• Philosophy and Spirituality
    Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Threads of Note Socialize
  • P&S Moderators: JackARoe | Cheshire_Kat

Personally influential books...anyone?

J

joystick

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 10, 2004
Messages
298
Location
South East US
The Bible
The Muslim Jesus by Tarif Khalidi
Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu
The World's Religions by Huston Smith
Gods, Demons & Others by R.K. Narayan
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Linda Goodman's Sun Signs
Linda Goodman's Star Signs
How to Be a Great Astrologer by James Braha
1984 by George Orwell
Storming Heaven: Lsd and the American Dream by Jay Stevens
Go Ask Alice
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
Even Cowgirls get the Blues by Tom Robbins
From Chocolate to Morphine by Andrew Weil
PiHKAL by Alexander Shulgin
TiHKAL by Alexander Shulgin
Controlled Substances by Alexander Shulgin
Swann's Way by Proust
Sodom and Gomorrah by Proust
Death of a Salesman by Henry Miller
The Merck Manual
The Merck Index
Generic Physician's Desk Reference
The Encyclopedia of Hell by Miriam van Scott
Medea by Sophocles
Multivariable Calculus by James Stewart
Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Serway
Chemistry by Steven S. Zumdahl
Organic Chemistry by Robert J. Ouellette and J. David Rawn

Some of these books I would have been better off without.
Right now, I am reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter House-Five.
Et tu?
 
Last edited:
ohh slaughter house five is fun... i read that in school.

* the myth of sisyphus - albert camus
* the individual and I - bertrand russel (allthough i dislike him, i liked some of the idea's he introduced to me in the book)
* sophies world
* we - some famous russian... one of the first distopia's, truly worth a read if u liked 1984 and brave new world
* dr.zuess - for kids or adults...
* the tao of pooh - basic introduction to taoism
* overtime - travis marsh - thats me... writing for myself... gawd it's just the best. (if ura publisher... or if u just wanna read, msg me :D)
* ancient art of war
* the bible - it's important to see whats come before you.
* romeo & juliet and a midsummers nights dream are my two fav shakespeare
* the lyrics of 'radiohead'
* the lyrics of 'pink floyd'
* the lyrics of 'the doors'
* the 'tomorrow when the war began' series - john marsden... it taught me the power of my imagination :D

and when i was a kid i read tons of these little 15 page stories from orietnal philosphies... like the tortoise & the hare, and the ant & the grasshopper, and many more... they were the coolest... i look back and am thankful for my grandparents because of these alone!
 
How about people list fewer books and indicate ones that were particularily special or important, im looking for a good book to read but if people list like so many books i cant firggin decide!!!
 
ok... judging by your list... after slaughter house five i'd say:
1... We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin
2... The Stranger(The Outsider), by Albert Camus
3... Listening to Radiohead :)

they're all good fun and IMO thought provoking philosphically, spiritually and emotionally.
 
The books that have had the biggest affect on me:

*"The Forever War", by Joe Haldeman (strongly influenced my writing style)

*"The Good War", by Studs Terkel (forever changed the way I looked at U.S. History)

*"2010: Odyssey Two", by Arthur C. Clarke (the first real sci-fi novel I read)

*"A Grain of Wheat", by Ngugi (a depressing, but fascinating fictional character study)

*"The World of Late Antiquity", by Peter Brown (jump-started my serious interest in Byzantine and late Roman history)

*"God and Evil", ed. by Nelson Pike (strongly influenced my attitudes toward Christian arguments for/against God)

*"A History of Latin America", by Keen and Haynes (see Terkel)

*"Enchiridion", by Epictetus (outlines the ideal Stoic mentality that would be great to aim for, IMO)
 
knight_marshall,

I too enjoy Radiohead, namely "OK Computer," "Amnesiac," and "Kid A." On the front cover of Kid A is an image of a bunch of shards.

As for Camus, however, I do not enjoy existentialism at all.

elemenohpee,

I found Oliver Sacks' book to be interesting, too--for example, the chapter entitled "Cupid's Disease." Like tobacco and sassafras, Cupid's disease is an export of the New World via Chris Columbus' crew of seamen. Hence, Mr. Kee's album title "The Latin Plague."

OTOH,
Smallpox was an export from the Old World to the New. And we don't even know who invented AIDS.
 
grant morrisons "the invisibles". its a graphic novel, i hope that counts.
 
VALIS - Phillip K. Dick.
I think about it off and on since reading it a few months ago. I understand that the whole book is an autobiographical description of a strange series of events that were triggered when PKD saw a beam of sunlight flashing off a jesus-fish necklace. One of the most interesting things about it was that PKD suddenly knew an ancient form of Greek that he'd never been exposed to in real life.
 
cool, i'm not the biggest fan of existentialism either, but i do love camus... and i still say 'We' is awesome... its up there with 1984, if not better.
 
On The Road - Jack Kerouac

Because of the sense I got while reading it about the amazingness and energy for just living and experiencing life that moriarity/paradise have. Just going around and tripping off of everything. Kinda reminded me not to be complacent about anything because the world really is an exciting place. The spontaneous prose style of writing is soooooo cool aswell.

Heres a part, not the best, but still cool imo (and I just read this and cbf looking for a better excerpt) ;)

Paradise and Moriarity are riding in the back of a share car with two townies up front driving...

"Now you just dig them in front. They have worries, they're counting the miles, they're thinking about where to sleep tonight, how much money for gas, the weather, how they'll get there - and all the time they'll get there anyway, you see. But they need to worry and betray time wtih urgencies false and otherwise, purely anxious and whiny, their souls really won't be at peace unless they can latch on to an established and proven worry and having once found it they assume facial expressions to fit and go with it, which is, you see, unhappiness, and all the time it all flies by them and they know it and that too worries them no end. Listen! Listen! "well now,"' he mimicked, '"I don't know - maybe we shouldn't get gas in that station. I read recently in National Petroffious Petroleum News that this kind of gas has a great deal of O-Octane gook in it and someone once told me it even had semi-offical high-frequency cock in it, and I don't know, well I just don't feel like it anyway..." Man, you dig all this?'.
Click to expand...


Yea like someone else said post WHY the book was important to ya.
 
socko said:
VALIS - Phillip K. Dick.
I think about it off and on since reading it a few months ago. I understand that the whole book is an autobiographical description of a strange series of events that were triggered when PKD saw a beam of sunlight flashing off a jesus-fish necklace. One of the most interesting things about it was that PKD suddenly knew an ancient form of Greek that he'd never been exposed to in real life.
Click to expand...

+1

also The Divine Invasion (just as crazy)


My most influential book, which hasn't been listed already is
"Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert J Pirsig.
It's an extremely analytical examination of quality.

For me, this book is second only to 1984 for influence, the deciding factor being the absolute relevance of 1984 to today's society and the direction in which it's going.
 
knight_marshall said:
* the 'tomorrow when the war began' series - john marsden... it taught me the power of my imagination :D
Click to expand...


man i started reading those when i was 12/13... and i just bought the latest one yesterday! i hate having to wait for books to come out!
i was so utterly disspaointed when the "tomorrow" series ended, and so happy when the ellie chronicles started. we're into # 2 now.....

best books i ever read where by Orson Scott Card - it starts with Enders game. Now i realise these are semi-sci-fi and fictional, but they've had a real impact on my life and what i strive to acheive personally on my time alive. Its fantatic to have a flawed, but amazing characters all throughout a series, then into a shadow series from other perspectives of the same story.

Any book by Card that i have read (and ive read many) is inspirational, tormented, and ultimately fulfilling.

...... the writer however has turned out to be a jerk in real life, but i wont let that stop my imagination :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top