Title says it all. I’m through with merely good things, I refuse to waste my time on them any more. So give me the titles of your favorite profound life altering books. I want the ones that make you stay up until 4 in the morning to finish, the ones that make you cry, that make you reconsider everything. Please. The book club thread a way down was a good start, but it was filled with merely good things.
“Ender’s Game”, by Orson Scott Card. I refused to read Science Fiction my whole life. This book goes far beyond science fiction. A magnificent story. Also, “A Brief History of Time,” by Stephen Hawking. I learned more about physics and the universe from this book than I did from any science class I’ve ever taken.
I can think if two great books that had a huge impact on my life.
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Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. This is a fictional story about an ape teaching a man how we were meant to live. To sum it up in the space here would be impossible. The impact of this book on my world outlook was amazing.
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Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. This is a book about things Rich Dads teach their kids about money that Poor Dads don’t. While some of the points are repetitive, I found this book to be invaluable and it remarkably changed the way I looked at money.
[quote]dookie1481 wrote:
“Ender’s Game”, by Orson Scott Card. I refused to read Science Fiction my whole life. This book goes far beyond science fiction. A magnificent story. Also, “A Brief History of Time,” by Stephen Hawking. I learned more about physics and the universe from this book than I did from any science class I’ve ever taken.[/quote]
Good call on “A Brief History of Time”. Great book.
Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance. Im reading it right now. You said you wanted books that will keep you up until 4am trying to finish? Well thats precisely what I did last night. Opens the philosophical mind.
I have to agree on ‘A Brief History of Time’. Hard going in places, but very worthwhile, like a savage squat session.
‘Catch-22’ by Joseph Heller.
‘Body for Life’ by Bill Phillips.
I’m just kidding about one of the three. Which one?
Good call by dookie on “Ender’s Game”
We read that in school this year. It’s a damn good book. Even if you dont like science fiction, you’ll probably like this book. I never liked science fiction much myself, but this book is definately one of my favorites now.
As for “A Brief history of time”, i havent read it, but I plan on asking the 'rents to buy it for me tommorow. I google’d it and this is what i found.
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Sounds pretty DAMN interesting.
Pillars of The Earth by - Ken Follet
and
The Eight by - Katherine Neville
I read both of these as required reading a few years ago, Pillars is a medieval story about a builder and his family trying to survive the feudal world (around 1000 pages). The Eight is also set in medieval times, but in modern times as well, as people search for the remains of Charlemagne’s Chess Set (I’m a history major so i love this stuff). both are great reads.
Dale Carnegie: How to Make Friends and Influence People
Richard Bandler: Using your brain for a change
If you meant literature, then there’s a ton to choose from. Orwell, Steinbeck, Heller, etc.
I enjoyed Rothbard’s Libertarian Manifesto although it is apparantly full of holes.
Larry McMurtry: Lonesome Dove
The Last Picture Show
The Ragamuffin Gospel - Brennan Manning
The Message - Eugene Peterson
What’s So Amazing About Grace - Philip Yancey
Life changing books-these aren’t just books you read to learn more, these are books that change the total direction of your life.
Nietzsche: ‘Twilight of the Idols’
It’s a short book, roughly a hundred pages, and it will forever change the way you think.
Lincoln, et al: ‘Holy Blood, Holy Grail’
Especially if you are a Christian or had a Christian upbringing, you need to read this!
Emily Bronte: ‘Wuthering Heights’
Simply the finest novel in the history of Western Literature; you probably had to read it in high school, but you’d do well to read it again. It is honest, passionate, devoid of sentimentality…a stunning work of art!
Nietzsche: Thus Spake Zarathustra. “One must still have chaos within one to give birth to a dancing star.” TSZ is, essentially, Nietzsche’s shot at writing his own bible. It’s poetic, it’s brilliant, and it’s a tough read. You could easily spend a day on each page, just working through the philosophy.
Three Great Books that will change your life. (I recommend these even if you are not Christian)
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Mere Christianty by C.S. Lewis (C.S. Lewis was a great friend and influence to J.R.R. Tolkien)
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Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton (autobiography of Merton’s life, which eventually led to him becoming a Trappist monk)
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The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis (Second best selling religious book of all time behind the bible)
If you read these books with an open mind I think that they will speak for themselves.
“48 Laws of Power”
Still in the middle of reading it. It basically gives 100’s of short stories about the worlds greatest rulers. It tells about decisions they made and how it affected their lives (good or bad). Puts all of these into 48 basic laws.
Great book, makes the point very clear for each law. I already see myself using “the laws” at work, with friends, etc.
Hey,
Fight Club is one of my favourites.
The Life of PI by Yann Martel. Simple book, great story, excellent read. Some quotes in this book, really got to me.
And Mr Vertigo by Paul Auster. In fact, anything from Paul Auster is simply amazing.
On a lighter note, I recently purchased the Book of Muscle by Ian King. Very very good.
“G?del, Escher, Bach” by Douglas Hofstadter. If you manage a chapter a day, you’re reading it quickly, but this book will make you think unlike pretty much anything else out there.
Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chompsky.
This book completly changed the way I view politcs, mass media and the corporations that own them. Read this book. Extremely eye opening.
[quote]ultrafilter wrote:
“G?del, Escher, Bach” by Douglas Hofstadter. If you manage a chapter a day, you’re reading it quickly, but this book will make you think unlike pretty much anything else out there.[/quote]
Seconding GEB. If you’re looking for science books, also check “Before the Beginning” by Martin Rees. It is simply the most accessible cosmology book I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot). This is the one I give to people who are interested in the subject but don’t have much experience. That said, it presents advanced material as well (strings & superstrings, cosmic structures, all the fun stuff).
Literature. Here’s what does it for me, one from each of several genres:
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“The Old Man and the Sea” by Hemingway. Simply the best book ever written. As Stephen King put it, “The man was a genious, even when he was drunk off his ass.”
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“Dune” by Frank Herbert. Read the rest of the series if you like it, but Dune is required reading (goes downhill from the first book). Skip the tripe written by Frank Herbert’s son Brian and Kevin Anderson. Those “prequels” have none of the tension and mystery that made Dune so great. They’re not bad as far as storytelling goes, but they don’t live up to the Dune standard.
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“Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry. Someone beat me to this, but I have to note that it does the best job of conveying the immensity of the land and the lifestyle without reading like a cardboard western.
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“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Best. Poem. Ever. As a bonus, you can find this one free online!
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Hopefully, that’ll get you started. Enjoy!
FWIW there is a simpler book by Hofstader called “The Mind’s Eye”; good book.
I disliked the 48 laws of power. I couldn’t get past 50 pages. The advice is either unethical or unpragmatic or internally inconsistent. It’s definitely not a “how to” book.