what book had the most lasting affect on you?

Dawkins' The God Delusion -- not for the quality of the book itself (although it isn't bad) so much as it being my 'intro' to non-fiction with the exception of some Nietzsche when I was too young to really get a grasp on it. It opened up a whole new world for me. Science, history, philosophy....

Also Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series since that really got me to dig into fantasy and into reading since he is bar none the best character builder I have seen thus far and also has an amazing grasp on the English language.

Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther is another one since that introduced me to his genius, although to be fair, I'd already been building a Goethe collection at that point...but, I digress. He's one of my favorite authors and what I'm sure will be a lifelong interest of mine.

EDIT: The Dhammapada translated by Ananda Maitreya also comes to mind since that was my introduction to Buddhism and while I am not a Buddhist, it kicked off my interest in that religion which has lead to a study of many texts and books on the subject and a developing interest in meditation.

For now:

1984

The Girl Next Door

Totally forgot...Night by Elie Wiesel...the most moving book that I have ever read.

The Bible.

In general because I feel it dealt with such basic principles for a life of integrity, stewardship, quality, and love, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I usually read it in total or in part once a year.

Second to that was the reading of a book I did in the early 70's. An unlikely exercise a friend of mine then challenged me to do. Although there is nothing in particular I remember (except Divine Right's Trip) the experience was nothing short of an epiphany.

The book was The Last Whole Earth Catalogue. I read every single page and, unless you have done it, there is no way to describe the effect of reading a synopsis of the world's tools, technological and otherwise. And of course on each page, in the bottom right hand corner, was the next frame of Divine Right's Trip.

And then, when I was finished, even though I had viewed the back cover before, it finally hit me: It was a very clear photograph taken from the surface of the Moon of the earth suspended in space and the caption read, "We can't put it together, it is together."

We are all together. We are all together. Nothing has ever in our entire history demonstrated that more than that photograph taken by a person on the moon looking at, not a globe, not a map, not an illustration, but the magnificent thing itself.

Don't fight. Don't support the politics of fighting. Show everyone we are together. No one owns anything, rules anything, we are all masters of the same cosmic egg. Don't break it. There is something very special inside.

1984 by Orwell

This is a literature topic, but for me it would be my philosophy textbook.

I took an introductory philosophy course in college years ago and it gave me a whole new perspective of how I view the world.

More importantly, the analytical skills I developed from reading passages by Socrates, Descartes, etc. gave me a greater appreciation for literature--reading and understanding it.

For tying my brain in knots trying to work out the ways in which it both indicted and proclaimed Christianity, Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood."

For stretching my mind, Carlos Castaneda's "Journey to Ixtlan."

As the first works I ever wrote anything close to literary criticism about, Kawabata's "Thousand Cranes" and Enchi's "Masks."

For teaching me that fantastic literature isn't confined to traditional boundaries, Art Spiegelman's "MAUS."

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This is the book that made me want to be an English major.

Actually two...Catcher in the Rye but more than that Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

Tess of the D'Urbervilles and the Vegetarian Philosophy

all the books i read affects on me,but i think the persian poetry book ,Divan Hafez ,was the best

I read Harry Potter in first grade, and from then on I loved reading, so that probably has influenced me the most. P.G. Wodehouse has also impacted my entire outlook and writing style. I can now see little irreverent jibes to make everywhere and I often burst out laughing after someone has made some deep, heartfelt speech. I don't take much seriously anymore. Oh, and Sherlock Holmes rekindled a childish love of heroism in a more (or I think so) mature fashion.

For posterity it has to Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. By no means the first Tarzan book I read (an abridged version of Tarzan and the City of Gold claims that honor) but it fascinated and delighted a young fifth grader and though many years later some of Burroughs books ring hollow the early stuff stills touches the heart.

"Bah. To Kill a Mockingbird isn't very good at all... so many flat characters. "

You must have been reading a different book pal. Even the minor characters like Braxton Bragg Underwood are complex. Even the vignettes like the one of Cousin Ike have a background.

Der Steppenwolf

How could have Hesse known me so well? It was a relief knowing I wasn't alone.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/im...KF-00383-D.jpg

One book that taught me the most, surely... I still use those skills today.

:goof:

what book had the most lasting affect on you?

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

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One book that taught me the most, surely... I still use those skills today.

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I can understand that. Me too. You probably use the skills to great...uh...effect.

I suppose the book that had the most lasting affect on me would have to be Lord of the Flies. Of all the books that I've ever read, this one really made me question humanity and their overall inherent personalities. Though the author, in my opinion, made it seem as if people are inherently evil, the overall thinking provoked made me come to believe in the inherent goodness of humanity. People may do terrible things, and even more heinous things if it is a group effort, but most people are good.

First and foremost Catcher in the rye, its my all time favorite. So many life lessons, it can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Just an all around great coming of age story. In a Close second would have to be 1984 - Orwell. Both novels changed the way I perceive every day life. A book that may not have had the most lasting affect on me but still had an emotional affect on me was Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. The prison beatings and conditions described actually caused me to have extremely vivd nightmares. It was not a horor novel by any means, it was actually quite the contrary. It was just so well written, that I actually felt as if I were a part of the book

The Sound and the Fury literally made me think of life in a whole new way. It was so eye opening in both its use of experimental prose and fresh, heavy plot.

Lassie, bjb

Doris Lessing's 5 book series CHILDREN OF VIOLENCE:

Martha Quest
A Proper Marriage
A Ripple from the Storm
Landlocked
The Four-Gated City

Primarily, I like the writer, her vision and her voice, though as a stylist, she's usually not very exciting. But these books were compelling for me because they speak to many interests: history, travel, womanhood, cultures, social and political conflict, sexuality.

Roald Dahl books. I always liked reading, but when I was nine or ten a teacher read us the Afrikaans version of George's Marvellous Medicine, and I was hooked. I devoured a few of Roald Dahl's books after that, and the passion/addiction started :p

Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground. When I first read it in 1972, it was as if someone slapped me on the side of the head, or splashed cold water in my face. It shook me up and made me realize what writing is capable of, what one can do with mere words. It changed my viewpoint, my outlook, and it made me search within. It changed the approach I took toward literature, philosophy, psychology, and religion in general. In short, it changed my life.

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Originally Posted by Jermac

Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground. When I first read it in 1972, it was as if someone slapped me on the side of the head, or splashed cold water in my face. It shook me up and made me realize what writing is capable of, what one can do with mere words. It changed my viewpoint, my outlook, and it made me search within. It changed the approach I took toward literature, philosophy, psychology, and religion in general. In short, it changed my life.

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Of course this is a wonderful book, matchless in terms of content and style. I have of late finished the Brothers Karamazov and now I am into Notes From Underground.

I am really speechless when I am commenting on this book for this book is such a beauty it can transform a person totally

Swampthing.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Swampthing.

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That was rather uncalled for... No need for name calling, you know...

:p

Hmmm... good question...
I'd have to say Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky because it kind of cemented my interest in reading, which has led me to read many books that I might not have read otherwise.

Also, Raskolnikov ranks among my favourite anti-heroes of all time.

15 yeas ago: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte had the most lasting affect on me.

I think these forums are for Dostoevsky lovers...and not so much literature lovers. :p (I'm joking alright...don't PM me about this)

Everything I read here has his name all over it :nod:

Wuthering Heights had a huge personal affect on me, and Hamlet, simply because I wasn't a big reader before I picked it up and it was about half a dozen classes above anything I'd seen before.

The Ghost of the Brothers Karamazov is still haunting me.

The IRS instructions for filling out the long form for income tax filing.:banana:

I can probably tell my life story with the books I read... many of my life changing moments revolved around books:

The Chronicles of Narnia: First children's book I read that inspired me to take my reading seriously. (and I must say that the movie version of the book is perhaps the best book adaptation I have ever seen)

Valley of the Horses by Jean Auel -- erm... this was how I discovered boys.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach -- book that inspired me to do what I was good at... both this book and a creative writing and literature class inspired me to major in English in University.

Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky -- inspired me to look within and see the monster inside myself. Gave my doe-eyed self a good dose of cynicism.

hmmm... actually, I'm pretty due for another life changing experiance... let me see what's next on my reading list... Hmmm... Vanity Fair?? :banana:

Henry Thoreau's Walden does it for me. His humor, his eye for description, his ability to see the marvelous in mundane, his idea that philosophy is a life well-lived. . . .at my best, I hope to approach these things.

The Grapes of Wrath

Pride and Prejudice this book got me into reading classics, well I think it was that book it was a while ago. Pretty sure it was an Austen anyway.

Other one was Road to Wigan Pier by Orwell. I suddenly became very aware of the fact people were different from me and I wasn't aware in a good way, I became over vigilant about it. It wasn't that I was unaware beforehand but I never really saw or felt that things like class and race difference had effects on real people lives and that my attitude could affect people for better or worse. It really sank into my conciousness for the first time.

Goethe, the sorrows of young werther