RASA you’re a Doper after my own heart! I too first read The Little Prince in my 20’s after receiving it as a gift from a dear friend. Try it, she said, you’ll be surprised. Yeah, I thought, it looks like a friggin’ kid’s book-This outta be good! Am I ever glad that I took her advice and read the book! I have two personal copies (one home copy, one office copy) and generally have an extra copy around that I pass on to someone I feel might understand. I too have been know to judge people by their reaction to the book. Anyone out there not having read the book: WHat are you waiting for? Two Dopers highly recommend it to your attention. Colud you ask for a better endorsement?
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.
I was in the 10th grade. I had written an essay on how I thought war was a necessary part of our society for my history class. I have always liked this teacher and was known for ranting a little in her class. I carried the essay to a bit of an extreme, looking forward to her rebuttal. Her only response was to loan me Ishmael.
I was hooked right away. It opened my mind to possibilities outside of our society and how things have “always been”… in fact, showed me that things had NOT always been a certain way. The book opened me to truly examine most of my beliefs, be they social or religious or personal or whatever. It started my journey, so to speak.
I ran into the teacher years later and thanked her for sharing that with me and briefly told her how she impacted my life. It was really nice. I’m a better person because of her and because of the book.
Now how’s THAT for sappy? <sniff>
That would be Anthem by Any Rand, still one of my favorite books. I then took to reading everything else by her. I don’t believe EVERYTHING she said, but a lot of it was exactly what I had been thinking all my life so it was nice to see someone else believed the same thing.
another would be The Neverending Story by Ende
If I actually type out the title of this book by J.D. Salinger and send it into cyberspace, the FBI’s super computers would pick it up and send the nearest agent to my house. I have seen their black helicopters hovering over my house and I can’t be too carefull…
I’d hafta go with **Self Reliance ** by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I also really enjoy **The Norton Anthology of English Literature **. I’ll just open it read a part at random and I never fail to come away with a renewed appreciation for the beauty of the literary arts.
Since I’m a bookworm, I’ve had so many books I can’t begin to count.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Night
Ramona Quimby books–she was so much like I was.
any of my quote books–I have so many quotes highlighted.
The Bible, most definitely.
To Kill a Mockingbird–my heart went out to Boo Radley
As much as I hate to say it, PLG is right: The Scarlet Letter is an excellent book. I had to read it last year for school and I abhorred it at the time, but after I was done with it I was in awe.
I’ll get back to you guys on this one!
*Slaughterhouse Five
*Cats Cradle
*Bluebeard
All works by Kurt Vonnegut. All wonderful.
A Prayer for Owen Meany, was a very good book too.
I’d have to say Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. He’s the perfect author for the searching young man. Narcissus and Goldmund resonated with me as well.
Others:
Candide by Voltaire
Vonnegut-wise I’d pick Slaughterhouse 5 and Slapstick.
Someone mentioned the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. That was a biggie for me. One of the themes I appreciated was the ethic of keeping your head and being ‘deadly competent’ amidst the swirling chaos. It’s kind of like the Grateful Dead of books - flawed, sometimes magical, pointing the way to other things.
Thoreau’s Walden
It changed what I thought was important in life. A writer can’t aim much higher than that
I have to give a nod to the aforementioned;
Diceman
To Kill A Mockingbird
Ishmael
Jitterbug Perfume
…I loved them all, without a doubt, but I’d have to include:
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (it’s not what you think)
The Tao of Physics
The Dancing Wu Li Masters- Gary Zukov
The Flounder- Gunter Grass (just once I’d like to talk to someone else who read this baby, personally I thought it was wonderful)
A book called The Sheepskin Psychosis by John Keats. It finally made me stop feeling inferior for dropping out of college, and inspired me study on my own.
Immanuel Kant’s “CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON”,and Hegel’s “PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIND”-I actually read these!..sure convinced me that I DID NOT want to be a philiosopher!!
Ah, egkelly, you oughtta try Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. If that doesn’t get you to reading philosophy in a new way, nothing will.
It’s up there in my list of books that have influenced me, of course.
Number one is an oddball: Cities and the Wealth of Nations, by Jane Jacobs. Her others, The Economy of Cities, and The Death and Life of Great American Cities are also very good.
What amazes me about her in these books is that she so correctly predicts the things that will happen years, sometimes many years, after she wrote these books. And when she predicts them, she does it with unshakeable certainty.