Comments on: What books have changed your life?

By: vytae

vytae — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:01:16 +0000

Life of Pi put serious chinks into my material, evidence-based, scientific, pragmatic system of valuing things. I’m still an atheist, and I still tend to value truth over happy fiction. But after reading that book, I’m much more open to occasionally letting beauty win over practicality.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:58:11 +0000

The World of Mathematics made me want to be a mathematician (desire expired junior year of college); The Cantos changed the way I thought about poetry; The Pound Era changed the way I thought about literary history; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance just shook my mind up a lot.

By: Kickstart

Kickstart — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:39:33 +0000

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.

Growing up, it was the book that made me love the outdoors. I’m now reading the trilogy, chapter by chapter, to my two year old daughter.

By: synaesthetichaze

synaesthetichaze — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:08:57 +0000

I read ‘Call of the Wild’ by Jack London when I was 7, and I’m not sure what it wrought on my consciousness, especially since this is around the time you start to become a sentient person in the first place, but my perceptions and empathy changed dramatically around that time. I also started to write stories, and continued to do so until a couple of years ago. And I’m certain that ‘Call of the Wild’ is what made me want to read *other* works of fiction later.

‘Cryptonomicon’ made me want to be a unix jedi. And hey! that’s what I am. So far I haven’t done anything worthwhile with my skills, but maybe someday I will.

‘Guns Germs Steel’ made me realize a whole bunch of things that I haven’t really worked out yet, so the change there is still ongoing.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:06:47 +0000

Mother Night - changed my understanding of good and evil
Dhalgren - made my brain explode, made me want to be a writer (yeah, sure, maybe someday)
Holidays in Hell - helped ignite my wanderlust
Stranger in a Strange Land - taught me how to grok

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:36:22 +0000

Paul Auster’s The Moon Palace and Hand to Mouth. I read them both in order and after I had I knew I wanted to be a writer (actually there was a short story involved as well, Lawrence Watt-Evans’ Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers, which convinced me I needed to go for it). William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition helped me articulate how I perceive the world (or, depending on my mood, changed the way that I perceive the world so completely that I can’t remember ever having perceived it differently). Those are the ones I can think of right now. I’m sure there are more. And I’m not gonna mention the scads of poems.

By: starsonesp

starsonesp — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:49:22 +0000

These two books massively opened me up to a spiritual practice around my creativity.

A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit.

“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.”

The Healer’s Way by Earnie Larsen.

“If you make a friend of silence and grow accustomed to waiting before your open door, rest assured that you will learn to listen to your own messengers, who will surround you in dizzying abundance.”

By: IndigoRain

IndigoRain — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:43:31 +0000

For me it was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It really made me think differently about life and friendships.