Books that Changed your Life

[ferno]

In Walden, Thoreau muses: "How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book?"

You know what I mean, those books that empty all the cobwebs out of your brain, or give you a violent but necessary knock on the head. Which books did that for you guys?

For me it was Montaigne's Essais. I don't recognize the person I was when I first picked up that book.

[Superphil]

For me, without a doubt it was Walden by Thoreau.

[BelleZora]

The two books that changed my life are Walden and Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

[HLS]

This is gonna sound dumb. The Eragon Series by Christopher Paolini . Went 20 years not picking up a single book as of 2010 but reading this series got me reading every day since then. Also it sparked my imagination to a new level that still continues. I learned reading is just not a high school/college chore to endure but can be fun.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by HLS

This is gonna sound dumb.

I think it's a lovely answer. Kudos.

[issybird]

Life-changing is a high bar, but books that gave me much to think about and changed my world view include:

• Medea by Euripedes
• Agamemnon by Aeschylus
• A Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
• Either/Or by Søren Kierkegaard
• The Diary and Autobiography of John Adams

[JSWolf]

Given that I cannot remember the first book I ever read, I'm going with some other books I do remember from way back when.

The Star Trek Log books by James Blish. As well as Spock Must Die by James Blish. Also the Hardy Boys books and Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators books.

I was given these books and I remember reading and enjoying them.

[Martinoptic]

I loved the Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators books. Not been able to find them as ebooks sadly. Jupiter Jones might have had more luck.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Martinoptic

I loved the Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators books. Not been able to find them as ebooks sadly. Jupiter Jones might have had more luck.

The name of the series was changed to The Three Investigators. Try looking for eBooks under that series name.

[Renate]

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
No, it's not a 100% endorsement of any philosophy, but it made me think.
"Lila" taught me that going down rabbit holes wasn't productive.

[Sirtel]

No single book has ever changed my life or my outlook, no matter how good, serious or thoughtful. It's more than likely that all the books I've ever read in almost 50 years (and there have been a couple of thousand at least) have had a cumulative effect I haven't consciously noticed; there have been books I've loved and books I've hated; books making me laugh, cry or both at once; books making me think and books making me dream; but a life-changing experience from reading something? Nope. I'm way too stubborn for that.

[haertig]

No book has ever changed my life. Some I remember more than others though. Either because I liked the story they told (fiction), or because they were immensely technically useful at the time (like the CRC book of mathematical tables, or my DiffEq textbook). Those didn't change my life, but they helped me advance in it.

Nowadays I just read for fun. 100% of the time. And books that people claim have changed their lives are not usually the fun ones. They may be good books for other reasons, but "fun" is not generally used to describe them. I am highly unlikely to ever read a book that will change my life. But I hope there are still many that will make my life more enjoyable. i.e., entertain me and make me happy.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by issybird

Life-changing is a high bar [...]

Very!

Looking back, I can't help questioning cause and effect. Did I read a book because my life was changing, or did my life change because I read a book? There seems no way, in retrospect, to separate the events.

And then there's the question: as profound as the impact seemed at the time, did it actually change my life? Or do I only wish that it had?

Plus the bar just keeps getting higher. As the years accumulate I've grown wary of the seemingly profound or enlightening. Should any one book ever be truly life-changing? In my cynical years I think not. Give me another perspective. Tell me the other side. There's always another side.

[Aleron Ives]

The younger you are, the more easily a single event, such as a book, can move you. People's minds tend to solidify over time.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

The younger you are, the more easily a single event, such as a book, can move you. People's minds tend to solidify over time.

Well, it's also less likely to be both something not like anything encountered before and compelling.