What's was the most influential book you've ever read?

Question

and how did it affect your life?

Answer 1

My wifes diary!! we're getting divorced!!

Answer 2

In my view it is impossible to name one single book as the most influential in your whole life. Different books have affected me greatly at different stages of my life. I read an average of two or three books a week (or used to until my recent addiction to this wretched computer) Some books,all fiction but one, which have exerted a great influence are:
The Catcher in the Rye (cult sixties boo, theme adolescent angst) & Franny and Zooey (both by J.D.Salinger)
To Kill a Mockingbird - by Harper Lee (justice/equality seen from a child's viewpoint)
The Female Eurnuch - by Germaine Greer (non-fict. feminist tract)
The Magus and The French Lieutenant's Woman - John Fowles
Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion by Jane Austen.
Tipping the Velvet, Affinity and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
(all Victorian set with lesbian 'heroines') Fingersmith has a totally gobsmacking twist in the plot in the middle - mind bending!
Almost anything by Paulo Coelho, particularly The Alchemist, and Eleven Minutes The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Almost any book by the following authors:
Margaret Atwood, Carol Shields, Alice Munro (all Canadian writers), Anne Tyler, Faye Weldon, Angela Carter.
A very short book by a Russian writer called A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitzen which I read in my teens, made me enternally grateful for being warm, well fed and living in a democracy rather than a dictatorship. If you want an insight into what it feels like to have your daily life totally hinge around finding enough to eat and remaining warm enough to stay alive, read this book. It is set in a Russian labour camp in Siberia.

Sorry - Couldn't possibly just pick one. I've probably missed out something really influential, even so!

Answer 3

Im a bit embarassed to put mine because everyone seems to read such grown up books on here. I read a lot of different things and sometime I read books that are supposed to be life changing. But the one that changed my life is Straight talking by Jane Green. I read it about 7 yrs ago. The lesson to learn was that love can grow and u might not lust the pants of the person and may always go for the wrong sort of man. But if u give one of the nice ones a chance u may end up lusting after them after all. I took the books advice and started to date my male best friend who had a crush on me, I ended up falling inlove with him and now we have been together 5 yrs and have a 2 yr old child. So maybe the Bible and serious well respected authors can change ur life but so can Chick lit writers too.

Answer 4

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

150 years ago Darwin made the fact of evolution as plain and undeniable as global warming is now. After that, all ethical theory had to be rewritten from scratch. For a hundred years most attempts were abortive, until Dawkins began the job, followed by Pinker and Dennett.

I was a philosophy student in the 60s and 70s. I found that no notice had been taken of the implications of evolution! After I graduated, this book helped me to see things more clearly.

The failings of human nature arise from universal nature. Problems need to be solved, but blaming (individuals, groups, humanity, or supernatural beings) doesn't help.

Answer 5

The most influential book I have ever read was the entire Holy Bible. It helped me to understand some of the dilemma regarding all the strife between the descendants of Issac and the descendants of Ishmael. It helped me to decide if I believe the same way about the church I attend or not...and there are so many thematic stories in the Bible which teaches us how the physically, emotionally, and financially poor are oppressed by agencies of evil like the government and others, and that we have something better to look forward to after this troublesome existence.

Answer 6

Nineteen 80-4 via George Orwell the folk of 1984 have misplaced their loose thinking and individuality. 1984 is the tale of our international long gone incorrect. George Orwell did no longer write it as a prediction, yet extremely as a warning approximately our present day subject. Our concept of certainty is bothered via many stuff; that's considerable know this and comprehend that many aspects flow into our ideas. And the main deadly area is that 1984 is finding closer right this moment then 60 years in the past whilst this e book grew to become into written.

Answer 7

Winnetou by Karl May.
Karl May's most popular work originally published in 1892. Winnetou is the story of a young Apache chief told by his white friend and blood-brother Old Shatterhand. The action takes place in the U.S. Southwest, in the latter half of the 1800s, where the Indian way of life is threatened by the first transcontinental railroad. Winnetou, the only Native Indian chief who could have united the various rival tribes to reach a settlement with the whites, is murdered. His tragic death foreshadows the death of his people. May's central theme here, as in much of his work, is the relationship between aggression, racism, and religious intolerance.
This book is very, very popular in Germany where I grew up and it made me wanna go and see the Southwest of the US. Well, I ended up living here!

Answer 8

Another Dr. Seuss fan here - Horton Hears a Who, The Sneetches and Yertle the Turtle all really affected the way I looked at life from a very young age. His message was all about acceptance of difference and treating others with respect. He also taught a great love of language and the joy of words and reading. He was the greatest.
"A person's a person, no matter how small ..."

Answer 9

The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Here was a man who believed he had the right answers. He thought that his truth was the only version of truth that should be availabe for men like himself (African Americans). Like in every like, there is journey that changes us and we see ourselves very differently upon our return. He embarked on this journey and came back seeing the world very differently. He came back understanding that the world was not just about him and those like him (other African Americans). He realized that there was a univresal brotherhood. He apologized for the multiple racists diatribes and was attemtping to create an organization that called for unity amongst all people before he died. A man who can make the grandest of mistakes and apologize. I have lived my life with the idea that I will make mistakes, some big and some small, but the ability to seek forgiveness the greatest gift afforded to a man.

Answer 10

Fiction: 1984 by George Orwell taught me the dangers of all controlling government and extreme collectivism (communism some might say), and why we must always fight things such as censorship, unjust war and unwarrented power.

Non Fiction: Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki. A motivational tool that at best can change your mindset and at very least make you look at your personal investments at least for a short while, which is better than nothing.

Answer 11

The Holy Bible is the most influential book in my life. It changed the course of my destiny from a fallen human to a redeemed child of God.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105