h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My list, in no particular order

'On Writing' by Stephen King

'Night Watch' by Terry Pratchett

'The Hitchikers Guide' by Douglas Adams (of course)

'The Dead Zone' and 'Misery' by Stephen King

'The War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells

'Treasure Island' by Lewis Caroll

And there was one I read at school. 'Z for Zachariah'. I can't remember who it was written by

These are all books that have either amused, entertained or just plain terrified me. I love them all

I'm not sure many books have changed me, but some have made me more comfortable with the range of my thoughts, or helped me see into other people's minds, however unusual.

As well as the seemingly common HHG series, and "Zen and the art...", a couple of the earlier Carlos Casteneda books did give me some different perspectives, and I didn't particularly care how real or fictional they were, since either way, they were a kind of insight into alternative mindsets and imaginations.

"The Tao Is Silent", by Raymond M Smullyan was an excellent introduction to Taoist thinking - the humour, common sense and deliberate vagueness seem to embody the core values of taoism, which really appeal to me, and the writing is exceptionally good.

Along similar lines, I found the cartoon books by Tsai Chih Chung illustrating various Taoist and Zen philosophies quite captivating. The elegance, gentleness and humour of the illustrations, and the lack of any attempt to explain the inexplicable parts of the text really touched the small spiritual part of me that actually wants to ponder on mysteries, but not any imposed by outside authority.
Unfortunately, even the more recent editions now seem to be largely unavailable.

Finally, the short stories of Philip K Dick gave me the feeling of peering right inside a mind full of cold-war paranoia, and could pack a mental feature-length dream into a handful of pages.

By importance of influence on me:

"Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing" by AS neill
(the french title was more attractive : free children of summerhill)
It didn't change my life : It was a complete revoltution for me concerning education, knowledge and life in general

"Freedom not license" by AS Neill,
"the naked ape" (think the author is wilson) = a very interstinng book about ethology,
"the economical horror",
"youngs come in, beast of prey come out" and "a priest with yobs" by guy gilbert (first one about imprisonnement, especially of young people, and life after the prison : conforted me in my will to become a lawyer)
"the ants" (the whole trilogy, especially the 3rd volume : the ant's revolution) and "the thanatonaute" by George Weber (and all of his books)
did all influence my vision of life (and death and good and evil for thanatonautes) a lot

"the HH guide", "ambassador of sparte in byzance" by sophie cherer and "the leftwing without the people" by eric conan were all greats but only had a little influence

Right now I can only think of one book which really changed my view of the world, Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations". Possibly Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" which, when I read it aged 16 or so, showed me just how good a novel can be. So much better than the Terry Pratchett, Frank Herbet, Isaac Asimov, and (dare I say it) Douglas Adams, that I'd been reading before then (which is not to say that these aren't great writers, and I still love them all).

MoG, I read Time Enough for Love (and other assorted Heinlens) in my late teens. It changed how I thought about sex and relationships too - or more that it made visible for the first time what I already thought.

Unfortunately I tried rereading it last year and found I couldn't get past the sexism. I'd like to read it again fully at some point to see past it's 70sness to what was so influential.

While I agree with Z about not getting into discussions debating the concepts in the books, it was bloody interesting to hear your experience of reading Ayn Rand. I'd never have thought that about you as you've always come across as one of the more compassionate people on h2g2.

*

The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever - novo, I read these avidly too, when I was younger. Each time a new one came out I would reread the previous ones (which is quite a feat as anyone who has read them will understand). I was just thinking about those books today for the first time in years. I can't remember what was so important about them other than that they were incredibly annoying (Thomas was) and entirely enthralling.

*

Unfading, 'Z for Zachariah' was written by Robert O'Brien. I still have a copy (along with various other childhood novels - Red Shift, The Pigman, Bless the Beasts and Children...).

I assume Zachariah was one of the ones that terrified you? I also read Marianne's Dreams which was pretty creepy.

*

I've been influenced by many books - hard to pick out a list. I did realise when I read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver that I had been changed quite immediately and directly by the book.

(The Poisonwood Bible is a novel about growing up in a white American missionary family in the Congo in the 60s, and is one of the most brilliant and traumatic accounts of the basis of white colonialism in the context of the colonised peoples that I have come across. It was such a personal story that exposed the social and political realities without having to preach them. Consummate story telling).

Some of it was quite tangible - realising the priviledge of having enough protein in my diet, and having to radically rethink my stance on being vegetarian and how unbelievable it would be to many people on the planet that I would deliberately restrict my protein and nutrient intake. Other parts of it were less tangible - something about how my understanding that 'white' people have to give up their notions of superiority and rights to inherit the earth became more compassionate and embodied rather than just intellectual and angry.

Eliade's Cosmos and History - Opened to me a deep and sensible commonality.

Lowes' The Road to Xanadu - Opened to me the deep beauty of and understanding that comes from Source Criticism.

Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader - Opened my eyes to the intense mutability of language.

The Lord of the Rings - Introduced me to Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader.

Wells' Ann Veronica - Showed me with an accompanying shock of pleasure that old Herbert George actually spent very little of his time writing silly stories and in fact was one of the great thinkers of the first half of the last century.

Hesiod's Theogony - Gave me a hint of true divinity.

I. S. Shklovskii and Carl Sagan's Intelligent Life in the Universe - Among other things, reading this book as a child introduced me to the poetry of Yeats.

I could likely go on for quite some time.

<"The Tao Is Silent", by Raymond M Smullyan>

Thanks for that, Potholer, it's now on my Amazon wish list, and will find its way to me in the not-too-distant future.

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

P-C's list reminded me of another very important (to me) work: "The Rivan Codex" by David Eddings. It's basically a how-to on writing epic fantasy, an idea I've been serious about since I was 16. It really made me reconsider what I had outlined so far, and I had to admit to myself that it was thin and fairly stupid. I've revisited the thing many times over the years since, and what I've got now is orders of magnitude better. I still can't see the entire thing, though, so the reconsideration continues. I figure I'll be ready to actually sit down and write it in another ten years. One of the things that Eddings taught me in his book is that it's perfectly natural for this sort of thing to take many years to develop, so I'm a lot more comfortable with that now. I'd rather it be good than be finished already.

PS - I tried to read Thomas Covenant. After the first book and a half I gave up in disgust. It was all a bunch of self-pity and nothing ever happened.

I think something happened in the Chronicles, it's just the same thing happened over and over again

Hmm, I'll have to think of some.

Well all of them obviously. Some were little drips into my conciouness others were terrific splashes but in a way they all go soem way to the whole.

Big Splashes then, in the order I read them.

Charlottes Web. Taught me about death, trying hard and that friends can come in the most unlikely packages.


Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, The Gods Themselves, Do androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Made me ask three questions: Who am I, who can I be, who do I want to be?

Catcher in the Rye. Its OK for me to have emotions.

Adolf Hitelr My Part in his Downfall, Catch 22.

Beyoond the Blue Event Horizon, Slaughter House 5. If it matters to me then fine but dont expect that it really matters to anyone else.

"The Secret Garden" and "Peter Pan" because I can remember snuggling in bed while my mother read chapters to me every night. I still have the original books (now very ratty).....

"East of the Sun, West of the Moon": When I was a child, I loved being read to. However, I hated reading. Partly because I read faster than I can speak and was constantly told "You can't read!" In fact, I was put in a remedial reading class in Grade 3, until the teacher who ran the class discovered that I had read my entire reader and was reading and understanding the stories meant for grade 9.

In grade 5, I was going to go to a private school where I had to have read certain books as a pre-requisite, as well as doing book reports on them. "East of the Sun, West of the Moon", "Treasure Island", and several other classics were on the list. It was the first, "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" which changed me from a "have to read this" kid to a "I want to read this" kid.

"Voyage of the Dawn Treader": one of the first books I read for class (grade 5) but also for real pleasure. Also one of the first books where I found myself discovering a hidden meaning in metaphores in a book without being told to look for them. The first time you go "Wow! I UNDERSTAND what the autor is getting at!...." is amazing.

"How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter": Sherwin B. Nuland: helped me understand my father's death

"How We Believe" by Michael Shermer: about the whys and wherefores of belief in God

Well, I'm not sure if it changed me, but The Bible certainly gave me a funny turn.

And then there's the Little Grey Rabbit books.

oooh i've somehow stumbled into the interlectual thread...time warped from the penis thread....i'll try hard not to offend anyone....

1st book i remember reading [apart from janet and john] was FLUKE by james herbert..i was about 13 yrs....i liked it so much because of the idea of reincarnation and that we could return as a dog...whenever my own dogs have a certain look on their faces i still wonder....hhmmn

i read ROOTS by alex haley a couple of years ago...and i sailed thru it i think without realising the true horror until the end..when alex haley meets up with the village elders who have preserved the history of the slave trade down thru the years, and could tell alex about his distant relative kunta kinte....until then it was just a novel a work of fiction..until BAM we quickly realise it isn't...choked me made me cry quite a lot

THE LORD OF THE RINGS i 1st read it early eighties..named a pet dog frodo.. and now i have another one called frodo...what can i say about it??? wonderful fantasy i want to be there...don't we all...its easy to see where stephen king got his inspiration for the monster in IT...shelob and the it monster are one and the same.

i liked the simplicity of THE ALCHEMIST by paul whats his name..lovely moralistic story..

THE COLOUR PURPLE alice [something] sorry its late and brain is in repose.

A BOY CALLED IT true biography of dave pelzers horrific abuse by his insane mother...made me soo mad.

THE STAND by stephen king fantastic long rambling novel with strong religious overtones good against bad....characters you really root for.

THE BIBLE not read it all but have studied it in the past...take away the terrible cruel god of old testament but embrace the lovely morals and principles of the new..

i have loads more can't think now.. but will pop them in now and again.

All Quiet on The Western Front. Erich Marie Remarque - War was about dying.

Confessions of a Fox-Hunting Gentleman - Seigfreid Sassoon - as above

Barrack Room Ballads - Rudyard Kipling - I love Kipling's verse.

Five on an Island - Enid Blyton - I couldn't put it down, I was forcing myself to stay awake to finish it - made me into a book lover. (I might have the title wrong - my tastes have moved on.)

Lord of The Flies - William Golding - Whats right is right.

The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe - made me into a Fantasy lover

can't really think of any more. I think that each time I read something that really grabs me, it changes the way I look at things a little.

My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell.
An autobiography of a boy naturalist growing up on the Greek island of Corfu, this book influenced me more than any other. Gerald Durrell was my role model when I was growing up on Corfu.

I Like This Poem, edited by Kaye Webb.
A collection of favourite poems chosen by children, with a brief paragraph after each one to say what the child liked about it. My first poetry anthology, this began my lifelong obsession with poetry.

The Romance of Lust, by Anonymous.
My brother and I found this book in a house we were staying in. Its extremely explicit pages were the source of our sex education; the book clarified a lot of confusing issues and provided us with useful information on sexual technique which we were able to employ in later years.

The Forest of Doom, by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.
A gift from a passing tourist, this choose-your-own-adventure book transformed me into a sad roleplayer during my teens.

The Descent of Woman, by Elaine Morgan.
This book got me interested in evolution. It suggests that the reason humans differ so greatly from other apes is because we became semi-aquatic. It was also the first book to analyse the evolution of women rather than just men. It blasts Desmond Morris's book The Naked Ape out of the water. So to speak.

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov.
This deeply disturbing novel gave me a handle on what could be going on inside the mind of a paedophile. It also opened my eyes to what it's possible to do with language: it traces the emotional breakdown of a young girl, as seen through the eyes of a man who's completely unaware of it. Now, that's clever!

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, by Susan Jeffers.
The title's a complete misnomer: it should be called 'How to Rid Your Life of Fear'. I read it at a time when I was fed up to the back teeth with non-directive therapists. I knew what was wrong with me: I just wanted some techniques for dealing with it, and nobody was giving me any. This book did.

The Last Samurai, by Helen DeWitt.
Nothing to do with the recent film, this book reads like a bigger, better version of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It's a tale about a child prodigy's bizarre search for his father, interspersed with mind puzzles, anecdotes, maths, musical notation, ancient languages and all sorts. It changed me from being someone who shies away from things which are difficult to learn, to being someone who relishes learning certain things precisely *because* I find them difficult.


Great thread topic, by the way.

Interested to see 2 of you listin Heinlien's Time Enough For Love - whilst not making a lasting impression, his works were a favorite, and some of the ideas (not the sexism and running around naked having sex with everyone that he seemed to enjoy in his later work) but rather the attittudes of social responcibility (As in Starhip Troopers)and ways of looking at others in a totally open way.

One book that may effect me is the one I have just finished "The Motorcycle Diaries" By Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Wonderfully writen and has re-opened my mind to the social injustice around.

Plus it contains the single most excellent sentence I have read for ages:

"Now that we'd lost our water bottle, the problem of crossing the desert by foot became even worse" - and this was a chapter start - no mention of water bottles or deserts had preceeded it!


CHawke

here are a few more i have remembered...

i also loved MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS seeing as i was a budding collector of strange pets when i was young..i loved the recalling of young gerrys 'pet' collection escaping all over the dinner table.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA wonderful escapism and ordinary children becoming heroes.

HARVEST HOME by thomas tryon, a creepy novel about a charming quaint hamlet which has great emphasis on its yearly harvest festival and the harvest king and queen.....we're talking pagan here.....he ploughs the field[queen] then spills his seed and his blood....a matriarchal society led by the widow fortune..and she has eyes on our heroes wife as the next harvest queen...

APOLLO 13 by jim lovell and jeffrey kluger...i loved the film and the
book just gives me more detail on this true account...seeing the film bought back a childhood memory of my mothers grief over this mission.. i didn't know why she was so upset back then, i was too young to understand....the film jolted that memory..all of a sudden i understood.

As a child reading opened a whole new world for me
So I would say the first books changed the possibilities I could imagine..

Cannot say a book has changed me but some perspectives for sure.
Mostly they have added questions and a desire to seek more knowledge.
I left out science but reading it did changed my life and health in practical ways.



Favorite Child Reading-
The Veleteen Rabbit--the older and shabbier I get I enjoy it all the more
Black Beauty
Dumbo
Amelia Earhart(SP)
Anne Frank
**********

Young adult -
DNA ( always try to read a fairy tale a week)
Fairy tales from all over
Tao of Pooh
Parables of Jesus and the Psalms in the Bible ( remember as PS - alms)
Kahill Kabran -The Prophet Top one(* all others)

******************
Older adult
3 dancing books ( not exactly about dancing)
Dance of Anger- D .Intimacy- D. Decption - Harriet Lerner

Neccesary Losses - Judith Voirst (i think)
Healing and Wholeness - John Sanford
Roadless Traveled + People of the Lie + Dreams - Scott Peck
Charlies Momument - A Yorgason

He + She + We (3 seperate books)Robert A Johnson


Joseph Campbell- the Power of the Myth (all his others) helped me to pull a lot of it together . IT was able to be connected in my mind ,while never leaving any of the above behind but leaving room for plenty of comfort with mystery and the commonally of all people in the things I read and still re-read.