Topic: Books that changed your life (Read 57807 times)

Runs_With_Scissors · « **Reply #150 on:** 22 Dec 2006, 08:26 »

About a Boy by Nick Hornby. Way better than the movie. I've read it 11 or so times, starting when I was in elementary school. That book just talks to me (not in a wierd split personality way, but the other way).

Kralia · « **Reply #151 on:** 24 Dec 2006, 03:47 »

A short story on adultfanfiction about a sodium atom and a fluorine atom. It caused me to like chemistry, which lead me to take sciences and maths for A level. Without it, I probably would have gone down the very different path of art and theatre studies.

SaskiWhiteflower · « **Reply #152 on:** 24 Dec 2006, 15:59 »

In Polish book is called "Doktorzy" by Elrich Segal. In English it would be ... ekhm ... "Doctors"?

Shming · « **Reply #153 on:** 29 Dec 2006, 10:12 »

Quote from: Spike on 20 Jun 2006, 19:15

Brave New World-Aldous Huxley. It's hard to pinpoint exactly how this book has affected me but I know it has.

Existentialism and human emotions-Sartre. This is the book/ piece of writing that first introduced me to the concept of existentialism. Since then I've wanted to find his other works. I've adopted quite a few of his ideas and tried to incorporate them into my own life.

this for me as well

and also: The Age of Spiritual Machines

NiMRoD420 · « **Reply #154 on:** 05 Jan 2007, 01:48 »

"Brain Droppings" by George Carlin
"The Stand" by Stephen King
"Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig
"Demian" by Herman Hesse
"Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse
"The Tao Of Physics" by Fritjof Capra
"Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace" by Gore Vidal
"Chronicles Of Dissent" by Noam Chomsky
"The Dark Tower Series" by Stephen King
"Memories, Dreams, Reflections" by Carl Jung

mqarcus · « **Reply #155 on:** 05 Jan 2007, 18:40 »

Thus Spake Zarathustra, The Genealogy Of Morals and Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche.

Jed · « **Reply #156 on:** 05 Jan 2007, 20:42 »

The Stainless Steel Rat Series by Harry Harrison which is by the way the coolest SciFi series I ever read!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and the rest four of the series) by Douglas Adams
Sotavangit (Prisoner's of War) by Pentti H. Tikkanen
The Meaning of Hitler (Anmerkungen zu Hitler) by Sebastian Haffner

SaskiWhiteflower · « **Reply #157 on:** 06 Jan 2007, 22:55 »

Oh and Pratchett is pretty good. I loved every single book.

mqarcus · « **Reply #158 on:** 07 Jan 2007, 04:57 »

So did I, but changed my life? No.

8ilbo · « **Reply #159 on:** 07 Jan 2007, 07:22 »

PTerry has certainly been responsible for me losing several constructive hours/days of my life....

Popcorn by Ben Elton disturbed me...
I'm reading Wild Swans at the moment, and its looking to be reasonably profound....

Ernest · « **Reply #160 on:** 07 Jan 2007, 12:03 »

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut and 1984 by Orwell. Orwell's essay "A Hanging" also made quite an impression on me. Check it out, it's online.

SaskiWhiteflower · « **Reply #161 on:** 07 Jan 2007, 19:08 »

Hmm... Margit Sandemos Sagas are pretty nice as well. Fantasy from Norway

supersheep · « **Reply #162 on:** 07 Jan 2007, 21:26 »

Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell. Since I read it and understood it, everything political I have done has been opposed to totalitarianism and for democratic socialism as I see it (to bastardise his phrase). On reading this, you can see where Animal Farm and 1984 come from. (Just finished rereading 1984 there - much better than I thought it was first time round).

fetusxcore · « **Reply #163 on:** 08 Jan 2007, 05:56 »

Let's see...
-Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
-Candide, by Voltaire.
-To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
-The Bolivian Diaries, by Che Guevara.

grover · « **Reply #164 on:** 08 Jan 2007, 19:08 »

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
With The Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by EB Sledge
Flags of Our Fathers bt James Bradley

kompan · « **Reply #165 on:** 09 Jan 2007, 02:33 »

The books below didn't really "changed my mind", but I find them important:

1984 by George Orwell
mentioned many times before, dark and scary vision of totalitarism
I, Robot and Foundation by Isaac Asimov
(my first books read in English) written with logic storyline, and presenting future in very convincing way
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
long but impressive look on military, the movie was far from book, but also good
Hyperspace and Visions by Michio Kaku
I'm a lame in math and physics, but I like to hear what smart people have to say
The Physics of Star Trek and Beyond Star Trek by Lawrence Krauss
although I'm not a trekkie, but, as above - the books are very addictive
most of Erich von Daeniken books
yeah, he's a bit crazy, but puts his theories clearly and in convincing way, it's fun to read it
The Poland of Piasts and Poland of Jagiellons (Polska Piast?w i Polska Jagiellon?w) by Paweł Jasienica
these are books about history of Poland, but with extremely interesting story, the authors of history books for school could learn a lot from this writer
The Amazing Perils of Discoveries and Inventions (Niezwykłe perypetie odkryć i wynalazk?w) by Juliusz Jerzy Herlinger
fascinating book which - as the title says - describes the history of many inventions, inventors and adventurers, famous and enarly forgotten
The Witcher (Wiedźmin) by Andrzej Sapkowski
well-known fantasy saga placed in familiar, polish-like realms

SaskiWhiteflower · « **Reply #166 on:** 10 Jan 2007, 02:00 »

Yeah Kompan. Witcher rocked. I read the whole saga and other Witcher books.

mqarcus · « **Reply #167 on:** 10 Jan 2007, 19:18 »

Polish people! I'm polish!

Withcher is far from good I think, maybe slightly better if you don't take it seriously.

patong · « **Reply #168 on:** 10 Jan 2007, 23:11 »

Here's mine:

1. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton - couldn't put it down; read it in an hour and wanted to reread the whole bloody thing all over again.

2. A Separate Peace by John Knowles - read it in high school. Loved the whole 'triumph of the human spirit' shtick going on.

3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - introduced me to the greatness of postmodern coming-of-age fiction.

4. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey - i know he's a liar and that Oprah hates him, but the guy sure can depict those gorey images.

5. Infinite Crisis by Geoff Johns / Amazing Spider-Man by J. Michael Straczinski - character exposition at its finest. These guys remind us that web-slingers and kryptonians have shitloads of problems like the rest of us do.

That's as much as i can think of at 2 in the morning. Later, all.

SonofZ3 · « **Reply #169 on:** 12 Jan 2007, 21:51 »

"The Art of War"- Sun Tzu
Great guide to dating (seriously).

SaskiWhiteflower · « **Reply #170 on:** 15 Jan 2007, 19:15 »

Quote from: mqarcus on 10 Jan 2007, 19:18

Polish people! I'm polish!

Withcher is far from good I think, maybe slightly better if you don't take it seriously.

I taked it really seriously and I loved every single line of text in it. But "Whatever makes You happy"

kompan · « **Reply #171 on:** 16 Jan 2007, 23:28 »

Ah, I forgot about Victor Suvorov.

I read Aquarium, Spetsnaz, Day M, Icebreaker, Suicide, Control, which are quasi-documentary/historical books.
Most of them is quite interesting, although controversial, as it shows different view of history of WW2 and Soviet Union as we know.

Leia · « **Reply #172 on:** 06 Feb 2007, 14:36 »

Mein Kampf..it began my deisre to convert to Judaism, for the sheer irony of being a blue eyed blonde haired Jew.
My personal fuck you to Hitler and other anti-semites..
because I love a hairy Jew

Misereatur · « **Reply #173 on:** 06 Feb 2007, 14:46 »

I have two good friends who are Jewish, blond, pale white and have blue eyes.

jimbunny · « **Reply #174 on:** 12 Feb 2007, 20:42 »

Hmmm, in terms of books that have actually affected the way I think and live...

"Siddhartha" by Hesse. It was the first time I could seriously conceive of a very different worldview/value system than the one I was brought up in.

"Franny and Zooey" by Salinger. Moreso than "Catcher," I think this book addresses issues an area of living which particularly interests me - that is, how we negotiate our intellectual life with our spiritual and existential lives. And it explores it down to the very depths, through numerous layers of self-doubt and rationality.

"The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula K. LeGuin. Both the sheer audacity and courage in her thinking (moreso in the latter) and the inimitable way she has of exploring very basic human structures (moreso in the former) impress me to no end. Absolutely exemplary science fiction.

MasterInquisitor · « **Reply #175 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 14:28 »

George Orwell (Eric Blair):
1984
Animal Farm
Down and Out in Paris and London
The Road to Wigan Pier

Big Fish (twas better than the film)

Hogfather

Jasper Fforde:
The Eyre Affair
Lost in a Good Book
The Well of Lost Plots
Something Rotten

The Diary of Anne Frank

JRR Tolkein:
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

JK Rowling:
The Harry Potter Saga

CS Lewis:
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Screwtape Letters

Antoine de Saint-Exup?ry:
The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) - you should really read this. It is a great book and gives an insight into the psychologies of an adult mind, though it is written like a child's tale.

Lines · « **Reply #176 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 16:01 »

If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan (i loved this book when i was younger.)
The Moon Is Down by John Seinbeck
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
The Other by Tom Tryon (really creepy. meaning it's awesome.)
Ray Brabury (possibly my favorite author): Something Wicked This Way Comes, Farenheight 451, The Veldt (it's a short story, but whatever)

MasterInquisitor · « **Reply #177 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 05:37 »

The Alice in Wonderland Books are fantastic. We got to study the Jabberwocky for GCSE.

Lines · « **Reply #178 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 09:27 »

sweetness. i am pretty much obsessed with Alice. i think i read the book a few times a year, one of the few i can read more than once, let alone quite often.

Tyler · « **Reply #179 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 14:29 »

Its because you actually cannot read, and your copy is a picture book.

MasterInquisitor · « **Reply #180 on:** 17 Feb 2007, 01:58 »

Oooh, meanie.

Anyway, in Alice, and Looking Glass, Carroll does have some really good pictures. I suppose my fave character has to be the Chesire cat. And I also found out why a raven is like a writing desk.

Lines · « **Reply #181 on:** 17 Feb 2007, 14:24 »

Quote from: Tyler on 16 Feb 2007, 14:29

Its because you actually cannot read, and your copy is a picture book.

...i hate you.

the cheshire is my favorite, too, next to the white knight. (and if you others don't know, it's because Poe wrote on them.)

Poe is another of my favorite writers, so i guess his collected writings is a "book" that changed my life.

rdalke · « **Reply #182 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 01:43 »

East of Eden, Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
God's Debris - Scott Adams
Choke, Fight Club - Chuck Palanuick
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce (has one of the best descriptions of hell EVER)
Walden - Henry David Thoreau

If I had to pick a favorite author, it would be a dead tie between Steinbeck and Palanuick. I would read anything written by either of them in a heartbeat.

McTaggart · « **Reply #183 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 03:35 »

Quote from: MasterInquisitor on 17 Feb 2007, 01:58

And I also found out why a raven is like a writing desk.

That's bugged me, like, for ever. Was this a part of the text or some illustration that may or may not be present in whatever edition I might be able to get my hands on?

For me: "The Ebony Tower" by John Fowles made me realise and believe that in time everything becomes less significant. Something that means the world to you right now will, if you bring yourself to just walk away from it, not matter at all to you in a few years. That's the one ending of a Fowles story that didn't leave me completely indifferent; it crushed me instead.

Dharma Bum · « **Reply #184 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 03:55 »

Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Allen Ginsberg's Howl corrupted me at the tender age of 13. I was ripe for it as I was just coming off of John Lennon's post-Beatles socialist surrealist period and moving towards looking for deeper interpretations of Dr. Seuss and Weird al Yankovic. Glancing into the first person world of wild eyed, rambling men who knew only angst, chaos and alcoholism changed how I looked at things, and started making me look for deeper detail in everything I saw - trees, people, movies, relationships. Conscious observation of the world around me has helped me see a lot of beauty in both the bizarre and mundane. And when I started noticing little things about myself, like that I instantaneously fall in love with girls who snort when they laugh, or that the inside of my belly button reaks no matter what I do so its okay, I realized that I was lot more happier with who I was. And I didn't have to go on a cross country expedition in poverty while waving genitals and manuscripts at Mohemmadan angels imagined on the rooftops of the nation's greatest cities to have that revelation, though I did that, anyway.

Lines · « **Reply #185 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 04:29 »

Quote from: McTaggart on 18 Feb 2007, 03:35

Quote from: MasterInquisitor on 17 Feb 2007, 01:58
And I also found out why a raven is like a writing desk.

That's bugged me, like, for ever. Was this a part of the text or some illustration that may or may not be present in whatever edition I might be able to get my hands on?

no, it's not a part of any illustrations, sadly. it bugged me for a long time and when i finally found out, i was more bothered that i hadn't known it sooner. (i said the answer above.)

McTaggart · « **Reply #186 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 04:50 »

Oh. That's a little disappointing actually.

MasterInquisitor · « **Reply #187 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 06:58 »

Douglas Adams

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, The Universe and Everything
So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
Mostly Harmless (which his son finished after his death)

Vanilla Gorilla · « **Reply #188 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 09:36 »

the art of war - sun tszu
behold a pale horse - william cooper
a people's history of the united states - howard zinn
the holographic universe - michael talbot

onewheelwizzard · « **Reply #189 on:** 22 Feb 2007, 03:19 »

A revised list of books that have changed my life!

Books by Tom Robbins!
Books by Alan Watts!
Books by Robert Anton Wilson!
Books by Richard Bach!
Books by Miguel Ruiz!

Oh, and one book that I'm almost amazed that nobody here has mentioned yet: BE HERE NOW by Richard Alpert/Ram Dass. It's not the kind of book that you actually read and then ignore. If you get past the first quarter of the book, you're not going to walk away the same person you were when you started it.

If you see any books by the above authors in a used bookstore, buy them! They are worth the time and effort that it will take you to read them!

Alphapenguin · « **Reply #190 on:** 22 Feb 2007, 13:33 »

This may seem like a weird choice, but A Confederacy of Dunces. It taught me an important lesson about humility that I should've learned a long time ago - to wit, don't be an egotistical prick or people will hate you (and for good reason).

Besides, it was funny as hell. I literally could NOT STOP LAUGHING for weeks after I'd finish it. Every so often, I'd be sitting in class or at work or wherever and just remember a scene from the book and start giggling.

A good rule of thumb for life: any book that makes you laugh hard enough for random passers-by to think you're crazy EVEN AFTER YOU'VE FINISHED THE DAMN THING is bound to be educational.

im_a _hellion · « **Reply #191 on:** 22 Feb 2007, 16:50 »

"The Five People You Meet In Heaven" This is a truely inspirational book it changed my very personality towards people.

Stayc · « **Reply #192 on:** 26 Feb 2007, 08:38 »

Quote from: hoax on 17 Feb 2006, 21:51

The Handmaid's Tale: Margaret Atwood

I second this one.

The Outsiders/SE Hinton - Though I read this in Junior High, it changed my life in so many ways. It helped me see things outside of the tunnel vision of my 12 year-old mind.

The Wave/Todd Strasser - Again, another juvenile book. Based on a true story about how a teacher used Hitler's techniques and involved them into the classroom to watch it go completely out of control throughout the entire school.

Angels and Demons/Dan Brown - The depth of it made me realize how different things can be and how much science is really out there.

Timeline/Michael Crichton - I don't know why, but here it is.

Go Ask Alice/Anon - I swore that it was my life and I connected with this book on a more personal level. I laughed. I cried. I pondered.

If I Should Die Before I Wake/Han Nolan - An easy read book on racism.

A Child called It/Dave Pelzer - Just an overall good read, touches the heart and makes you realize how horrible people can be and how anything is possible when you see the triumph.

Liz · « **Reply #193 on:** 26 Feb 2007, 09:04 »

A Separate Peace- John Knowles
Children of Men- PD James
Phantom- Susan Kay
Because of Romek- David Faber

I will probably think of more. Stay tuned.

The Overachiever Bandit · « **Reply #194 on:** 27 Feb 2007, 21:46 »

Quote from: Linds on 15 Feb 2007, 16:01

Ray Brabury (possibly my favorite author): Something Wicked This Way Comes, Farenheight 451, The Veldt (it's a short story, but whatever)

Yes, oh my god. Something Wicked this Way Comes was amazing, as was Farenheit 451, as well as all of his other works that I have read. Both of those made me really appreciate what I have.
Others that have changed my life are The Giver, The Hitchhiker's Guide, One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz, The Catcher in the Rye, and Rose Madder by Stephen King. Also, though it is not a book, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" really had a huge impact on me.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Books that changed your life (Read 57807 times)

Kralia

Shming

NiMRoD420

mqarcus

mqarcus

8ilbo

fetusxcore

grover

mqarcus

patong

Leia

MasterInquisitor

MasterInquisitor

MasterInquisitor

rdalke

Dharma Bum

MasterInquisitor

Vanilla Gorilla

im_a _hellion

The Overachiever Bandit