Best sources and books to learn basic poltics.

[Peo]

I love poltics. So my question is what are the best books on learning the basic of poltics, i did learn quite a lot of the basic of poltics in high school textbook, but it is has been a while since high school, so i need to refresh my memory. I want basic knowledge of poltics that is least biased.

I have learned the vocabulary of poltics quite good in my own language Norwegian, but i need to learn english vocabulary of poltics. So i can read Leo's booklist on the topic of poltics and understand advanced politics.

So any suggestion?

I want to contribute on this thread on poltics, but i am afraid my basic knowledge of poltics is too weak. I don't want to say anything dumb or accidentally spread missinformation. 

[Yimpa]

16 minutes ago, Peo said:

I love poltics.

You’re missing an I. 

[Schizophonia]

None, you have to do some introspection to determine what your true interests are; Political books are meant to enrich the ego.

If you're going to read a book, you might as well read the most holistic philosophy books like those by Ken Wilber.

 

[Human Mint]

You can read history books if you have the guts

[Peo]

8 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

Political books are meant to enrich the ego

Maybe your right, but it is better then being ignorant of poltics.

@Yimpa Are you joking or being serious? Sorry if did some grammer mistakes, i have dyslexia. 

 

5 minutes ago, Human Mint said:

You can read history books if you have the guts

I have read a lot of history in middle school and high school. Like 2 or 3 history books. 

[Nilsi]

Depends on how deep you want to go. You can dive into political philosophy - from Plato to Machiavelli to Marx to radical post-Marxism to neo-reactionary thought.

You can read history.

You can read books by political insiders like Henry Kissinger or by investigative journalists like Bob Woodward.

There’s more reading than any human could manage in a lifetime, even if this was their entire life purpose - so you need to figure out how deep you want to go and which issues actually interest you.

Edited March 2 by Nilsi

[Nilsi]

Just now, Nilsi said:

Depends on how deep you want to go. You can dive into political philosophy - from Plato to Marx to radical post-Marxism to neo-reactionary thought.

You can read history.

You can read books by political insiders like Henry Kissinger or by investigative journalists like Bob Woodward.

There’s more reading than any human could manage in a lifetime, even if this was their entire life purpose - so you need to figure out how deep you want to go and which issues actually interest you.

Just browse various lists on Goodreads related to those topics - you’ll get a feel for what’s out there and can start sampling whatever catches your interest.

[Nilsi]

16 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

If you're going to read a book, you might as well read the most holistic philosophy books like those by Ken Wilber.

Please don’t do that, or you’ll stay eternally clueless and gullible.

[Peo]

@Nilsi Thank you, finally a serious response.

5 minutes ago, Nilsi said:

issues actually interest you

I find international politics, Geopolitics and American politics to interest me.

[CuriousJames]

@Peo

48 minutes ago, Peo said:

my question is what are the best books on learning the basic of poltics

 Along with the books to help you with the basics of politics, I would couple that with the early works of Chomsky, to Chris Hedges (in general), and to sources like the following. https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs.

Books like this ( https://www.amazon.ca/Documents-World-History-1-6th/dp/0205050239 ) are interesting for it will provide letters written by world leaders which can give you some insight in to the personalities which shaped politics.

I imagine there is no authoritative sources, or best source, as you’ll need to sift through many sources to begin to get an overview. 

And those that tell you, this is not what a spiritual person should do, this is nonsense. Being guided by and exploring your curiosity is an important part of living a spiritual life. While at the same time, any intellectual learning, it can stimulate egoic/base like thinking and so balance is important to remain a life led by you the awareness rather than intellect. 

Edited March 2 by CuriousJames

[Nilsi]

2 minutes ago, Peo said:

@Nilsi Thank you, finally a serious response.

I find international politics, Geopolitics and American politics to interest me.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/geopolitics

[Human Mint]

22 minutes ago, Peo said:

I have read a lot of history in middle school and high school. Like 2 or 3 history books. 

Me too, but I wasn't as mature as now so I did little understanding. Forget about politics I was only worried about grades and group think.

Full disclosure: I haven't found or read any meaningful book on politics that I am aware. The things I read have some bits here and there about politics though. I said history because current politics exist only thanks to our history. Constitutions for example. You have to like it.

Edited March 2 by Human Mint

[Yimpa]

32 minutes ago, Peo said:

Are you joking or being serious? Sorry if did some grammer mistakes, i have dyslexia. 

Depends on how you read it; I have a reading disability myself. But don't let that stop you from pursuing the understanding of politics. I haven't read a single book about it and I still have a better understanding than those who voted for Trump.

[Yimpa]

@Peo you’re one letter off from being Leo 

[Basman]

On 3/2/2025 at 9:25 PM, Yimpa said:

You’re missing an I. 

There is no politics without an "I" .

[Ulax]

@Peo Yale have some good political lecture series online via YouTube imo

I’ve just recently finished Ian Shapiro’s modern politics one.

Edited Thursday at 05:48 AM by Ulax

[Alex4]

Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy isn’t exactly a politics book, but it dives into a crucial time in history and shows how power worked back then, surprisingly, not much has changed. 

[Hojo]

Politics is relative you will just be reading someone else view of the elephant. 

[Lyubov]

Political order and Political Decay to understand up until 2016, then from there the author’s model breaks down and it’s up to us to apply what we are doing here to understand.