What book has had the greatest influence on your life & why?

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  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins

    This.
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    When I was 14, I read a lot of philosophy. Sarte and Nietzsche were my favs. They helped through a bunch of trouble.

    Recently, Eckhart Tolle and his book "A New Earth" is amazing. His other stuff is good too. I am learning how to live in the present.

    Also, "Letters From a Living Dead Man" is kind of blowing my mind and seems to be fixing some thoughts I have had about life and death.
  • bulbadoof
    bulbadoof Posts: 1,058 Member
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    Helen Keller's Teacher by Margaret Davidson. I must have read it twenty times between grades four and ten. It gave me this overwhelming sense of gratitude for the fact that I could see and hear and speak, as well as the inspiration and motivation to make the most of everything I've been given.

    One of my favorite passages was the day Anne finally got through to Helen by pouring water over one hand and drumming the sign language for the word "water" into the other. It clicked, and when it did it sparked an insatiable curiosity to understand her world. After learning what it was, she wanted to be a part of it. For the first time in her life, she was excited about the world instead of feeling trapped in it.

    I felt blessed and powerful and so very lucky every time I finished the book - whenever I think about how far off I am from my goals and how annoyed I am with the things I have to do to reach them, I think about how exhilarating it feels to have goals, to be moving toward them, and to have a clear idea of what I want in my head.
  • sho3girl
    sho3girl Posts: 10,799 Member
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    You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay - this book taught me to listen to my body and understand that pain and disease are only physical manifestations of negative thought patterns. In the most basic terms: if you can change your mind, you can change your life.

    a late night DJ on my local station used to mention this book alot ...

    For me its "The Power of One" Bryce Courtney can read it over and over .... one person can make a difference
  • BandedTriaRN
    BandedTriaRN Posts: 303
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    "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay! I love that book. Louise was diagnosed with cervical cancer and she supposedly used mind body techniques to heal herself. I don't know if that is true but I do believe that you can use the power of thought to transform your life..

    "Shrink Yourself" by Dr Roger Gould, MD deals with emotional eating

    "Dealing with the Crazy Makers in Your Life" by Dr David Hawkins: Helped me in dealing with the nuts in my family lol

    "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte: When I was a child, my Dad brought home a clef comic book version of this and it pivotal in influencing my love of classic literature especially the Gothic genre.
  • BandedTriaRN
    BandedTriaRN Posts: 303
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    In the Meantime by Iyanla Vanzant.

    Not everybody who comes into your life was meant to last a lifetime. It taught me to stop hanging on to toxic people in my life and to search for happiness. Don't settle for living in a 'in the meantime ' relationship



    Going to go get a copy right now! :)
  • Jain
    Jain Posts: 861 Member
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    The Drifters, James Mitchener. Read this at about 14, it helped me realise a few things about myself. And possibly triggered my itchy feet.

    Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley. I was already questioning Christianity, this book helped me see that there are many other belief systems out there.
  • Silver180
    Silver180 Posts: 294
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    I'm not going to think too hard about this because I'm just recently getting back into reading. I'm reading more serious stuff now.

    I'd say the concepts in Animal Farm are pretty powerful. But more recently I would have to go with East of Eden by John Steinbeck, because of "timshel". Thou mayest. We are man, and we have the power of choice: To choose whether or not we follow the path of good or evil. To face temptation or fall victim to it.
  • hikezilla
    hikezilla Posts: 174 Member
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    My Side of the Mountain
    The Bibles (Douey-Rheims, KJV)
    The Outsiders (SE Hinton)
    That was Then, This is Now (SE Hinton)
  • destanicheri
    destanicheri Posts: 297 Member
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    The Bible- because it tells me everything I ever need to know, and it comforts me as well!
  • VeganPanda
    VeganPanda Posts: 582 Member
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    Diet for a New America by Robbins. :heart:
  • JoanneStone
    JoanneStone Posts: 135 Member
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    Go Ask Alice

    Definitely this one. This book turned me completely away from drugs, without it, and all of the pressures in my school, I don't know what I would have done, because before this book, I wanted to do it all.




    Wow! This brings back memories! I read this book Many years age (we won't say how many) When I was a teen. Glad to see it is still speaking to other generations.
  • LesterBlackstone
    LesterBlackstone Posts: 291 Member
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    The Zombie Survival Guide.
  • Cliffslosinit
    Cliffslosinit Posts: 5,044 Member
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    The Bible....

    This^^
    Don't push it.
    Just grew up with it.
    Dad was a Preacher....see that's what wrong with me.
  • Hambone23
    Hambone23 Posts: 486 Member
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    Yes, yes: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand after college, though yes, I know, Objectivism in untenable. But it challenged me to think. And I hadn't been challenged in a while. I respected that.

    Now that I'm an adult? Thou Art That or anything by Joseph Campbell. Comparative mythologist.

    It'd take too long to explain, but Campbell proves how there is one main myth that is relived in every story, every movie, even our own lives. Interesting fact: George Lucas depended heavily on Campbell's monomyth theory for his original Star Wars trilogy, and in Campbell's later years, he spent much time at Skywalker Ranch. Campbell's work has become the basis for the structure of everything from movies to books in Hollywood and the publishing field.
  • Blaqheart
    Blaqheart Posts: 235
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    *Bump*
  • LesterBlackstone
    LesterBlackstone Posts: 291 Member
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    *Bump*

    Never read it. Was it good?
  • CountryMom03
    CountryMom03 Posts: 258 Member
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    Paula Deens Memoir "It Ain't All about the Cookin"...I could relate to her so much and never realized all the stuff that she overcame and where she came from:)

    Also the book "Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine" by Ronald F. Schmid, it truly opened my eyes to the food industry and why so many of us are sick.
  • cmdwyer00
    cmdwyer00 Posts: 40 Member
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    The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chobsky

    First read it when I was about sixteen. It spoke so perfectly to that feeling of being a teenager and just feeling so lost and confused about everything in your life. It was the first time I ever felt like I wasn't weird or alone. I wouldn't say it's my all time favorite book, but I don't think I'll ever love a book the way I loved Perks when I first read it.

    Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

    Read it when I was a freshman in college. So incredibly well-written, and ended up being the final push in me changing my major from journalism to creative writing. The first chapter of Lolita is the most beautifully written passage I've ever read in my entire life Fun fact: when I've been drinking, apparently I'm able to recite the entire first chapter by memory (along with passages from Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby). Not sure why, as I can't do it sober haha
  • mommared53
    mommared53 Posts: 9,543 Member
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    Definitely the Bible (KJV) and the Bible Pathway Ministries devotional books.

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