What books have influenced you most?

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
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G Gordon Liddy - Will
Ben Franklin - autobiography
Herman Hesse - Siddhartha
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
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Influenced me? Hmm not sure any has actually changed the way I think but many have enthralled me or "blown my mind" so to speak. My favourite being 100 years of solitude of course. See my sig. Close second would be Moby Dick.
 

Farang

Lifer
Jul 7, 2003
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On the Road, Dharma Bums, Lonesome Traveler (Kerouac); A Farewell to Arms (Hemingway); The Great Shark Hunt (Thompson), Zen/Art Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig), Siddhartha (Hesse), Bible.

Probably more but that's all I can think of. Not all have influenced in the sense that I read them and their entire contents changed my life, sometimes it was just a paragraph or it was just that that book happened to be part of an otherwise significant event.
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
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The Bible of course has inspired me more than any other book. Not meaning to sound cliche, but it is true.

I really enjoy reading but I couldn't say many other books I've read were "inspiring" as much as entertaining. I've probably seen more inspiring movies than books.
 

Woosta

Platinum Member
Mar 23, 2008
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For those of you posting titles, please explain how and why the books inspired you.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
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Friends at Home, Friends at School - the reading book I used to teach myself to read.
Herman Hesse - Siddhartha and Steppenwolf
Grimms Fairy Tales - never trust short people
The Thunderer - a collection of stories from Greek mythology I read in third grade.
Volcano! and Iceberg! - two short books about volcanoes and icebergs that set me up for life.

The forward in the copy of Steppenwolf I read suggested not reading it until one is middle aged. I was ~20 at the time. A few years later I understood what the commentator meant.

Illusions by Richard Bach was inspiring but some how not satisfying. Siddhartha fixed everything I felt wrong about Illusions. Magister Ludi was on a roll to replace Siddharththa but Hesse kind of just left the story incomplete.
 
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Dec 10, 2005
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I don't think I could pinpoint a specific set of books, but I would say I've read works from the following that have helped to shape my views of the world:

Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations & Theory of Moral Sentiments)
John Stuart Mill (On Liberty)
Karl Schmidt (Problems of Parliamentary Democracy)
Durkheim (Division of Labor in Society)
Karl Marx (various writings)
Rousseau (various writings)
John Locke (various writings)
Hobbes (Leviathan)

and probably a few more whom I've forgotten to list...

Edit:
For some reason, I thought this was in P&N... but I guess it still somewhat applies.
 
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ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
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Tuesdays with Morrie

Made me think about what is really important in life, for a bit at least. And then life got back in the way and I returned to my old ways, sad how that works.