Books That Changed the World

Sep 23, 2010
Toby Welch

The Art of War - Kallemax

According the the University of California at Berkley, there are 65 million book titles worldwide. This piece lists tomes that greatly affected the world.

There are numerous books that have affected and changed the way people think over the centuries.

The Art of War

The Art of War is a strategy book based on Chinese warfare and military thoughts. Written by Sun Tzu during the 6th century B.C., this immensely significant book remains one of the premier works of military strategy of all time. Since the 1980s, the book’s influence has expanded beyond the military field and its lessons are applied to corporate culture, law, and politics.

The Communist Manifesto

Karl Marx wrote 22 books but arguably the most well-read is The Communist Manifesto. Published in 1848, the work is considered one of the world’s most influential political manuscripts. Manifesto was commissioned by the Communist League and details the League’s purposes and outlines Marx’s theories of past and present class struggles.

Marx was a relatively unknown figure during his lifetime but his political and philosophical ideas began to influence workers and world leaders after his death. Frederick Engels shares the author credit on Manifesto but it is considered to be primarily Marx’s work.

The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money

This work by John Maynard Keynes started a reform referred to as the Keynesian Revolution. Keynes believed in the power of markets but advocated interventionist government policy, by which the government would use fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions, depressions and booms. The book challenged conventional thoughts on classic economics, and introduced concepts still in use today (and probably more so tomorrow).

Guerrilla Warfare

Guerrilla Warfare by Ernesto Che Guevara was published in 1961 and discusses revolutionary movements in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, and guerrilla leader. The book asserts that guerrilla warfare is the most advantageous way to fight totalitarian regimes where political opposition is difficult. The essays in the book detail the struggles in seven South American countries that were inspired by Guevara’s theories.

The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences

This book was written in the early 1500s by Martin Luther, a German cleric. This powerful tome is regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s theses in the book show his dissatisfaction with some of the clergy’s actions. His main complaint was the church’s practice of indulgence, the removal of punishment for sins for which a person has already been forgiven. Because of the theological debate that Luther instigated, Christianity branched into other denominations including Lutheran, Reformed, and Anabaptist. Luther penned 14 books but one of his most read ones to this day is this, his shortest.

On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selections

Charles Darwin stirred up controversy when this book was published in 1859 and the theory of evolution continues to be a hot topic today. The book explores Darwin’s scientific theory that populations of animals and plants evolve over time and through generations via a process of natural selection. Darwin’s reasoning on evolutionary theories includes survival of the fittest, adaptation and the struggle for existence. Origin of Species continues to provoke heated arguments on philosophical, religious, and scientific grounds.

The Republic

The Republic by Plato is the oldest book in this list, written in approximately 380 B.C. It is considered even today to be one of the most influential works of philosophy and political theory. In Greek, Republic means the character of a political community and the fictional book begins with a portrayal of Utopia or an Ideal State, a perfect community.

From there it goes on to discuss the forms of government and their pros and cons as well as a rationale for political decay. The concept of justice is also touched on. Along with Socrates, Plato’s mentor, and Aristotle, Plato’s protégé, Plato helped create the basis of Western Philosophy that exists today.

The Prince

This work was composed by an Italian diplomat and a philosopher in the early 1500s, Niccolò Machiavelli. He wrote many books including Discourse on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy, History of Florence and The Art of War (see above), as well as a bunch of plays, poetry, and novels. The book details how a Prince (or any ruler, in this case) can keep control of his kingdom and how to maintain power. The underlying theme is the distinction between realism and idealism, contrasting sharply with the idealism of Plato and Aristotle, and his discussion on the use of force to keep the status quo.

A Room of One's Own

A Room of One’s Own is based on lectures Virginia Woolf gave in 1928 to two women’s colleges. The book debates whether women are capable of producing works as great as those by men. Woolf claims that the lack of literature written by women at the time was not due to an inherent inability but to relentless social and educational chauvinism. Some believe Woolf is the inventor of modern feminist criticism. The title of the book is derived from Woolf’s opinion that ‘a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.’

The Second Sex

This first major work of feminist literature was published in 1949 and was written by Simone de Beauvoir. The book delves into the treatment of women throughout history and debates the difference between the terms gender and sex. De Beauvoir argues that throughout history women have been considered the ‘other’ sex as if they are a deviation of the ‘normal’ male sex. The Second Sex was originally written in French and there has been a tremendous amount of criticism that the translation into English is inaccurate and that the philosophical concepts de Beauvoir discusses were mistranslated.

Of course this is a subjective list. There are hundreds of books that greatly impacted the world and when I get to write 10,000 words on this topic, the book you think I should have included will be on the list.

Source:

University of California, Berkeley

Toby Welch - Toby is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in magazine articles, online writing, e-books, and manuscript editing.

Virginia Woolf - George Charles Beresford

Comments

Nov 26, 2010 12:43 AM

Guest :

Since many males make women think they are the inferior sex, I gave my daughters a book by Ashley Montagu He made the statement: "The natural superiority of women is a biological fact, and a socially acknowledged reality." One problem is that it is not a "socially acknowledged reality" enough. When I look around at the mess males have made of society I would love to see this book change the way we think about genders. I know most say women and males are equal but this is so unfair to women. It would be like saying a limo is equal to a car used in a demolition derby.

Even though I am a male, I knew as a child just by looking around at the males are inferuior and women are superior His book "The Natural Superiority of Women" should be taught in every junior high school in the country. Maybe than males would learn to respect women and girls better.

I think this would be a good topic for book clubs also and it was written by a male who had nothing to gain by revealing the truth that women are the superior gender.

Nov 27, 2010 11:13 PM

Guest :

"His book "The Natural Superiority of Women" should be taught in every junior high school in the country. Maybe then males would learn to respect women and girls better."

One problem with that book is that last update was in 1999 and since then there are dozens if not hundreds of other things that prove beyond a doubt that women and even girls are far superior to males. Women are leaving males in the dust I gave this book to my wife when we got married 10 years ago to let her know that I did know she was really the better half of our marriage. She has always shown it and as a male, I have always known it was my privilege to treat her and all women as the superior they are. All of nature centers around the female and males just tag along so why not in humans too? Males are only supporting actors and women are the stars of the show. MALES are here to serve women and make their life better.

Some may ask what is the evidence that males are only not superior to women we are not even equal to women.

Being male seems to affect the male survival rate at all ages and even more so the younger the male is. Males die from almost everything at a much larger rate than do women. One of the few exceptions for infants is whooping cough which kills slightly more girls than it does males
Miscarriages are mostly males and pollution is causing even more males to miscarry. There use to be 105 males born for every 100 girls but in parts of Canada, there are 3 girls born for every male and the ratio of males to girls has gone down in almost every industrialized nation. We need to remember that there were always more males born so that the ration of males to females were near equal at around 20 years of age.
Premature girl are far more likely to survive than a premature males. Some hospitals will do far less aggressive intensive care treatments for males than they will do for premature girls as their survival rate is so much lower. They will do comfort care for the males if he is born before 25 weeks while girls will get the aggressive treatment if they are born after 22 weeks.

The study also found that extremely premature baby girls were 1.7 times more likely to survive than baby boys. However, African-American baby girls were 2.1 times as likely to survive as white boys.

I think this does show as some have said that males think women are the weaker sex when all evidence shows males are in almost every area, especially in light of the comment by an ER nurse who stated that males do not survive accidents and trauma as well as women either. Of course, the males get in a lot more accidents and 3 out of 4 people killed in auto accidents are male.
To conclude, some have said that a male's own testicles make him weak. It does seem like having testicles does make a person weaker however I do not know that the testicles themselves makes males weaker or if there are other factors that only males have that does it. I have read that males who were castrated before puberty live almost as long as women but still not as long so testicles do add to the weakness of males but it is not the only factor It seems just plain being male is enough to make males inferior to women.
It would be nice to have an updated edition of "The Natural Superiority of Women" and although many males would not like the title, it is better than calling it the natural inferiority of males and it is a lot better than other books which ask if males are even necessary any more or those telling us that males will be an endangered species such as one Suite100 article titled "A Future With No Males Becoming Possible"
http://www.suite101.com/search.cfm?q=future+no+males

With all of this, it is hard to understand how anyone can not see that women are certainly the superior gender and if we males would accept that perhaps we could focus on the areas we are weak in although they are many, and seek help in these areas. Perhaps then we would not have to be concerned with a possible future without any males. I strongly agree that book should be taught in every school but perhaps we should start teaching it in even 5th grade but we need to be careful to make sure that no student uses it to think that males are worthless or not needed. Males certainly do have value and we are important. After all, the CEO's of major corporations are worth more in many ways than the workers but we know the workers are often the backbone of the corporation.

Nov 29, 2010 7:26 AM

Guest :

Is it the Second Sex that shows that males are a mutation of women? I think it said that all of us start out as female and something goes terribly wrong and many of us turn out to be male. This would show that women are superior would it not?

Dec 10, 2010 6:50 AM

Guest :

"I would love to see this book change the way we think about genders"

I strongly agree with this.

At this time of year when we think about giving gifts to those we love, remember the best gift a male can give a woman or girl is to let her know we realize they are the superior gender and we are inferior to them in almost every area. One way to do this is to give them a book called "The Natural Superiority of Women.

I gave this book to my wife when we got married 10 years ago to let her know that I did know she was really the better half of our marriage. She has always showen it and as a male, I have always known it was my privilge to treat her and all women as the superior they are. All of nature centers around the female and males just tag along so why not in humans too? Males are only supporting actors and women are the stars of the show. MALES are here to serve women and make their life better

We also had our daughters and our son read it so they would know this too. It has helped all of them greatly and we never had a problem with our son respecting girls or women. I too would like to see this book taught in every school in the nation to both the males and the girls.

Dec 12, 2010 1:01 PM

Guest :

As a woman, I am so glad more males are seeing that they are the inferior gender. I use to think women were until my boyfriend showed me that women are the superior gender and that all of nature has a focus on the female and it would be good for human males to put women and girls first too. It has helped me greatly and he still shows me many more ways women are superior to males and he has been my husband for ten years. He states women are so superior that laws should be passed to allow for execution of males only and that treaties should be made to ban the killing of women or girls in war time and that if some army willfully kills a woman or girl, when they are beaten, my husband said that 25 of their males should be killed for each woman they killed and 50 of their males for each girl under 18 and if this were to happen, women and girls would be protected better. He does of coursed believe that only males should be killed in wars as it is mostly males who start them

Jan 4, 2011 2:06 PM

Guest :

I have learned that the best way for any male to please a woman it to tell the truth

One of the biggest lies in all history is still being told, that is that males are the superior sex. In reality women are no where near equal to men because women are SUPERRIOR to amost any male.

Since many males make women think they are the inferior sex, I gave my daughters a book by Ashley Montagu He made the statement: "The natural superiority of women is a biological fact, and a socially acknowledged reality." One problem is that it is not a "socially acknowledged reality" enough but it was controversial enough as it bruised too many male egos. (the only thing more fragile then our male egos are our testicles)

Even though I am a male too, I knew it as a child just by looking around at the males and women around me that women are the superior gender. His book "The Natural Superiority of Women" should be taught in every junior high school in the country. Maybe than males would learn to respect women and girls better.

I think this would be a good topic for book clubs also and it was written by a male who had nothing to gain by revealing the truth that WOMEN ARE THE SUPERIOR GENDER!.

Feb 26, 2011 1:20 AM

Guest :

It is nice to someone that will express that males are the inferior sex and thus women are superior to males. I am a male but I do know women are far superior to males.

One problem is that to avoid hurting the weak male ego, the real truth is not being told.
In fact, the greatest con job in history has been that of male superiority and that women are the weaker sex. Males are not even anywhere near equal to women let alone superior. Now that women are getting an equal chance at things. they are surpassing males in almost every area. If they did this in one generation, how much further will they leave us males in the next?

All of nature centers around the female and males just tag along so why not in humans too? Males are only supporting actors and women are the stars of the show. MALES are here to serve women and make their life better.

Mar 5, 2011 12:59 AM

Guest :

"The Natural Superiority of Women" is a good book that shows solid evidence that women are the superior gender. It starts by showing that every human starts out female but it goes on to say that at one certain stage of development something "goes horribly wrong" and some of us (myself included) end up to be male. In short, we males are a mutation of a female. (Seldom is a mutation good)

One comment stated that the last update of this book was in 1999 and since than a lot more has been learned.

Recently there have been several news items regarding this. Some say males will disappear totally. Others say we will still be around but not really needed. Before machines were invented, males were needed for their muscles for physical work. Now that machines can do all of that, males are not needed as much as we once were.

Now there is a book that can fill in that 21 year gap.

"Man Down" by Dan Abrams

Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else

Someone said that now that women are getting an equal chance, women are surpassing males in almost every area. This is what Abrams said is the reason for this book.

"There’s a lot more evidence now. A lot of the studies from the book are from the last three years. It’s only been in the last twenty or so years, that women have been on a relatively even playing field in terms of work to do many of these studies. We weren’t able to make fair comparisons before, because women were a fraction of the working world. Now we’re see women taking over the majority in many professions. But only recently has there been enough time to look back to compare men versus women and only recently has there been real interest."

Abrams said a vast majority of lead researchers are male, but the broad trend trackers are women. so it may be that males are beginning to wake up and smell the roses that male superiority is history. Actually, males never were superior as women have always been superior to males.

Women have a better sense of smell, taste, and new research is suggesting the fact that women tend to endure pain more makes them more immune to it. It’s the old aphorism, “That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Women survive injury better than males do and 77% of those who die in traffic accidents are male. Women have 34 more nerve fibers per square centimeter of facial skin, while men have an average of 17. This brings up sexual pleasure. Women have hundreds of times more nerve endings in their vagina than males have in their penis and as a result a male's orgasm pales to a woman's. A woman feels it in all of her body for several moments and it can be repeated many times in a short time. A male's orgasm consists of a few throbs of his penis and it is over in usually much less than a minute. He usually cannot have another one for several hours. Someone said that it is like Niagara Falls for women, a dripping faucet (no pun intended) for males.

Women live an average of five years longer than men. The reasons for this are both genetic and behavior-based. First of all, women have stronger immune systems, again due to estrogen which aids the fight against disease-inducing enzymes. But women are also less likely to engage in risky behavior. Almost all of the Darwin Award winners are male. Usually 9 or more males kill themselves for each woman who does to get this award.

Women make better doctors. While forty percent of doctors are women, 80 percent of those under investigation for medical misconduct or incompetence are male. In the U.S., there were similar findings. Male physicians were twice as likely to be sued as women

He does list things males are better at: Males are better at parking, they’re better dieters, they have better distance vision, and they read maps better. Males do have larger muscles, so they tend to be better at some sports but women far excel males in endurance sports.

A woman's body can more efficiently process oxygen. When it comes to ultra-marathons—say, a 135 mile race without sleep—women can beat men. Remember the first male that ran a marathon died and when we read about someone dying while playing sports or running a race, it is far more likely it will be a male.

When looking at sex change operations, we will notice that a few hundred males want to become women for every woman who wants to become a male. Still these males would not become members of the superior gender as their DNA would still be male thus keeping them inferior to women.

Even in combat, women are better sharp shooters and if the battle of the sexes every turned into a real war, we males would not have a chance. All the males would all be dead while 3/4 or more women remained alive and unharmed.

It is a given that males need women far more than women need males but lets count our lucky stars that most women still want us around.

With Montagu's book, I use to think women had a 80 out of 100 advantage over us males. With his last update in 1999 I raised that to 85 to 100. Now with this new book, it looks like women have a 95 to 100 advantage over males and if it keeps up since women have grown so much in the last 20 to 30 years, soon they will have total advantage over anyone that has the misfortune of being born with testicles. From what I see around me, I too am glad women are the SUPERIOR gender and MALES are the inferior one.

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