Thanks for this reply. The book I looked at at our local library, had copies of the judges ruling in the front. I did not take the time to read them as they were several pages long, but my curiousity was up for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Calo
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Thanks for this reply. The book I looked at at our local library, had copies of the judges ruling in the front. I did not take the time to read them as they were several pages long, but my curiousity was up for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Calo
The book 'Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone' was the first book I loved very much and it changed me very much and developed a reading habbit in me. Insitead of wasting my time now or feeling bored, I reads a book. Now i like many books which have changed me a little like Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudist.
The one dramatic book I've read that has changed my life, and the lives of most people who read it is the Bible. It is the Truth. :nod:
Honestly, I can say the same, that The Bible has changed me quite significantly, but I feel the same toward most other religious texts I have read, including The Bhagavad Gita, parts of The Koran, A Buddhist Bible by Dwight Goddard, but very little to no parts of The Necronomicon, despite, sometimes, one can strengthen his/her own faith, beliefs, or logic through disagreement of someone or a text.Quote:
Originally Posted by Adelheid
Gulliver's Travels has changed my perspective of the world greatly. It made me much more sceptical of ourselves. I feel quite at a loss when I finished, because it so utterly crushed my former views of people. It is a thorough discussion and investigation of the foibles and vices of the human race. It seemed that there was little difference between the human beings and those wild animals. Although now I think of it, I find the opinion of the author somewhat over heated, but at that time, I was really endowed with such disbelief of ourselves that the impression made may be indelible in my lifetime.
I have to add Siddharta and The Pilgrim's Regress in my list.
Charlotte's Web, everytime....and I am not kidding.
Siddhartha, 1984, Stranger in a Strangeland,The Stranger, On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematics and Related Systems (Godel's Incompleteness thereom); Godel, Escher, Bach: Eternal Golden Braid; and Demian (made me realise that there are other and better novels out there than what Tom Clancy writes)
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy. The story is about a dying civil serveant, and with only a couple of days left to live he realizes that he has lived his life poorly.
It will make you want to change right away, if you haven't already.
Cheesy, but "The Purpose Driven Life" is one of my favorite books. I let it sit on my shelf for two years before picking it up, and once I finally did, I regretted that I had not done it sooner. It's one that you can pick up over and over, throughout your life, and the words will ALWAYS apply.
Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead
Watership Down by Richard Adams (got me into reading in fifth grade)
Chronicals of Narnia (opened the world of fantasy)
The Sun Also Rises - (brought me back to reality, occasionally)
I would have to say that it Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I had to read it in my english class in high school and it opened up the wonderful love of classic literature that I have now. so i have my senior english teacher to thank.
I forgot about two that I haven't read in a long time:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Great Expectations
I always wished I had that ability to tease and torment the way Estella did. In reality I could not be more her opposite.
The Brave New World (changed my life the biggest)
Tao De Chin (changed me a lot)
Ishmael ( changed me some what)
Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" is the book that changed my life
Ever since that, I've been obsessed with books
I'm currently reading it and already miss some days...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Satine
I would say that Huxley, both in his Brave New World and Time Must Have a Stop has changed my life and the way I look at things quite significantly. Also, Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by subterranean
LOL, yeah, I missed a LOT of days! I think it took me 3 months to get through it, so don't feel bad!! :)
Books that changed my life, well the list is indeed long.
Without a doubt number one book has got to be
Simon Blackburn - Think, most amazing book you will ever read opens your mind to alot of new ideas and is a good foundation for further readings into Philosophy and Existentialism.
Iris Murdoch (Existentialists and Mystics) - Samuel Beckett (Waiting for gardot) Cant really get much better the king and queen of existentialism in my book really have got to give it a read.
Finally Good trio to Read Starting With Dante Allighieri's - Hell, Aldous Huxley - Limbo and John Milton - Paradise Lost. Fascinating, well written and creates an appreciation for the classic's...
Every book that I read changes my life in some sort of way, big or small. But the one book I can think of that will always stay with me is Susan Kay's ~ Phantom. One of the best books I've ever read and it changed me in so many different ways.
Jeanette Winterson ~ Written on the Body.
Changed my whole perspective on everything. She has an amazing gift for altering time and blending sexuality so you don't know where (timewise) the book is happening or what sex the narrator is. It's a treat to read the same book twice and get a completely different story the second time around.
The Bible has changed my life. Chronicling the life of God incarnate (and the 330 documented prophecies prior to His birth), it has revealed more truth about life than any book ever written. Since I have learned of Jesus Christ, no book has ever satisified me in the same way. Learn about God through Jesus. Read His inspired Word -- the Bible.
These aren't necessarily my favorite books now, but for whatever reason they clicked with me when I discovered them. A lot of them seemed almost to change how my brain worked when I first encountered them: authors that are good enough can almost change how you percieve the world, at least for a while.
Art of Writing Poetry - William Packard
Interesting book that introduced me to the idea of literature, and had a very comprehensive reading list that guided my reading when I knew nothing of books.
ABC of Reading - Ezra Pound
Not the best influence on me, I think, but there's a lot in this strange book.
The Trial - Franz Kafka
Mere Christianity - C.S.Lewis
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Down and Out in Paris and London and Essays - George Orwell
The best first hand reporting and essay writing I've ever read.
Understanding Power - Noam Chomsky
Even if you don't agree with him on all points, he's got a extremely cohesive and thought-provoking view of the world, and is extremely, mind-bogglingly knowlegdable.
I am Right, You are Wrong: From this to the New Renaissance - Edward De Bono
Very unusual book, based on new ways of using the brain, apparently.
Walden Pond - H.D.Thoreau
The Discourses - Epictetus
Incredible philosophy on how to live - not the one I follow though!
Ancient Wisdom, Modern World - the Dalai Lama
A really sane, practical method to a happer life: my first real introduction to Buddhism, though this book is not specifically Buddhist.
Aside from the Scriptures, which in some ways has changed me, all books that I have read, even the dreadful ones have still changed me, or rather added something to my way of perceiving the world and in fact different worlds. For each person lives in his or her little world which although appearing the same as others really is quite different; the reason being the players are different.So yes all books I have read.
I heartily nominate the following:
Thus Spake Zarathustra (Friedrich Nietzsche)
The Dictionary (Merriam Webster)
The Skilled Helper (Gerard Egan)
Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
Essays (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
In 1962 I began my final year of high school in Canada; 44 years later I am now retired and living in Australia. In a rough calculation over those 44 years, I have read approximately 10,000 books, 20,000 articles; 15,000 poems and parts of unnumbered print resources(not counting cereal boxes and other consumer trivia). When I look back at my life, a reading life which began 59 years ago at the age of 3, reading has had an influence far in excess of TV, radio and the general print and electronic media, all of which I enjoy. To name one book or even half a dozen as favorites/most influential, though, would be like picking my favorite word, sentence, paragraph, phrase, letter, atomic particle, star or one of the billions of stars/suns in the universe. It is an interesting question to ponder, though, for a few seconds. I think this is the best response I can make to this issue/question/topic.-Ron Price, Tasmania.
Peter Singer's Animal Liberation had the greatest immediate impact on me (I became vegan overnight after reading it).
As for fiction, Ayn Rand had the greatest impact on my life, "Nine Stories" by Salinger had the greatest impact on my writing.
Camus's The Stranger, Orwell's 1984, Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and (I'm not kidding) Stephen King's novella The Long Walk also stand out in my life.
I've tried a dozen times, but I just can't force myself to enjoy "Heart of Darkness."
Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie.
Which book has most affected/changed my life?
The next one.
Adso,
as you mentioned shattering I must say the book that eradicates all your previous views is perhaps the best example of what is art...The basic component of one"s ideology and so on...And to share my experience...I would categorically state that "Idiot "by Dostoevski is the most proper example...In fact what is revulsion in one's worldview indicates the value of the work..."idiot"if not for anything else makes you feel undisturbed in your towers of insanity...And if I must present the content of this book by few words only according to me...it sounds like this:"Dare to follow your believes, if the price is your insanity in the eyes of the others than let it be..." I highly recommend this book...and the author undoubtedly...
And...Forgot to mention- A kind of bad taste to even discuss the impact of all the works of Niezsche...Not to aknowledge his influence on the deeply encrouched notion of individuality is without doubt a matter of infantility...For those who mentioned "1984" by Orwell- aperson must be completely insensitive to the world around him if he/she were not to appreciate this masterpiece,so I join you in this example
Wonderful thread. I am always interested to read answers to this question, and this thread does not dissapoint. My answer is as this fellow below me mentions: I have none in particular.
Then again, perhaps those of us who do not have an answer to this one haven't read the right books yet.
At your age, sir, I can only hope to have been as well-read as you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Price
- A fellow Canadian, though over fourty-years your junior.
Arthur W. Pink's The Attributes of God read 1972 helped me form the basis of my Biblical beliefs. Emphasis on the sovereignty of God and my responsibilites towards him to worship intelligently and from the heart and I plead a lifelong struggle to be 'from the heart' and not the head.
Note to Vampire Kari--checked my bookshelf and there is was: Phantom by Susan Kay--read it when it first came out (but did not remember who wrote it) and loved it for an intelligent well reasoned out life of Erik taken from what Gaston Leroux chose to reveal. In a similar vein (if you can find it) try The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen--you'll never read Stoker's Dracula the same way twice.
"Siddartha" by Herman Hesse - I liked the part on singleminded focus. This is something I have tried to cultivate all my life. I'm getting there but a bit slower than I want to. I believe that greatness needs two things, one - the ability to focus and two - the ability to forget about everything else.The second chapter is a brilliant treatise on dedication and commitment.
Nausea by Sartre, The Outsider (L'Etranger) by Camus, and Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson made me think more than most - I suppose they 'changed my life'.
The Outsider - Camus
Naked Lunch - William Burroughs
Both read in the space of the last 3 months.
"Cold New World"....can't remember the author. The author spends time living with American families with kids who are in gangs, or are drug dealers, or other things like that and reveals how nearly impossible it is for kids who are born into poverty and living in certain cities with not-so-promising schools to avoid becoming invovled in the world of crime.
"Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich (sp) had a huge effect on me. Ehrenreich abandoned her home and the money she had made writing (temporarily), pretended like she only had a high school education, and started looking for the best jobs she could find with that education and paying for her living expenses with the money she made. She wouldn't go to her private doctor and would rely solely on what she earned and what benefits she got from the jobs she found...the only thing she kept was her car. The results were incredible...she worked at a Wal-Mart, as a Merry Maid (house cleaning service) and as a waitress, each time in a different state. She could barely afford to rent the crummiest of apartments, had to rely on food stamps, and was amazed to learn that her co-workers were living in their cars and had children! She was forced to quit her experiment at one point because she got so sick she had to give in and see her doctor, and that meant she couldn't work for a while...so she couldn't continue to rent her apartment....imagine if she hadn't had that to fall back on...
Agree with subterranean, Sophies world really changes your way of seeing things. Otherwise, I have to say Kris (crisis) by a swedish writer, Karin Boye.
Anarchism: What it Really Stands For by Emma Goldman (this is actually a pamphlet, not a book, but I don't care).
A Tale of Two Cities by Chaz Dickens
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (not very much, but it changed my life).
The Men Who Climbed by Marjorie Pickthal (actually a short story)
Till We Have Faces-C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity-C.S. Lewis
So Much More-Elizabeth and Anna Sofia Botkin
And, of course, the Bible.
All for various and almost obvious reasons. Till We Have Faces is amazing in that it shows the emptiness that life can have and that this void can be filled.