What are the most influential books you've read?
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From: NYC
Wow. I'm glad to see that people like Borges and Rilke are included. I'll never understand why people read those "how-to" or "self-help" books.
Personally, I think Borges is the greatest. No one uses figurative language as well as he does. (Reminds me of Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets: "People who speak in metaphors should shampoo my pubic hair.)
My favorite author at the moment is Nicholson Baker. His sense of humor really strikes a chord with me.
Personally, I think Borges is the greatest. No one uses figurative language as well as he does. (Reminds me of Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets: "People who speak in metaphors should shampoo my pubic hair.)
My favorite author at the moment is Nicholson Baker. His sense of humor really strikes a chord with me.
Joined: Dec 2000
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From: Cape Girardeau
The Bible was a "decent" book, but it had too many discrepancies and I didn't really like the ending...lol (a true joke).
The Koran
Tibetan Book of the Dead
Sandskrit letters
Zen Flesh Zen Bones
The Book (Alan Watts)
Does the Center Hold? (Palmer)
Looking at philosophy (Palmer)
Siddhartha (Hesse)
The lost books of the Bible (Geering)
Ninjitsu: History and Tradition (M. Hatsumi)
Essays in Aramaic (Josephs)
Just to name a few...
Andrew
The Koran
Tibetan Book of the Dead
Sandskrit letters
Zen Flesh Zen Bones
The Book (Alan Watts)
Does the Center Hold? (Palmer)
Looking at philosophy (Palmer)
Siddhartha (Hesse)
The lost books of the Bible (Geering)
Ninjitsu: History and Tradition (M. Hatsumi)
Essays in Aramaic (Josephs)
Just to name a few...
Andrew
Joined: Oct 2000
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From: West Deptford NJ
The Prophet-Gibran
Brief History of Time-Hawking
Ender's Game-Orson Scott Card
Relativity-Einstein
Lathe of Heaven-Ursala K. LeGuin
Wave Mechanics-Schroedinger
The Art of Happiness-Dalai Lama (Just started, very good so far)
Introductory Quantum Mechanics-Liboff (this is perhaps the single most influential book that I have ever read...It made me realize that I should be a salesman)
Brief History of Time-Hawking
Ender's Game-Orson Scott Card
Relativity-Einstein
Lathe of Heaven-Ursala K. LeGuin
Wave Mechanics-Schroedinger
The Art of Happiness-Dalai Lama (Just started, very good so far)
Introductory Quantum Mechanics-Liboff (this is perhaps the single most influential book that I have ever read...It made me realize that I should be a salesman)
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From: SoCal
I am definately going to add a few new books to my reading list (I've been meaning to read half of Lucid's list anyway) after reading this thread...
Hmm, influential... These are in the order they came to me:
1. The Holy Bible - For all the obvious reasons (NKJV - sorry to all the purists, but my Pastor was invlolved in the translation/commentary and he is the man I respect the most in this world)
2. Heinlein's Stanger in a Strange Land - read it when I was pretty young for Heinlein (about 12), but it was one of the few books I read as a kid that made me think about our society.
3. The Prince by Machiavelli
4. The Art of War
5. Cluetrain Manifesto - yeah, it's popular to bash this book as .com babble, but I think it transcends the .com industry and things like this board are shining examples of what the book was really about
6. Anything by Demming or Senge.
Hmm, influential... These are in the order they came to me:
1. The Holy Bible - For all the obvious reasons (NKJV - sorry to all the purists, but my Pastor was invlolved in the translation/commentary and he is the man I respect the most in this world)
2. Heinlein's Stanger in a Strange Land - read it when I was pretty young for Heinlein (about 12), but it was one of the few books I read as a kid that made me think about our society.
3. The Prince by Machiavelli
4. The Art of War
5. Cluetrain Manifesto - yeah, it's popular to bash this book as .com babble, but I think it transcends the .com industry and things like this board are shining examples of what the book was really about
6. Anything by Demming or Senge.
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From: SF Bay Area
To choose an influential one:
Candide by Voltaire
The ultimate manual of optimistic cynicism, a masterful example of careful satire that in its time could result in an author's imprisonment or execution. The ultimate adventurer's tale culminating, after every imaginable insult and success, in a single lesson, "hard work drives away the three greatest evils: boredom, vice and poverty. I try to read this book every few years or so, and every time I do I pick up some previously undiscovered nuance.
For entertainment:
...anything with a Jake Grafton, Patrick MacClanahan or Jack Ryan.
Candide by Voltaire
The ultimate manual of optimistic cynicism, a masterful example of careful satire that in its time could result in an author's imprisonment or execution. The ultimate adventurer's tale culminating, after every imaginable insult and success, in a single lesson, "hard work drives away the three greatest evils: boredom, vice and poverty. I try to read this book every few years or so, and every time I do I pick up some previously undiscovered nuance.
For entertainment:
...anything with a Jake Grafton, Patrick MacClanahan or Jack Ryan.
