"Gödel, Escher, Bach" was my highschool sweetheart, although I probably wouldn't spend another 800 pages on it again. But the overarching concept of "emergence" (of formal systems) blew me away back then, and stuck with me in all sorts of spindly ways since.
Highly relevant to today's political climate, "Authority and American Usage" is an essay that's sometimes frustrating, but also one that I think everybody should read. DFW establishes the idea of a "Democratic Spirit" as a sort of worldview to speak and interact through. It's really good and important:
https://www.docdroid.net/GCzeU6K/authority-and-american-usag...
Highly relevant to today's political climate, "Authority and American Usage" is an essay that's sometimes frustrating, but also one that I think everybody should read. DFW establishes the idea of a "Democratic Spirit" as a sort of worldview to speak and interact through. It's really good and important: https://www.docdroid.net/GCzeU6K/authority-and-american-usag...