nostr, what kind of old books do you keep on going back to? 
Discussion
I like old fiction. Not like, fantasy or scifi. Think "The Count of Monte Cristo" or "Slaughterhouse 5" or even "Wuthering Heights". They're tragic, but emotionally and literarily fascinating. And while they can have horrific themes, nothing is meaningless for shock value like some modern "literature".
Discourses, by Epictetus
Seen a bunch of his quote/ referenced throughout the time, definitely something to take a look at
Stoicism is the Starbucks of philosophy, for both good and bad. It is readily accesible and very recommended to study it (it's one of my philosophical keystones), but take care not to fall into the commercial version of it. It's much, much deeper than you might think.
If you want any help getting into it just say so!
tell me more 🤔
Bible, the OG book
hmm, tempting
Fun fact: "bible" is derived from the Greek word "biblia", which means "books". It's actually a lot of books rolled into one.
i think i used to read a book called "Bible stories", where it was actually put together into a smaller continuous story.
but that was just because i was bored and craved something to read
meditations - marcus aurelius
letters from a stoic - seneca
the book - alan watts
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbons. 2nd time through recently. Read it when I found out the founding fathers were obsessed with it while fighting the revolution. Even if Roman history is mostly fake, it’s sensational.
Letters from Cortez. Correspondence from Cortez back to Spain during his expeditions in Mexico. Including a fun bit on Charles the 5th not understanding inflation when the gold market is flooded in Europe.
My favorite two old books from last year.
Roman history is mostly fake?
Not sure. Seems credible that a lot of the Renaissance era manuscripts found that are the basis of everything we know outside of architecture were forgeries. There was a big market for Roman stuff, so a lot was faked. Many have subsequently been found out, including some of Gibbons sources. But there’s forgery questions even around things like Tacitus.
Wow. I’d never heard that though I’m not surprised. Seems like things have taken various forms of propaganda along the way. Victors and frauds write history - that’s why Bitcoin and nostr are so important
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius