Books That Changed Us: Share Your Story

[quddusaliquddus]

Hi,
We've all had those few books that changed our views forever. A whole new perspective opened up. Add the Title, Author, and a little about it here!

 

[Chrono]

For me, it would have to be Hyperspace by Michio Kaku. The theories he explained just opened me to a whole new world of science. It also helped me realize just how important math was to the world and that it was virtually everywhere. The biographies he gave of Riemann, Einstein, and Ramanujan were inspiring and the chapters on the fourth dimension seemed more like a novel than reality.

 

[arildno]

"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R Tolkien
That a novel in a vivid manner can open up a whole new world, rather than only (shrewdly) probe the soul of a few characters is a revolutionary literary technique, IMHO

 

[Chrono]

"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R Tolkien
That a novel in a vivid manner can open up a whole new world, rather than only (shrewdly) probe the soul of a few characters is a revolutionary literary technique, IMHO

I agree, although, for me, it didn't really change me. It was just a great read in which I will pick up again in the future.

 

[enigma]

Mining the Sky by John S. Lewis.

The first book on space resources and humanity's presence in space which wasn't a "pie in the sky, we will have these HUUUUGE spacebases and warp drives and interplanetary colony ships, and... and... and..." type books. Consisely and matter of factly presented what resources are available in the solar system, what they could be used for, and what would be needed to go get them.

This book is the main reason why I decided to go into aerospace engineering.

For example: Did you know that the value of a moderate sized metallic asteroid, taken from constant current metals prices, when multiplied by the cost to launch the mass into space (which would be the alternative) is over a quadrillion dollars? That's $1,000,000,000,000,000

 

[Imparcticle]

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
My Inventions by Nikola Tesla

these are the two books that made me want to pursue QIS.

 

[cragwolf]

"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R Tolkien
That a novel in a vivid manner can open up a whole new world, rather than only (shrewdly) probe the soul of a few characters is a revolutionary literary technique, IMHO

Revolutionary? Hardly.

See: Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes, Boccaccio, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Goethe, Balzac, Hugo, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Proust. These authors and many more opened up whole new worlds well before Tolkien did.

On the other hand, if you're looking for something that is tied more strictly to the modern fantasy genre, there is nothing more revolutionary than the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake.

 

[quddusaliquddus]

Mine would have to be The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Brought down lofty ways of mystics down to my very low level of understanding. Opened a new horizon.

 

[recon]

Wild Swans by Jung Chang. It shocked me that my ancestors went through so much when they were still in China. My grandparents have never really told me much about their experiences, because it was just too difficult for them.

To Kill a Mockingbird is also one of the most profound literary experience of my life.

 

[jimmy p]

The "Spot the Dog" series. I loved those books.

 

[Chrono]

The "Spot the Dog" series. I loved those books.

You too? Dude, I was never moved more than when I read the words, "See Spot run."

 

[Njorl]

Night - by Elie Wiesel
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
The Lord of the Flies - William Golding (or was it Goldman. both are authors, but their work is very different.
The Worldly Philosophers - Heilbroner
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

None of them changed my life a lot, but they all changed it a little.

Njorl

 

[Chrono]

Night - by Elie Wiesel

I had to read this for history class. Quite an eye opener, I must say.

 

[jimmy p]

You too? Dude, I was never moved more than when I read the words, "See Spot run."

Sometimes he was SO hard to find. At least his mum helped.

 

[Janitor]

My childhood years were dominated by the presence of adults who taught that the Bible was literally true, and that evolution was simply a false--indeed, ridiculous--theory of atheistic scientists. In my teens I chanced upon a couple of books by Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape and The Human Zoo. What an eye-opening experience!

I am currently exchanging email with a woman who lives in the Bible Belt region of the United States. I am trying to get her to examine the religious beliefs that have been drummed into her head since she was a child. Her view is that literature that is contrary to the Bible is of the Devil, and she is to flee from it. I would never be able to get her to read Morris, or Bertrand Russell, or Carl Sagan for that matter.

 

[Ebolamonk3y]

Good book... Grendel.