Books by Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was an American writer and author of more than 10 novels as well as plays, nonfiction and short stories. During World War II, he was a prisoner of war in Dresden and survived the firebombing that destroyed the city in February 1945, an experience that formed the basis of his 1969 book, Slaughterhouse-Five.
“I think it’s something that progressives need to think about, because the book talks a lot about two tendencies that people can adopt, to try to find meaning and purpose…The book, for me, is about trying to seek meaning, not trying to find simple answers, and appreciating that in some ways following a belief to an extreme can be equally as dangerous as having no beliefs.” Read more...
The best books on Bringing Change to America
Andy Stern, Nonprofit Leaders & Activist
“What I find intriguing about all this is that Vonnegut tried so many times to write the story of his memories of the bombing of Dresden and he kept failing. And, finally with Slaughterhouse Five, he wrote this outrageous story about time travel. That was his way of getting to grips with the horror that he lived with. His character Billy Pilgrim lives through the bombing of Dresden and he goes back and forth to Tralfamadore. There is one beautiful bit where he describes how Billy Pilgrim experienced the bombing of Dresden backwards. The bombs fly up to the airplane, then they go back to the factory and the parts go to the places where the parts came from and eventually back to the mines where the metal is mined. And all this is seen in slow motion. Even though he is no philosopher Vonnegut is still able to ask the questions that all of us think about – how time affects our lives.” Read more...
The best books on Time and Eternity
Carlos Eire, Historian
Interviews where books by Kurt Vonnegut were recommended
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1
The Confessions
by Augustine (translated by Maria Boulding) -
2
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut -
3
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by Michael Henry Heim (translator) & Milan Kundera -
4
A Treatise on the Difference between Temporal and Eternal
by Juan Eusebio Nieremberg -
5
From Whom God Hid Nothing
by Meister Eckhart
The best books on Time and Eternity, recommended by Carlos Eire
The best books on Time and Eternity, recommended by Carlos Eire
The Yale historian recommends some of the books of the past millennia that deal with the complicated concept of time and eternity.
The best books on Bringing Change to America, recommended by Andy Stern
The former union boss shares his reading list for American progressives, and tells us what makes a good leader and how it takes only a few committed people to bring change