The Dispossessed, by Ursula LeGuin. I can recite the pivotal speech by heart.
“But Shevek, you are denying brotherhood!”
“No I am not - I am describing where it begins. It begins in shared pain.”
“And where does it end?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know, yet.”
Add Mere Christianity, by C.S.Lewis.
I was not so much changed by the Bible, as grew up with it.
Regards,
Shodan
Changed my life? Damn. My life’s been changed so many times I’ve stopped blaming individual books.
I was deep into Ayn Rand for quite a while (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead), but dropped that when I realized she wasn’t as profound as she thought she was, and her followers (including me) were nuts. See Michael Shermer’s essay “The Unlikeliest Cult in History” (which I believe is reprinted in Why People Believe Weird Things) for a deft criticism.
Freedom from the Known by Krishnamurti still haunts me. Anything by Krishnamurti haunts me - the man was a walking Zen koan. Just finished the biography on him by Pupul Jayakar, which was sad. Despite his proclamations to the contrary, Krishnamurti never quite escaped the zany symbolism and messianic zest foisted on him by Madame Blavatsky’s foot-soldiers.
Foundations in Computer Science by Aho and Ullman. It was the first book I read that made sense of mathematical induction. (Yes, this was earth-shaking for me, deal with it.)
Anything by Joseph Campbell. I read Occidental Mythology in high school and swore off Christianity for good. Campbell’s especially good for nonreligious people who need to understand the allure - and potential devastation - of spirituality throughout history.
Fiction-wise, Madame Bovary was a revelation - tightly and elaborately written in the same instant. One Hundred Years of Solitude also opened up new fields of possibility for me. (It also proves that magic has its place - in fiction.) I constantly re-read Joyce’s stories out of Dubliners, particularly “Araby”.
Gosh, this is difficult. Here are a few texts–sorry I can’t limit it just to books–that have changed me.
El Color de Nuestra Piel or The Color of Our Skin by Gorostiza because this play skillfully presents the color/race/class tensions between the mestizos (mixed Indian and Spanish in Mexico) and those Mexicans of unmixed Spanish blood. Up until that point I’d thought that color/race/class issues were specific to the United States. This work, which was also the easiest Spanish work I’ve ever translated, opened my eyes to the fact that racism and pigmentocracies exist and continue to thrive in countries outside the US.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler because it made me realize that the history of slavery in America has had and continues to have a profound effect on Americans even as late as in the latter half of the 20th century. It made me realize that Americans cannot and will not progress as a people until we deal with and reconcile ourselves with our slave past. Also, when I read this book, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. Every time I pick it up to re-read it, I find something new and fresh and exciting, and I can’t put it down until I’ve finished it. It’s as if I’m reading it for the first time.
“Euthyphro” by Plato because after struggling through this dialogue I realized that philosophy is not supposed to make sense or provide ready answers. Philosophy just is. “Euthyphro” made me realize that it’s okay to read something and not understand it because the point is not getting the answer but the process of seeking knowledge.
“Itsumo Tsuri wo Shite Iru Kodomo” or “Child Who’s Always Fishing” by Muroo Saisei because it’s the first Japanese poem I ever translated where I finally understood the author’s intention. Saisei published this simple, beautiful, moving poem in 1928 not as a critique of the Japanese feudal system, but rather to simply describe a boy who loves fishing so much that he cannot stop doing it. It opened up another way for me to view Japanese poetry.
Nobody’s asking you to. The question is, did it change you for the better?
Appropriately, given the recent sad news, one book that hugely changed me was Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams. Both rollickingly funny and deeply sad, it provided a coherent framework for my developing thoughts about ecology and taught me it’s possible to be very serious about a horrible tragedy without letting it weigh me down or turn me into a humorless grump.
I think I shall be reading it again now. 
When I was in sixth grade I read the book I love more and learned from most
Sophie’s World by Josntein Gaardner (I think that is the English title, I read it in Spanish)
It opened my mind to different perspectives, philosophies, religions. Made me question my beliefs. An excellent book, I have read it 4 or 5 times, I still am amazed and learn a bit more each reading. Also, gave me curiosity to search more about the philosophers/religions they talked about.
Let’s see. . . When I was very young it may have been “Alan Mendelson, The Boy from Mars” by Daniel Pinkwater, which is one of the first really long “chapter” books I’ve ever read. I’ve always wondered if it was this book that flavored my later tastes. . .
A little later I discovered the works of John Bellairs. John Bellairs wrote horror stories for kids, but they were all at least as horrifying as anything written for adults. There aren’t many times I remember being scared while reading a book, but John Bellairs is in most of those memorys.
Cut to me as an innocent sophomore in high school. I end up with my hands on a copy of “The Illuminatus Trilogy” and my life is changed forever. Of course I had no idea what most of the novel was talking about, and it happened to coincide with my first taste of illicit substances, but we were made for each other.
I don’t think it was the novel itself, as much as the kaleidoscope of ideas that the novel presented. Nothing like this had ever, ever shown up during the regular school curriculum.
For better or worse, these books have played a large part in my upbringing.
Byzantium
by Stephen R. Lawhead
A Historical Fantasy-ish book about a Irish Monk who journeys take him on a trip to learn God’s will. It takes him from Devout Monk, to sailor, to slave, to an ambassador and beyond. Truely a beautiful book. Not sure if it is based on a true story or not, not that it matters. 
When I was 9 my mom, my sister and I were snowed in at a goat farm for three days. An interesting situation anyhow, but I wasn’t a big TV watcher and there wasn’t much to do. The only book I could find that wasn’t material for the dissertation the house’s ownder was working on was “The Lord of the Rings.”
Hooked me on fantasy forever. She also had Hildebrandt Bros. calendars lying around, which helped me figure out some of what I’d been reading. I have to admit I skimmed a lot of it, the same way a lot of people skim or skip the “begat” pages in “The Bible,” but it made the three days fly by and ruined me for Beverly Cleary forever.
(As a side note, the only other thing I remember about that weekend besides feeding the baby goats every morning was hearing Molly Hatchet on the “King Biscuit Flour Hour.” Holy gods, that was a long time ago.)
I have to list a couple:
Tao Te Ching, by Lao-Tzu (that’s the way I’ve seen his name spelled most often). My immediate reaction upon finishing this was “Wow, that’s all the world’s wisdom in one book with no crap!” I don’t think that any more, but the book still had a profound influence on my thinking.
Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. Anything that can take art, music, logic, molecular biology, computer science, and cognitive science and integrate them into a coherent whole is pretty damn cool.
In the same vein, if I may first pimp my own thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=72044
By the way, some great suggestions! I wish I wasn’t about 2 years behind on my most wanted reading list!
<b>Why Government Doesn’t Work</b> by Harry Browne. Anyone who thinks Libertarians are nutcases should give this book a try. I don’t agree with everything, but Browne’s logic is very profound.
<b>American Tabloid</b> by James Ellroy. You’ll never trust anything you see in the news or in history books again. Right now about 150 out of 700 pages into the follow-up <b>The Cold 6000</b> and it’s just as good!
<b>Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff</b> by Richard Carlson. Good for a new perspective. No advice though if you are on Death Row.
<b>Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy</b> by the late Doug Adams. This changed my life because I named my cat Zaphod.
<b>48 Laws of Power</b> The ultimate Machiavellian guide, or at least a good manual on what kind of people are out there. I bought the book 2 years ago, and am only half way through it. Yet what I have read has impacted my view of the world tremendously, though has made me incredibly paranoid, which still may be a good thing. For shorter and funnier version, try “What Would Machiavelli Do?”.
<b>“How to Become a Rainmaker” and “How to Become CEO”</b> by Jeffrey Fox. Easy to read, to the point primers on business survival.
<b>“Greed is Good”</b> by Jonathan Hoenig. Will help you rethink your spending habits. Funny read as well.
MotherFUCK. What’s with the html not working on this MB???
Starship on Saddle Mountain!
I liked it so much in 8th grade that I stole it and still have it.
It was my first real step into the world of Science Fiction and I have never looked back. It opened up the possibilities of hundreds of thousands of fantastic, often thought provoking, mostly very informative and mind expanding adventures.
** Jerry Todd and His Steam Boat**.
Read it in like 2nd grade and it was a delightful, well written book that even then was old. It had red, linen covered bindings and was about a cool kid having improbable and hilarious adventures with his friends. I read all of those the grade school library had, which were like about 6. When I ran through them, I never forgot those wonderfully written books and felt a loss at not having anymore.
Thanks to the Internet, I’ve discovered the Jerry Todd books are available, including those I’ve not read!! But, now they sell at something like $50 to $75 each!!
Those books were excellent for kids, because there was no real violence (just play wars with dirt bombs and wooden swords), no harsh language, no stabbing each other in the back, no sex, no racism, no drugs or drug related activity and the stuff they made or did could actually be done!
There’s no way in heck such a cool book could be written today!
Wow, my first thread to reach two pages.
Why do all the boring threads become popular while all my favorites died around the ten post mark?
I think I’ll give up posting new threads now
— G. Raven
In order of reading:
The Chronicals of Narnia
The Walking Drum, Louis L’Amour
Ender’s Game
Stranger in a Strange Land
I’ve read hundreds of books, possibly thousands, but if you ask me for the four that made the biggest impact, here they are. I guess TCoN is a series, so it may not count.
–Tim
The Power of Now by Eckert Tolle
My counseler recommended this book to me to help me clear my head and start focusing on what is really good in life. The theme of the book is trying not to focus on the past or future, but now. It’s spiritual, but doesn’t push any religion in your face. It hasn’t completely changed my life, but it has affected it for the better.
I second the Power of Now, it’s probable the single most amazing book available.
But don’t take my word for it 
— G. Raven
good morning friends,
i have been influenced by many books over the years, but reading to kill a mockingbird as a sixth grader gave me a different view of the world. atticus finch was one of my early role models.
Actually, I see life as a trip from the cradle to the grave… Hefner calls it a train ride. Sometimes long, sometimes short, and sometimes side-tracked, but none-the-less a journey. Something that “changed my life” didn’t really change it… It just rerouted it. I can look back on a major fork in my road-of-life and see how either path would have brought me to the same place.
For dysfunctional types like me [and a majority of American overachievers] John Bradshaw’s book “The Family” is an eye-opener in analysing the dysfunctional family and the road back to some semblance of sanity.
It taught me to live comfortably in my own skin… a highly recommended way to life style!