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Personally influential books...anyone?

Are you there God ? It's Me Margaret ~ Judy Blume
The Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions & Answers Vol I ~ Max Heindel
Cultivating Compassion ~ Jeffrey Hopkins
The Road Less Travelled ~ M. Scott Peck
The Alchemist ~ Paolo Coehlo
The Four Agreements ~ Miguel Ruiz
Complementary and Alternative Medicines ~ Charles Fetrow/Juan Avila
Awaken the Giant Within ~ Anthony Robbins
The Wisdom of the Enneagram ~ Riso-Hudson
Initiation into Hermetics ~ Franz Bardon
Jump Start your Brain ~ Doug Hall
The Book of Qualities ~ J.Ruth Gendler
I am Joe's Body ~ J.D. Ratcliff
How to find Happiness/Happiness at Work ~ Howard Cutler / His Holiness the Dalai Lama
The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity ~ Daniel Reid
Your Inner Secrets Exposed ~ Oakley
Linda Goodmans Sun Signs/Love Signs ~ Linda Goodman
Yoga for Transformation ~ Gary Kraftsow
My Daily Bread - A Summary of the Spiritual Life ~ Anthony J Paone, S.J.
 
oh....and the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
gibran-4.jpg


I've read my dog-eared copy a hundred times and each time still comforts me like the first.
 
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck . . . one of the great american novels that really hits home on the feelings of his day that still resonate today . . .


Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger . . . another American novel, its not quite as known or read as The Catcher in the Rye but has a lot of the same cynical outlook but with the aspect of looking for that greater meaning in life . . .


Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk . . . cause who doesn't wanna kill their boss and start revolutions while beating the shit out of themselves? ;) . . .


A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck . . . he and photographer Robert Capa go to Soviet Russia following WWII to see what its really like, and to see how welcoming the average Russian was and how fun loving and how they just wanted the same things out of life we do/did and that people always have makes you question and poke holes in the ideas of even what is termed in America as 'the Greatest Generation' . . . or at least in their politics . . .


Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson . . . this book showed me that the idea of the drug user was so wrong from what I've been showed . . . it also showed me the biting wit of Hunter's social commentary and political commentary that is what made him so great . . . he had a SPOT ON view of this country . . .


Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by various . . . its just a collection of old Buddhist fables and parables . . . I could never live up to such a thing but I can always try . . .
 
Addendum:

Heartbreaking Memoirs:
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis <3
Wasted by Marya Hornbacher

Favorite Fiction I can read over and over again:
Candy by Luke Davies
Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
 
Body Language - Fast

It is a book about people's behavior related to body language, from a scientific standpoint; or as scientific of a standpoint as you can get with body language. The book points out alot of things that you read and you 'click' and understand, like "Oh, why haven't I known this my whole life already?" It's pretty important stuff.

The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution -Schmookler

This is a truly influential book, if everyone took the time to read this book, there would be no wars going on. Seriously, it points out the exact reasons that power struggles happen. It's a long book, but here is the 'Parable' upon which it is based...

Imagine a group of tribes living within reach of one another. If all choose the way of peace, then all may live in peace. But what if all but one choose peace, and that one is ambitious for expansion and conquest? What can happen to the others when confronted by an ambitious and potent neighbor? Perhaps one tribe is attacked and defeated, its people destroyed and its lands seized for the use of the victors. Another is defeated, but this one is not exterminated; rather, it is subjugated and transformed to serve the conqueror. A third seeking to avoid such disaster flees from the area into some inaccessible (and undesirable) place, and its former homeland becomes part of the growing empire of the power-seeking tribe. Let us suppose that others observing these developments decide to defend themselves in order to preserve themselves and their autonomy. But the irony is that successful defense against a power-maximizing aggressor requires a society to become more like the society that threatens it. Power can be stopped only by power, and if the threatening society has discovered ways to magnify its power through innovations in organization or technology (or whatever), the defensive society will have to transform itself into something more like its foe in order to resist the external force.

I have just outlined four possible outcomes for the threatened tribes: destruction, absorption and transformation, withdrawal, and imitation. In every one of these outcomes the ways of power are spread throughout the system. This is the parable of the tribes.

Darwin in the Genome: Molecular Strategies in Biological Evolution -Caporale

The title pretty much says it all, this book is about how random selection might not be so random. She theorizes (with solid reason) that DNA has evolved strategies for mutating in a specific way, rather than just randomly happening.

The Mature Mind -Overstreet (The 'The Mature Mind' that was written in 1947)

This book was written a very long time ago, but shows that the condition of America has more or less not changed since this book was written. It talks alot about the maturing process not really happening in alot of our adults, and what keeps them childish. He brings up things like religion and media from a very unbiased but true standpoint. I can't tell you if he is religious or not, and that's a pretty respectable thing to pull off, IMO.

---
I read those while incarcerated as a juvenile; I couldn't have asked for better books. Really changes your view of the world, reading things as inspiring and thought-provoking as these books while in a jail.

Edit- Radiohead is great music, I feel the need to get it out there that I agree about that...
 
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Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend in a Coma
Douglas Coupland's Life After God

Two of my favorite novels of all time.

and yes, of course, Radiohead.

But also, the lyrics of Dave Matthews Band. Very inspirational and uplifting.
 
Niccolo Machiaveli's "The Prince".

About how to conduct yourself and mantain your position as a prince.

It gives good advice on how to live life, and how to have relations with people.

Greatly influenced Tupac, its why hes also know as Makaveli.
 
michael said:
don't bother telling us why they were influential, people...because reading random lists of books is FUN!

:)
Click to expand...

this guy had the right idea, but apparently people would rather just write lists. a shame, really - because this could have been a thread worth reading.

(what's also a shame is that i bothered expecting more out of it after my gentle admonishment and read it again)
 
michael said:
this guy had the right idea, but apparently people would rather just write lists. a shame, really - because this could have been a thread worth reading.

(what's also a shame is that i bothered expecting more out of it after my gentle admonishment and read it again)
Click to expand...

I thought you were serious... Really, if you know the books that are being discussed, it is kind of fun. I will update my post.
 
"Syphilis and AIDS."

Unlike the doctor who wrote that book and was intentionally infected with syphilis, I was infected as a child at the beach--St. Simon's Island no less. By the time I asked for treatment, they (the student health clinic, the health department, psychiatrists, etc.) wouldn't give it to me. Eventually, I obtained veterinary penicillin, but it was too late.

My initial infection may have occurred even earlier than when I thought, probably around 3 to 4 years which may exculpate St. Simon's but one thing is certain, a touch is all it takes.
 
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How to make friends and influence people, by Dale Carnegie, written in 1936. Read it while on a very heavy K trip and was pleasantly surprised. Offers insight into humans in general, I thought it was a fun read :)
 
osho - Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic

and

book of secrets

have taken me on a whole new direction :)
 
yellodolphin said:
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!!!
Click to expand...
in which case, read them all :)

alasdair
 
cainnabelspawn said:
Body Language - Fast

It is a book about people's behavior related to body language, from a scientific standpoint; or as scientific of a standpoint as you can get with body language. The book points out alot of things that you read and you 'click' and understand, like "Oh, why haven't I known this my whole life already?" It's pretty important stuff.

The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution -Schmookler

This is a truly influential book, if everyone took the time to read this book, there would be no wars going on. Seriously, it points out the exact reasons that power struggles happen. It's a long book, but here is the 'Parable' upon which it is based...

Imagine a group of tribes living within reach of one another. If all choose the way of peace, then all may live in peace. But what if all but one choose peace, and that one is ambitious for expansion and conquest? What can happen to the others when confronted by an ambitious and potent neighbor? Perhaps one tribe is attacked and defeated, its people destroyed and its lands seized for the use of the victors. Another is defeated, but this one is not exterminated; rather, it is subjugated and transformed to serve the conqueror. A third seeking to avoid such disaster flees from the area into some inaccessible (and undesirable) place, and its former homeland becomes part of the growing empire of the power-seeking tribe. Let us suppose that others observing these developments decide to defend themselves in order to preserve themselves and their autonomy. But the irony is that successful defense against a power-maximizing aggressor requires a society to become more like the society that threatens it. Power can be stopped only by power, and if the threatening society has discovered ways to magnify its power through innovations in organization or technology (or whatever), the defensive society will have to transform itself into something more like its foe in order to resist the external force.

I have just outlined four possible outcomes for the threatened tribes: destruction, absorption and transformation, withdrawal, and imitation. In every one of these outcomes the ways of power are spread throughout the system. This is the parable of the tribes.

Darwin in the Genome: Molecular Strategies in Biological Evolution -Caporale

The title pretty much says it all, this book is about how random selection might not be so random. She theorizes (with solid reason) that DNA has evolved strategies for mutating in a specific way, rather than just randomly happening.

The Mature Mind -Overstreet (The 'The Mature Mind' that was written in 1947)

This book was written a very long time ago, but shows that the condition of America has more or less not changed since this book was written. It talks alot about the maturing process not really happening in alot of our adults, and what keeps them childish. He brings up things like religion and media from a very unbiased but true standpoint. I can't tell you if he is religious or not, and that's a pretty respectable thing to pull off, IMO.

---
I read those while incarcerated as a juvenile; I couldn't have asked for better books. Really changes your view of the world, reading things as inspiring and thought-provoking as these books while in a jail.

Edit- Radiohead is great music, I feel the need to get it out there that I agree about that...
Click to expand...
Damn, I've got the same taste as this guy. ;)
 
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a great book for consciouness altering though. Couple that with LSD and you've got a book that will blow your mind. Also read Alice in Wonderland, I know what you're thinking but there's a lot of subcontext in there. Obviously written under the influences of mescaline and LSD, which Huxley (lucky us) was a frequent user and advocate of.
 
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