What book had the most significant impact on your life?

JustDave said:
A few books have made a deep impression, but I can't think of any that made an impact on my life. Although I'm not sure what "making an impact" means in the context of this thread. Consequently, I pondered this for a long time before I even started reading the responses, and even before I got to MACKTEXAS's comment, The Grapes of Wrath Came to Mind. Life changing? No, but as a literary work, it blew my mind. I've read others that were even more mind blowing, but back in 1964, Grapes was the first book I read that had that effect.

OK, now when I think in terms of an impact on my life, there was a book. But I'll bet no one here has ever heard of it. In the summer of 69, I was suffering with a lot of anxiety, at times feeling like I was going crazy. I was getting gas at a gas station, and at the cash register there was one of those wire rotating book displays. It had one of those self help books that were popular back then. This one was called Psycho Cybernetics, and was filled with directions on how to examine your mind. I bought it, tried it, and studied it. It was life changing, probably because at that time of my life, it was exactly what I needed.

It fixed my brain, so to speak. I quit my job, went back to college, started a new life, and I've never regretted it.
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Psycho Cybernetics sounds like my kind of book. I followed my impulse and ordered a used copy from Abebooks. Inexpensive enough to take a chance. Thanks.
 

Babs2u said:
Psycho Cybernetics sounds like my kind of book. I followed my impulse and ordered a used copy from Abebooks. Inexpensive enough to take a chance. Thanks.
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I held onto that book for years until it was tattered and dog eared. I don't know where it went. I wasn't recommending it, but at that time in my life, it got me started. I used some of the techniques along with counseling and therapy for a couple of years, and after gaining some growth skills, it seemed like I found other less structured ways to improve my life.

If you don't find it useful, it won't bother me. I'm not trying to sell it to anyone. We each find our own ways. But sometimes we need a little push.
 

JustDave said:
I held onto that book for years until it was tattered and dog eared. I don't know where it went. I wasn't recommending it, but at that time in my life, it got me started. I used some of the techniques along with counseling and therapy for a couple of years, and after gaining some growth skills, it seemed like I found other less structured ways to improve my life.

If you don't find it useful, it won't bother me. I'm not trying to sell it to anyone. We each find our own ways. But sometimes we need a little push.
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I know. I'm not expecting much but a little voice told me try that book. There will probably be a new idea or two at the least. I can sometimes be inspired by things I don't agree with. Its like conversation for lonely people.
 
Growing up at the peak of the newspaper, magazine, and paper printing era, I read vast amounts material though not much fiction. As an younger adult watching minimal TV, I read much science and technology that IMO through neural plasticity has had much impact in expanding and structuring my intelligence than my raw IQ or any formal schooling. In my late 20s as a doubting Christian, completely read the OT/NT Bible but that did not have the effect it does on most Christians because given reading and logic skills, it became obvious much was not directly inspired, merely recordings of men.

At age 50, it was after reading Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe that my religious views came into focus complementing my science. With the rise of the Internet in 1995, I expanded my research into how this all connects and reflects my unique current expanded views on Christianity as once again became an active church attending Christian. Specifically reject illogical OOO actions without forces.

Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe - Wikipedia

Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe is a 2000 popular science book about xenobiology by Peter Ward, a geologist and evolutionary biologist, and Donald E. Brownlee, a cosmologist and astrobiologist. The book is the origin of the term 'Rare Earth Hypothesis' which denotes the central claim of the book: that complex life is rare in the universe.
Synopsis

Ward and Brownlee argue that the universe is fundamentally hostile to complex life and that while microbial life may be common in the universe, complex intelligent life (like the evolution of biological complexity from simple life on Earth) requires an exceptionally unlikely set of circumstances, and therefore complex life is likely to be extremely rare.
 
GoodEnuff said:
The Old Man and the Sea. He never gave up the fight.

The Little House books. Same reason. They met hardship and worked to overcome it.

I read those books when I was just a girl. It was how my family lived. And still does.
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I have taken the tour of Hemmingway House a few times in Key West with his old type writer , etc and the guides who are volunteers are so amazing that I felt that I was right with Hemmingway writing .

As you know a troubled man more so as he got older but fascinating , perhaps all writers are .
 
NotCompSavvy said:
I have taken the tour of Hemmingway House a few times in Key West with his old type writer , etc and the guides who are volunteers are so amazing that I felt that I was right with Hemmingway writing .

As you know a troubled man more so as he got older but fascinating , perhaps all writers are .
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I'm jealous. I would like to see his place in Cuba. Probably not gonna happen. Once I read about his life, his books took on new meaning. Fascinating.
 
GoodEnuff said:
I'm jealous. I would like to see his place in Cuba. Probably not gonna happen. Once I read about his life, his books took on new meaning. Fascinating.
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I think his place in Cuba has been changed alot but his house in Key West is same and if you ever get the chance to go you feel like you have traveled back in time and he is there with you writing or sitting by his pool smoking .

I have been there 6 times in 7 years , lol as the guides are just incredible with so much detail but again he was not easy and had real issues .

Edit : Let me add the ONLY change is now due to mosquitos , etc the pool has a filter but in his day it did not .
 
I read self help books throughout my life but this book actually helped:
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Feeling Good – The New Mood Therapy​

Dr. Burns describes how to combat feelings of depression so you can develop greater self-esteem. This best-selling book has sold over 4 million copies worldwide to date. In a recent national survey of mental health professionals, Feeling Good was rated #1—out of a list of 1000 books—as the most frequently recommended self-help book on depression in the United States.
 
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How can I choose just one?

Yes, the Bible at the head of the line…

“Absent in the Spring “ by Agatha Christie under the pen name Mary Westmacott (thought-provoking ending)

Like @GoodEnuff, the Little House on the Prairie books, especially “The Long Winter”— always helps me appreciate what I’ve got

“To Kill a Mockingbird” for so many reasons
 
Rossana said:
For me it was a French book that I read when I was in my teens called "Le Grand Meaulnes". I absolutely loved his descriptions. It was quite poetic and so well written. The author Alain Fournier only wrote one book (he was a soldier during WW1 and was killed at the beginning of the war). It is an old book. It was written in 1913. From what I read, it was translated in English a few times but unfortunately the translations were pretty bad and the book was not well appreciated by the public.
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I read that in college, it was quite memorable. I think the English translation of the title was The Wanderer?
 
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feywon said:
Ursula LeGuin's novella The Word for World Is Forrest, i so identified with the people indigenous to the planet.
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Oh, I love that book, such a good one! And there are some books I turn to for comfort reading--which I've been doing a lot lately--The Gate to Women's Country and The Fresco both by Sheri Tepper, Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon, the After the Pretty Pox series by August Ansel, A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren, The Highwayman by Craig Johnson, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher, Moonfall by Jack McDevitt (not what the movie of same name was based on, sooo much better), Ten Million Years to Friday by John Lymington, and The Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute. Most all post-apocalyptic or dystopian but hopeful.
 
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officerripley said:
Oh, I love that book, such a good one! And there are some books I turn to for comfort reading--which I've been doing a lot lately--The Gate to Women's Country and The Fresco both by Sheri Tepper, Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon, the After the Pretty Pox series by August Ansel, A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren, The Highwayman by Craig Johnson, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher, Moonfall by Jack McDevitt (not what the movie of same name was based on, sooo much better), Ten Million Years to Friday by John Lymington, and The Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute. Most all post-apocalyptic or dystopian but hopeful.
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Trustee from the Toolroom! What a great book, and here I thought no one else had ever heard of it.
 
NotCompSavvy said:
I have taken the tour of Hemmingway House a few times in Key West with his old type writer , etc and the guides who are volunteers are so amazing that I felt that I was right with Hemmingway writing .

As you know a troubled man more so as he got older but fascinating , perhaps all writers are .
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I finally got around to reading something by Hemingway a couple of years ago. It may have been For Whom the Bell Tolls. I just picked a book that I had heard mentioned a lot. I read the whole thing, and it held my attention. I thought it was good. But I was expecting something else, but I don't know what. The ending was disappointing, but it was intended to be, so no points deducted for that.
 
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