The Book(s) that changed the Way You See the World

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by BenG

There's a joke in there somewhere about pajamas and woodpeckers, but I'll refrain.

I've only read Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Skinny Legs and All. Which book of his should be read next?

You need to read Another Roadside Attraction. It's my favourite.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by kalwisti

It's almost impossible for me to list specific book titles, but I can mention two writers who changed my world view: R. K. Narayan (1906-2001) and Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902-1991).

Narayan created the fictional town of Malgudi, located "somewhere in South India," which is a microcosm of India itself. His characters come from all castes, have a variety of personality types and attitudes towards life.

Singer, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978, richly describes the Jewish experience both in Eastern Europe and through Jewish-American immigrants. I was tempted to study Yiddish, just so that I could read his works in the original. (That is still on my bucket list).

These gifted writers gave me an insider's glimpse of cultures which are very different from my own.

Would go along with Singer being a big impact for me. As far as writing style impact The Stranger opened my eyes to what writing could do. I'd never read anything like it.

[Geralt]

My greatest influence so far has been Michel Foucault. After reading his The Hermeneutics of the Subject, Society Must Be Defended, History of Sexuality I to III and his other works, my views on myself, the society I live in and other people have become much more aware of the complexity that mutual influences, history, society, education, sexuality and so on have on each other and most importantly on a single individual.
All of the big ideas I'm interested in like identity, politics, history, nations, subject, education stem from reading Foucault. I find his writings both compelling and interesting to read.
I understand I'm not very objective here, being a philosophy major, and doing my MA on Foucault


Oh yeah I forgot. Fiction wise...
When I was in high school one book shook me to my core, because I completely identified with absurdity of society K was living in and my own society. I couldn't stop thinking about this book, and I re-read it multiple times.
The Trial by Franz Kafka. It's translated as Process in my language.

[CapZap]

John Twelve Hawks Fourth Realm Trilogy gave me a new way to view government monitoring of our electronic communications and the mass use of CCTV cameras. Don't governments always say it's for our own safety?

[Araucaria]

Originally Posted by Geralt

Oh yeah I forgot. Fiction wise...
When I was in high school one book shook me to my core, because I completely identified with absurdity of society K was living in and my own society. I couldn't stop thinking about this book, and I re-read it multiple times.
The Trial by Franz Kafka. It's translated as Process in my language.

That book was fiction? oooohhhh

I think the title was pretty much the same in his own language ("Der Prozess")

[ebusinesstutor]

Originally Posted by JimmyH

We know nothing about God and about the Christian life in a true sense apart from the Bible. We can draw various deductions from nature (and possibly from various mystical experiences) by which we can arrive at a belief in a supreme Creator. But I think it is agreed by most Christians and it has been traditional throughout the long history of the Church that we have no authority save this Book.

We cannot rely solely upon subjective experiences because there are evil spirits as well as good spirits' there are counterfeit experiences. Here, in the Bible is our sole authority."

The Bible in its present form is a collection of texts that were compiled by various church authorities (different versions for Catholics and Protestants.) The King James version many people think of as "The" Bible was a translation done in 1611, 15 centuries after Jesus' death. It was not written by God and much of it was written 100s of years after Jesus' death.

[WT Sharpe]

People, please keep in mind that when a thread asks a question such as what are "The Book(s) that changed the Way You See the World," it's one thing to answer "The King James Version of the Bible" and quite another to begin presenting arguments for your personal theological views or your beliefs concerning Church history. We have an opt-in forum for the discussion of Politics and Religion. This isn't the place for either topic. If you are interested in these topics, please review this thread. Thank you.

[varlog]

Ok, thank you all for input.
Some of you decided not to disclose why: Dhalgren? The City and the Stars? Ringworld? -just books that ring a bell by me, but not any profound experience? Would be nice to know more.

I'm not very much into politics or economics so I'll let it lay. I'm interested in religion and such - but I won't agree with you... and been afraid of... (see above ).

I Ching: there was a period of my life when I consulted I Ching, before making decisions. One answer I got was something like: "the small bird should fly low for his song to be heard". Well, I remember it still, after all those years... Not sure it was a good advice... but very wise.

My wife has a very simple method to chose books to read: Nobel prize winners (Singer etc). It is very effective. I've read some of Pamuk because of it and I don't regret it. But usually I'm not up to her sophistication level.

At the moment, after this, on my to be read list: Tom Robbins, Michel Foucault(?).

EDIT: on this forum I'd have expected more input

[SteveEisenberg]

I haven't chimed in here because of thinking that no one book really has done anything quite so grand as changing the way I see the world. But there is one that instantly changed the way I deal with money:


A Random Walk Down Wall Street

[NickyWithNook]

All I can think of are Walden and Tao Te Ching, though they both seem really obvious. Books have made an impression on me, but I don't know how much they've changed the way I see the world, other than those two.

[cromag]

Many (most?) books I've read have had an influence on me. The one that had the biggest impact on my world view, both at the time I read it and in the years that followed, would probably be Flowers for Algernon. I actually read the short(er) story, as it appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction, before re-reading it as a paperback novel. I think the shorter story had the greater impact, but both versions are powerful, IMHO.

I first read it in my early teens, in the 1960s. At the time I was one of those kids who breezed through school with Bs even though I never cracked a book or handed in homework. Reading about a developmentally disabled man, struggling to cope with the world around him, realistically written in the first person, really shook me.

The ending of the book was crushing.

In the past few years I've had the opportunity to meet many disabled people, and I've never forgotten that book.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by cromag

Many (most?) books I've read have had an influence on me. The one that had the biggest impact on my world view, both at the time I read it and in the years that followed, would probably be Flowers for Algernon. I actually read the short(er) story, as it appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction, before re-reading it as a paperback novel. I think the shorter story had the greater impact, but both versions are powerful, IMHO.

I first read it in my early teens, in the 1960s. At the time I was one of those kids who breezed through school with Bs even though I never cracked a book or handed in homework. Reading about a developmentally disabled man, struggling to cope with the world around him, realistically written in the first person, really shook me.

The ending of the book was crushing.

In the past few years I've had the opportunity to meet many disabled people, and I've never forgotten that book.

[GeoffR]

Peter Singer, Animal Liberation.

[Lin2412]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Sophie's World. It was the best book I'd read (in 1990) until the year 2000. It still remains a remarkable book, in the way some of Western philosophy is both condensed and simplified brilliantly. It remains a unique book and a nostalgic one now. I've never read a book about philosophy that's as easy as SW. It's also a book that I've read so many times that I'll never read it again.

That was my favorite book when I was in highschool! It also changed the way I saw the world at some point in my life. I currently like the idea of reading horror books so I don't know if those would change my life's perspective. Haha. I did read the first two books of A Song of Fire and Ice and it just made me escape into the wonderful world of medieval-like battles and zombies. I mean walkers.

[owly]

Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The mists of Avalon" Read it when I was 15 and it made me realize that a story can have different perspectives.