology, Biology by Raven and Johnson.

They got me through my course, anyway.

As for general reading, I'll echo the LOTR trilogy, even though it's a hard read to start with.

[Nicksmom]

Gone With the Wind,
War and Peace
Any of the classics

[dcmdale]

Librarything (www.librarything.com) would probably be a great resource in your quest.

Walking through my library in Library of Congress order, my suggestions for a good selection of books to look scholarly and impressive:

Jowett's, Dialogs of Plato
Augustine's, City of God (Loeb Edition is most impressive in any the classics)
Descartes', Third Meditation
Kant's, Critique of Pure Reason
Blackman's, Mishnayoth
Roberts's, Ante-nicene Fathers
Ahlstrom's, A Religious History of the American People
Charlesworth's, Old Testament Pseudopigrapha
Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom
The Nag Hammadi Library
Tacitus, Annuals of Imperial Rome
Caesar's Autobiography
Levi-Stauss, Structural Anthropology
Gibson, Houdini's Escapes and Magic (his notebooks)
Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel
State appropriate volumes from Roadside Geology series
Solzhenitsyn, Gulag Archipelago
Federalist Papers
McCormick's Handbook of the Laws of Evidence
Ullmann, The Medieval Idea of Law
Tennyson, Idylls of the King
(some survey of art history)
Tufte, Envisioning Information
Plays of Aristophanes
Oedipus Rex
Strunk & White, Elements of Style
Gorky, Lower Depths
Sartre, No Exit
Divine Comedy
Beowulf
Canterbury Tales
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Shakespeare
(usual selection of literature to your tastes)
Polya, Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning
Knuth, Art of Computer Programming
Mullett, Designing Visual Interfaces
Richardson, Practical Blacksmithing
Anglo-American Cataloging Rules

[fatfencer]

Originally Posted by dcmdale

Librarything (www.librarything.com) would probably be a great resource in your quest.

Walking through my library in Library of Congress order, my suggestions for a good selection of books to look scholarly and impressive:

Jowett's, Dialogs of Plato
Augustine's, City of God (Loeb Edition is most impressive in any the classics)
Descartes', Third Meditation
Kant's, Critique of Pure Reason
Blackman's, Mishnayoth
Roberts's, Ante-nicene Fathers
Ahlstrom's, A Religious History of the American People
Charlesworth's, Old Testament Pseudopigrapha
Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom
The Nag Hammadi Library
Tacitus, Annuals of Imperial Rome
Caesar's Autobiography
Levi-Stauss, Structural Anthropology
Gibson, Houdini's Escapes and Magic (his notebooks)
Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel
State appropriate volumes from Roadside Geology series
Solzhenitsyn, Gulag Archipelago
Federalist Papers
McCormick's Handbook of the Laws of Evidence
Ullmann, The Medieval Idea of Law
Tennyson, Idylls of the King
(some survey of art history)
Tufte, Envisioning Information
Plays of Aristophanes
Oedipus Rex
Strunk & White, Elements of Style
Gorky, Lower Depths
Sartre, No Exit
Divine Comedy
Beowulf
Canterbury Tales
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Shakespeare
(usual selection of literature to your tastes)
Polya, Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning
Knuth, Art of Computer Programming
Mullett, Designing Visual Interfaces
Richardson, Practical Blacksmithing
Anglo-American Cataloging Rules

Im not easily impressed but that Library thing is just golden. Rep to you sir!!! The book collection is quite nice too.

Fatfencer
PS: Folks keep the suggestions coming. I never knew that all of you were so well read.

[fatfencer]

people like Tolkien.

Although the Silmarillion is a bit of a slog-through but even that is good.

LOTR is awesome

FF

[Timo]

What's the estimate on buying all of these?

And to throw some into the ring:

Travels (A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling) Ibn Battuta

The Travels of Marco Polo

Walden by Thoreau

Any large, old anthology of childerens literature (before everyhitng was dumbed down) has a lot of good old stories/fables/legends/poems.

Around the World in 80 Days, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Legues Under the Sea, all by Jules Verne

[Nolano]

As far as crafts go....


For the Machinist part of me, Machinery's Handbook, any edition. I have never found another technical book that contains so much information that I could want. Want to know about threadings, pitches, etc? it's there. The heat treating of 4140 Chrome molybdenum steel? There. Algebraic solutions of force systems? Recommended cuttings speeds and feeds for machining almost any material? yep.
I have the 19th Edition, got it for $15, and that was a steal. I believe it's $100-$125 new, $50-75 used, typically.

[Phantom5588]

Just in case...

World War Z by Max Brooks.

...and also The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

[fatfencer]

Originally Posted by Timo

What's the estimate on buying all of these?

And to throw some into the ring:

Travels (A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling) Ibn Battuta

The Travels of Marco Polo

Walden by Thoreau

Any large, old anthology of childerens literature (before everyhitng was dumbed down) has a lot of good old stories/fables/legends/poems.

Around the World in 80 Days, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Legues Under the Sea, all by Jules Verne

The estimate is very high but I have a few connections at different libraries around the US who owe me favors and just help me because they know I am a true bibliophile. They get me free copies and or call me when their university bindery depts aren't willing to put work into a book so it can be shelved again

If they know I want it they will bind it or just fed ex me whats left and I will bind it using my own materials.

I do also, if they are in my area, make my books available if someone needs to do research. Knowledge is worth sharing.

Fatfencer

PS: That machinery book listed above is one of those reference books that is good to have even if you DONT work in a related field. Books like that are high priority on survivalists lists. Lots of good goodies and tidbits.

FF

[Nicksmom]

Any thing with Tasha Tudor pictures.

[Rabid Monk]

I nearly forgot:

You absolutely must read The Zombie Survival Guide.

[erik_blank]

Originally Posted by fatfencer

people like Tolkien.

Although the Silmarillion is a bit of a slog-through but even that is good.

LOTR is awesome

FF

FF: Sorry to see that you felt the Silmarillion was a slog. I found it fascinating, and often think back to it when reading other fantasy books as a comparison.

As for other Fantasy type books, I got completely hooked on the Wheel of Time series. I grieved when R. jorday (his pen name actually) died without completing the series. Fortunately he and his editor/wife found someone willing to take on the challenge of completing the work that R. Jordan started.

As for SF, I have to say thatthe classics still hold. Bradberry, Asimov, Heinlein. Although they almost all are a pretty dark read, especially Bradbury. His Martian chronicals gave me nightmares for MONTHS when I was a teenager, especially the short story about the dying house. *shiver*

[D'Artagnan1673]

This thread has helped inspire me to start a classic that I have long wanted to read... The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon.

[Warrior Princess]

I'm trying to just put things that other people haven't yet so here's what I can think of right now.
The Catcher in the Rye
The Book of the Five Rings
current MLA handbook
current APA handbook
Oxford English Dictionary (if you really want to go there)
The Illiad and the Odyssey
A good copy of greek myths
Man and His Symbols
The Heart of Darkness
The Death of Artemio Cruz
To Kill a Mockingbird
Plato's Cave
Sophie's World
Ishmael (Daniel Quinn)

[pacer]

In my pre-internet days of junior high and high school, I frequently used an old out of print book called "The Reader's Encyclopedia" as a start to research. It is a compendium of a little about most everything literary.

Work wise, my standard reference books are Colorado Revised Statutes - annotated,(title 14), Colorado Methods of Practice, and when I need a little refresher, Thomas Mauet's Trial Techniques.

Other useful books:
The Professional Chef by the C.I.A.(Culinary Institute of America)
Joy of Cooking by Rombauer, Rombauer, & Becker

[academe]

Didn't see, but may have missed buried in previous lists:

The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin (still causing trouble, can't ask for much more in a book!)

The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance, Ernst Mayr

My personal all-time favorite read:

Hunger, Knut Hamsun

Oh, and if you really like keeping track of your books and sharing via the internet, the best library software for personal use is: Delicious Library (Mac only, but reason enough to get a Mac if you are into books.)

[fatfencer]

Originally Posted by pacer

In my pre-internet days of junior high and high school, I frequently used an old out of print book called "The Reader's Encyclopedia" as a start to research. It is a compendium of a little about most everything literary.

Work wise, my standard reference books are Colorado Revised Statutes - annotated,(title 14), Colorado Methods of Practice, and when I need a little refresher, Thomas Mauet's Trial Techniques.

Other useful books:
The Professional Chef by the C.I.A.(Culinary Institute of America)
Joy of Cooking by Rombauer, Rombauer, & Becker

LOL...I wonder what YOU do for a living... Anyways the Trial techniques book is interesting. I've always wanted to be a defense attorney....except there are easier ways to make money and less stress too. Have you read Scalia's new book? Its supposed to be a good one about applied arg theory and what attorneys should be doing/thinking when they prepare args. I wanna get my hands on that one too. He should know SOMETHING about arguing things.

What type of law do you practice?

Fatfencer

[fatfencer]

Any good LC books out there?

There was a book with a Pink cover that I had in College. Cambridge Encyc...something or other, I think.

When will we learn not to sacrifice paper? It should be mandatory that all books also be available in PDF form.

Yes Yes I know Amazon/Alibris....but I have this thing called a computer and I want the same functionality there.

Any Lit Crit? Any Bible as Literature/Greek, Aramaic, copies of Bibles? Bible study stuff that isnt too Fundamentalist? I lean towards Anglicanism/Catholic/Episcopal thought.

Just wondering.

Fatfencer

[Warrior Princess]

Originally Posted by fatfencer

[snip]

Any Lit Crit? Any Bible as Literature/Greek, Aramaic, copies of Bibles? Bible study stuff that isnt too Fundamentalist? I lean towards Anglicanism/Catholic/Episcopal thought.

Just wondering.

Fatfencer

The Gospel According to Harry Potter. They read it at one of my friends UCC churches.