Philosophy books and the summer before medical school

My summer holiday is starting pretty soon and I've been putting off my giant pile of books to read that don't have anything to do with science or medicine.  I'm going to start reading Le Rouge et le Noir tonight and then trudge my way through Kierkegaard's Either/Or, Sartre's Being and Nothingness, and a lot of essays by Albert Camus and Schopenhauer over the summer.

The reason I started reading philosophy books outside of the classroom was because curiosity spilled over into my non-academic life, and also because I became an existentialist in my philosophy after reading Camus' L'Etranger, which was really liberating and eye-opening.  I guess also because of Hegel and Heidegger saying things like "we're thrown into existence," and how the world is what we make of it.

I really believe we're just thrown into existence and what we do with life is up to us.  We can leave a mark on our world, or we can just choose to be quiet passengers.  Existentialism appeals to me so much because everything is up to the individual, and I strongly believe we're really at the helm of our future.  But of course, the individual doesn't exist by his/herself and the universe is so random.  There's a great deal of control over the direction of our lives that we have though.


I know philosophy crosses paths with religion really often, especially in existentialism, but I don't really want to blog about it.  Whatever you follow, follow it with all your heart if it feels right to you, and make the world a better place.  I know that's sort of a hippie thing to say, but that's just me.

Lazy summers do teach you one thing, though, is that time's always passing, and you can choose either to sleep a lot and do nothing (which isn't bad) or go out and accomplish things or catch up on books that might introduce you to a great way to live life or at least view it differently.

Being able to see the world through different lenses is something I think is really crucial to personal growth, and something that really helps you identify with other people. 

cheers, guys.  and enjoy your summer.