what was your life-changing, most inspiring read?

I can't honestly say I've had many of these, although I've read many good books, but to pinpoint one to say that this was a life changing one, the only thing I could think of is Generation X by Douglas Coupland.

Granted I don't fit in to that GenX age group, but at the time when I read it, I was at a point in my life where I didn't know who I was and was getting confused by all the shallowness that one gets surrounded with in grade/highschool.

His first few books are just amazingly written, and even though I've read everything he's written, I'd have to say that his first 3 or 4 publications are his best work, GenX specifically.

 

Yeah, Gen. X is excellent. My biggest life changing read, which I doubt anyon has ever heard of, and had to read in high schoolb/c my teacher was in the peace corps is "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achabee. It really opened my eyes to the destruction of natural habitats, why the deconstruction of tribal and indigenous life occurs and how nasty humans really are when it comes to money and convenience. I never realized how screwed up the world is until I read this book, and how destructive we can be. Thoughts anyone??

 

Handbook to Higher Conscienceness by Ken Keyes jr. It changed my life and made me live in the now. Taught me to reach higher levels of conscienseness, to draw out the positive energy and to free myself from insecurities, power, societies verson of life and the past.
The past is dead, the future is imaginary. Happiness can only be in the eternal now moment, be free of all traps and become one with the ocean of love--Ken Keyes jr.

 

Celestine Prophecy.....didn't exactly change my life, but I like to read it once every couple of years!!!
peace

 

The Season of the Witch, by James Leo Herlihy. The plot wasn't brilliant, but it introduced me to the notion of "love zapping", or the basic transfer of love. It always boils down to love, doesn't it?

 

i think it might be 'the world according to garp' or something else by john irving. he is a genious; i heard that it takes him up to ten years planning his books out, so they all fall into place real well. much recommended.
garp really touched me because it has a lot to say about life, and it does so in an entertaining, truthful way, full of suggestion and evocation. the 'under toad' in general has been in my conscious.

 

Lord of the Rings.....deep themes in the way of friendship, loyalty, and hope that I carry with me always.

 

Anything by Alan Watts.


Alan Watts was the only writer who actually liberated my mind from conventional thought.

 

could you give me a good book by him watts

 

most discworld books (terry pratchett). they were mostly all i read while i was growing up, so they have influenced me quite a lot. they showed me that at best, the universe is hideously obsurd and can only very rarely be taken seriously:sunglasse


this may go some way to explaining why i sometimes find it hard to relate to people, but i just generally put it down to them taking things too seriously and thinking they are a lot more important than they really are.

 

cruddy by linda barry is a great read. i love it soooo much!

 

catcher in the rye was the first book i actually liked, not to sound too cliche.

but life changing?? i havent read anything that compeletly changed me. all books effect me somehow, i become very attached to the characters and their worlds. crime and punishment by dostevesky, angela's ashes by frank mccourt were probably most profound. and lady oracle by margeret atwood.

most profound poem: childe roland to the dark tower came, robert browing.

 

Mine would also be Lord of the Rings. teaches lessons of sacrifice, the power of greed, friendship, and loss.
another book that has made a good impretion on me would have to be Lord of the Flies. It shows how human nature really is and that is a nice factor in the book

 

thus spoke zarathustra,1894 and brave new world and the bible changed my thinking alot i now look to the earth/nature as god and i am very against government and censership,also i know now that humans was a very selfish animal and that we are infact animal and need to act like it once in a while

 

Sure,

'The Book', aka; 'The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are'

Anything by Watts is intentionally mind altering.
However, 'The Book' gets right to the nuts and bolts of it.

 

the heinlein "juvies" were the main library hook as i was growing up - by the time i was 11-ish i had read all the heinlein books (& most all the other scifi) in the J stacks, was moving on to the "adult" SF shelves (& my father's paperbacks), & my dad gave me his paperback (hot off the presses - 1962/3?) of _stranger in a strange land_ !!!
yowza...