RE: Which books most shaped how you see things?

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popeye1250 -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/29/2009 10:25:04 PM)
Wow! So many, I've probably read a few thousand books in my life all or most of the classics. I'd say The Grapes of Wrath, War and Peace, Johnny got his gun, and one of the best in business, What they don't teach you at Harvard business school.

FangsNfeet -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 12:59:49 AM)
Duct Shui or rather the Duct Tape series. Tao of Pooh Kama Sutra Taming of The Shrew The Art of War Jump Start Your Brain Dracula

slaveluci -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 5:51:02 AM)
How could I have forgotten "Johnny Got His Gun?" Thanks for reminding me, Popeye..........luci

Marc2b -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 8:16:15 AM)
This list is off the top of my head at the moment so should not be consider conclusive; I’ve read so many books I’m sure there are a great many more. In no particular order: Anything by Shakespeare (not sure if he really counts because I’ve watched his plays – like their supposed to be – much more than I’ve read him, but he has certainly been an influence) 1894 - George Orwell Animal Farm - George Orwell Brave New World – Adolos (however the hell you spell it) Huxley Lord of the Flies – William Golding The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury (and many others by Bradbury) Dune - Frank Herbert (plus many other works by Herbert) The Gor Books - John Norman (If it wasn’t for him I would probably not be on these boards today) The Naked Ape - Desmond Morris (plus many other works by Morris) Anything by Thomas Sowell Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck Candide – Voltaire Anything by H. G. Wells Anything by Isaac Asimov The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twin. Walden – Henry David Thoreau One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey The Red Badge of Courage – Stephan Crane To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert A. Heinlein Edited to add: Oh yeah! Johny Got his Gun. I too thank you for reminding me, Popeye.

Fitznicely -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 9:09:32 AM)
Hmm... There was a short-lived comic book named "Crisis" that had a lot to say about multinational corporations and their activities in the third world. That shaped my early years, drove me to investigate more and generally keep an eye on the business news rather than the headlines if I wanted to get an idea of what was REALLY going on in the world... Aside from that, John Norman's had an influence, as has David Feintuch, Tolkien, Orwell and a few others whose names escape me... Significant mention should go to the rafts of books on "fortune telling" and paganism I read as a teen. They pretty much shaped my sprituality and love of philosophy and theology...

GreedyTop -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 9:17:59 AM)
the Ender books (ORson Scott Card) Heinlein Orwell many others....

amoryblane -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 9:58:06 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: kittinSol The first couple of titles that come to mind are The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould and The Second Sex ("On ne naît pas femme: on le devient.") by Simone de Beauvoir. They were very much part of my formative years. There are many more, but these two titles sprang from my memory like a 'Jack in a box'. I didn't read The Second Sex until my senior year of high school, but when I finally did I was in awe of Simone de Beauvoir. To be honest, I only read it to impress a girl (a college kid who was helping coach our debate team) on whom I had an overwhelming crush, but my love for the book lasted much longer than the crush. Your list reminded me (because Gould and Hofstadter are/were both great at popularizing very difficult concepts) how much Godel, Escher, Bach meant to me growing up. It was the first book that ever really made me think about what it means to be conscious, which has since become a kind of fixation.

amoryblane -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 10:00:09 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TheHeretic 1984 Animal Farm The Gulag Archipeligo Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Principia Discordia Dune The first several times I read through the Principia Discordia I couldn't stop laughing. It was so funny I didn't even realize how close to the bone it was hitting until later.

tiinkerbell -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 10:12:30 AM)
Moralia by Plutarch Human, All -too-Human by Nietzsche and The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Charden those three come to mind the quickest. I wish you the best Allison

RCdc -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 10:17:27 AM)
The Bible and Apocrypha The Prophet by Kahil Gibran The Book of Taliesin Karma Sutra The Pendragon Cycle By Stephen Lawhead The Diary of Anne Frank Even the stars look lonesome - Maya Angelou Bhagavad Gita Guess How Much I love You - Sam McBratney Lines in the sand - Mary Hoffman Where the wild things are - Maurice Sendak The House at Pooh Corner - A.A.Milne I, Robot - Asimov Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingles Wilder Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger Famous Five Books - Enid Blyton My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok Dracula - Bram Stoker Oxford Dictionary A Midsummer Nights Dream - Shakespeare Cider with Rosie - Laurie Lee Grays Anatomy of the Human Body Books of Rupert Bear the.dark.

igor2003 -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 10:41:22 AM)
Fast reply. Probably the books that taught me the most about trying to see things from every angle before making a decision was the Thieves World series created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978 and edited by Lynn Abbey. Contributing authors included such SF greats as Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Andre J. Offutt, C.J. Cherryh, Janet Morris and more.

breatheasone -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 11:04:58 AM)
In ALL seriousness, the ONLY book i have read that has TRULY changed and CONTINUES to change my life is the Bible. The great thing about the Bible is you can get one FREE....lol now even i can afford that! LOL Be well Y'all

Reyn -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 11:15:17 AM)
Orwell =1984, Animal Farm Asimov - Tolkien - Aristotle, Lilly, Ptolomey et al - Solzhenitsyn Many Manuals - Principle of Operations, Original UNIX material,VW Bus etc., Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance D.T. Suzuki on Bhuddism Benjamin Franklin Bible

cbtok -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 11:15:32 AM)
Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Dispossessed." Frank Herbert's "Dune." Robert Heinlien's "Stranger in a Strange Land." Not a book, but Arthur C. Clarke's paper on achieving geostationary orbit, published in Wireless World in 1945.

Vendaval -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 12:29:03 PM)
The list of books that have shaped my life have been long and varied. A couple that have not been mentioned so far by other readers that I would like to recommend are: The Temple of My Familiar - Alice Walker The Mists of Avalon and Firebrand - Marion Zimmer Bradley My list includes a long list of social protest literature, science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, natural history, poetry, plays, songs, and a whole host of other genres.

LaTigresse -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 2:40:07 PM)
This is going to sound terrible but the thing is, I have been reading voraciously since early grade school. I read every book in the school library 2 years before I left elementary school. I would read anything just to read. My dad's survival books, Popular Mechanics magazines and western novels. My mother's stupid romance novels and Reader's Digest, both the magazine and the books. My grandmother and great aunt would collect books for me. About the only thing I had no interest in was the bible, though I was forced to read it for years. I still devour books, though less so than I did when I worked less. I adore books. Hate parting even with the occasional weird freebies that come in the mail. Yet........I cannot think of specific books. When I was very little, all of the Black Stallion books were my obsession. I was primarily a fiction reader until about 15 years ago. Now less fiction and more learning. Still, to try and make a list would be tantamount to writing a book.

Lashra -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 2:44:04 PM)
Ms. Magazine- My Father bought me a subscription to this when I was teenager. Life-Dad bought this for me too Playgirl-I bought this for ME as soon as I was old enough Vampirella Comics MAD magazine Cracked-The last two shaped my quirky sense of humor. ~Lashra

popeye1250 -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 2:48:34 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: slaveluci How could I have forgotten "Johnny Got His Gun?" Thanks for reminding me, Popeye..........luci Slaveluci, that book should be required reading for everyone! Especially those in the senate and house when they're voting for veteran's programs!

LaTigresse -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 3:29:01 PM)
It was required reading when I was in school. I remember loving it even though I did have to do a bloody book report on it......[:'(]

kittinSol -> RE: Which books most shaped how you see things? (4/30/2009 3:38:40 PM)
Dostoyevsky is horibly absent from this thread. As are Flaubert, Zola and Tolstoi, Stendhal and Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters (especially Charlotte, Wuthering Heights - what a story!) and Joseph Heller... So many amazing writers... Literature, my best friend :-) .

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