Which books changed your life or mind?

[IngridBergman]

Hi everyone,
I'm nicole.
I just read Ishmael and The Fountainhead. I'm looking for books that widen your perspective and change the way you live or think. I just graduated college and now I am my own teacher. Something truly challenging. Thanks.

[sleepydumpling]

Welcome Nicole!

Tough question. Personally I believe every book I read affects me in some way. But for true profound changes, let me think...

Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch Don't let the title or the method of "delivery" put you off. Some concepts that really gave me something to chew on.

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. I thought I was getting fluffy chick lit, but it really had me thinking by the end.

I can't think of any more right now but I'll be back when I do.

[aemdis]

let's see....

I would have to say:

Perfume by Patrick Suskind is one. Parts are very existential, and parts are just very elemental.

Dream Brother by David Browne. Jeff Buckley biography, he's one of my heroes.

Fight Club by Chuck Palaniuk ( I know I spelled that wrong). Mind Blowing.

I don't know of any truly universal life changing books, these are just personal opinions.

[IngridBergman]

buckley's pretty cool. i think there's a live album called dream brother as well. the one i got was too scratched up, but what i heard i liked. ive listened to grace; it's definitely a suitable title for that album.

[Sandy_124]

I know it might sound ridiculous to some of you, but the Harry Potter series changed my life.

I'm actually a very avid reader and have read lots of classics as well as popular stuff, but the Potter books effected me because when I reached the end, when there was no more, I became very depressed. It was like good friends had died. I would never be able to hang out with my buds anymore, at least I wouldn't be able to go on any new adventures with them.

This bummed me out so much that I actually started writing. I guess I thought I could make my own world where I would never have to say good by to the characters living there.

I don't think I'll ever be the next J. K. Rowlings, but that doesn't matter because as it turns out I really like to write, but I might have never realized it if I hadn't tried, and I wouldn't have tried if it wasn't for the Potter books.

So no, it wasn't Ayn Rand, Harper Lee, Stephen Crane, Hemmingway, Jack Kerouac or Salinger; it was a story about a boy wizard named Harry that altered the course of my life...kinda like magic.

[Wordsgood]

Hey, it doesn't sound ridiculous to me! I think it's wonderful that you got so much out them. Reading them allowed you to discover a passion and talent you didn't even know you had. I'd call that life-changing without question! Good for you!

I know it might sound ridiculous to some of you, but the Harry Potter series changed my life.

I'm actually a very avid reader and have read lots of classics as well as popular stuff, but the Potter books effected me because when I reached the end, when there was no more, I became very depressed. It was like good friends had died. I would never be able to hang out with my buds anymore, at least I wouldn't be able to go on any new adventures with them.

This bummed me out so much that I actually started writing. I guess I thought I could make my own world where I would never have to say good by to the characters living there.

I don't think I'll ever be the next J. K. Rowlings, but that doesn't matter because as it turns out I really like to write, but I might have never realized it if I hadn't tried, and I wouldn't have tried if it wasn't for the Potter books.

So no, it wasn't Ayn Rand, Harper Lee, Stephen Crane, Hemmingway, Jack Kerouac or Salinger; it was a story about a boy wizard named Harry that altered the course of my life...kinda like magic.

[mrc105]

The Lord of the Flies had a profound affect on me. I had something in common with each of the main charaters. I was schocked into self realization when I discovered the the character I had the most in common with was Roger (Jack's Henchman).

The Return by William Shatner. I know a Star Trek book, but it was actually the first book I read all the way through. I felt like I has accomplished something.

The Richest Man in Baybalon by Goege S. Classon. I read that and it was so insightful from a money stand point. Plus I liked the way it was presented, almost biblical in its wording.

[iazxq]

Good Sense by Holbach, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d', 1723-1789

[sleepydumpling]

Sandy, I reckon you should write to JK Rowling and tell her what you just told us. It's the kind of thing every author DREAMS of hearing.

I think Harry Potter changed my life a bit too - it brought me my imagination back after many years of a big old slump.

[Dori]

Sandy, I reckon you should write to JK Rowling and tell her what you just told us. It's the kind of thing every author DREAMS of hearing.

I think Harry Potter changed my life a bit too - it brought me my imagination back after many years of a big old slump.

I think Harry Potter changed my life too; it made me dumber, I swear!

Though I'm not finished with it, The Importance of Life by Lin Yutang has confirmed many of my beliefs and introduced many more to me. Read Whitman (Emerson, I've heard, too. Maybe Langston Hughes as well) and you should, with a little luck, become an optimist! Read Schopenhauer and Ambrose Bierce and you'll become a pessimist, no doubt. Read the Bible and you might come across something like "The Lord reigns." It hasn't influenced me much, but it provides guidance for so many people...Maybe the Koran is more to your liking...

Read what you think will widen your perspective.

I've only thrown a few names out there.

[Sandy_124]

I read mostly for entertainment, and sometimes to learn facts, but I can't say that I have ever had a book change my outlook, values, or beliefs, nor would I expect it to. I hope I am not that easily swayed, or I might have a life changing experience from watching an episode of Fear Factor

[blue_doona32]

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie because it just inspired me to look at things from all persepectives, children and adult.

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll because it taught me to dream. And! I'll never want to be late for anything for fear of being beheaded. Ha.

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman because he uses his world as a slight mirror of our own and has lead me to see different ideas about what religion can truly be.

[sleepydumpling]

I read mostly for entertainment, and sometimes to learn facts, but I can't say that I have ever had a book change my outlook, values, or beliefs, nor would I expect it to. I hope I am not that easily swayed, or I might have a life changing experience from watching an episode of Fear Factor

Every moment in life can change your life, often quite unexpectedly. Something profound or something simple, it all has the potential to make a big change!

[CassieXO]

East of Eden by Steinbeck

[Sheila]

Well I also think this is going to sound silly, but Gone with the Wind, I first read the book when I was eight, and it actually made me realize that war was something that didn't just happened in history books, or on a battle field. Even though the civil war was way before my time, it opened my eyes to the fact the war happening on my tv (the gulf war) could have an impact on my life on the otherside of the world. Also that there is everyside to the story, and the bad guys might not be so bad.

I was sure there are other books and I will post them when I think of them, but Gone with the Wind, was the first that a big impact.