Fiction children's books about social engineering

Hello! Three years ago I gave a lecture about social engineering at a children's camp, trolled the children and a little pissed off the counselors. As a result, the subjects were asked what to read. My standard answer about two books by Mitnick and two books by Cialdini seems to be convincing, but only for about eighth graders and older. If you are younger, then you have to scratch your head a lot.

In general, below is a very short list of the most common works of art. Light, simple, childish. But about social engineering. Because every culture has a joker character who is a little psychopath, a little buffoon and a little effective specialist. The list is incomplete, and I would like to ask you to continue it.

Tom Sawyer
The first, of course, is Tom Sawyer and his unforgettable fence. This scene alone can make you fall in love with the book. And if you think that there is nothing further there, then you are sorely mistaken. Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain) was that good old troll in real life. For example, the most harmless of his tricks was replacing cigarettes in an expensive box with cheap varieties - and then treating noble guests who knowingly savored such elite tobacco.

12 chairs
Absolutely magical thing. Oddly enough, you can read from the age of nine. A lot of things will be unclear, but it will still be interesting and fun (the main thing is to give the child a censored classical version without naked schoolgirls rocking out with Kisa Vorobyaninov). The book is simply insanely cool both in terms of language and social experience. Well, the sequel “The Golden Calf” is also pleasing. By the way, if you love Ilf and Petrov, be sure to find the Soviet black and white film from 68 with Sergei Yursky in the role of Ostap - the dialogue there is incredibly interesting.

Dunno on the Moon
In general, this is a textbook on economics, where all the basic principles are very clearly and succinctly presented. Well, at the same time - different methods of negotiations and a lot of other things in general. One can directly feel the deep social order of the USSR to expose all the sins of the capitalist community. But in order to expose sins, it was necessary to understand them in very, very detail. The texture does not let us down here. We figured it out in detail.

Hodja Nasruddin
Two books - "The Troublemaker" and "The Enchanted Prince" - are simply classics of the genre. There was probably nothing stronger in social engineering before it. The scene with the cat before and after liver feeding alone is worth half the book. Or, as he clearly explained to Agabek, where did the glassy worms come from in his eyes... If you also know the story of Solovyov, from whom the guards took away the second manuscript, and then he was able to return it and publish this book as a cultural monument of the USSR - in general, you become incredibly happy and proud of author. Hodja Nasreddin in his books is probably my favorite “joker” of all.

It’s also worth remembering “Tales of the Dervishes” by Idris Shah (oh, some like stories about chest, just blow your mind).

Tim Thaler and sold laughter
Quite a serious thing in terms of the concepts explained. He immerses himself in the world of advertising and marketing as best he can, and teaches all sorts of bad tricks.

Ethicist
Good old Harrison. So old that he even wrote it himself, it seems. And so kind that there is some kind of science-intensive concept in the book. Naturally, it is read more with pleasure than with benefit.

The Dragon
Actually, this is a play by Evgeniy Lvovich Schwartz, but he has a lot of things in his texts. And this thing is very easy to read, not like a script. You can return to it every two years and each time admire how beautifully everything is written.

Captain Blood Adventures
A thing that gives the impression of an idealized English gentleman. And learn a couple of useful things about planning tactics with an emphasis on that part of game theory that talks about simultaneous moves with your opponent. That is, about foreseeing his optimal strategy and using your own against his move.

Tales of Sherlock Holmes
This thing teaches thinking. Unfortunately, the artistry of the text does not always make it clear in advance all the introductory information, plus there are a couple of mistakes for the sake of the plot. But this is the same “smart is sexy” that teaches that thinking is a tool that can be used with very good efficiency in different situations. Actually, this is probably why I started making a list.

Outside the realm of books, two films are worth mentioning: the magical “Route 60” and the good old American “12 Angry Men” (not to be confused with Mikhalkov’s remake).

And now a question for you: what else is on this list?

Source: habr.com