Some people have had their lives influenced or changed by reading a book or two. Don’t fool yourself, we humans live–and, sometimes, die–by and for our ideas and dreams. For me, it was two books, about six months apart.
In the late Fall of 1963, a friend gave me a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. My mind and imagination were captured by the ideas it contained. Do I think she got every nuance correct? No, but she hit a lot of targets dead on. It continues to influence my life today.
I enlisted in the USMC in March, 1964 with a 120 day delay before beginning active duty; my reporting in date was 15 July 1964. In June, I read Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. It was the first–and, perhaps only–moral expression I’ve read of why a military is necessary and valuable. It also describes a “Timocracy,” rule by the worthy who’ve earned the right to vote. Again, many great ideas.
It’s funny to think of some of these as changing my life… but looking back now, I realize they did.
Lord of the Rings
精霊の守り人 (Seirei no Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit)
Red Mars
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Ender’s Game
Dune
Stranger in a Strange Land
Lots of fantasy and science fiction here, Yoruname. I’ve read five of the seven you list. If the other two are as good, I’ll look forward to them. Tolkein produced an entire world of work. Heinlein is unmatched.
Ender’s Game, even after close to fifty years, seems to still be a work in progress as Card keeps re-editing and re-writing it. I loved it from the 1970s version that took both the Hugo and the Nebulae awards. Some of the later versions contradict parts of the original. You might want to try Haldeman’s Forever War series, and also look over Kratman’s Desert Called Peace series (a/k/a the Carrerra-verse; the whole thing is largely an expanded riff on Starship Troopers).
If what you enjoy is playing with the ideas/possibilities, Niven & Pournelle’s Legacy of Heorot is similarly an extended riff on Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky. (Or any of their other collaborations, for that matter–Moties, anyone?)
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S Clason.
Taught me the value of saving and living within your means.
Helped me to my first $million.
Book I always take away with me to read on the plane or ship. Mathematics by J O Bird. The Pocket Book edition.
I am a book-aholic, and this was a very dangerous question to ask me. I had to think several days before I could provide a response.
Way back when I was a kid of about 10, I read a book titled Island of the Blue Dolphins. I loved that book, and it probably launched my book addiction in general. My love of wilderness stories was launched, I am certain, by a book about a Canadian, Mrs. Mike, first published in 1947 by Benedict and Nancy Freedman.
The books I have loved have generally been the books most appropriate to me at certain times and places. A book I have read four times is The Death of Artemio Cruz, by Carlos Fuentes. I have to read in translation, unfortunately, because I have never mastered Spanish. It is a story told starting from death and working backward to the birth of the protagonist. It is a tough read but profound.
I’ll stop there lest everyone get the impression I’m a book-lush! Thanks for asking, Alan25main–but as you can see, don’t get me started!
Yes, Ayn Rand because she captured meritocracy. Like JanCee, I have read many books and it is difficult to narrow the list down. But, some of the main books and or authors would be To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Sawyer, Five Smooth Stones, The Prophet and authors John Irving, Taylor Caldwell, Robertson Davies, Herman Hesse, Carlos Casteneda, Noam Chomsky and, if I may, Bob Dylan.
