I love to read books that change the way you think.....?

Question

Can you please tell me your top 3 books of all time? Must reads?

I loved Animal Farm and 1984, I am reading some philosophy which is great, but I want to get a list of 'must-reads' to get stuck into and be uplifted and inspired!!!

Thanks so far. I like the "not so much inspired, but awakened and disturbed" comment.

Ive got that already, I want to move on!!!

if you have 20, tell me all 20!!!!

read this too guys by the way. The Prophet by Khalil Gibhran, not sure of spelling of his name. A great book.

I am very grateful for yur assistance. Thank you all. Hope I get a few more replies, then I'll pick the best (somehow!!).

I've read many of your selectios, some at school. I was lucky enough to read 1984 and Animal Farm recreationally so they weren't tainted by others' interpretations or excessive study!!!

I like the Rushdie, Ghandi suggestions. Non-Fiction has been my main poison thus far... looks like I should read them and then get stuck into some classic literature at some stage. Thanks again.

Answer 1

Dibs: In Search of Self, by Virginia Axline
On Certainty, by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Miss Manners Guide to the New Millenium, by Judith Martin
The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker

(I know, that's 4)

other authors: Oliver Sacks, Carl Rogers, Richard Dawkins, John Allen Paulos, Carol Tavris, Morton Hunt, Stephen Jay Gould.

Have fun, and keep reading.

When you get a lot from a book, look at the references and bibliographies and pay attention to books and authors they mention as sources for more reading.

Visit good bookstores, especially used bookstores that have lots of non-fiction (if there's a university near you, find bookstores near it). Go to sections of interest to you and start pulling down books and looking at them.

Answer 2

Not exactly my top books, but must reads, in a way, some of which did indeed change the way I think!
And if you liked Orwell you will perhaps (more or less) like these...
In no specific order....

Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
Gore Vidal - Messiah
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Doris Lessing -The Fifth Child + The Memoirs of a Survivor
Stanislav Lem - Solaris etc. etc. etc.
Steinbeck - East of Eden
Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Thomas Mann - Magic Mountain
Tolstoy - Ressurection
Harper Lee- To Kill a Mockingbird
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go (a future classic!)
R.L. Stevenson - The Master of Ballantree + Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stefan Zweig - Chess Story
Lion Feuchtwanger - The Oppermanns
Kurt Vonnegut - Galapagos
Peter Hoeg - Smilla's Sense of Snow
Philip Roth - The Plot Against America (another future classic)
John Updike - Toward the End of Time
Richard Powers - Our Time of Singing + Plowing the Dark
Jonathan Franzen - The Twenty-Seventh City + Strong Motion
Eric Ambler - A Coffin for Dimitrios
Louis Begley - Wartime Lies
......

Answer 3

You've already received some excellent suggestions. But, I think that every young person should read:

Harper Lee, "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Herman Wouk, "The Caine Mutiny"

John Steinbeck, "The Grapes of Wrath"

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However: I'd be remiss not to mention:

J. D. Salinger, "The Catcher in the Rye"

Isaac Asimov, "The Foundation Trilogy"

Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"

James Clavell, "King Rat"

Leon Uris, "Exodus"

Albert Camus, "No Exit"

Jack Kerouak, "On the Road"

Ken Kesey, "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest"

Herman Melville, "Moby-Dick"

Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, "Inherit the Wind," (a play)

Henry Miller, "The Crucible," (a play)

Henry David Thoreau, "Walden"

Booker T. Washington, "Up from Slavery"

Alice Walker, "The Color Purple"

Toni Morrison, "Beloved"

James Baldwin, "The Fire Next Time"

Edwin O'Connor, "The Last Hurrah"

William Faulkner, "The Great Gatsby"

Isaac Bashevis Singer, "The Slave"

Rachel Carson, "The Silent Spring," (non-fiction)


...and so many more!

Answer 4

One that I just read recently and really enjoyed was the Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffennger. It opens up your mind to the possibility of time travel, in a whole new light than what we've seen in the past.

On a more classic note, I loved Farenheit 451. It's a short read, but for someone who loves books, it's an interesting take on a different world.

I also enjoyed Stephen Baxter's 'Moonseed'. It's a Sci-Fi book about a race to stop the Earth's extinction that for me was a page turner.

Michael Crichton is one of my fav's to read...usually thoroughly enjoyable and different. I recommend Sphere and Airframe. Jonathan Kellerman and Dan Brown are also enjoyable. A new author that I've gotten into is Gregory Macguire (author of Wicked). Not necessarily books that change the way you think, but interesting back story's to some classic novels.

Answer 5

Considering your mention of Orwell, I'd suggest

1. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

and then, I'd also suggest

2. Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

and finally,

3. The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger

but there are SO many great books out there that coming up with a list of just three is painful - you know you've left out hundreds/thousands equally, or even more, deserving of being read.

Answer 6

These are some books that may change your way of thinking about things, altho they're not necessarily inspiring.

The Stranger by Albert Camus
No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre (a play)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (short story)
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Miss Lonelyhearts and Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

Answer 7

Books by Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, Anthem, We The Living)

Books by Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist, The Zahir, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Veronika Decides to Die, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes)

Books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the time of Cholera, The Autumn of the Patriarch)

Answer 8

Embraced by the Light by Bette Eade. It is a small book and you can read it in a few days. I read this book many years ago and still buy it as gifts for people.

Basically, it is about the authors experience with near-death. It is the only book on that subject that really gets into the description of Heaven.

My favorite part is when she is shown the Earth's sky and she sees white lights shooting towards Heaven. She asks what this is and the angel tells her that the lights are prayers that people are saying. She goes on to explain that the brightest, fastest, and strongest are the prayers of Mothers praying for their children.

Like anything you read just take with you the things that ring true to your heart and dismiss the things you don't feel are true.

Answer 9

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn changed the way I looked at society and culture forever

The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem was a look at the nature of reality told in a brilliant way

and

God of Small Things by Arandhati Roy it is just one the most beautiful examples of what can be done with the English language, and also serves as a great reader about the human condition

Answer 10

Satanic Verses is a must for uplifting inspired works of genius, as is practically anything by Salman Rushdie (except Midnight's Children strangely) Kafka's Trial fits well with your other choices and i agree with whoever suggested Umberto Eco, very underated guy (oh anything by Martin amis or Will Self are inevitably thought provoking)