Good Books:
Having covered anime, manga, visual novels and video games, I thought it was only natural to next include a list of worthwhile books I've read. Since that includes way too many books, I'll go by authors instead. The only way to make this rating system fair is to break the authors down into three sections, generic fiction writers, Japanese light novel writers, and non-fiction writers. For now we'll go with 40 in the fiction category, 27 in the Japanese light novel category, and 33 in the nonfiction category, for a grand total of the top 100 authors of the world:
Fiction: (From a value added perspective, ie, above and beyond any possible adaption it may have received.)
1. Charles Dickens
2. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
3. Robert Jordan
4. Orson Scott Card
5. E. E. Doc Smith
6. David Zindell
7. James Clavell
8. Ayn Rand
9. Piers Anthony
10. Timothy Zahn
11. Fred Saberhagen
12. Samuel Richardson
13. Leo Tolstoy
14. James Fenimore Cooper
15. H.G. Wells
16. William Shakespeare
17. Jane Austen
18. John Steinbeck
19. Ludovico Ariosto
20. George Eliot
21. Nikolai Gogol
22. Murasaki Shikibu
23. Arthur Conan Doyle
24. Louisa May Alcott
25. George Orwell
26. Katherine Kerr
27. Terry Goodkind
28. Kate Elliott
29. Harold Covington
30. Jennifer Roberson
31. Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle/Steven Barnes
32. Robert Heinlein
33. David Eddings
34. Margaret Weiss/Tracy Hickman
35. Isaac Asimov
36. Jim Kjelgaard
37. George R.R. Martin
38. J.R.R. Tolkein
39. J.K. Rowling
40. Frank Herbert
Light Novel Writers: (From a value added perspective, ie, translated books the anime doesn't cover)
1. Reki Kawahara (SAO books 9-18/SAO Progressive 1-4)
2. Kazuma Kamachi (Index books 14-22, NT books 1-19)
3. Shoji Gatoh (Full Metal Panic books 6-12, Amagi Brilliant Park book 3)
4. Ao Jumonji (Hai to Gensou no Grimgar books 3-4)
5. Noboru Yamaguchi (Zero no Tsukaima books 1-21)
6. Tsukasa (Juuou Mujin no Fafnir books 4-12 + prequel)
7. Nagaru Tanigawa (Haruhi Suzumiya books 7-11, plus some short stories from books 5 and 6)
8. Oyuki Konno (Maria-sama ga Miteru books 28-33)
9. Matsu Tomohiro (PapaKiki books 2-3)
10. Tsukasa Fushimi (Oreimo books 10-11, Eromanga Sensei books 4-7)
11. Fuyumi Ono (12 Kingdoms books 5-8)
12. Ishio Yamagata (Rokka no Yuusha books 2-5)
13. Yomi Hirasaka (Haganai books 9-10)
14. Kenji Inoue (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu books 8-12.5)
15. Isuna Hasekura (Spice and Wolf books 4, 6-18, Parchment 1)
16. Satoshi Wagahara (Hataraku Maou-sama books 3-15, 0, 5.5 plus short stories)
17. Hiro Ainana (Death March)
18. Yuji Yuji (Oreshura books 5-7, 6.5)
19. Takumi Yanai (GATE books 7-10)
20. Hiroyuki Morioka (Seikai no Senki book 4)
21. Honobu Yonezawa (Hyouka books 5-6)
22. Onikage Spanner (Lazy Dungeon Master)
23. Yuu Kamiya (No Game No Life books 4-5)
24. Akira Kareno (Suka Suka books 4-5)
25. Narita Ryohgo (Baccano! books 5-22, excluding 14)
26. Tomohito Osaki (Sakura Hiden)
27. Akira Higashiyama (Kakashi Hiden)
Non-Fiction: (From a value added perspective, ie, above and beyond any possible adaption it may have received.)
1. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
2. Plutarch
3. Plato
4. Edward Gibbon
5. David Hume
6. Charles Murray
7. Thomas Paine
8. Aeschylus/Euripides/Sophocles/Aristophanes
9. Bertrand Russel
10. Friedrich Nietzsche
11. Aristotle
12. Homer
13. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
14. James Boswell/Samuel Johnson
15. Blaise Pascal
16. Lucretius
17. Thucydides
18. Tacitus
19. Ann Coulter
20. Charles Darwin
21. Karl Marx
22. Craig Winn
23. Thomas Malthus
24. Voltaire
25. Adam Smith
26. Herodotus
27. Xenophon
28. John Philippe Rushton
29. Thomas Jefferson
30. Baruch Spinoza
31. Sun Tzu
32. Immanuel Kant
33. Luo Guanzhong
I based my rankings on A) how much time and attention I've given these authors because they were so absorbing, and B) how much did I learn from and take away from these authors, how much did they change my life. Beyond these two factors I can't really imagine how else an author should be judged, so I'll leave it at that. Some authors excelled in one field, and others excelled in the other, but usually both excelled at both. These are the best of the best after all.
I encourage everyone to read all of these authors early on in their lives when it's still useful and you can apply it to your philosophy. This would be a good list of authors to read for home schooling, instead of learning useless crap like trigonometry. If you read all these authors by age 18, you'd have a far superior education to anything any college is offering -- not that you'll receive any college credit or a high paying job for it though. But it just might be useful when you decide what to do with yourself or who to be with, which is a lot more important than how much money you make anyway.
Fiction: (From a value added perspective, ie, above and beyond any possible adaption it may have received.)
1. Charles Dickens
2. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
3. Robert Jordan
4. Orson Scott Card
5. E. E. Doc Smith
6. David Zindell
7. James Clavell
8. Ayn Rand
9. Piers Anthony
10. Timothy Zahn
11. Fred Saberhagen
12. Samuel Richardson
13. Leo Tolstoy
14. James Fenimore Cooper
15. H.G. Wells
16. William Shakespeare
17. Jane Austen
18. John Steinbeck
19. Ludovico Ariosto
20. George Eliot
21. Nikolai Gogol
22. Murasaki Shikibu
23. Arthur Conan Doyle
24. Louisa May Alcott
25. George Orwell
26. Katherine Kerr
27. Terry Goodkind
28. Kate Elliott
29. Harold Covington
30. Jennifer Roberson
31. Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle/Steven Barnes
32. Robert Heinlein
33. David Eddings
34. Margaret Weiss/Tracy Hickman
35. Isaac Asimov
36. Jim Kjelgaard
37. George R.R. Martin
38. J.R.R. Tolkein
39. J.K. Rowling
40. Frank Herbert
Light Novel Writers: (From a value added perspective, ie, translated books the anime doesn't cover)
1. Reki Kawahara (SAO books 9-18/SAO Progressive 1-4)
2. Kazuma Kamachi (Index books 14-22, NT books 1-19)
3. Shoji Gatoh (Full Metal Panic books 6-12, Amagi Brilliant Park book 3)
4. Ao Jumonji (Hai to Gensou no Grimgar books 3-4)
5. Noboru Yamaguchi (Zero no Tsukaima books 1-21)
6. Tsukasa (Juuou Mujin no Fafnir books 4-12 + prequel)
7. Nagaru Tanigawa (Haruhi Suzumiya books 7-11, plus some short stories from books 5 and 6)
8. Oyuki Konno (Maria-sama ga Miteru books 28-33)
9. Matsu Tomohiro (PapaKiki books 2-3)
10. Tsukasa Fushimi (Oreimo books 10-11, Eromanga Sensei books 4-7)
11. Fuyumi Ono (12 Kingdoms books 5-8)
12. Ishio Yamagata (Rokka no Yuusha books 2-5)
13. Yomi Hirasaka (Haganai books 9-10)
14. Kenji Inoue (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu books 8-12.5)
15. Isuna Hasekura (Spice and Wolf books 4, 6-18, Parchment 1)
16. Satoshi Wagahara (Hataraku Maou-sama books 3-15, 0, 5.5 plus short stories)
17. Hiro Ainana (Death March)
18. Yuji Yuji (Oreshura books 5-7, 6.5)
19. Takumi Yanai (GATE books 7-10)
20. Hiroyuki Morioka (Seikai no Senki book 4)
21. Honobu Yonezawa (Hyouka books 5-6)
22. Onikage Spanner (Lazy Dungeon Master)
23. Yuu Kamiya (No Game No Life books 4-5)
24. Akira Kareno (Suka Suka books 4-5)
25. Narita Ryohgo (Baccano! books 5-22, excluding 14)
26. Tomohito Osaki (Sakura Hiden)
27. Akira Higashiyama (Kakashi Hiden)
Non-Fiction: (From a value added perspective, ie, above and beyond any possible adaption it may have received.)
1. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
2. Plutarch
3. Plato
4. Edward Gibbon
5. David Hume
6. Charles Murray
7. Thomas Paine
8. Aeschylus/Euripides/Sophocles/Aristophanes
9. Bertrand Russel
10. Friedrich Nietzsche
11. Aristotle
12. Homer
13. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
14. James Boswell/Samuel Johnson
15. Blaise Pascal
16. Lucretius
17. Thucydides
18. Tacitus
19. Ann Coulter
20. Charles Darwin
21. Karl Marx
22. Craig Winn
23. Thomas Malthus
24. Voltaire
25. Adam Smith
26. Herodotus
27. Xenophon
28. John Philippe Rushton
29. Thomas Jefferson
30. Baruch Spinoza
31. Sun Tzu
32. Immanuel Kant
33. Luo Guanzhong
I based my rankings on A) how much time and attention I've given these authors because they were so absorbing, and B) how much did I learn from and take away from these authors, how much did they change my life. Beyond these two factors I can't really imagine how else an author should be judged, so I'll leave it at that. Some authors excelled in one field, and others excelled in the other, but usually both excelled at both. These are the best of the best after all.
I encourage everyone to read all of these authors early on in their lives when it's still useful and you can apply it to your philosophy. This would be a good list of authors to read for home schooling, instead of learning useless crap like trigonometry. If you read all these authors by age 18, you'd have a far superior education to anything any college is offering -- not that you'll receive any college credit or a high paying job for it though. But it just might be useful when you decide what to do with yourself or who to be with, which is a lot more important than how much money you make anyway.
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