Authors to Read

I had the fortuitous blessing of talking at length with my brother this evening about books and decided that I (as a compulsive list-maker) needed to make a list of must read material, so I'll begin that task with a list of - in my opinion - must-read authors which thusly ensues:

Robert Anton Wilson
Douglas Hofstadter
Robert Anson Heinlein
Alan Watts
Tom Robbins
Erich Fromm
Lou Marinoff
Thomas Pynchon
Hermann Hesse
Neil Stephenson
Philip K Dick
Kurt Vonnegut
Jay Ramsay
Erik Davis
Howard Bloom
David Boaz
Alvin Toffler
Paul Johnson
Ayn Rand
Umberto Eco

If you, reader, have anyone to add, please feel free to drop a line with your own list as this is merely a beginning off the top-of-my-head roster of authors.
Fortune to all.
Cheers.

From the Beginning

The first step toward freedom is not fearing or being offended by ideas. Once one has the capacity to ponder a concept without bias then one is able to begin fully exploring the possibilities of that concept as opposed to denying entrance into your internal conversation of any idea which on the face of it appears to be antithetical to your present belief system. Employing a bit of the Pyrrhonistic idea of Epoché in other words. (Cf. Pancritical Rationalism)

This allows one to increase the depth of ones philosophical palette. This, in turn, furthers the philosophical 'opportunities', so to speak, one may pursue, which enriches the routes one may take to fulfilling the desire of a satisfying, productive and successful life.