Name one book that helped to change your life.

[Eko]

Here is one for me.
The Power of one.
""First with your head and then with your heart." So says Hoppie Groenewald, boxing champion, to a seven-year-old boy who dreams of being the welterweight champion of the world. For the young Peekay, it is a piece of advice he will carry with him throughout his life.

Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, this one small boy will come to lead all the tribes of Africa. Through enduring friendships with Hymie and Gideon, Peekay gains the strength he needs to win out. And in a final conflict with his childhood enemy, the Judge, Peekay will fight to the death for justice."
https://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/The-Power-of-One-Audiobook/B002VAEVIE?ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_3&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=H0QBE7RGZT3PDDVNGWCE&

[MaryMagdaline]

1. The Caine Mutiny

Not on the level of great works of art, but truly an eye opener as far as human behavior. The absolute best lesson on loyalty and group bullying.

[Eko]

4. I'll check it out.

[MaryMagdaline]

12. Not hedging, but I had to read in 9th grade and never forgot it

Don't know if it would hold up now. The movie' still great, though

[grantcart]

56. it is a great book. Herman Wouk is 102 and is still publishing.

[grantcart]

57. The Day of the Americans and "Nigger" by Dick Gregory

The Day of the Americans tells of American units liberating various Nazi Concentration camps. It had horrifying detail, and more important photographs.

"Nigger" whose sub title is "Mother if you ever hear that word you know they are advertising my book" by the late Dick Gregory.

At 12 both books yelled at me "Wake UP", not everything is at is seems in your nice suburban neighborhood, the world has great evil and oppression and everyone is trying to pretend it doesn't exist.

[unblock]

2. The c programming language

[thbobby]

18. Kernighan and Ritchie book was awesome

Also called the white book, I think. I went through several copies of it. Don't know that it changed my life as much as Journey to Ixtlan by Castaneda did.

[lapfog_1]

152. most intimidating thing I ever did

was doing a talk at an ACM conference on Unix and RAID and Dennis Ritchie was sitting in the front row, taking lots of notes.

I've been in meetings with other famous people... once was in a conference room with Al Gore when he was VP.

But the talk at the ACM conference was the one that almost made me pee my pants.

[AJT]

110. How about: "IBM System/360 Basic Programming Support Basic Assembler Language"

I couldn't put it down. I was on the edge of my seat with the use of register 13.

[unblock]

112. good one! stands the test of time!

[USALiberal]

192. IBM 360/30 RPG, my first language!

[AJT]

194. Ahhh, that ended up being the coding language for the old system/36,

now the AS/400.

[USALiberal]

196. Now writing iPad apps. An amazing 42 years of technology. nt

[AJT]

198. I was a mainframe systems programmer for 35 years.

I am glad to be retired.

[thucythucy]

3. Berlin Diary by William Shirer.

[Eko]

6. Great one.

[thbobby]

21. Never read Berlin Diary

but I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich several times. I will check out Berlin Diary. Thanks.

[ret5hd]

5. Horton Hears A Who

[Hekate]

103. A person's a person no matter how small. An elephant's faithful, 100%.

My future husband quoted Horton to me back when I was a single mom of toddlers. Ha! But it turned out that one of things he liked about me was my shelf of Japanese literature in translation.

[trixie2]

174. That is a great one!

We had the book and the album.

[oasis]

7. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey.

It's lessons have guided me through personal relationships at every level.

[Lint Head]

8. To Kill a Mockingbird.

I was in Jr High living in the segregated south. When I read it, followed by MLK's marches, I knew, as a young white male teen, I had to stand up against the overwhelming odds and white acquaintances that believed differently than me. I must have received a different gene or something because I knew I had to speak up. That what I had witnessed since the day I was born was wrong. That book gave me the courage. I even cried all through the movie. Which I saw ocer and over in the theater. Back then it was easier to just stay seated and watch movies over. Later I would just hide in the men's room until the next feature.

[Upthevibe]

15. That book is the first one I remember reading that really

struck a chord with me. I read it before it was required because fortunately, my parents were quite progressive (and in Texas to boot) and had me read the book and then watch the movie.

[Lint Head]

16. I am still moved when I see it.

[phylny]

60. My choice as well. n/t

[Demovictory9]

138. great great book

[womanofthehills]

233. Recently reread "To Kill a Mockingbird" in my book club

and then "Go Set a Watchman" - set 20 yrs after Mockingbird when Scout returns to Maycomb.

[Brother Buzz]

9. Trout Fishing in America

I couldn't begin to explain how it change my life but it came along while I was at a crossroad: it helped validate my crazy life and set me free.

[SomethingNew]

40. Any life shaped by that book has got to be an interesting one.

I read that in engineering classes during my undergrad. Recieved more than a few strange looks for unexplainable laughter.

[leftyladyfrommo]

68. I remember that book. I was in college. nt

[skip fox]

123. I loved it as well.

[dixiegrrrrl]

170. The one Brautigan poem I always remembered, ended with..

The knight and his lady would have lived happily forever, if his horse did not get a flat in front of the dragon's lair.


A short review of Trout Fishing:
An indescribable romp, the novel is best summed up in one word: mayonnaise.

[Brother Buzz]

187. I enjoyed his occasionally injecting haiku into his writing...sometimes with a bit of wry wit

Seventeen years later I sat down on a rock. It was under a tree next to an old abandoned shack that had a sheriff’s notice nailed like a funeral wreath to the front door.


NO TRESPASSING 4/17 OF A HAIKU

[ryan_cats]

10. Second Serve

Second Serve

[Grassy Knoll]

11. Yoko Ono's Grapefruit

[greyl]

36. Just saw a PetSmart commercial using Yes, I'm Your Angel.

Mixed feelings.

[RainCaster]

13. A Wrinkle In Time

As a kid, this taught me about recreational reading. I was hooked for life.

[Squinch]

127. The ones that did that for me were "Half Magic" and "The Phantom Tollbooth."

LOVED them!

[musette_sf]

202. loved all of the Edward Eager books!

I bought a boxed set of all of his Magic books several years ago... still love to dip into them.

This is the cover of "Half Magic" that I remember from my original reading:

[Journeyman]

14. "The Peg-Legged Pirate of Sulu" by Cora Cheney . . .

First book I checked out of a library, it opened a world of wonder and knowledge which I've pursued now for some 60 years.

[ProudLib72]

17. Sami Michael's Refuge

The time is 1973, the setting the Yom Kippur War in Israel. Communist and Zionist, Israeli Arab, Palestinian refugee, and Ashkenazi Jews clash in this story of love and hatred. https://books.google.com/books/about/Refuge.html?id=tcpiAAAAMAAJ&hl=en

[TeamPooka]

19. Get Shorty

[edbermac]

20. Catcher In The Rye.

I got a bang out of it.

[leftyladyfrommo]

69. I reread that not long ago.

Boy, he really nailed teenage angst.

[justgamma]

22. Yes, I Can

by Sammy Davis Jr. It taught me about the injustices of racism. I couldn't believe how badly a major star could be treated because of the color of his skin.

[Snake Plissken]

23. The Bible

If I never read it I'd probably still believe in religion.

[ProfessorGAC]

70. I Was Thinking The Same Snake

Since i was raised catholic (high mucky much cathedral altar boy and all that), we didn't do the whole memorizing bible verses stuff, but i read enough of it to know that i was not going to base my life on fairy tales.

[Ligyron]

177. BINGO!

[hunter]

24. The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Book_of_Chemistry_Experiments

I was born a pyromaniac. This dangerous book taught me pyromaniacs could be scientists!

Alfred Powell Morgan's radio books were another huge influence on my life, but it's too bad he called them "Boys Books" instead of "Boys and Girls Books." I started college as an electrical engineering major but there were only a few, and sometimes no, women in engineering classes. I switched my major to biology because they had amazing field trips and a 50% ratio of men and women. I figured that would increase my odds of finding a girlfriend.

[jberryhill]

126. +1

[royable]

25. Letters to a Young Poet

by Rainer Maria Rilke. Helped me get through a very psychologically bleak time.

[dweller]

26. most of all the books by

Carlos Castenada, but not all at once ... took some rereading over time, and in-depth perplexive perspection ...

✌🏼️

[Capperdan]

153. And didn't he end up in a pshychiatric facility?

I was entranced by his books also, but looking back, I doubt his wisdom now.

[alfredo]

197. I always treated it as fiction.

When Don Juan takes a shit, the mountains shake. (Or something like that)

[Quixote1818]

27. Don't know about changed my life but Huck Finn inspired the crap out of me

Such a brilliant demonstration of the beauty of how free-thought is morally superior to religion.

[el_bryanto]

225. Nods - I think it's one of the most important books in American Literature. nt

[randr]

28. All books by Gibran and Hesse

The Prophet and Sidartha specifictly.

[usedtobedemgurl]

92. Yes, The Prophet!

What a great book!

[Dr Hobbitstein]

29. "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robins...

It kicked off a psychedlic awakening in my early 20s.

[randr]

105. Yes, I have read this out loud for several special friends

[womanofthehills]

231. Love all Tom Rob Robbins books - he definitely has a way with words

Plus you can't beat the titles: "Still Life with Woodpecker," "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates," "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas," "Even Cowgirls get the Blues," etc. These are books I can read and reread. I have read (or listened to now) most of his books over five times over the yrs.

His creativity with words and characters blows me away. My love of his writing began many yrs ago with "Another Roadside Attraction." Richard Brautigan is another author who I loved in my younger days. I guess I need to reread him again too.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

237. Still Life With Woodpecker is one of my favorite books

of all time. I also really enjoyed Villa Incognito and B is For Beer.

But yeah, all his stuff is great.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

30. Generations

by Neil Howe and William Strauss. The subtitle is The "History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069." It is simply the most amazing book I've ever read. It came out in 1992, and trust me, it's not outdated.

I sometimes have to control myself, because I can get a bit like someone who is a recent convert to a religion and wants everyone else to share in that experience. Luckily, this isn't religion. It's simply a way of looking at the world. Please, please read it. And even if you're not as entranced by it as I am, I do believe you'll get a lot from it.

Their other books are The Fourth Turning and Millennials and are equally as good. Their insights into generational differences are incredibly informative.

[ismnotwasm]

31. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee.

[mountain grammy]

64. Yes!

[Eko]

157. Awesome one.

[MyOwnPeace]

176. I was reading through the list........

knowing that I was going to add that book - glad to see others thought of it as well.

REALLY opened my eyes to where we have been and how far we need to go......................................

[BlueTsunami2018]

32. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The whole five book “trilogy”.

If you’ve ever read it, you know why.

If you haven’t, go do so.

[lapfog_1]

154. I'll drink a pan-galactic gargle blaster to that! n/t

[lapfog_1]

155. The Elements of Style

short and pithy

[Grown2Hate]

189. My favorite books ever. Douglas Adams' writing introduced me to Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene,

which was my un-indoctrination from anti-evolution religious views to more of a scientific outlook.

[Hekate]

33. So many books in a lifetime of reading, but Living in the Lap of the Goddess by Cynthia Eller...

...and The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler, both of which I read in my early 40s, helped set me on a path of personal and academic inquiry that was exciting and life-changing. It's hard to remember what I read as a child that particularly struck me, because in our family we read All The Time.

I hope my son and grandson remember what I read to them, and that I did. It was my one chance to really talk with them -- When my son was 11 I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy to him, and it really gripped him. My grandson's baby sister died when he was 5, and reading Harry Potter (all of it) to him allowed us to talk about death and grief, as well as friendship and ethics and the rest.

[nevergiveup]

34. Hiroshima, by John Hersey,

I read this in college in the 60's. At the time I was a Goldwater Republican. It shocked me into an anti-war lefty and I have never looked back.

[Hekate]

104. That book and a a few on Germany need to be required reading in high schools today

[Miles Archer]

35. Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson

I received my B.A. in English from San Jose State. In theory, that means I read every book that matters. In reality, this was the book that mattered. It was my take-away from the entire experience. Kerouac's "On The Road" was a close second, but in direct response to your OP, this was the book that changed my life.



https://www.amazon.com/Selected-Writings-Emerson-Signet-Classics/dp/0451531868/

[Squinch]

86. I'll second that one!

[smirkymonkey]

98. Emerson had a huge impact on me as well.

I am not a religious person, but Emerson is as close as I come to having a spiritual guide and philosopher.

[Squinch]

102. Yes, exactly!

[Eko]

158. Helped shape me in my 20's tons.

[Mendocino]

37. A Sand County Almanac

by Aldo Leopold.

[pandr32]

141. Absolutely!

A must read!

[ALBliberal]

38. Autobiography of Malcolm X

[Hekate]

84. I read that in my early 20s and it was stunning. He was not long dead at that point...

An African American classmate from Chicago (we were at University of Hawaii) kept urging me to read the Autobiography and I was blown away when I did. Malcolm X utterly remade himself several times over, the last time on his Hadj to Mecca.

[ALBliberal]

93. I also read in my 20s for a U.S. History class. Incredible account of a black man growing up and

surviving in Amerjca....culminating in the young adulthood he and so many fell into. And as you say remaking himself. Wonderful read about Islam as well.

[musette_sf]

203. It was assigned reading when I was in high school

and I was deeply moved by it.

Original cover from Black Cat Books (an imprint of Grove Press):

[ALBliberal]

211. Excellent thanks for posting. Nt

[RGinNJ]

39. Catch 22

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

41. The Hobbit

and the Earthsea Trilogies.

[Hekate]

109. I'm trying to get my 13 y.o. grandson to read Earthsea.I finally gave him book 1 last time I saw him

Need to check back on progress. Ursula Le Guin is one of the great American authors.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

169. A surprisingly good trilogy.

Read them in college. Good choice!

[Hekate]

171. I read a ton of Sci Fi as a kid. My dad would bring home a box at a time from his co-workers...

...at Lockheed Aircraft, the family would gobble them up, and the box would go back. Later on another box would come like a big Christmas present. I had no idea that girls allegedly did not read sci fi. Even though I felt I was reading indiscriminately, the best was pretty darn good.

In my freshman and sophomore years of college, when I was taking introductory courses in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and the rest, all those concepts seemed utterly familiar to me already. I had already explored them on other planets than Earth.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

173. Very interesting!

That sounds like so much fun. Your Dad sounds like a good man.

[Tucker08087]

210. Hekate,

If he doesn’t like that one, check back with me. I know many great books for reluctant, male teenaged readers.

[Hekate]

213. Thanks! He reads for pleasure, but his dad is heavy into dark fantasy, I think...

Not that I don't like Dresden Files and Emberverse myself, but at a certain point when I was about to pass along my paperbacks I hesitated and asked myself about some of the content. He might already have read similar, but I don't know. At this age I was hoping to spark a bit of interest in stuff that will make him think without his realizing that is what is going on in the background.

I have no idea if his stepdad is a reader at all. He seems to like cooking big hunks of meat best. I like him better than my daughter's ex, who thinks he is a Jedi and walks around dressed in his black dojo outfit.

[eleny]

42. The Grapes of Wrath

[peggysue2]

130. I Agree, Elena

Steinbeck's writing both in Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, as well as Willa Cather's My Antonia were the first books that made me realize what words could actually do, the power and beauty of the written word. That's while I was in high school. There would be many books after but none that took me utterly by surprise as they did.

Case of first love, I guess.

[eleny]

132. I read it between junior and senior year of high school

And I can still remember being curled up reading a little bit each day so I wouldn't go through it in a flash.

[peggysue2]

133. Sounds familiar

[eleny]

135. I should have written to him since he was still alive in 1963

That was some year for America. The MLK march, the Beatles emerge, then Kennedy's assassination and so much more. Lots to make an impression on a 16 year old turning 17.
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/02/50-years-ago-the-world-in-1963/100460/

[KY_EnviroGuy]

43. The AARL Amateur Radio Handbook.

(American Amateur Radio League)

This was (probably still is) the bible of ham radio. I took a very early interest at 10 or 12 years old in radio and electronics, and that was my starting point, along with lots of help from a couple of old timers. Everything was tube-based back then, well before solid state components were widely available.

Wound up with a degree in electrical engineering and I'm still a tinkerer today.

.......

[dumbcat]

72. It's Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL)

I also got my license in 1961 at age 12, and became an electrical engineer. I have many a copy of the Amateur Radio Handbook.

[marlakay]

44. Healing Back Pain

By John Sarno.

Its about mind body and how suppressed anger and being a perfectionist causes pain and how to heal from it.

Cured me from awful pain I had for years.

[subterranean]

45. Vagabonding In Europe and North Africa, by Ed Buryn

The book inspired me to take a two-month backpacking trip to Europe in my early twenties, my first trip outside the U.S. And that experience helped give me the courage to buy a one-way ticket to Japan a couple of years later, which changed the course of my life.

[area51]

46. John Robbins's

Diet for a New America

[rusty quoin]

47. To Kill a Mockingbird

Everything was about that for me. I think this novel made many white people realize so much.

[oberliner]

48. Isn't this more of a Lounge post?

[Hekate]

100. Apparently not.

[Eko]

159. Sorry, probably should have been in the lounge.

[Hekate]

216. Never apologize for starting a book thread, any time, any where. Look how many ...

...have responded!

[betsuni]

49. Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer."

I'd never seen prose like that, a sort of DIY writing without rules, no scent of the classroom, academia; not really intellectual, yet Miller had a voracious appetite for literature as well as for life.

[davekriss]

51. Ha! I was composing my response while you posted yours...

My first pick was Miller's, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch! A joy to read, Mr. Miller!

(Hmm, notice that the Henry Miller readers here posted at 2-3 am in the morning. You know, after we came home from wild evening of debauchery and bacchanalian reverie!)

[betsuni]

55. Heh.

I hesitate a little to admit loving Miller because everybody thinks of the sex stuff first. Anais Nin, too. I'm reading Nin's unexpurgated Diary from 1939-47, "Mirages" containing letters from Miller (Anais is such a nut, but I love her). Miller's "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" was published at the time and not a success, but I like it.

[davekriss]

136. I liked The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, too

But I liked everything of Miller’s that I’ve read, which is pretty much everything he wrote.

[davekriss]

50. One book? Not possible!

Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch + Alan Watts, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are + Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Creative Mythology + Norman O Brown, Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History + Gary Snyder, Earth House Hold + Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital + Herman and Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent + Julia Kristeva, Black Sun + Andre Malraux, The Voices of Silence + Baba Ram Das, Be Here Now.

All of these and many more have changed my evolving life. I've got about a dozen books open that I'm reading right now, each with sentences, paragraphs, and pages that go way beyond 140 characters!

Dylan, those not busy being born are busy dying. Truth! Words can birth new modalities, new ways of seeing, feeling, and being.

PS/ Yikes! You might not want to ask me for my favorite films. I've got a top ten list with 100 movies on it, 90 of which most people have never heard of.

[Cicada]

52. Treasure Island

At ten years old I was transported from my very boring life to a pirate ship in the South Pacific. Once I read that book a broad exciting world opened up for me in great stories.

[byronius]

53. Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture, by Abbie Hoffman.

Assigned by an awesomely intelligent poli-sci prof at ASU.

I was only a Republican until I was thirteen, but that book kicked me into philosophical warp drive. She knew what she was doing.

[Ligyron]

180. Steal This Book

[byronius]

190. Woodstock Nation!

Abbie woke me up.

[applegrove]

54. The Grass Is Singing by Doris Lessing. A white Rhodesia woman in the

1940s makes an unfortunate marriage because people laughed at her for being single. She was creative and ingenious and had to kill all that in herself to continue in her abusive marriage. She should have never married. She was happy on her own.

Okay...it is about sexual and racial power and politics in rhodesia but the lesson for me was the above.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

58. The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm, and ...

Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels. It was there that I first learned about Petra. It kindled a flame that has never gone out, to travel there and see the wonders he wrote of.

[Stand and Fight]

59. A Wrinkle in Time... n/t

[NCTraveler]

61. Lord of the Flies. Nt

[Rainbow Droid]

62. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

I read it at a very, very young age, and if books such as this were required reading in schools we'd have less war.

[handmade34]

120. yes

better even, are the stories told by a Marine that landed on Orange Beach!!!!

[VOX]

179. The best first-person account of the Pacific Theater hellscape.

Eugene Sledge was an extraordinary human being.

[pansypoo53219]

63. well, a 1903 encyclopedia britannica was so good, i stopped reading fiction.

got 3 free ones from an estate sale. OH IF ONLY I TOOK THEM ALL!!! well, i waited and found a complete 1891 set.

[Hekate]

214. I love that old stuff. It's a window into a whole other world...

Have you checked out Gutenberg.org? 50,000 free books all out of copyright.

[mountain grammy]

65. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin.

Way to hard too narrow it down to one book.

[Runningdawg]

66. My first science book around age 11

I was raised in a fundy cult but by age 11 I was allowed to visit the local library by myself. When I found the science section, I hesitated before touching any of the books. I literally thought I would burst into flames. If it hadn't been for libraries and librarians that didn't rat me out to my parents, I might still be in that cult.

[Dave Starsky]

67. Naked Came the Stranger

Discovered it on the shelf at a friend's house when I was about 13. Started thumbing through it. Wow.

[Hekate]

115. You've *got* to track down Stranger Than Naked by one of the authors! The story of how it came to be

...is really funny. If you didn't already know, it was written on a dare by a bunch of reporters who looked at a crop of bestsellers and all more or less said, "Hell, we could do that in our combined lunch hours." Each one took a chapter, and the rest is literary history. Whatever you thought at 13 will be enhanced by what you discover as an adult.

[Dave Starsky]

137. Yeah, I heard about all that later. That's pretty funny.

Of course, when I was 13, I took it completely seriously.

[Hekate]

139. But of course, and I would not take away that young experience for anything.

However, The story of the lengths they went to in choosing cover art, and a photo of the "author" and the choice of a name, all that stuff, made for a fun read as an adult.

Ignore me.

[Dave Starsky]

144. No! I'm glad you mentioned that.

That book was apparently a huge scandalous bestseller. It doesn't really speak very highly of the literature at the time, if the authors really thought that people would go out in droves to read that, no matter how trashy they tried to make it. But they were right!

As far as the cover art, it attracted me to the book, which got me to open it, which got me to read it cover to cover. I think that any "grown-up book" that can entice a 13-year-old to do that is a success in a weird way. It was just after that when I discovered the writings of Ray Bradbury.

[Blue_Adept]

71. Time Enough For Love from RAH

A lot of good eye-opening stuff from Heinlein that helped to provide a lot of contrasting views to things I believed in and got me to open to other views.

[dumbcat]

73. And also "I Will Fear No Evil"

I think I have read everything he ever wrote. (Which is a lot!) I particularly liked his later novels, which many did not. He really made you think about other views.

[Blue_Adept]

219. That was one of the reasons that I did read a lot of his stuff

There was more than enough to interest in concepts but the layering and the "other views" aspect was something that back during that time you didn't see a whole lot of.

I didn't want to read things that just conformed to my worldview. I wanted to understand other views so that I could engage. I adore Starship Troopers but it didn't mean I wanted to exist in that world But I came away understanding a very different mindset and could see how to adapt slivers of it, etc.

[byronius]

168. I only read that twenty or so times.

Conservatives claim him in absolute error.

[Blue_Adept]

220. I reread it every few years. Each reading has me finding new things about it

as I get older as well.

Obviously, a lot of things don't age well. I found that in Stranger in a Strange Land re-reading I did last year, the first in about a decade. But there's also a lot that works to challenge my own beliefs regularly.

[Javaman]

74. Fast food nation.

never ate fast food again nor drank another soda.

that was 18 years ago.

[MineralMan]

75. "On Walden Pond" by Henry David Thoreau

For years, I re-read it every year on my birthday. After a few years, though, I had pretty much memorized it, so I stopped doing that.

There are many others, but that one was perhaps the most important influence.

[Eko]

160. Classic, one of my favorites.

[MineralMan]

167. The first time I read it, I was a sophomore

Electronics Engineering major in 1964. Two months later, I dropped out of college and set off on an adventure that is still going on. Thoreau changed my entire direction in life. It's been great.

[Eko]

188. I got into Thoreau

in my high school days in the 90's, I had a really good lit teacher. He played guitar, I don't think that was a coincidence at all.

[trixie2]

178. I studied that in school

And was soooo disappointed by his "real" life story. I was crushed when I found out he only visited the hut during the day and went home to his mother who cooked, cleaned and did his laundry every single day.

Don't even get me started on A Room of One's Own by Woolf. [runs away screaming]

[mtnsnake]

76. The Magic of Believing by Claude Bristol

If you want to harness the power of your subconscious mind and make things happen that you really want to happen, then read this book. It's old, but IMO it's still the best self-help book of its kind.

[IluvPitties]

77. Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar

[Doodley]

78. The New Testament. Even though I am an atheist, the stories of Jesus have influenced me more

than anything else.

[handmade34]

125. I am an Atheist as well...

but I am moved whenever I read John 21:15-17

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?”
And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

[no_hypocrisy]

79. Diary of a Mad Housewife

Now I understand my parents and their marriage.

[PJMcK]

80. "Future Shock" by Alvin & Heidi Toffler

From Wikipedia:

The Tofflers argued that society is undergoing an enormous structural change, a revolution from an industrial society to a "super-industrial society". This change overwhelms people. He believed the accelerated rate of technological and social change left people disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation"—future shocked. The Tofflers stated that the majority of social problems are symptoms of future shock. In their discussion of the components of such shock, they popularized the term "information overload."

In 1970, they made numerous predictions about the future of society and the increase in the tempo of change. Several of their predictions:

- Convert to a cash-less economy
- Higher rates of divorce and re-marriage
- Targeted marketing even on the scale of an individual (thanks, Facebook)
- A greater segmentation of society
- Planned obsolescence of goods
- Higher turnover in careers and jobs; less commitment by workers to employers (and vice versa)

It's a terrific book that I've re-read several times over the years.

[MattBaggins]

81. My Side of the Mountain

I'm not really sure why, but that story had a truly profound influence on me. I was an unhappy, friendless child and the story takes place in the very area I grew up, so I found it to be an escape for me.

[Croney]

82. Gone With the Wind.

I read it as an innocent Southern teenager who wanted to be fearless like Scarlett O'Hara. I wasn't capable of recognizing the myths, the lies, the warped views of humanity. This book was, and still is, the bible for millions of Southern white people who don't consider themselves racist but have a soft spot in their hearts for those good old plantation days when happy darkies picked cotton for the kind ole massa.

[Raine]

90. Yes, GWTW also changed my life

I got interested in history because of it and learned the difference between fiction and REAL history.

[Lifelong Protester]

207. GWTW changed my life.

I tell people it's not a love story, but a story of a fierce woman who'd do anything to survive. I knew it was fiction and because of it I too, became interested in REAL history.

[Freethinker65]

111. Trying to read it now. Do not know if I will feel a need to finish it.

Less than one hundred pages in and I was immediately struck by the house "help" dialogue. Not speaking English as well as their owners , if all they do is attend to their white charges for decades, is unbelievable. It is definitely written from a Southern classist/racist point of view, and even eludes to Northern Georgia not being as worldly and civilized as, say, Savannah, but still better than those Northern Yankees.

[Hekate]

121. Different groups do speak with distinct differences in real life. I don't know about GWTW...

...but an author like Joel Chandler Harris was genuinely trying to get dialect right, not mock it. People hold to their group's accents, rhythms, and dialects out of group identity as much as anything else. Nowadays they talk about "code-switching" when people are adept at communicating with varying audiences.

Nonetheless, GWTW is an outstandingly racist piece of fiction. My mother (born 1924 in Colorado) nearly snarled when she talked about both the movie and the book, as she had known young women who were utterly enamored of the fairy tale. Mom despised fairy tales for women, and also thought Mitchell was a mediocre author. Talk about damning the story on all counts.

Enjoy!

[0rganism]

83. Taran Wanderer (by Lloyd Alexander, the 4th book in his Chronicles of Prydain series)

so much in there about finding oneself and seeing how one fits in with the world
like Sidhartha with a work ethic

[The_jackalope]

85. "Overshoot" by William Catton Jr.

It completely changed my outlook for the future of industrial civilization, and the human species itself. I used to be a techno-optimist ("Whatever problems there may be, human ingenuity will fix them.&quot Now I'm a Taoist ("Que sera, sera&quot also known pejoratively in the West as a fatalist. This book was the catalyst for that shift.

[OxQQme]

87. Jane Roberts' The Seth Material

So enlightening for me at 30 years old that I bought and read all of her books.
Some quotes:
"You create your own reality."
"Dreaming or awake, we perceive only events that have meaning to us."
"You get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule."
“You may want others to change. In doing so you begin with yourself.”
Many more --> https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/16174.Jane_Roberts?page=1


I also had an epiphany reading Sitchin's "The 12th Planet" and "Genesis Re-visited" which led me to immerse into what is
considered "woo" by many.
I have all of his books in my library and consider myself to be a believer.



"Starting in childhood, he has studied ancient Hebrew, Akkadian and Sumerian, the language of the ancient Mesopotamians, who brought you geometry, astronomy, the chariot and the lunar calendar. And in the etchings of Sumerian pre-cuneiform script — the oldest example of writing — are stories of creation and the cosmos that most consider myth and allegory, but that Mr. Sitchin takes literally."
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/nyregion/10alone.html

Several Edgar Cayce books. ""What your mind dwells upon, it becomes."


My mother. She could have written a book about "Who you hang out with, you become."

[yortsed snacilbuper]

88. bible, I'm an Athiest now!

[NastyRiffraff]

89. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

It made me realize I was an atheist all along.

[Sugarcoated]

91. Several of Wayne Dyer's books

but I'd say The Power Of Intention changed my inner, and as a result, my outer life the most.

Hiroshima changed my world view the most.

[LonePirate]

94. The Dreyfus Affair by Peter Lefcourt

The book was released in the early 90s while I was still in college. I wouldn’t say it was life changing but it was warmly welcomed, if not mildly inspirational, as it provided a funny and optimistic perspective on gay life in America (well, from a unique, fictional and sadly, still unrealized perspective) that contrasted with the dark and sad media representation that was available at the time.

Sometimes it is good for the soul to absorb some life-affirming, pop culture media especially when the landscape offers nothing but one depressing choice after another. It’s not just princesses who long for a happily ever after.

[Codeine]

95. The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan.

I was a very skeptical child, a lifelong atheist non-believer in any sort of goofy shit, but I drifted a bit toward woo when I was 19 or 20. This book sort of slapped me upside the head and shook me by the shoulders until I learned to think straight again.

[Eko]

161. Anything by Sagan.

[elfin]

96. Little House on the Prairie - Wilder

It catapulted me from Dick and Jane into "real" books. My little world became a universe along with a library card.

[betsuni]

222. I was obsessed with the Little House books.

Sort of still am. Bought the annotated autobiography, "Pioneer Girl" last year.

[jalan48]

97. Dick and Jane Have Fun

It got me interested in reading.

[Blindingly apparent]

107. I loved Dick and Jane. N/t

[jalan48]

114. The Burgess Books were great too later on. "Reddy, the Fox", "Blacky the Crow" and others.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

99. Johnny Got His Gun

I was stunned..........

[Freethinker65]

116. read it for first time this year. Same reaction

[Tikki]

101. "A Tale of Two Cities"...Charles Dickens (1859)

I read it in 5th grade.


Tikki

[fierywoman]

106. The Captain's Verses -- Neruda

[DemoTex]

108. Silent Spring

Rachel Carson

[EffieBlack]

117. To Kill a Mockingbird

[CanSocDem]

118. The Greening of America was the first.

It was a pop-sociological analysis of the social revolution happening at the time. It made a good case for wearing bell-bottoms that, ultimately changed my life.


.

[AJT]

119. The Women's Room by Marilyn French

It said everything I felt about being a female in the 70s.

[Squinch]

129. I just was having a conversation about this one with some women friends.

We all agreed it set our lives on different trajectories than they had been on before we read it.

[musette_sf]

204. Same here.

and I've now read everything she's written. The classic cover for The Women's Room:

[skip fox]

122. Donald Allen's The New American Poetry

Allen was the editor. Duncan an advisor.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

124. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

It discussed the difference between doing something because you've got reasons (which can be generated endlessly by the mind) and just naturally knowing what has quality, without given a reason for it.

It made me stop making pro-con lists when I have to make a decision. Now, I just choose, and when someone asks, "Why?" I tell them, "It's because that's what I choose. No reason."

Drives people crazy, and I always feel good about my choice.

My second choice is "A Course in Miracles," from which I got this life-changing gem: "You are never upset for the reason you think." It's saved a lot of heartache in my marriage.

[HopeAgain]

128. The Four Agreements

by Miguel Ruiz. Powerful book that teaches us to live in serenity.

There is another even bigger to me that I won't reveal for certain reasons, but let's just say it is "big".

[Exotica]

131. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn

My father gave it to me for my 16th birthday and it has shaped and inspired my entire academic career so far.

Many people will recognise it as the work that gave the world the concept of the 'paradigm shift'.

[Doremus]

134. Probably not what you had in mind but The Starch Solution by John McDougall MD

This book, along with others from Esselstyn and other whole foods plant based doctors, helped me cure my fatty liver and avoid all the horror that entails in later years. It's also currently helping hubby cure his diabetes.

[librechik]

140. The Devil's Chessboard, by David Talbot.

Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government (2016 )

Tears off all the veils.

[Atticus]

142. The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. I read it again once or twice a year and discover another nuance

each time. Those who seeks spirituality without dogma will find it in these pages.

[JNelson6563]

143. The bible.

No, seriously!

I was raised Catholic and was quite comfortable. Then I started reading history, came upon the reformation, went investigating. Read all sorts of works by various authors on the topic. Found I was getting nowhere. Decided to just cut the crap and thoroughly read the bible. Did so. Was astounded to find how incredibly unenlightened it was!

In the end it turns out I am an atheist. Reading the bible was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

[Tom Rinaldo]

145. The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise -R.D. Laing 1967

From (I believe) the preface, but definitely from that book:

"The condition of alienation, of being asleep, of being unconscious, of being out of one's mind, is the condition of the normal man. Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years [c. 1917-1967]."


I was probably 20 when I read that book. It helped launch me on a life long path of always questioning normality, (among other things.)

[Blue_true]

146. Long ago. No book has come close since.

"The Pearl"

Taught me about the importance of knowing what is important in my life and me behaving and making choices accordingly.

[lanlady]

147. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

Feminism and feminist philosophy were still coming into their own back then (early-mid 70s). This book was a complete revelation, a game-changer for me, teaching me to challenge the male-centered view of the world.

[Paladin]

148. "The Peculiar Institution" by Kenneth Stampp (1956)

I read this book about American slavery in 1968, when I was a freshman in college. It swept away a lifetime of pro-confederate myths I'd grown up with in the south, principally the notion that slaves by-and-large had it pretty good, and suffered great hardships once they were freed. I hear these twisted viewpoints propounded to this day; thanks to Stampp's book and the additional studies it caused me to undertake, I know better.

[MotorCityMan]

149. What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph.d

I was raised Catholic, and even though non-practicing, always had issues with Leviticus and having that thrown in my face. This book took a load of worry of my mind. Agnostic as I am or not, I just felt so much better after reading this book.

[cwydro]

150. River of Grass, by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas.

A beautiful book.

[Eliot Rosewater]

151. Breakfast of Champions

[yallerdawg]

156. "Invisible Man."

I thought I had the science fiction story, but I had the Ralph Ellison book.

To this day, it made me aware of perspective in this country, and I'm still woke.

[PaulX2]

162. Lies And The Lying Liars by Al Franken

Thanks Al.

[Demsrule86]

163. The Awakening by Kate Chopin...amazing book...read it in college.

Also, there is an author who changed my life...Nom de Plumes were Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters...she was a PHD Egyptologist and obviously well read...her books which are light fiction are full of interesting quotes. She introduced me to Edna St.Vincent Millay as well as other authors I had never heard of and came to love and also I developed a lifelong interest in early Gothic novels which were the first time women were able to write books...The Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe is classic.

[dreamland]

164. Night Falls Fast by Kay Redfield Jamison

It helped me through a rough part of my life.

[Sampan]

165. The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene and all the other Nancy Drew mysteries.

I got lost in them. And developed a love of reading because of these books.

[Ferrets are Cool]

166. Time Enough For Love by Robert A. Heinlein

[trixie2]

172. Forever by Judy Blume from my mother (1974)

I was 12 at the time and the main character was a senior in high school. Her grandmother told her about birth control and at the back of the book there was a free phone number for Planned Parenthood. Great book. I remember one line the grandmother said, "Once you have sex you can't go back to holding hands". Very profound without being preachy.

Link to book.

My mother also gave me Are you There God? It's Me Margaret at age 9. She also signed the permission slip for the sex talk and ordered the full start up kit. That was in 4th grade. I always felt bad for the one girl who had parents that refused her participation. She really stood out.

She gave me Go Ask Alice when I was 14. I had very liberal and open parents. We found out about sex when our mom was pregnant, we were 5.

[Tucker08087]

209. All great choices!

My mom told me little, I think due to that being the cultural norm here at that time, and those books really spoke to me as I was growing into the woman that I am now.

[GulfCoast66]

175. The Voyage of the Beagle. Darwin's travels journal.

Started my long personal journey to throw off the creation myths I grew up believing.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

181. Hard to pick just one, but I'll go with "Peter Pan"

[Ligyron]

182. The Necronomicon

Haven't been right since.

[Kaleva]

183. The Bible is the popular choice at Free Republic's thread on this

[FSogol]

224. They haven't read it, they just feel it is the right answer.

If they did read it, they'd realize that Jesus the Super Liberal said to ignore all that other nonsense and help the poor, the hungry, the sick, etc.

[VOX]

184. The 1957 World Book Encyclopedia, A to W-X-Y-Z

To an impressionable kid’s inquisitive mind, it served as a gateway introduction to the world, its peoples, its history, its creatures past and present, and into space beyond.

The volumes are a bit tattered now, but they still occupy an honored spot in the bookshelves.

[marked50]

185. Something of Value-Robert Ruark-n/t

[RockRaven]

186. The Iliad (Robert Fagles translation)

The first assigned reading from the first class, first day, first year of college.

Up to that point, I had read a lot of classics, but not any Classics.

There was no "AHA!!!" moment, but in hindsight it started something in my reading appetite which, as I satiated said appetite, helped me shed the sticky bits of "but surely there must be *something* truthful/worthwhile about this, b/c it has lasted so long" perspective, which when applied to the Bible was hindering my acknowledgement of my lack of belief in the things many people around me were espousing. To be clear, to that point I was between "having a LOT of doubts" and "not believing" so it did not make me a non-believer, but rather allowed me to be comfortable in embracing my non-belief.

[this looks like something which would confirm the evangelical, right wing attitude that education is bad. whoops.]

[Eko]

191. Ohhhh, The Iliad.

I read that in my freshman year at high school, it was an AP class, The class mixed literature with history studies, I forget what it was called, anyways, The Iliad was the book that led me to Atheism and skepticism, reason and science.

[lkinwi]

193. Twelfth Night

In high school English, we had just finished Romeo and Juliet which was a downer, so my teacher decided to lighten things up with a comedy. I loved it. It started my love of Shakespeare that most people in my life still do not understand.

[alfredo]

195. Fahrenheit 451

It turned me into a book lover because I realized the importance of the written word and the ideas they bring.

[jberryhill]

199. Chilton's Repair Manual - 1976 Toyota Corolla

[OhZone]

200. I have two - Curious Wine by Katherine V Forrest and Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

A beautiful, romantic, and erotic lesbian novel I read when I was about 12. It echoed the feelings I was beginning to experience, perhaps a little early.

And Alice in Wonderland got me started on a shrinking fetish that still obsesses me! ha And the surrealism influenced me to be open minded.

[farmbo]

201. Our Final Invention...Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era by James Barrat

This timely and through analysis of Silicon Valley’s (and the Pentagon’s) headlong, unregulated pursuit of higher machine learning and artificial intelligence is provocative and downright sobering. Nothing less than the future of modern civilization is at stake in this real life drama, and most of us are totally oblivious to this threat.

[Tucker08087]

205. So hard to choose...

I have several, but my first thought is, “So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish!”
🐬

[Snackshack]

206. Where The Red Fern Grows.

First book I ever read. It didn’t change my life so much since I was 7 at the time but it did help as a guide.

[Progressive2020]

208. So Many Possibilities

Great Thread to read and see what others choose. For me:

"Dragons of Eden" by Carl Sagan is a favorite. Someone else mentioned "Demon Haunted World", I think. Anything by Sagan. "Cosmos" (the PBS show) inspired me to study Science at the University level.

Other influential books: "The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra. Some else mentioned Toffler, "Future Shock". "Diet For a Small Planet" also influenced me.

Fiction: so many to choose from, but first and foremost amongst SF for me is Frank Herbert's "Dune". Also read a lot of Fantasy, from Tolkein to LeGuin to Gene Wolf. Also Zelazny (Lord of Light, The Amber Chronicles), Moorcock (Elric Books, others).

Someone else mentioned the World Book Encyclopedia. Great Choice! My parents got us the World Book as kids. I still have it as the core of my personal Library.

Also just love all of my College Text Books, which I kept. I always wondered why people would sell their College Texts back to the University Book Store. I figure that I spent so much blood, sweat, and tears in my coursework, no way I am getting rid of my books. I can still crack open my Chemistry 100 text and remember working so hard in that class and doing well. The book still smells like the Lab.

Anyway, good topic.

[Hekate]

215. Way at the bottom of the thread is a Message Auto Removed. How does someone manage that...

...in a thread like this? Inquiring minds really want to know.

[dembotoz]

217. Perhaps he transgressed elsewhere...

[dembotoz]

218. Theory of conspicuous consumption.by veblin and the poor pay more

By someone I can not remember

[betsuni]

221. One more: Sartre's "Nausea"

It changed my life:

"So I was in the park just now. The roots of the chestnut tree were sunk in the ground just under my bench. I couldn't remember it was a root anymore. ... It had lost the harmless look of an abstract category: it was the very paste of things, this root was kneaded into existence. Or rather the root, the park gates, the bench, the sparse grass, all that had vanished: the diversity of things, their individuality, were only an appearance, a veneer. ... If you existed, you had to exist all the way ... . This root -- there was nothing in relation to which it was absurd. Oh, how can I put it in words? Absurd: in relation to the stones, the tufts of yellow grass, the dry mud, the tree, the sky, the green benches. Absurd, irreducible; nothing -- not even a profound, secret upheaval of nature -- could explain it. ... I understood the Nausea, I possessed it. ... I began to laugh because I suddenly thought of the formidable springs described in books, full of crrackings, bursting, gigantic explosions."

[FSogol]

223. Rene Dumal's "Mount Analogue" n/t

[H2O Man]

226. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

I read it in high school. The world was never the same.

[Decoy of Fenris]

227. 1984. Now, more than ever, its message is vital. n/t

[Johonny]

228. The Back Handed

https://www.amazon.com/Back-Handed-Sheriff-Gus-Mystery-ebook/dp/B071RT4FM7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525269384&sr=8-1&keywords=the+back+handed

[Thirties Child]

229. A book by Ruth Bennett, don't remember the name

The year was 1961, I was a 26-year-old who didn't go to church, had never had a Christian ah-ha moment, but more or less accepted the Christian views that I'd been taught. I bought a book by anthropologist Ruth Bennett at a D.C. bookstore, read that the Virgin Birth was a common belief in Middle Eastern religions. OMG. If a Virgin Birth wasn't unique to Jesus, how could I believe any of it? That day I became an agnostic and a Unitarian. In 1968 I read another book, don't remember the author or the name of the book, but it changed my view of the world. I discovered/accepted the idea of reincarnation because it explained the unfairness of life. That, however, is another story.

[womanofthehills]

235. I remember the day I became an agnostic too - after reading a Bertrand Russell book of my dad's.

My parents were not Catholic, but I grew up in a Catholic neighborhood and all my cousins were Catholic - so I became a Catholic. One day I was a Catholic and the next an agnostic - thank you Bertrand Russell.

[Chipper Chat]

230. The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick.

Educated me on the misconception the the USA is infallible. Insight into the minds oe communists and Eastern thinking. Why foreigners lok at Americans as brash and obnoxious.

[tavernier]

232. Harry Potter.

I know that sounds odd, but I met dozens of friends, all ages, from different countries online because of the books, and ended up traveling all over the world for that reason, and also hosting many that came to visit me. All because I read the the first book with my grandson and then got hooked.

[MoonRiver]

234. A Course In Miracles

[Tikki]

236. The Butterfly Kid...Chester Anderson (1967)

First book my husband and I read together. We have read it together many times since.

The Tikkis