Most infuential book(s) you have read

Titan, you are trite, thank you drive through.

Titan wrote:

I dont believe any of you who say Chaucer, 1984, Walden, Bible etc.... BS, those books are so outdated and inconsequential now. You all are full of pretentiousness.

The only question was what *influenced* us.

As a child (i.e. before I knew better), I was very much influenced by the Bible.

I'm not hugely proud about "Atlas Shrugged," either, but it (along with "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal") was a BIG influence at another time in my life.

The more recent Hitchens and Dawkins "God" books have also been influential, now that I think of it: I let less stuff slide than I used to.

I often like to read a chapter of a book before my runs to give me something to mull over on foot. Not into the ipod thing. These ones still get me thinking and it's been years since I've read them. Maybe time for a re-do

Monkey Wrench Gang

Sand County Almanac

Cadillac Desert

Wind, Sand, and Stars - Saint-Exupery

1984

Fahrenheit 451

Everything else by Ray Bradbury

Running related - No Bugles No Drums, Snell

Mein Kampf

Der Judenstaat

The Way of All Flesh, by Samuel Butler

It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life (Autobiography of Lance Armstrong)

Les Miserables

Night by Elie Wiesel

A Brief History of the Universe by Steven Hawkings

Born to Run had a neat impact on my running, but not necessarily my whole life.

Witness -Whittaker Chambers

The Long Gray Line -Rick Atkinson

1984

Lords of Discipline -Pat Conroy

bhagavad gita

dktu wrote:

[quote]Titan wrote:

I dont believe any of you who say Chaucer, 1984, Walden, Bible etc.... BS, those books are so outdated and inconsequential now. You all are full of pretentiousness.

Not necessarily true. I said the Bible because....I actually am a Christian (sorry, I know that's a crime)

I also said Chaucer because I am an English major with an interest in medieval things. My medieval professor is respected in his field, and brilliant. Had I read Chaucer on my own, I would have enjoyed the tales, sure. But with his genius guidance, with his readings, I was forced to question how I live my life.

I actually enjoy reading older things. I've read very few modern works, not because I'm 'trying to be pretentious', but bc I simply enjoy other things. I actually read Milton, Dante, Shakespeare for fun during breaks. But I'll tell you, talking to people who have read the things you list, or anything modern (or even victorian really- never read a single thing of dickens!) I feel dumb as a rock. I am clueless. I should be jealous of you, bc my reading tastes are not preparing me to be a high school teacher at all (which is what I am planning to do). I need to read more modern stuff to prepare. But if I ever chose to pursue a PhD, I would choose medieval lit in a heartbeat. It really can change your life. To each his own.

I've been reading a book (not done yet) that's already made a difference in how I see things/people: "Reasonable Atheism" by Aikin and Talisse. I like its emphasis on treating those who *don't* think the way you do as nevertheless being reasonable people--and on proceeding reasonably when engaged in the whole religion/nonreligion discussion.

Other than that: in retrospect my first German textbook, from freshman year of high school, got me started toward my current career--maybe one of the most influential (on me) books of all, though I surely didn't see it that way at the time. "Willst du ihn kennenlernen?"

Calvin and Hobbes, Little House on the Prairie series, The Odyssey, Huck Finn. All of these were read to me before I was seven, and all of them had a profound impact.

Calvin and Hobbes made me curious and imaginative, iconoclastic, mischievous, skeptical of conventions, and developed my sense of humor and vocabulary. Little House on the Prairie implanted (and romanticized) the ideals of open country/nature, journeys, self-sufficiency, thrift, and family. The Odyssey romanticized adventure and journeys and made me fall in love with poetry. Maybe also made me into a runner down the line. I didn't understand all of the satire in Huck Finn, but even a six year old can understand the juxtaposition between the peaceful imagery of Huck and Jim floating down the river and the chaos of society they meet on land, and can understand that Huck is doing the right thing by defying the moral norms of his time ("Damn it then, I'll GO to hell!", still gives me chills!!)

Then, I went through a period where I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction. Kind of a waste, although I really enjoyed a lot of it, and some of it actually did make me much more creative and expand my outlook. Asimov especially. I read all of his science fiction, which is a lot to say the least. Favorites from him include the obvious (Foundation Series, etc.) but especially some of his short stories.

The three books that influenced me the most during high school were:

1. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Kuhn. Less for the ideas (which I don't completely agree with, and didn't even at the time) than for introducing me to the world of analytic philosophy, carefully argued thought, which I instantly fell in love with. This lead me to Descartes, Wittgenstein, Quine, Dennett, Nagel, Chalmers, etc. But Kuhn is what set it off.

2. The Elegant Universe. I already loved science, but this is what made me decide that physics was where it was at. Ironically, I now have a much lower regard for string theory, but still love physics.

3. A People's History. I was young and impressionable, and found it very convincing. What could be a more important issue than social justice. I was even tempted to abandon science and devote my life to these issues, but my dad convinced me not to. (Obvious argument - the best way for an individual to help society is to work where he has the greatest comparative advantage.)

In college, I mostly read physics and math textbooks. Some of my favorites were Griffiths (all three), Sakurai, Apostol's Calculus, Rudin's Analysis, and Lang's Algebra (no, I didn't work through all of Lang, haha!)

BTW, thanks for the good thread, I have definitely added some books to The List. (Last thing we all need, right?)

Here are a couple that weren't really transformative for me, but that I liked and would recommend.

-Selfish Gene, by Dawkins. One of the best books I've ever read. So many interesting ideas and such an important and fascinating topic. You just have to forgive him at one or two points when the prose gets a little purple (or I guess it works for some people).

-Consciousness Explained, by Dennett. I think he fails to close the 'explanatory gap' between subjective consciousness and the physical machinery that instantiates it, but nonetheless it is a great read and full of interesting ideas and information. Dennett also has a humorous, intelligent, engaging writing style that keeps you hooked.

-OAR and ATC, obviously. No need to elaborate.

-Edith Hamilton's Mythology. Great intro to mythology, gives all the good stuff in just a few hundred pages. And even for people who have read a lot of the originals, it's still edifying to see it processed in this form.

Recent books that are on my mind:

-The Master Switch, Tim Wu. History of the communications industry, looking at the question of whether the internet can remain an open medium. Awesome.

-Next, by Michael Lewis (who also wrote Liar's Poker) which looks at some of the revolutionary effects the internet has had on undermining the stronghold of certain institutions. Not quite as good as Liar's Poker but a quick and interesting read.

-Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick. An account of the true story that inspired Moby Dick. The whaleship Essex is sunk by an enraged sperm whale, and the survivors fight starvation and dehydration in tiny whaleboats on the open ocean as they attempt to reach land or rescue.

-Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, also (partly) a survival story, about olympian Louis Zamperini whose plane goes down during WW2 and also has to survive adrift at sea.

I miss the good ol' days of letsrun.

In Soviet America you influence book!

Conan Robert E, Howard

I suspect that many of us suffer from a recency bias. There were probably some long forgotten books from our first years of reading that, because they were the first books we read, were highly influential upon us. Anyway, I'll identify the following that influenced me:

- by Fr. Thomas Merton:

Life and Holiness

No Man Is an Island

New Seeds of Contemplation

- by Fr. William A. Jurgens:

The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 1 (Volume 1)

The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 2 (Volume 2)

The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 3 (Volume 3)

The Quran. An excellent source of inspiration from the Prophet Muhammad.

The Way of Salvation and of Perfection

St Alphosus Liguori