Which book/s would you say had the most profound effect on you?

Question

Is there a book or books that changed your thinking?
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance taught me so much, but reading George Orwell's 1984 when I was around 14 or 15 led to my life long interest and fascination in the growing reality of 'Big brother' in our lives.
The bible led me to atheism.
The Lion the witch and the wardrobe when I was little began my love affair with literature.
Literature has been the greatest source of understanding my fellow man. So many inspirational thoughts derived from them, and a wonderful escape when I needed it most, a magic carpet that took me to different eras, lifestyles and places.

Answer 1

'el ingenioso hidalgo don quijote de la mancha' by cervantes is probably the first 'proper' book i read in my childhood and i think, because it was so extraordinary, on so many levels, it not only totally gripped my imagination but it awakened in me a love of reading which continues to this day. there are so many outstanding books, far too many to mention, but some of the ones i love best are:



'the stranger' by camus

'le petit prince' and 'vol de nuit' by st exupery

'one hundred years of solitude' and 'love in the time of cholera', both by garcia marquez (the latter being my favourite love story)

'malone dies' by samuel beckett

'richard II' and 'the tempest' by shakespeare

'the diving-bell and the butterfly' by jean dominique bauby

anything by haruki murakami but especially a wild sheep chase

'mind and nature, a necessary unity' by gregory bateson

'the contortionist's handbook' by graig clevenger

the poetry of w h auden



this list could go and on, i think i'll leave it at that for now...



as you know, my experience of the bible has been very different to yours, but that certainly is a book which - for all sorts of reasons - has had the most profound impact upon my life. my interest in all things concerning the religious and mystical experience has led me on quite an amazing journey too, it is precisely because of this interest that i discovered the writings of people like sagan, dawkins, harris, and that it became important to acquaint myself more intimately with science as well as with philosophy. thank you for asking, it was fun to answer this one :)

Answer 2

Have you read Charles Williams? He was one of the Inklings, the writers group that also included Lewis and Tolkien. People either seem to get him, and love his work, or not. I think you might like him a lot. -Descent Into Hell- is his best, IM (and many other people's) O.



Richard Bach's -Illusions- probably had the clearest 'profound' effect on my life, though that was as much a matter of where I was at the time. A friend suggested it very specifically.



-Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind- by Shunryu Suzuki was also very important, although my teachers were more helpful than any book.



Beyond that, it was a lot of bits and pieces, like the images of desperation in -The Great Gatsby- or Camus' variety of existentialism and self-determination that crept in when I was still too young to understand it. And once upon a time, -The Earthsea Triology- mattered so incredibly to me, although I can't say anymore exactly why.

Answer 3

Everything I read has some effect on me, for good or ill. The first book of any note I remember reading was It, by Stephen King. Not what you might call the most profound piece of literature in the world, but at a time I was a misfit kid, and I was reading about other misfit kids who grew up to be successful in their misfit ways *and* got to destroy the monster that plagued their youth. I took a bit of comfort in that, and Stephen King has influenced my writing style to an extent. I'm not a horror writer, but I love how intuitive he is about people and how he brings his characters to life. Even the ones you don't like you can identify with in some way, and while their circumstances are obviously not real, the people and their reactions are believable. From a more adult perspective, I'd steer you toward Lisey's Story, which also effected me with the poignant and believable (as opposed to most authors' sloppy and overly romanticised) depiction of a marriage. He didn't hit you over the head with it, but the love between the main characters was plain to see.



Of course, The Lord of the Rings trilogy is right up there. As a fantasy writer, his style has influenced me quite a bit, as it has many before me. Again, the characterisation was a strong factor in my appreciation of his work. I particularly loved Boromir, who was a good man but not immune to the deception of Sauron, and how he was redeemed before his death. Works such as Ursula Le Quin's Earthsea trilogy and Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall of Pern are also right up there. Aasimov gets an honourable mention too, for the sci-fi lover in me. His robot stories are great, and the Foundation series was fascinating from a sociological viewpoint; though I was rather disgruntled that his aside at the end indicated any female characters of merit had played their part under mind-control. I'm no feminazi, but that seemed a bit of a kick in the guts to women in general.



At the moment, the book I'm finding most influencial is Les Miserables. Hugo rambles a bit, but I quite enjoy his asides into history, and at the end of the day his tale of one man's redemption is one of the greatest ever written. I've had my nose in many a classic in recent years, for that matter, but we'd be here all night if I went through them all and how they influenced me.



Lastly, I shall applaud your choices of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and 1984. I haven't read the latter, but I've heard good things about it and it's high on my list. Farenheit 451 might interest you, if you like stuff about the little guy being controlled. It's not a bad reflection on history for that matter, though it's set in the future.

Answer 4

I have vivid memories of reading Captain Corelli's Mandolin in the sun - it didn't change my life or anything but I remember how happy I was reading it.

Gormenghast - a profound effect on the way I write

The Secrets of Jin-Shei - I can't explain why, but it's beautifully written and I've read it a bunch of times now. It creates it own world mirroring the events of ancient China (a period I've always been interested in); I also like The Embers of Heaven (it's sequel, which takes place in a time closely mirroring the events of the revolutions in China).

I've read so many others that have each had a great effect on me, but I'm not at home right now so I can't go and check my shelves. Ahh. I love books.

Answer 5

I would say the Bible, but I havent read the whole thing.

Like you when I was a kid, Lion , Witch and Wardrobe got me interested in reading.

Animal Farm by Orwell changed my life, it shows how ingnorance and greed will destroy any chance of progress. Fox News viewers and Far Right Republicans really need to read this book so they can get a perspective on how they destroy society.

Answer 6

The Little Prince ... when I was an undergrad, the rage was for The Prophet. Always a rebel of sorts, I opted instead for Antoine de Saint-Exupery.



Twenty years later (ok, maybe thirty!) I learned to love Gibran, as well. For every time there is a season ... :)



I've read everything I can find from my favorite authors: Maeve Binchy and John Irving. Binchy lets me spend days, hours, and weeks in Ireland; Irving allows me to live the lives of his characters. Currently I'm a 12-year-old boy in a logging camp. ;P

Answer 7

Oh blast, there's so many. I'll try to abridge my list.



Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.



Harry Potter by JK Rowling



Les Miserables by Victor Hugo



A Long Day's Journey Into the Night by Eugene O'Neill (this one just hit a little too close to home)



Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen



Gone With The Wind- Margaret Mitchell



That's just some of em but I could go on forever.

Answer 8

It started with the Art of War by Sun Tzu. The Taoist influence lead me to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.



I became fascinated by Chinese Philosophy and History as a result.



This lead me to the Leagalist work of Han Fei Tzu and was the spark for my interest in the ways totalitarianism worked.



Sun Tzu lead me to the Book of Five Rings when I read about it in the appendix of the Art of War.



My interest in Totalitarianism and cults lead me to Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer, Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements".



I looked more into Totalitarianism and found Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince".



I took what at first seemed to be a totally different path with my study of combat psychology when I found Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's, "On Killing, the Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society".



This came full circle to my interest in military Strategy (sprung from the Art of War) and helped to reveal to me the great tapestry that is the human conflict of politics, war and society.



I'm currently reading



"The Story of Civilization, Our Oriental Heritage" by Will Durant

Volume I of XI

Answer 9

The" POWER of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale, the book literally transformed my outlook on life. 2)Zen Computer by Philip Toshio Sudo is a marvelous book for anyone who has ever cursed a computer will benefit from Zen computer.The author shows how the ancient principles of ZEN philosophy apply to the modern science of bits and bytes which has transformed me to a great extent. 3)Freedom at Midnight by Dominic Lippier gave me lots of inspiration. 4) Creativity by OSHO poured creativity juices in my mind and also a big chunk of inspiration.

Answer 10

Like yourself, the Bible, Quran and Torah led me to Atheism.

'Meditations' by Marcus Aurelius helped me broaden my horizons when it came to philosophising about the self and even death.

Reading the 'Communist Manifesto' by Karl Marx has made me somewhat sympathetic to the ideal.



In fictional literature, I found the novel 'The Star Rover' by Jack London hugely inspiring.



From 1996-2004 I was agoraphobic and spent those Eight years at home, rarely leaving the house. To survive, I dissociated, retreated into my own thoughts. It was helpful at the time, but later on, when it was time to join the 'rest of the world' again, it became problematic. Sometimes, it still is.



The Star Rover by London, follows the experience of Darryl Standing and his incarceration at the barbaric San Quentin prison. Describing life behind bars the book goes on to look at the power of imagination to transcend emotional and physical hardship, and ultimately sustain hope.



This book as proved most useful for helping me understand dissociation, when people could not.

Answer 11

The Hobit and the Chronicles of Narnia sparked my love of literature when my mum read them to me before I could even read, and again when I read them myself a few years later.



Harry Potter - I was eight when I started reading them (this was before they were famous, when only two were out), and subsequently I grew up with Harry. I'll admit proudly that I was part of the Harry Potter generation; The kids who grew up discussing what was going to happen in the next book for all the year/s in between their releases. We would dissect every rumor that appeared a thousand times over. It was us lining up outside the book stores for every new release.

That anticipation was almost better than the books, and I don't know of anything else in other period or thread of my life that has given me such endless happiness and excitement. In that, Harry Potter had a profound effect on my life.



Of Mice and Men - the first time I was introduced to what is now a central belief in my life, that the dream itself is more important than its attainment.



The Wife of Martin Guerre - Although short, this is one of the most important novels I have read, for it was reading this that I understood something that has changed the way I read ever since. You don't have to enjoy a book the first time you read it for it to be a great novel. Quite frankly I thought I had never read anything so boring the first time we read it back in lit when I was still in school. The second time we read it I started to find it interesting, though still not that enjoyable. I read it a third time out of class before writing an essay on it, this time i genuinely enjoyed it. Since then I have read it more times than any other book, and I swear I enjoy it more every time. It is now one of my (i have no singular) favourite books, which is a long way from being bored as I was when i first read it.



The Illiad- Most people group both the Illiad and the Odyssey together, but I don't like too. I think the Odyssey was a more enjoyable work to read, though it is in my opinion, incomparable to the power of the Illiad. The first time I read the Illiad i thought I had a grasp on its power and greatness, that was, right up until i read the final line. At that moment, i realised that until then I hadn't even begun to comprehend this work. It left me catatonic, after that final line for about half an hour I couldn't move, I just sat, transfixed by the raw emotion that tore through me. It really is an indescribable greatness that the work contains, the best way I can to describe it is to say; Before I read the Illiad i was sure at least part of it fame came from being famous, that at least in part it was still read because it is the oldest work in western literature. What can I say? I was completely wrong, it's fame comes because it truly is one of the greatest works of literature. It is still being read after 2700yrs, and still exists after 2700yrs, not because of its age but because it is one of the greatest works of all literature.



lol, i seem to have got caught up in the moment :-p

Answer 12

The Power of Now, by Echkart Tolle

Is There Life After Death. by Anthony Peake.



Both books with boggle your brain and make you go hmmm.. lolz



Practicing Shaman... quantum physics rocks

Answer 13

The best book I have ever read and probably ever will read is Boy and Going Solo by Roald Dahl. It was a collection of his two autobiographies.When he was blind and thought he was never going to see again he was still happy and that sentence thought me to be more positive.

Answer 14

Nostradamus

Answer 15

"The Grapes of Wrath" John Steinbeck when I was in high school, it changed my life forever



The books that helped me reconnect with my lost spirituality:

"The Path of the Priestess" by Sharron Rose

"The Prophet"Kahlil Gibran

"The Power of Now" Eckart Tolle

Answer 16

even though its not my fave book twilight inspired me to start writing mainly because ive always loved reading but never really found a genre i liked before then.