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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhich books, fiction or non-fiction, have had the largest impact on you?
I'm always looking to grow, especially through the reading of life-changing books. So which books have made the largest change in your life, and how did they do so?
begin_within
(21,551 posts)And I was invited to meet the author, Ken Kesey, at one of his summer bonfire parties but he died before I ever went. Also On The Road by Jack Kerouac introduced me to a new style of writing.
Htom Sirveaux
(1,242 posts)Last edited Sat Jul 5, 2014, 06:41 PM - Edit history (1)
I'm enjoying it. How would you describe his writing style?
mackerel
(4,412 posts)begin_within
(21,551 posts)and likened it to the improvisational style of jazz musicians. I think what he created was a sort of hybrid between poetry and prose, but in a stream-of-consciousnesslike style with very long, sometimes run-on sentences. He wrote an explanation of his concept of this style of writing, and his explanation itself is written in the style itself so its not very clear. http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/kerouac-spontaneous.html
lunatica
(53,410 posts)by Robert Heinlein. I checked it out of my school library when I was 17 and made me a science fiction fan for life. It opened my mind to possibilities and to thinking of the future as malleable and full of potential and that it's built by choices which in turn made me aware that nothing is static. Things change in life. Evolution happens. It made me an optimist and a progressive. It also made me embrace human and alien differences and unlocked my imagination. It was the perfect book for that age.
Htom Sirveaux
(1,242 posts)I read Stranger in a Strange Land as a young teenager, and it influenced me to be open-minded in matters of sex.
whistler162
(11,155 posts)every year or so.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)PassingFair
(22,434 posts)Read it when I was 17...made a HUGE impact on how I looked at the world.
Later:
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
For sheer love of the ridiculous ride that is life: A Confederacy of Dunces by J K. Toole
mucifer
(23,522 posts)and now a vegan.
trof
(54,256 posts)Changed my whole way of thinking about 'my' country.
And not for the better.
I am now a dissolutioned cynic.
Not happier, but wiser.
LisaLynne
(14,554 posts)Not everything was a total surprise to me, being a natural cynic, but dang ...
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)I loved Poe as a kid. I loved the dark morbidity of his tales and I think it made me a life-long fan of the horror genre. I've loved the later writers who were influenced by Poe like Algernon Blackwood, Sheridan LeFanu, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, Guy De Maupassant, Ramsey Campbell, among many others. I can't really say any one book changed my life, but Poe made me love literature as a kid and made me want to read others.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)tavernier
(12,375 posts)but it would take a very loooong post to explain exactly why, since it involves many years and thousands of miles of travel.
dr.strangelove
(4,851 posts)but its not about the writing or the story, just the point in my life when I read them. I read the first 4 at the time the 5th came out. I read them all over a 2 week period when I was dealing with the worst time of my life. I remember them for the escape they gave me. I could say it was Tolkien or Weiss and Hickman when I was young that opened my eyes to fantasy and that it is oky ato have an imagination as an adult, but it was really the Potter series. They gave me a place to escape to when I really needed it.
tavernier
(12,375 posts)I started reading the series along with my grandson about the time the first film came out. It struck me that the character of Snape seemed very familiar, so I googled him and indeed, knew him from some other films. In the course of my google search, I stumbled on an Alan Rickman fan site, but the site was all about theater and music and art. The members were all involved in the arts somehow, fascinating and interesting ppl. Long story short, I became a member and over the next seven years, made close friendships with lots of girls and a few guys. We have traveled all over the world to have meet ups, see plays, tour museums, go to concerts, etc. I have hosted them here in Florida and I've been hosted in London, Dublin, Paris, NYC, Texas and Toronto. I've met people from Prague, the Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, Japan and more through this group.
Besides that, I've seen Daniel R. on Broadway, Alan Rickman in several plays in NYC and London, both of "the Dursley's" on Broadway and on stage in Ireland, and several other cast members.
And, like you, the books came at a time when I badly needed an escape from reality.
I loved Wizarding World both times and hope to return to it soon. The series did become a part of my life that was and continues to bring me a lot of happiness.
mackerel
(4,412 posts)I too read Harry Potter during a life change, very dark period but I think I would have like the series anyway.
tavernier
(12,375 posts)He donates much of his time with projects involving human rights and struggles against injustice.
I love an anecdote told on him by a friend of his: AR was visiting a country where poverty was rampant in hopes of bringing attention to the need for assistance. He was surrounded all day by children who did not know him as a celebrity ... no TV or film in their world ... But who were fascinated by his sunglasses, another item they had never experienced. He sat patiently all day and let them crawl in and out of his lap, all taking a turn at putting on the shades. Two weeks after he left the village, a large package was was flown in containing hundreds of pairs of sunglasses, one for each child and adult.
mackerel
(4,412 posts)Tobin S.
(10,418 posts)and is probably one of the reasons why I'm a liberal.
Later in life I started reading Carl Sagan's books. "The Demon Haunted World" is a very important book for me as it formally introduced me to skepticism and critical thinking. They were at the beginning of a serious shift in my thinking and my world view. They were my college before I went back to a traditional school and started earning my degree.
Fridays Child
(23,998 posts)When I was five years old, my grandfather taught me to read, using One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Suess. When I was a little older, Greyfriars Bobby, The Secret Garden, and Hans Christian Andersen's short story, "The Little Match Girl" had positive influences on me.
As a preteen and teenager, Nicholas and Alexandra, by Robert K. Massie, and The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, by Maria von Trapp, both had a major impact on me. I began a lifelong love affair with history, genealogy, and historical research, when I read those books.
While I was raising my children, I read all things Stephen King. The Stand remains my all-time favorite.
In 2008, I read The Four Agreements , by Miguel Ruiz, for the first time. That small volume had, and continues to have, a profound influence on my life. I keep a copy on my nightstand and one at work. I don't always act in accordance with the agreements but I forgive myself when I make mistakes and I work on doing better, every day. Whenever I go to Bookman's, a used bookstore here in Tucson, I always look for clean copies to buy and give away. If the book helps someone else, that's wonderful. If not, that's okay, too.
(edited for typo)
Lil Missy
(17,865 posts)I've read it 3 times in the last 3 years and at one time I had each of the Agreements on post-it-notes on my desk. Time to dust it off and read it again.
Callmecrazy
(3,065 posts)One of my favorite books. Probably because I lived in Las Vegas when I first read it.
mackerel
(4,412 posts)JonLP24
(29,322 posts)First weekend I participated in a life skills thingy. The first half of the meeting was useful but the 2nd half was him recommending self-help books. There was one person after the end of all that recommended that book, saying it changed his life and couldn't stop selling it. Swore by it.
I've been meaning to check it out.
Fridays Child
(23,998 posts)raccoon
(31,106 posts)Mostly in my writing style. In those days, I wrote a lot (fiction). Looking
at some of it now, it has Capote/Lee influence all over it.
THE POPULATION BOMB influenced me a lot when I read it. I think now he
missed the point. True, there are too many people on this planet. But it's the
First World citizens who are causing the most environmental destruction and who have
the biggest carbon footprint.
DFW
(54,330 posts)Heinlein's "Lost Legacy" (part of the "Assignment in Eternity" stories)
Baroja's "El Árbol de la Ciencia"
Rodney Whitaker ("Trevanian" 's "Shibumi"
Gary Jennings' "Aztec"
Al Franken's "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot"
Aksyonov's short story "На полпути к луне (Halfway to the Moon)"
Fogelström's "Mina Drömmars Stad"
Howard Fast's "The Immigrants"
Tom Robbins' "Jitterbug Perfume"
And only probably five hundred others.......
shenmue
(38,506 posts)and The Lord of the Rings.
snot
(10,518 posts)In them I found wisdom re- nature, governments, society, relationships, language, your inner psyche, and more.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)considering that I've read thousands upon thousands of books. I've never thought of any title as being "life changing," but that the reading of so many broad, diverse things has.
And I think that anything "life changing" would probably be highly personal, and might not be for anyone else.
The earliest "life changing" book I can remember was when my 4th grade teacher read My Side of the Mountain to us. I bought it from our book order when it came around, and have had a copy of it for almost 5 decades now.
It was life-changing because it was the first time I recognized myself. It resonated like a tibetan singing bowl in my soul. I wanted to BE Sam Gribley. I wanted to leave behind my life and live in a tree, alone and uninterrupted by human interaction. While I loved the book, I was horrified when his family found him in the end, moved to the mountain, and started to "civilize" it, making him move back into a house.
It was the first clue to who I was, and who I am: a Lone Wolf, an introvert, who craves solitude like air.
Another? The Bible. I picked it up when I was 16 to read because I was tired of being made to feel inferior by new people in my life because I hadn't been raised "Christian." I read it straight through, beginning to end, twice. I compared it to what I heard being said in the church I was pressured to attend, by the pastor and the attendees. I noted the contradictions in the Bible itself, and between what it said and what was being taught in the church, and how the church members lived their lives. Then I left it behind. I still have a copy on the shelf somewhere, along with my Boomer Bible and other similarly blasphemous versions.
Those 2 Bible readings added greatly to my background knowledge in understanding and negotiating western culture, traditions, idioms, etc.. It also sparked a life-long interest in comparative religion, a study in which I've amateurishly dabbled.
There are plenty more, but not for this post. The time spent sorting through memories of books read is well worth it, though, and will probably continue as I move on with the day.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)I read "Journeys" years after I'd been having OBEs (out of body experiences) and his book was a refreshing take on a topic that had been ignored for decades. The only popular books on the topic were from experiments done in the late 1800s! Monroe was rather clinical in his recording and and so forth, so it makes for dry reading.
Still, the Hemi-Sync technique of brain-hemisphere synchronization opened many doors in meditating and higher spiritual functions and journeys. I've had a few due to getting recordings of the HS system
Edward Espe Brown's "The Tassajara Bread Book" was my first baking book. Sure, I had "The Joy of Cooking" and it taught me much in cooking. (As a guy, "home-ec" was not taught to boys, so I first learned cooking at home, then in Boy Scouts, then from Julia Child and other PBS cooks, and more from the JoC.)
Plus, he's a former Zen monk, so his approach to cooking and baking teaches patience and calm. Or maybe it's more that he incorporates the Zen mindset into a cooking art that does require patience. His recipes are quite good, too, and I've used many of them, developing gook skills over the years.
pfitz59
(10,344 posts)I lernt to reed!
Htom Sirveaux
(1,242 posts)Avalux
(35,015 posts)My Dad apparently decided I needed another perspective along with my Catholic upbringing. He gave me the book on my 12th birthday. I tease him that doing that really messed up my head, but the truth is, the book was the best gift he could have given me.
greendog
(3,127 posts)CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)Taught me lessons of the sixties that my teachers neglected.
southerncrone
(5,506 posts)For different life stages & different reasons. Both changed my life for the better.
fizzgig
(24,146 posts)bawl like a baby every time.
OxQQme
(2,550 posts)and 'The Nature Of Personal Reality' Both by Jane Roberts colored my world.
I also believe that Zecharia Sitchin's series of books about the Ancient World has more truth than what was taught in the public school system.
ms liberty
(8,572 posts)dr.strangelove
(4,851 posts)without question. Did wonders for me as a 10 year old.
surrealAmerican
(11,359 posts)I'm not quite sure I want to get into the reasons for that just now.
geardaddy
(24,926 posts)by Vonnegut. I don't know exactly how it changed my viewpoint, but it made me think about how life has its little threads through everything.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)The main character is a 90-lb female who is the toughest fictional character I've read who is also brilliant as well. Very moral as well. She is also introverted due to her traumatic life.
One of the things that got to me is it shows how people & institutions can get away w/ abuse & torture simply because the victims wouldn't be believed due to diagnoses, preconceived notions, & prejudices. How far they go to screw w/ people's heads to make them believe they're crazy and everyone else when they may be just as "sane and intelligent as anyone in this room".
Another is "Surviving Survival" - It was a timely read. The book talks about life after a traumatic event, that the aftermath is often more difficult than the actual event itself. Best book I've read that describes how the mind works - we have "gut instincts" for a reason. Why we can sense things/people around us when we can't see them or mirror neurons. Also what survivors did to cope & difficulty they faced.
One of my favorites is Distant Land of My Father. I pretty much feel things will never go back to the way they were. People who used to be in my life that aren't any more or if they are we're both different people. I did a review here - http://www.democraticunderground.com/11933266
muriel_volestrangler
(101,295 posts)Probably the first book to get me thinking about freedom, happiness, society and other Big Concepts.
Mac1949
(389 posts)It gave me a clear understanding of how extremism and government sponsored terror work. On a personal note, the survivors' accounts made me feel as though the problems I face are as nothing in comparison. And Solzhenitsyn's writing has a terrible dark beauty to it that is, at times, lyrically poetic.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)"The Myth of Sisyphus" Albert Camus :: The importance of limits, the worth of the human project
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" Robert M. Pirsig :: The importance of quality, the unimportance of efficiency
"Goedel, Escher, Bach" Douglas R. Hofstadter :: The failure of reductive rationalism, the importance of self-reference
"Human Scale" Kirkpatric Sale :: The importance of scale, bigger is not better