Which book has impacted your life the most and how?

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Meditations by Marcus Aurelius because it illustrates the daily struggle of someone who is truly striving to perfect himself via the application of philosophy in everyday life. Someone, with absolute power, who resists corruption as he strives to be good simply for the sake of being good.

I must have 5 or 6 translations of it at this point. I wish I could read it in the original Greek.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The first time that I read this book, I was captivated by it. It changed my life, in some ways. There was just something about this book that resonated with me deeply. I just loved the general style of the book, as well as how I could relate to Holden Caulfield so much. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, though.

Those were so funny! I am a Virgo and a 23 (I am the youngest of 23 first cousins in my family).

But I'd have to say Addams and Evil and the Lord of the Rings trilogy were the most lasting influences on me. Addams and Evil was a cartoon collection that my mom had when I was little. Oh, and some random cat books, too.

It's not a book, but the short story "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin had an enormous affect on my point of view. Or maybe it just resonated with me because I already held that sort of point of view. At any rate the story looks at how there is no avoiding certain harsh, cold realities.

Same here. I'm not set on a book, but I do have stories that would fill a book or books. I've moved myself over these stories. I've felt things for these fictional characters that I've never felt for anyone else.



Similar to me. I was raised LDS, so it would be both the KJV Bible and the Book of Mormon. I don't practice now, but even now, I'm still influenced by them. My ethics, morals, standards, and several other parts of my life came out of it.

Books and I have a close relationship born out of loneliness and appreciation. Hard to pick one though....

I want to say The Hobbit, which I first read at 5yrs old, since it drew me into the world and magic of books. Stranger in a Strange land at 9yrs old made me cry, and I re-read it after I finished it, so I could Grokk in Fullness.

But, when I was living out of my car after losing yet another job, I was walking through the library here and saw a title that I thought was a typo at the time. I read it as The book of Jboy (my dad called me Jboy, when he was still here...) but it was actually called The book of Joby.

All good books, for various reasons.

Derrick Jensen`s The Culture of Make Believe. It's the most honest book I've ever read and it helped heal me.

Too many to choose from! The big ones that had large impacts on me-

Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn

Nonviolent Communication, by Marshall Rosenberg




I also have some struggles with the bible, largely because I want to read it, but it is filled with so many words and attitudes I don't want to cloud my brain with. I like to read only the words Jesus said and not the rest. I consider myself a Christian pantheist.

Confusius- The Analects
It enabled me to set my own moral standards. All Catholicism ever did was teach me to 'do as I say, don't do as I do'.

Plato's Republic and Frank Herbert's Dune, when I first read them around 9, influenced my interests for the rest of my life. Job grew on me over time but Frank Herbert's six dune books were on my mind a lot in my formative years, determining the things I'd pursue. I think it's biggest impact was on my focus to be interdisciplinary instead of a specialist, it compelled me to pursue more than one degree and to read everything I could get my hands on.

Reading Dune you can think of ecology one second and sociology the next, it's marvelous. Herbert sr. also has some very interesting points on false messiahs, the failings of world economies that focus on one or just a few resources, the plurality of human philosophy, and the novelty of human spontaneity and flaws as opposed to perfection (which was Leto's love and ultimate aim in God Emperor of Dune, to scatter humanity across the cosmos and to foster chaos and imperfection). When I read Dune I think a lot of the future of the species and fear for us "putting all our eggs in one basket" and trying to rein in everyone when they should be able to run free across the galaxy, colonize, and determine their own societal order. Herbert kind of sobers our expectations when it comes to space travels and the future of humanity, because there very well could be situations like the whole of Mars living under shariah law or constant bids for control over the whole human race, bickering over resources that are important to colonization and travel. The more plausible it all gets (and believe me, if we actually committed to it enough we would already be on Mars and we would have vaporized enough of the ice caps to started working towards breathable air), the more I worry. We seem to be on the threshold of the big question/crisis. Will we survive this planet? How will we handle rapid expansion?Will oppressive regulations become an issue as people try to colonize even further, like creating space stations on Io and Europa?

The sleeper must awaken! - For the God Emperor!

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby for showing me what true obsession can be like.

Les Miserables- helped me to see the good in everyone

The shining. Scary book, but it's pretty nice. It was just... emotional, you now?

Yes I agree, I had to read this in Grade 5 and find sadly relevant in so many ways.

I don't read much however around the same time I read Rocket Boys, I think its now renamed October Sky after the movie based on. It was quite inspiring how a group of misfit kids became self taught engineers and made a better lives for themselves, mostly all on their own against all odds.

Probably "Crime and Punishment," by Dostoyevsky.

It made an impact because it was so romantic, so moral, yet so psychologically (and physiologically related to psychologically) deep.