Books that changed your life

Sacrament

Sacrament

Well-known member
Hey guys.

I'm currently looking for the kind of book that'll seriously make you go "whoa" and think and change your perspectives on yourself, on others, on work, on working out and living healthy, on life itself.

I have a couple myself, but I'm interested in what you have to say. I'm sure there are plenty out there.

A couple of books that helped me were Russ Harris' The Happiness Trap and Eckhart Tolle's Practicing the Power of Now. I know there must be plenty of books that could seriously give my life a boost (or the lives of people I know and love), so I was wondering what books did it for you, and how they changed your life.

Ready? GO!
 
kihira

kihira

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This book helped me to see my strengths as an introvert and stopped me from feeling that I needed to fit into an extrovert world
 
S

Silatuyok

Well-known member
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It's an awesome book to read if you are at all interested in where your food comes from and why you should eat local.

Great thread, btw.
 
shakethelight

shakethelight

Well-known member
Instinct for Freedom : A Maverick's Guide to Spiritual Revolution - Alan Clements

What an inspirational & well written book. Basically it's about Clements journey to enlightenment. He feels trapped within his in mind. In his desperation to free himself from suffering, he discovers Burma, where he begins his journey into Buddhism/liberation.

Instinct for Freedom is truly inspirational & profoundly writtren. I highly recommend it.
 
bleach

bleach

Banned
Self Esteem by Matthew McKay and Patrick Fanning was a big revelation for me, but I don't think it really changed my life because I didn't follow through with their advice
 
MarionBerry

MarionBerry

Well-known member
The Highly Sensitive Person - Elaine Aron and The Highly Sensitive Person in Love - Elaine Aron....if you suspect you might be a super sensitive person, which I suspect many of us here are.

On the fiction side of things, The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon changed my life. It was the most challenging, yet short, book I've ever read. I needed to read it with a dictionary close at hand.
 
S

Silatuyok

Well-known member
To be honest, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory made a huge impact on my world-view as a child. I guess it was one of my earliest lessons in karmic retribution. It made me proud to be poor, and initiated my life-long belief that television is a bunch of rubbish. If you've never read the book I highly recommend it!
 
MarionBerry

MarionBerry

Well-known member
Really all Roald Dahl is awesome! Matilda made me feel like it was okay, and even special, to be a little different.
 
M

monkeyman

Member
1) Think and Grow Rich - Napolean Hill

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." - Napolean Hill
"With our thoughts we make the world." - Buddha
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are right." - Henry Ford

I guess this book has to be my bible. I cannot recommend it enough. You could read the first 4 chapters 10 times, and the whole book 4 times. This book allowed me to realize the essential elements you truly need to reach any goal or make any change in your life. Thoughts, purpose, belief, desire, and autosuggestion with positive thoughts. At age 31, I ended up quitting my dead end job with no new job. I got a rewarding job in a profession I wanted and moved to the city I wanted to be in all because I believed I could do it. I created positive thoughts to make that happen and destroyed any negative thoughts or influences. I largely started to realize and achieve my goals and start to create more happiness in my life because of this book.

2) 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey

"If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control - myself." - Stephen Covey
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." - Lao Tzu
"Begin with the end in mind." - Stephen Covey

I only read the first half of the book. I realized that I was in control of my own life. I realized that my perceptions affected everything I did and thought I could do. I prioritized what was truly important and set a goal to overcome my social anxiety. I rediscovered my focus on important values and principles that have guided my life at all times whether I realized it or not. At age 27, living with my parents for the last 5 years, I went to a social anxiety presentation. I saw a therapist for 6 months and improved my social anxiety even though it was incredibly difficult. I got a job and my own apartment in a different city from my parents, supporting myself for the first time. I largely overcame my social anxiety as a result of first reading this book.
 
Starry

Starry

Well-known member
The Bible - For the opposite reason that it's supposed to change your life... I was a Jehovah's Witness, then I read it in its entirety and all my doubts about Christianity were only deepened... I actually once threw it across the room because I was so sickened and upset by all the violence, hatred, cruelty and murder stated as "just and Holy"... It was instrumental in my ceasing to be a JW/Christian... The Bible really can be Christianity's worst enemy!

'Worlds in Collision' by Immanuel Velikovsky - It opened up my mind to a whole new way of thinking and made me gain a new interest in mythology and how the myths might be more than just stories.
 
Graeme1988

Graeme1988

Hie yer hence from me heath!
Starry said:
The Bible - For the opposite reason that it's supposed to change your life... I was a Jehovah's Witness, then I read it in its entirety and all my doubts about Christianity were only deepened... I actually once threw it across the room because I was so sickened and upset by all the violence, hatred, cruelty and murder stated as "just and Holy"... It was instrumental in my ceasing to be a JW/Christian... The Bible really can be Christianity's worst enemy!
Click to expand...

I agree with you on that, Starry. Ironically, I did quite well in my Religious Studies class during my first year of secondary school - not bad for an agnostic atheist! :D Anyway, enough rambling from me... here's a couple of book that have changed my life:

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Found this book quite inspiring, despite not be that into Zen Buddhism or Eastern philosophy.

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JuiceB

JuiceB

Well-known member
I haven't read anything meaningful since highschool and that was in the 90's. The last piece of literature I've bought was the first issue of Zombie Tramp. This is partly why my mind is turning into goo.

coyote said:
january 1972

i was 7 years old then

it made quite an impression
Click to expand...
A mind is a terrible thing to waste. And so are eyes huh?
 
E

Everett

Active member
I highly regret reading Ayn Rand when I was younger. It turned me into a brat and a self-absorbed *******. If I could go back in time, I would kick that book into the fireplace and give my past self a good whack on the head.
 
Waybuloo

Waybuloo

Well-known member
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Read it for school. It seriously psychologically disturbed me to bits. Yeah it changed me, made me wary of people and a bit more disillusioned.
 
Waybuloo

Waybuloo

Well-known member
Anyone who's read intellectual titles, how is it that you come across it? If only there is a must read channel on TV for people not in the know.
 
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