“Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsch.
Fahrenheit 451
I sometimes just flip through the book randomly for quotes.
Peter Kropotkin’s The Conquest of Bread. It was perhaps the first socialist work I had read which wasn’t a pamphlet or essay. My convictions were perhaps their strongest at that point as I was most certainly an anarchist, and although I have somewhat rejected libertarian communist thought in turn for marxist-oriented philosophy - I do not consider myself a marxist, however - Kropotkin’s writings have left an indelible mark on my social, economic, political thought.
anything by Ayn Rand - made me finally understand how republicans/libertarians can be such morons and never get laid.
rich dad, poor dad by robert kiyosaki.
it changed my outlook on personal finance because prior to that i didn’t know anything about money, retirement accounts, investments, etc
it was good launching point into other books filled with personal finance advice
The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
But seriously, first book I learned how to read and I learned how to do it on my own.
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Invisible Man (Ellison, not Wells)
bear
90
Yeah, absolutely. I really set that book aside and just thought about it a lot over the course of reading it. It’s really brilliant, and perhaps the my favorite prose I’ve come across. And Samuel and Lee are two of my favorite characters in fiction. It’s now a book I re-read every couple of years.
I have my gripes with Fitzgerald. I never regret reading him, but I don’t adore him either.
swish
I’m surprised at all the mentions of 1984 but none for Brave New World. I would add all the atheist books mentioned too, but I was never raised religious so there’s not much reason for me to read them.
I like Sherlock Holmes stories too, but I think they’re overrated. I agree with Poe’s comments about detective stories being a sort of “trick” where the author sets up a scenario in order to make his character seem clever. And he would know, since he practically invented Sherlock Holmes.
Only a small group of people would list a math book, but I’m one of them. Even something so simple as finally understanding the reason for the definition of matrix multiplication taught in high school is exciting to me. Don’t even get me started on how excited I was when I learned the geometric interpretation of complex number multiplication.
All my threads are pretty inspirational. Going to read 48 rules of power this week. Thanks for all your replies.
Brave New World was definitely a great read, but I don’t think it affected me personally as much because I’m a cynical person and I already expect things like that to happen to society eventually, as if it isn’t already caught like that.
Oh, and I think The Great Gatsby is overrated.
but seriously, my books would be:
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller…not that I grasped it completely at the tender age I read it
The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker…was really young when I read this too and it definitely fucked me up for life
On the Beach by Nevil Shute…ruminations on death, what it all means…
Why Won’t God Heal Amputees? by Marshall Brain…answer: because there is no god
Okay P. Gorath, I just read the synopses for On The Beach, and now I want to read the book.
Sounds like some fucked up shit.
curio
97
Dr. Seuss needs more props in general. Seriously, we all read his stuff when we were little, and they were probably the first books our minds ingested that actually had a point other than “A is for -whatever-”. I don’t know if we’ll ever get another children’s writer like him, but our kids and grandkids will be reading the same stuff. I know I’ve benefited if only for a heightened tolerance for green food.
Going along with the kid book theme, I remember Charlotte’s Web by EB White had an impact on me when I was seven or so. Pretty fun book until the end, when Charlotte is dying and pretty non-chalantly sums up her lot in life: “We’re born. We live a little while. Then we die.” When you’re a kid, especially one who hasn’t experienced a death in the family, mortality isn’t something you naturally consider, so it kind of had a big impact on me. Also, saddest spider death ever. :sad:
All the books I’ve read lately have been about biology and evolution theory. Nothing real “impactful”, but Kenneth Miller’s “Only a Theory” kinda re-kindled my interest in it. Well written and mostly even-handed.
I forgot to add the Stranger by Albert Camus in my first post.
Excellent book, I think the title is different in canada because of a different translation of French or something.
How to Learn Visual Basic in 24 Hours
This is where I started my programming journey. Although VB sucks, it helped me get into other languages.
