The books that shaped your mind.

[blazeofglory]

In life I read many books and some really transformed me into the man I am and the beliefs I strongly hold on to.

I am an avid reader. In my babyhood I started with the Bhagbat Gita and the Mahabharata in their Nepali and Hindi translations. I had then a different opinion about the creation of the world and I had a spiritual point of view.
I thought then that this world is simply Maya that is full of illusions. God is true and the rest is false and fades away. I passed a great amount of my time singing and praying.

In due course, in youth I leaped to Marxism and I was much critical of ideas of spirituality and indeed I was inclined to materiality, and of course my reality was matter. Indeed Das Capital, the Communist manifesto, Mao's writings were my favorite books.

Afterwards I was greatly influenced by Russel.

Tolstoy and his Resurrection have moved me immensely. In my youth when I read Resurrections I became really restive, for that had shaken the roots of earlier beliefs. Tolstoy is my all time favorite.

Dostoevsky is yet another writer whose books really changed me.

There were many books of course which changed me considerably.

Now I read Sufi poems, Zen stories, Taoism. Khalil Gibran's the prophet.
Latterly, the book that transformed me beyond imagination is the Prophet. I read the book many times.

The other one is the Conference of the birds by one of the Sufi poets.

I am not in for spirituality nor for materialism. No ism, nothing, no nationalism, no religion, not any thing and yet I am in for everything.

All I believe in universal brotherhood. I am not in even for humanity. If I say I am a humanist I may be not be just to animal beings. I am equally compassionate for animal beings.

The planet is my home and the family includes not only human beings, but animal and plant beings as well.

That is what I believe in.

[Oniw17]

The Republic was the first Socratic dialogue that I ever read. It didn't really shape the things that I believe, but it completely transformed the way that I think. It's also the book the got me into philosophy. Before that there was The Good Earth and before that, The Giver(I was in like 4th grade when I read this book and it helped me to understand the concept of responsibility). Even earlier than that there was the Bible, mostly the OT + James. After the Republic there was J.S. Mill's On Liberty; I'm not sure that it changed how I veiw the world, but I really liked it. Real Boys and Reviving Ophelia(can't remeber the authors) are two more books that I read before the Republic that had an impact on how I look at things. I can't really think of anything after the Republic that changed what type of person I am. Maybe...nope, nothing. On Liberty comes closest though.

[amalia1985]

"Brothers Karamazov" remains my all-time favourite book. I've read it when I was only thirteen, thanks to my father who is a Dostoevsky afficionado, and it influenced me in ways that would take me ages to mention here. Hugo's masterpieces also influenced me immensely.

The choice regarding my profession was a result of my deep love for Shakespeare and theatre, in general, but my world-views have hardly anything to do with such themes.

[JBI]

Eugene Onegin. After that, reading has had few equal moments

[amalia1985]

Eugene Onegin. After that, reading has had few equal moments

Absolutely true! And what about Pushkin's"The Queen of Spades"? The part of Hermann's "meeting" with the dead Countess is shocking...

[keilj]

I know this is far from the examples you have in your opening post - but I honestly think that when I read Dr Seuss' Bartholomew and the Oobleck, it planted something in my psyche that has never quite left.

The story is about a boy who gets caught in a storm of green goop falling from the sky - and despite all his efforts, he cannot escape it or run away from it. There is something resonating about this "dream"


As for other influences - Gandhi's autobiography and many of Dr King's speeches and essays, that I read when in my early 20's, took hold and have remained in me

[aquarium444]

The books that had an influence on me are business textbooks that I read in school. I didn't read that many but I read one on general business in modern society, and another book on the principles of management.

I feel that a lot of the more serious books on politics are difficult to read because they are not followed anymore, but if they were put in context with the time that they were made, than it would be possible to read them. That would be a lot of work to do if you did it alone.

Now I am going to see what the difference is between the classic horror genre and the Sci-fi genere. It should be really interesting.

[dfloyd]

I read the Bothers Karamazov in 1958, a little after the movie with Yul Brynner as Dmitri was made. The movie is almost impossible to find now, even on casette. Afterwards I read Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed, A Raw Youth, The Gambler, Notes from Underground, and House of the Dead. Dostoevsky started me on a lifetime of reading classics.

This thread really hit home. I have just finished reading Resurrection and have a copy of the Baghavad Gita, both mentioned in the posters text.

Eugene Onegin is also sitting on my shelf to be read in the near future, along with Gogol's Dead Souls and some of Pushkin's short stories.

[keilj]

I think these Springsteen lyrics kind of sum up the essence of Steinbeck's works (particularly Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, and Of Mice and Men). And Steinbeck is a big influence of mine

"Tonight let's lie beneath the eaves
just a close band of happy thieves
and when that train comes we'll get on board
and steal what we can from the treasures of the Lord"

[mal4mac]

Shakespeare's Macbeth turned me onto art & life (& death!) at a time when I was too heavily steeped in science.

[Katy North]

The books "The Chronicles of Narnia", "The Wizard of Oz", The Redwall Series, and Jonathon Livingston Seagull are ones which have probably influenced me the most. Other books I have read may be better written, but these books taught me from a very young age that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and that character and integrity are more important than superficially making yourself look good to others.

[Apathy]

Feed by M.T. Anderson
After Death by D. Rheamey
Soulforge by Margaret Weis
Madapple by C. Meldrum
Hamlet by Shakespeare
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

[Aragorn Elessar]

I read The Lord of the Rings when I was eleven years old, after watching the films and reading The Hobbit that same year. And those films and books have remained my favorite (by far) since then. So they have definitely had an impact on my life.

Plato's The Republic has had a great intellectual influence on me. The first part I read was the Allegory of the Cave, and ever since I have been passionate about Western philosophy, specifically the philosophical writings of ancient Greeks like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Of the three, Plato has had the largest impact on me. To anyone who likes science, philosophy, or generally deep thinking, I suggest reading The Republic and perhaps beginning with one of Plato's most straightforward (but by no means simple, depending on how you interpret it) writings: the Allegory of the Cave. It is one of the greatest pieces of literature I've ever read.

[Dodo25]

The book that had the greatest influence on me was 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins. I read it when I was 16 I think, not long ago, but it triggered a huge interest for science and philosophy.

Another book that influenced me was 'Atonement' by Ian McEwan. I didn't even like it that much, but somehow it made me want to start writing..

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was also of help to me, simply because I analyzed it and learned things about writing style (Hosseini's style is very simple and easy to learn, a bit conform but ideal for a beginner like me to learn something).

And then of course 'Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams. That book defined humor for me.

Edit: Yay that was my 50th post, 50 more to go and I can participate in the short story competition!

[Mockingbird_z]

Well it is difficult to trace down what book changed my mind. Probably Russian classics, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Checkov, Pushkin (from his fairy tales read to me in my childhood to Evgeniy Onegin).