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books that changed your life.

The Icewind Dale Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore was pretty formative on me.

1984, Animal Farm, and (much later) Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. the latter book is extremely underrated

Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky really blew the lid off of things for me, and made me realize exactly how relevent Orwell is to the times we live in.

Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu
 
If you're going to read only one self-help book in your lifetime, Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. As the thread says, this book changed my life. In fact, it changed how I saw myself and my entire outlook on life. I never thought I could gain so much enlightenment from a book.

Next on the list is The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Murphy followed by the classic Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill.

There are a shitload of self-help books on the market. If you're looking into self-help books, stick to the three above. Don't waste your time with the more recent titles, which are all repackaged, paraphrased shit versions of the main classics above.
 
phishy2 said:
the big book....of alcoholics anonymous


19 months sober
Click to expand...

Very cool. I have great admiration for those who remain 'sober'. Although I've never suffered an addicted (not even cigarette smoking), I have seen people try and fail to overcome addictions. I remember how hard hard my father tried (and tried and tried) to stop smoking. Heart attacks. Death experiences. He could not quit smoking. In the end, those cigarettes (the addiction caused by the ****** cigarette companies) killed him. My father began smoking when methol cigarettes were "good" for a sore throat. 8) Anyway, very cool for you.
 
:) Shame & Guilt helped me understand a lot about myself and the behaviors of others. One passage that sticks with me from that book is how when we're young, we view authority figures (teachers, parents, cops) as "giants". As we grow up, the "giants" become human and we see the flaws and how the behavior those "giants" showed us sometimes stems from their own Shame & Guilt. There was a thread on enlightenment and there seems to be a connection between these "flawed giants", "shame and guilt" and a lack of "enlightenment".

Unfortunately, the knowledge (understanding) doesn't help me to forgive or forget or to stop being angry . . . Is my therapy session over already?

******

Another novel that didn't change me personally but was fascinating to read was I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. It's about how the line between "sanity" and "insanity" isn't finite. You don't cross over a certain boundary to "Insane Valley". :) No one is 100% sane; we all have a touch of insanity in us.

*******

The Scarlet Letter is another great novel. I wear mine with pride.
 
Reading these posts, I am curious as to why these novels made the posters' lists. The Bible, the religious scriptures, and self-help books, I understand those. But some of the other novels . . . I'm not judging people's selections just curious about how the novels changed their lives.
 
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This book is how I got to know about the 5 Tibetan Rites which has helped me tremendously.

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Simple yet so true.
A few meaningful excerpts I love:

"A sin is anything you do which goes against yourself"
"You go against yourself when you judge or blame yourself for anything"
"When you are impeccable, you take responsibilty for your actions, but you do not judge or blame yourself."
"Your opinion is nothing but your point of view"
"Personal importance, or taking things personally, is the maximum expression of selfishness because we make the assumption that everthing is about me."

"Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves"
"The whole world can gossip about you, and if you don't take it personally you are immune."
"You can choose to follow your heart always"
"The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth"
"We only see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear"

"The truth is like a scalpel. The truth is painful"
"The dream you are living is your creation. It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time"
"Only love has the ability to put you in that state of bliss"
"The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer"
"The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering"
 
hmm

I'd say the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind are the only books that have really changed me (who else is eagerly awaiting Confessor's release?). I'd suggest you give it a read, it follows the standard fantasy novel format, but the characters are oh so amazing (I'm like a seeker of truth for those of you who have read it).
 
I am currently reading "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, it is absolutely brilliant.

"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card and the rest of his series are genius

I am trying to become more of an avid reader but my mind isnt calm enough at the moment.
 
Lifechanging books.

Well I've said this before and been ridiculed, but I'll say it again. At age 5/6 I read the illustrated stories of Robin Hood, this was instrumental in making me aware of abuse of power. Maybe other factors were at work, but I identified strongly with the outlaw element (still do to some extent). Then when reading 1984 some 7 years later I was completely sold on an anti authority/establishment stance.

I have seen little or nothing to change my viewpoint these last 40 years.:|
 
"The Outsiders"

Back in grade 8, caused me to purchase my first switchblade for pretty stupid reasons.

A decade later now I still have my trusty Smith and Wesson clipped to my pants at all times when in public... has helped me in more then a handful of situations, now that's REAL life changing :)
 
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