books that changed your outlook on life

chats

For me i read catcher in the rye when i was young and when i finished it i just sat there with the book closed...so upset i was finished, i tried to forget the whole thing so i could start again!:o

so what books changed the way you look or think about things....

Queen-Mise

cannery row

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintence

Richard bach's books

Tales of the city

Some sci-fi ones, were very though provoking

Robert fisk

Trainspotting

So many had an impact in so many ways.

skelliser

1984

candlegrease

chats wrote: »

For me i read catcher in the rye when i was young and when i finished it i just sat there with the book closed...so upset i was finished, i tried to forget the whole thing so i could start again!:o

so what books changed the way you look or think about things....

How did it change they way you thought exactly?

raah!

I've yet to read such a wonderful book, but 'The Doors of Perception' by Huxley was filled with some completely new ideas that had never entered my head before. It changed the way I thought about certain things... but not my outlook on life.

I think it would almost be a bad thing if some book changed your outlook on life to such a degree.

Seillejet

I came in here to post Catcher in the Rye and OP beat me to it. Holden Caulfield was a legend . I couldnt believe i was reading such a cool book in school. Made me want to smoke at 13 though.

joseph brand

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Robert Tressell.

Brilliant book thats seems so relevant in these recession times. My father handed it to me with an enthusiastic smile.
The book sticks up for the working class and gives two fingers to the ruling class and the church.

Highly entertaining and thought provoking.

tribulus

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer (Pseudonym).

Despite a few criticisms it is generally believed to be a true account of a young German soldier in World War II. I can't really articulate my feelings on the book but it certainly made me appreciate a lot more things.

tickledhoney

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

HalloweenJack

Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn.

It gave me hope at a time when I really depressed. It just made me realise that everybody goes through **** in life and your life will never go the way you want it to but it can still be an enjoyable and exciting experience.

LiamMc

Football Grounds of Europe - Simon Inglis.

Morzadec

Primo Levi - If This is a Man

Give it to someone who whinges and moans about the little annoying niggly things in life. It'll put a lot in perspective

teamB_macro

Somehow I just didn't finish Catcher in the Rye. I thought I wouldn't like how it'll end, so i just gave it up. But anyway, To Kill a Mockingbird is one book that made me realize that life is not painted in black and white. There are so many gray areas where the concepts of fairness and justice are compromised. Yeah and scifi too mostly be Arthur C. Clarke.

blackbetty69

page 3

Porkpie

tickledhoney wrote: »

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Just bought that book, going to start reading it after I finish my current one. A lot of pages to get through, hope it's worth it!

A book that really opened my eyes was 'Man's search for meaning' by Victor Frankl. He was a holocaust survivor. He describes how people can find meaning and happiness in their lives even in the most awful of circumstances, and how a need to find fulfillment in life is central to one's happiness.

ClutchIt

1984

me-skywalker

On The Road
1984
The Doors - A Guide
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

cbmonstra

Catch 22 (my favourite )

1984

Brave New World

One Hundred Years of Solitude

REPSOC1916

A.J. Ayer's Language, Truth and Logic. Having been an existentialist before reading that book; for me it was the equivalent of havien been blinded by cateracts before hand, stuck harshly on the head and then being able to see clearly.

Red Tempest

The mystery of the crystal skulls - wow, just, wow. Taught me that things don't have to be true to be real

A child called It - never complained about my childhood EVER again

The Bible - destroyed my faith in institutionalised religion, strengthened my faith in God

The history of western philosophy - you can feel the doors being opened in your brain!

mSe265

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Sephiroth_dude

Neil gaimens neverwhere.

wauners

On the road

Homage to Catalonia

Ham on Rye

Junkie

King-of-mice

life of pi

KonFusion

1984

On The Road

clichés I guess, but they did the job, and by reading posts above, they did so for others too :P, and remain 2 of my favourite books ever.

...and anything by Alan Watts

Also, stories/adventures of celtic/irish/english mythology, like the adventures of King Arthur or Finn McCool had a huge impact on me as a child, and helped shape the person I am today.

beans

+1 on Alan Watts, but the first I read was called 'The Tao of Philosophy'

thebadmonkey

"Shake Hands with the Devil" by Gen Romeo Daillaire. I dont think a book has ever filled me with as many different emotions in one sitting..rage, grief, sorrow, disbelief, anger.....certainly an eye opener to how the UN makes important decisions and why the world can stand by and let genocide happen. There's two good documentaries too that could be watched after it, can see it on youtube.."Ghosts of Rwanda" and "Shake Hands with the Devil"

Malari

joseph brand wrote: »

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Robert Tressell.

tickledhoney wrote: »

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Loved these two.

Also Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng. It's even more amazing than Wild Swans I thought, because of the author's description of the misery of her life under Mao. In fact I think it's the only book I ever read where I felt the author inspired me.

Changed my outlook on life though? Don't know.

corkdave

Porkpie wrote: »

A book that really opened my eyes was 'Man's search for meaning' by Victor Frankl. He was a holocaust survivor. He describes how people can find meaning and happiness in their lives even in the most awful of circumstances, and how a need to find fulfillment in life is central to one's happiness.

Same here. And around the same time I read "For Those I Loved" by Martin Gray. He lost his whole family in the Holocaust, met and married and had a family after the war, and then lost them all too in a house fire. Those two books inspired me because they showed the capacity of the human spirit. I understood then, more than any time before, that life is there to be lived.

BeatNikDub

Brida - Paulo Coehlo
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Coriolanus

The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson.

I still re-read it every year or two.

Day Lewin

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

Entertaining true story about living for a year on locally-grown food. By a biologist, famous author and family woman....revelatory. Read it, it will change you!

Guns, germs and steel by Jared diamond

Changed the way i look at history....it's not just a random series of events: there's a REASON why the Incas didn't invade Spain, but the other way about....very organic and satisfying, though it is a long and fairly serious read. Kept me going for a three-week holiday with long flights!

Acacia

Never really understood the big deal with ''Catcher in the Rye''. For me it was ''Fight Club'' or ''Trainspotting''.

LiamMc

Acacia wrote: »

Never really understood the big deal with ''Catcher in the Rye''. For me it was ''Fight Club'' or ''Trainspotting''.

You've answered your own question.

Demian - Hermann Hesse
I was the same generation when I read it.

Acacia

LiamMc wrote: »

You've answered your own question.

I don't really get what you mean.

LiamMc

Acacia wrote: »

I don't really get what you mean.

"Fight Club" and "Trainspotting" are different books to "Catcher in the Rye".

DoctorGonzo08

The Power of One by Bruce Courtney. Telling you anything about it will just spoil it. It is a must read and very easy to do so as it is the best page turner I have come across.

If you haven't read Pride and Prejudice, start with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It tricked me into wanting to know how Darcy and Elizabeth would turn out. (Elizabeth is a Highly trained orient assasin whose sole purpose is to kill all Zombies in the Name of Her Majesty!)

patsman07

Utopia-Thomas More.
I used to think that any Socialist/Communist or anyone who stood about giving out about the world and didn't get on with things was a clown. This book opened my mind, after reading it I couldn't understand why we are living the way we do when there is such a brilliant blueprint for a far better society already in existance. Its a bit dated but absolutely ingenious

Silversudz

The faraway tree series by Enid Blyton

Must have read each one a thousand times between the age of 8-12.

They have a lot to answer for- I still daydream about that bloody magical tree

scriba

'If this is a man', 'The Periodic Table' and 'The drowned and the saved' by Primo Levi completely changed my outlook on life when I was fifteen or sixteen. The Lord of the Rings, when I was in primary school taught me not to be daunted by 'big' books. Eco's 'Name of the Rose' and 'Foucault's Pendulum' gave me my love of medieval thought.

GiftofGab

Acacia wrote: »

Never really understood the big deal with ''Catcher in the Rye''. For me it was ''Fight Club'' or ''Trainspotting''.

Is it worth reading these books if you have seen the film first? Im not a big fan of seeing the film then reading the book afterwards. It totally spoiled the Godfather book for me. I knew what was going to happen before I even read it.