Books that changed your life

[mattguize]

books i like...

As a teenager...Legend, by David Gemmell. It made me realise that not all hero's had to be perfect, and changed the way I wrote my own stories. not that my writing improved, but it brought the concept of humanity to the fore.

As for now...anything by Terry Pratchett (esp. Carpe Jugulum and Thud!) because they made me laugh and made me think at the same time. Also, the science of discworld series is really interesting.

But books that changed me and shaped me more then others would be...

The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership by John Maxwell - not because i'm trying to be a great leader, but because they changed how I dealt with other people. There is something powerful in realising something simple that helps you work with the people you find yourself with. And perhaps the other book is Raging with Compassion, by John Swinton. Yes, its a christian book, but it helped me come to realise and recognise the importance of lament in assisting a person to slowly start to make their way through grief. And at a time when i was struggling with how to do the job i was being paid to do, it was a revelation.

 

[rinka]

I can't say any specific book changed my life, but certain reading experiences have had a huge impact and stayed with me. I think it's often related to when I have read a certain book. Where I was, physically, emotionally, experience-ly. Maybe that book wouldn't have affected me as much had I read it at another time.

One of those experiences was when my son was a baby, around two three months old. It was winter, I was alone with him and on maternity leave so I spend a lot of time in bed, breastfeeding and reading. I got a whole bunch of books from the library, among them a few from a series by a Swedish author; Vibeke Olsson. These books were about slaves in ancient Rome, not at all the kind of books I usually read, but I kind of sunk into it.

The main character in the book was this slave woman and she had a baby. There I was laying all warm and cosy with my baby, reading about completely different living conditions and identifying with the whole woman in the world, mother, struggle... One sentence in that book was about how life is as fragile as onionskin. It all sounds extremely cheesy , I do realize that, lol.

But still, sometimes when I cook and I peel an onion that sentence comes to me: Life is as fragile as the skin of an onion (roughly translated).

Had I read that book a year earlier or a year later it's quite possible it hadn't meant anything special to me. But at that time it had a huge impact.

 

[minx1]

I wish it was a slightly more literally acclaimed lol...but it was "Yes Man".

Apart from making me laugh aloud....it's underlying philosophy of being open to opportunities; some that you wouldnt normally say yes to, made me examine my own choices. I read it at a time when I really needed to widen my horizens and change things.
It actually had a huge impact on me and I decided I wanted to be more open to new experiences. For me, yes man definitely contributed to me moving to Oz on my own. Funny in a way because it actually ends with him hopping on a plane to Oz too.

 

[Yesspleasse]

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was the first when I was about 17 years old. Opened my eyes about the maltreatment of the mentally ill and made me want to help change it. It was one of the biggest reasons I got my bachelor's in psychology.

Choice Theory by Dr. William Glasser was the second. I read my senior year in college in my Positive Psychology class. It helped me realize that basically everything we do is a choice, and I was able to shape my life accordingly, at least to some degree.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood was the third. I can't remember when I first read it. I know I was in college. It's possible I may have actually read it before Dr. Glasser's book, but chronological order doesn't really matter here. It scared the fuck out of me AND helped me put together exactly why I'd given up on the Southern Baptist church when I was 13 or so.

I fell instantly in love with the main character in 'The Bell Jar', but that was probably just my female rescue fantasy. :]

As to choices, you're probably aware of the various experiments which suggest that our non-conscious/pre-conscious/sub-conscious minds may make them and that consciousness arrives late, with its little rubber stamp in hand, to take the credit. I also remember a prolonged discussion with some philosphers online during which I became convinced that everything is 'determined' and choice is just a wonderful, impossibly complex illusion.

As to quitting the church. Good on you.

 

[Homburg]

As to choices, you're probably aware of the various experiments which suggest that our non-conscious/pre-conscious/sub-conscious minds may make them and that consciousness arrives late, with its little rubber stamp in hand, to take the credit. I also remember a prolonged discussion with some philosphers online during which I became convinced that everything is 'determined' and choice is just a wonderful, impossibly complex illusion.

There are eleventy dozen ways to look at choice in philosophy. The majority of them lead one to the conclusion that it is a really neat idea with no actual reality.

--

Lets see; it's hard to list books that "changed my life" without at least giving a nod to my ancient hand-me-downed Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook

*blinks*

Wow, no shit. I hadn't even thought of that one.

Yeah, any book that single-handedly lead to literally thirty years of being my primary hobby is pretty goddamned life-changing. Considering how much time in my life that I've spent gaming, how much enjoyment I've gotten from the hobby, and how many of my good friends became friends because of our shared interest in gaming, I'd say that the AD&D Player's Handbook was the single most life-changing book I've read.

To a point, this bothers me. I can step outside myself and see how ludicrous it is to look at something like that and call it the book that had the most impact on my life. But, honestly, you gotta have something to do with your time. In my case, it's hanging out with my friends making up our own entertainment *shrug*

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

Always last to the party and TMI - I know, I know. Since the question was asked:

What book most changed my life? Not my favorite book or what I consider the best written book. OK.


Walter Kaufmann's http://www.ask.com/wiki/Walter_Kaufmann_(philosopher)

Critique of Religion and Philosophy esp. the chapter "The only Good Atheist is a Dead Atheist" which has its take off point the sermon/essay (and book title) The Courage to Be by the German/American theologian Paul Tillich, delivered in Harvard chapel, in which he asserts that anyone who finds life to have enough meaning to continue his existence is therefore at least a theist.

Tillich is, if course, referencing the question of existential despair `a la Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, and Sartre. Like Kierkegaard, he finds the meaning of life in a theological context -- and although Dostoevsky also sought such a solution, it is more likely that he finds himself on the side of Ivan, the doubter and moral rejectionist. Sartre said that life is a blank canvas and the meaning we give is the only meaning it can have.

Tillich is trying to make room in the church for those who reject the concept of metaphysical transcendence. As Kaufmann points out: such an approach to defining a theist is contrary to all historical precedent from Augustine to Luther and Calvin, and requires anyone asserting doubt about a deity to prove his point by killing himself. A Reducto ad absurdum if there ever was one.

Anyway, at that point (college undergraduate) I had long since abandoned any theological beliefs but accepted the idea that the churches and synagogues could serve a useful social function. Certainly the times (early '60s) has something to do with it, but as I became more involved in civil rights struggles in the South, I became more aware that the people on the other side of the divide were the most religious people. At that point and in the context I decided that organized religion was -- in fact -- an instrument of social injustice and anti-reason.

But it was Kaufmann's book that crystallized my thinking into becoming a "refusenik."

THEREFORE (Another influence):

It is easy enough to see why I so love the music of the French singer Myl`ene Farmer, starting with her "A quoi je sers... /What is the purpose of my existence." Her answer is the same as Sartre's: Life has only the meanings we give it. As the lyrics say: "I search books but only blank pages, blank pages."

Then to the cosmological rage of "Je te rends ton amour" in which she declares her "divorce" from God and the Church. (She is the intellectual heiress of Juliette Greco and Simone de Beauvoir.)

The video was banned from French TV so she made a "DVD single" which sold 1.5 million copies in the first month in France -- all proceeds above production cost going to AIDS programs -mostly for Africa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcXWWTJwy1g

(Watch at your own peril. The RC Church considers most of her songs and videos to be mortal sin.)

Brave souls may proceed to "Sans Logique," "Desechantee," and "Nobody knows." The live performance of "Nobody Knows" at the 2006 Bercy concert may be the most dramatic pop music performance of all times. Quiet but dramatic -- the answer to what happens to us when we die.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeB7mJzFGAk

Oh, and the fact that she considers herself a disciple of the Marquis de Sade is OK by me.

 

[MasterPhoenix]

Elements by Stephen D Gutierrez- He was my writing prof at CSU Hayward. I entered the writing programme there completely in love with my own work, and sure I was the Poe of the coming 21st century. However, Prof Steve didn't see it that way. He kept pointing out issues with my work, and in my arrogance I could not understand what he was saying. So, I bought his book when it came out ready to flame back. Instead, as I read it, I understood what he was trying to teach me about writing, and I am a much better writer for it.

On Writing by Stephen King- I picked this up on the discount rack at Borders one day before work. It is a great story of his life and how he became a writer. I like to reread it to kick out my writer's block.