Which books to read?

Question

I understand that these questions are in bad taste as they are nothing to do with philosophical matters themselves, but it's extremely hard to answer the following questions even by using Google.

Which books to read of the classical Greece era? For example, I've read the Apology of Socrates, the Republic, some of Aristotle, and Zeno; and of the Roman Era, I've read Marcus Aurelius many times; and of recent centuries, I've read Locke; and more recent still, I've read Bertrand Russel. There doesn't seem to be a full reading list anywhere, and to list all of them would be far too difficult, but if someone could break down the eras (e.g., Ancient Greece, Roman), and list the chiefly important names of those eras, I would appreciate it. I can do the rest once I know where to look. Any extra help would be appreciated, for example, to list some books of the eras, or to tell me which books are the foundation for others (e.g., the cynical works to stoicism).

I took the advice of one of the commenters and decided to state a goal. perhaps making my question somewhat more clear (I'm very aware that it is obscure, and necessarily so as I'm lost myself, much like asking for directions in a town I've never been). My goal is to have a working knowledge of "all" of the philosophies ("all" meaning the major ones, and some lesser ones, but no one can truly know all of the philosophies of the world in a serious way). If not to be pretentious, a good example would be the working knowledge Bertrand Russell seemed to have in his historical book of western philosophy. I was always very impressed with it, and it always striked me as something that I would love to read.

Answer 1

As regards to ancient philosophy: Given that we lack most of the full works, try picking up those books who collect all the bits and pieces (or at least contain a list of everything there is). Here are two such books: Hellenistic Philosophy by Gerson and Inwood, and vol. 1 of the Hellenistic Philosophers by A. A. Long.

Answer 2

I would like suggest Mortimer Adler's book, How to Read a Book. It is a classic impressive reference for rigorous analysis of any text.

In fact, Adler worked hard to popularize Philosophy.

I hope you will enjoy this book.

Answer 3

Rather than asking what books to read, because there are so many places to start, one way of approaching it to pick a subject/author and read an author of an antithetical argument.

If you can observe this dualism, read "old school" and "new school" philosophers as well.

If you can observe this, then read both academic and non-academic sources as well.

In shorter terms, pick an author and read the author's opponent.

An example, and a rather good one considering popularity is to read neitzche and kierkegaard in the same time frame so you have holistic view.

Research parmenides wholism and the antithetical atomists (such as lucretius) is also a good start.

Focus on how to read rather than what to read because the truth of it is, it is just best to read all of them.