My Bibliography
It’s only in the last couple of years that I really had a political awakening, and it was all due to a few sparks that happened during my postgraduate University experience. I know that at the age of 25 it’s quite late to suddenly become aware of the world around me, but it happened when it did and now I can’t understand how I knew so little about everything. Those sparks changed me and now I seek knowledge and truth like it’s water.
I was starting to notice my new interest in how things worked and was writing a dissertation at the time, as I was reading I would make notes of all the things that I read so I could write my bibliography as I went so as not to run into trouble later. At this point I thought it might be a cool idea if I start creating a bibliography of my life to try and track where I got my ideas from and maybe even see how they changed over time. Maybe one day I’ll have a voice people want to listen to and a bibliography like this might be of interest to everyone. I suppose it’s a bit of an experiment that may have an effect or it may not, but either way, being able to track your mental development is probably quite useful.
As I was starting to create this list I began to notice what an amazing resource the internet is and, oddly, how few books I had actually read that influenced me. When a politician is found to not be able to name a long list of books that has influenced him we naturally assume he is stupid and lazy. This idea is a perspective of old people who haven’t grown up with internet, if you interview anyone born before 1980 and they haven’t read any books then in all likelihood they are an idiot, but ask a Millennial that question and you are asking a question that belongs in a different paradigm. We are living in an information age where education and knowledge is available to anyone who seeks it, videos with graphics and narrated by personalities who make subjects infinitely more engaging, are the way of the world now and are changing it in incredible ways, all because we have access information. The internet is a great equaliser. Ideas don’t care how you got them, only that they arrived and switched on the light bulb.
This list is fairly comprehensive of everything that really opened up or changed my mind, or something that excellently summed up what I was already thinking, rather than just a list of everything ever. Its constantly being added too and I’ll try to attach links to where you can find them yourself, let me know if a link is broken, but if there isn’t one online for free then you’ll have to seek it out yourself. I thoroughly recommend anything below and hope it might influence you in the same way it has me.
People I Like
Independent Thinkers - Louis C.K - George Carlin - Ricky Gervais - Bill Hicks - Stephen Fry - Adam Curtis - Michael Shermer - Bill Maher - Richard Dawkins - Christopher Hitchens - John Stewart - Stephen Colbert - Neil deGrasse Tyson -
People I don’t Like
Alan Greenspan - Ayn Rand - Milton Freidman - Ideologists - Tea Party -
Bibliography - Chronological
-The Ecology Of Fear: Los Angeles & The Imagination Of Disaster, Mike Davis (Book)
-The Sock Doctrine: The Rise Of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein (Book)
-Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative, Mark Fisher (Book)
-Out Of Control: The New Biology Of Machines, Kevin Kelly (Book)
-Cradle To Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things, William McDonough, Michael Braungart (Book)
- The Trap, Adam Curtis (TV Doc.) 1,2,3
- The Century Of Self, Adam Curtis (TV Doc.)
- The Power Of Nightmares, Adam Curtis (TV Doc.) 1,2,3
- The Paradox Of Choice, Barry Schwartz (TED)
- The Real Crisis? We Stopped Being Wise, Barry Schwartz (TED)
- Capitalism: A Love Story - Michael Moore (Film Doc.)
- The Danger Of Science Denial, Michael Specter (TED)(Lecture)
- Science Under Attack, BBC Horizon (TV) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
- Why Societies Collapse, Jared Diamond (TED)
- Do Schools Kill Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson (TED)
- Bring On The Learning Revolution, Sir Ken Robinson (TED)
- Teach Every Child About Food, Jamie Oliver (TED)
- Beyond Belief, The Science Network (Conference(Very Long(But Worth It))) 1,2,3 (The One Clip You Must Watch)
- All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, Adam Curtis (TV Doc.)
- Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer (TED)
- The Pattern Behind Self-Deception, Michael Shermer (TED)
- Cute, Sexy, Sweet, Funny, Dan Dennett (TED)
- Response To Rick Warren, Dan Dennett (TED)
- How People Become Monsters Or Heroes, Philip Zimbardo (TED)
- Inside Job (Film Doc.)
- The Union: The Business Of Getting High (Film Doc.)
- Changing Paradigms, Sir Ken Robinson (RSA)(Animate)
- Creativity, Learning & The Curriculum, Sir Ken Robinson (RSA)
- Choice, Renata Salecl (RSA)(Animate)
- How Many People Can Live On Planet Earth, BBC Horizon (TV)
- Arithmetic, Population & Energy, Albert A. Bartletts (Lecture) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
- 21st Century Enlightenment (RSA)(Animate)
- Crisis Of Capitalism (RSA)
- Storm The Animated Movie, Tim Minchin (Comedy)
- When Bankers Were Good, Ian Hislop (TV)
- Your Money And How They Spend It, Nick Robinson (TV)
- How Economic Inequality Harms Society, Richard Wilkinson (TED)
- The High Price Of Materialism (Animated)
- The Poetry Of Science, Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson (Panel)
- Cosmic Quandaries, Neil deGrasse Tyson (Panel)(LOL Clip)
- LGBT Rights Are Human Rights, Hilary Clinton (Geneva)
- Using Our Practical Wisdom, Barry Schwartz (TED)
- The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin (Speech)(Alt. Version)
- Does Democracy Stifle Economic Growth, Yasheng Huang (TED)
- The Four Horsemen, The Richard Dawkins Foundation For Reason & Science (Roundtable) 1,2
- How TV Ruined Your Life, Charlie Brooker (TV) Fear, Lifecycle, Aspiration, Love, Progress, Knowledge
- Capitalism Is The Crisis (Documentary)
- Putin, Russia & The West (TV) 1,2,3,4
- How The West Went Bust (TV) 1,2
- Everything Is A Remix (Doc) 1,2,2.5,3,4
- Morality & Science, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins (Panel)
- The Purpose Of Purpose, Richard Dawkins (Lecture)
- A Universe From Nothing, Lawrence Krauss (Lecture)
- Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson (Panel)
- Are You Good Or Evil, Horizon (BBC) 1,2,3,4
- How Money Corrupts Congress, Lawrence Lessig (Lecture)
- Adam Curtis Screenwipe (Shorts) Oh Dearism, Paranoia, TV Journalism, Murdoch’s Revolution
- James Hanson, Why I Must Speak Out About Climate Change (TED)
- Neil deGrasse Tyson, We Stopped Dreaming (Speech)
- Wikileaks The Secret Life Of A Superpower (TV Doc) 1,2
- Religion, evolution, and the Ecstasy Of Self-Transcendence, Jonathan Haidt (TED)
- Civilisation: Is The West History?, Niall Furguson (TV) 1,2,3,4,5,6
- China: Triumph & Turmoil (TV) 1,2,3
- The Pirate Party, Rick Falkvinge (TED)
- Global Weirding, BBC Horizon (TV)
- Let The Environment Guide Our Development, Johan Rockstrom (TED)
- Space Exploration Is Good For Our Culture, Neil deGrasse Tyson (Lecture)
- How To Grow A Planet, BBC (TV) 1,2,3
- The Degeneration of Western Institutions, Niall Ferguson (Lecture)
- The Men Who Made Us Fat, BBC (TV) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12
- Masters Of Money, BBC (TV) Keynes, Hayek, Marx
Updated as and when. So check back some time.
