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books that changed your life.

"Lolita- Nabokov"

I'm with you there. The fact that english was this guy's third language, and he wrote with what i would describe as the most stylish and innovative voice (along with joyce but much more accessible) in 20th century english literature, just make the novel more outstanding. Fucking great storyline too.
I'd love to learn russian and read some of his work in his first language. I think i'll read some translated Dostoevsky first.

I'd say philip larkin and louis macneice probably changed my life in terms of steering me towards literary study, but i prefer books now to poetry.
Oh, tess of the d'ubervilles is probably the novel i'll read every year, i love that.
 
ANYTHING by Tolkien, I've been in love with him as long as I can remember.
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Stand - Stephen King
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein
 
^good call on Stranger in a Strange Land

for me, a very abbreviated list of FICTION that's had significant influence:

Gravity's Rainbow - T. Pynchon

One Hundred Years of Solitude - G.G. Marquez

Infinite Jest - D.F. Wallace

Master and Margarita - M. Bulgakov

Diary of a Drug Fiend - A. Crowley

The Diamond Age - N. Stephenson (who's turned to shit since)

Focault's Pendulum - U. Eco

Crash - J.G. Ballard

The Illluminatus Trilogy - R.A. Wilson

Candide - Voltaire
 
my first and most treasured books:
- Charlotte's Web
- Fantastic Mr Fox - Roald Dahl
they started me on the reading rollercoaster :D
my fav fiction, to bide the time:
- The Wheel Of Time - Robert Jordan
- The Lord of the Rings (about 1/10th as good at WoT)
- Tomorrow When the War began - John Marsden

but the ones that i think had the greatest impact on me:
- 1984
- Brave New World
- The Myth Of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
and of course every text book from school that I can still remember.

I'd just like to add that the reason books are sooo much better than movies or tv isn't that they can captivate you more, its that when you read your constantly thinking, and this is basically practice. practice thinking :D
and then take into consideration some of the coaches compared to the tv you could be watching, and its 400 different shows about cops & courts.
 
movies don't have to be passive.
but yeah, books win.
(except formula-genre books, like the majority of crime and romance novels, they're just as bad as tv)
 
=)

casteneda's books, all of them
the 4 agreements/mastery of love -- don miguel ruiz
kahlil gibran
salinger
tao te ching
tolkien
a fine and private place
1984 and animal farm - orwell
ummmm...
the celestine prophecy
the way of the peaceful warrior
eastern body, western mind - anodea judith
ummmm....
ya!

i have a copy of 'on the road' i need to pick up and read
i have the bhagavad vita in a smaller version that i need to read
as well as tons of books

it seems like a lot of people are into the deeper reflections on drug experiences, i recommend the casteneda books. the perspective given on a lot of things, including the use of altered states and the chemicals that can produce them is very interesting. but it's more on a serious tip...

=)
 
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'The Celestine Prophecy'
I read this book at such a perfect time in my life that it has really helped me understand a lot about life and how people react to things.
 
I'm glad to see Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintanence on some of the lists here, but a bit disapointed not to have seen the sequel, Lila, by Robert Pirsig, undoubtedly a much deeper and more profound exploration into the Metaphysics of Quality and well everything.

Additionally:

Thought Contagion, Aaron Lynch

and anything by Richard Dawkins.
 
Let's see, in order:

The Green Machine (Learned to read to this book)
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle (Major props to anyone who knows what I'm talking about)
The World of Pooh
1984 (4th grade - maybe not the best idea)
Dave Barry (various)
Animal Farm
Brave New World
The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, Doonesbury anthologies
Night (?) by Elie Wiesel
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Lila (in retrospect... meh)
Siddhartha
everything by Alan Watts
Buddhism plain and simple by Steve Hagen
Doors of Perception, everything else linked to off of erowid
The Vaults of Erowid - every single fucking report. Yes really.
Cartoon History of the Universe - very good to know this stuff
Zig Zag Zen - a guide to buddhism and psychedelics
Everyday Zen and Nothing Special by Charlotte Joko Beck - these are the books you should read after you read all the other zen books and drug books and get tired of koans and monks and big trips and are really ready to start working
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Lolita by Nabokov
currently working on: Unbearable Lightness of Being

Not all of these are good books or worthwhile, but they seem to be the biggest players I can remember.
 
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Glad some ppl have mentioned Castaneda here. I read his books when I was a teenager and they started me on a path that I am still very much on to this day.

Whether Castaneda was impeccable or corrupt, whether they are true accounts of events or works of fiction; not the issue.
The ideas and the practices outlined in his books stand alone as a menace to our current understanding of the world.

THe only other books that have had a similar profound affect on me are the writings of Nietszche. I've never been the same since reading those books.
 
biography of Hitler

as wrong as it seems, hear me out.

i did a study on him in middle school. it just intreaged me as to how a person could do that. while studying him, it was then that i first learned how easy it is to manipulate the masses. unfortionatly i didn't pursue my studies in the manipulation and mind control of people until after my enlistment in the army. one of the victoms now. FUCK, ASS.
 
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