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I normally answer this question with an immediate and resounding, "Beowulf!"---I mean, I did spend three years studying it to the near-exclusion of all else.
But on aged reflection, I realize it's Ulysses by James Joyce. I really wanted to commit my dissertation on Joyce, but at the time there were some 16 other candidates reading for Joyce and I was advised to pick anything else.
I loved Joyce; idolized him, and still do... my fiancée at the time, also in the English department at UNC, hated Joyce. I'm convinced to this day that we broke it off over Bloomsday 1997...I chose to make the trip to Dublin that summer instead of the NC Writers Conference, where she would be speaking.
Today, I am happily married to a completely different woman from a completely different part of the world...and she adores Joyce.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
+1
Red Box D&D
2nd Edition AD&D Player's Handbook
The Hobbit
Conan series by Robert E Howard, L Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
The Crystal Shard
Ken Follet's The Eye of the Needle, Triple, The Man from St. Petersburg and The Key to Rebecca.
Solo by Jack Higgins
Ice by Ed McBain
It by Stephen King
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The bible changed my life, but not in the way that it changed most people's. I realize now that up until I actually read the bible, I was only following a religion and believing in a god because that was what was expected of me. Reading the bible, to me, revealed the absurdity of having faith in a being which could not be seen or verified in any way and taking ridiculous "truths" at face value without verification (1000 year life spans, etc.).
Shortly after I read the bible, I read Stephen King's "The Stand" and I had another mini-revelation...not only was it about as revealing of the nature of "god" as the bible (painful trials, needless sacrifice, etc.), but anybody coming along 1000 years from now and picking it up could easily mistake it for a religious text if they didn't know any better.
Not trying to be inflamatory, but hey, the question was asked and I answered.
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The bible changed my life, but not in the way that it changed most people's. I realize now that up until I actually read the bible, I was only following a religion and believing in a god because that was what was expected of me. Reading the bible, to me, revealed the absurdity of having faith in a being which could not be seen or verified in any way and taking ridiculous "truths" at face value without verification (1000 year life spans, etc.).
Shortly after I read the bible, I read Stephen King's "The Stand" and I had another mini-revelation...not only was it about as revealing of the nature of "god" as the bible (painful trials, needless sacrifice, etc.), but anybody coming along 1000 years from now and picking it up could easily mistake it for a religious text if they didn't know any better.
Not trying to be inflamatory, but hey, the question was asked and I answered.
There was an article way back in the 90s, when the 'complete and uncut' edition was released, which spoke to the same thing--say there's some significant global event in the next five hundred years, which throws all of us into a Cormac McCarthy novel; then add another 200-500 years to that. It's a stretch to say that anyone would ever stumble across a hardcover of King's novel (or any of the hundreds of other similar books that would as aptly fit the bill), since not even Easton Press books are likely to survive exposure for a thousand years (despite their claims of 1,000-year paper). Nonetheless, it's absolutely plausible that King's tale, if available in some form, could be taken for a kind of religious history of The Long Ago... scholars and archaeologists arguing over whether the events of The Gunslinger occurred before or after events as described in The Stand...
Xpltvdeleted: I think the responce you describe is far more common than you might expect. I can think of a fair few people who have lost their faith , or come to full appreciate their lack of it as a direct result of having read that tome. Including churchills nephew, who after having be challanged to read it cover to cover, exclaimed 'By george, god is a s&$*', which i rather hope would be any reasonable person to some of the atrosities which the book describes.
Actually, if you read the Bible as a series of stories written by an evolving culture several thousand years ago, there's actually quite a bit of interest there. Like many such stories, it has a lot to reveal about human nature and the relationship between man and the universe. That and some neat cleric spells.
But my list of books starts with "Behind the Northwind" by George MacDonald. For a little boy with bad lungs - Holy S**T!
MacDonald also gave me my first look at a goblin ("Princess and the Goblin"), which puts it right up there with "War of the Worlds" ("Vast, Cool, and Unsympathetic ...mmmm...) and "The Golden Book of Dinosaurs" for defining my interests for, like, 30 years.
But perhaps the single biggest book to impact my life was Animal Farm, which my dad read to me as a really young child because "it has talking animals in it" - a strong, early and accidental introduction to stories without happy endings.
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Xpltvdeleted: I think the responce you describe is far more common than you might expect. I can think of a fair few people who have lost their faith , or come to full appreciate their lack of it as a direct result of having read that tome. Including churchills nephew, who after having be challanged to read it cover to cover, exclaimed 'By george, god is a s*~#', which i rather hope would be any reasonable person to some of the atrosities which the book describes.
My logical mind wants to believe that most, if not all, the people who read it would be turned away, but that is (amazingly) not the case. Scientology, some weird sects of christianity which will not be named, greek mythology, etc. are all (generally) branded as foolish yet they contain nothing more or less fantastical than the bible. But anyway, I digress...don't want to get too off topic.
Xpltvdeleted: I think the responce you describe is far more common than you might expect. I can think of a fair few people who have lost their faith , or come to full appreciate their lack of it as a direct result of having read that tome. Including churchills nephew, who after having be challanged to read it cover to cover, exclaimed 'By george, god is a s*~#', which i rather hope would be any reasonable person to some of the atrosities which the book describes.My logical mind wants to believe that most, if not all, the people who read it would be turned away, but that is (amazingly) not the case. Scientology, some weird sects of christianity which will not be named, greek mythology, etc. are all (generally) branded as foolish yet they contain nothing more or less fantastical than the bible. But anyway, I digress...don't want to get too off topic.
See, i consider greek myth a much less silly thing to believe in that the bible. Okay, most of the content is equally fantastical and impossible, but atleast the narrative is consistent. The gods are gits, with human motivations and personalities, they make mistakes and generally spend more time getting their leg over than administering the world.
It doesn't ask you to make utterly implausable leaps such as 'there is only one god, and can only be one god, and he is all good, all powerful and just, but he created a world with evil in it, commited a bunch of genocides and generally ran amock. Oh and he created angels, some of who turned against him, and rather than jut making them stop existing, he made a special place, full of fire and pain, where you'll go too if you don't believe in him...oh and he needs some cash...all knowing, but just cant seem to handle cash'.
Magic people up a mountain, living a soap opera? That I can sort of buy. But the god of the bible? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.
Gord the Rogue series by Gary Gygax.
I learned to read so that I could read it. I loved the cover so much. I have not stopped reading since, and have 3 copies of the complete series that I read once a year.
The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan -- This needs to be required reading in all schools. Definitely where I learned critical thinking from.
1984 by George Orwell -- read it in 5th grade and haven't trusted authority since
Siddartha by Herman Hesse -- I don't much care for spirituality, but what spirituality I do have comes mostly from here
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes -- There's a life lesson in here that most people miss, even after reading the last page. "Live a fool, but die a sage."
Anthem by Ayn Rand -- probably the best dystopian novel ever. Also the basis for a cool song by Rush
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov -- Wonderful collection of ronot stories, turned into a trashy movie with Will Smith ("Bicentennial Man" with Robin Williams is what it was supposed to be like, also a great a Asimov story).
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams -- Where I learned not to panic.
Nine Princes In Amber by Roger Zelazny -- In addition to introducing me a great writer, this is the best fantasy series ever. It influenced how I see fantasy and role playing ever since.
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss -- Because you have to try new things
Neuromancer by William Gibson -- Where all visions of cyberspace come from
"Repent Harlequin, Said the Tick-Tock Man" by Harlan Ellison -- Just a short story but another thing everybody should read.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain -- Where you learn all about American ingenuity.
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck --Sure, I read Mort d'Arthur and Idylls of the King, but this is the book that moulded my image of knights in shining armor.
The Old Man & The Sea by Ernest Hemingway -- Try. Even if you fail, you still tried.
The Hobbit by JRR Tokien -- Beautiful story, and in some ways, even better than the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Elric by Michael Moorcock -- This is where you can learn the definition of anti-hero.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Player's Handbook.
+1.
This was the first non-comic book that I read for fun and loved it. Now I burn through a 500 page novel in a sitting because I just enjoy reading that much.
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Harris's 'Criminal Law'. Without the defenition of Sedition provided by Harris's Criminal Law, I would have never realized that every act of Government, Law, Constitution, Sovereign required the direct and regular approval of every citizen. I would have never realized the pigs troughing it in our Representative Government require my Approval to do so.
Philosophy :
Nietzshe, Bereits Gut und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil)
That should probably be:
Friedrich Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Böse.
;)
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- "Iron Council" by China Mieville
- "Un Lun Dun" by China Mieville
- "Solipsist" by Henry Rollins
- "Get in the Van" by Henry Rollins
- "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
- "Mother Night" by Kurt Vonnegut
- "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
- "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess"
- "The Terror" by Dan Simmons
- "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft
Let's try this again a year later. My revised list:
- "Iron Council" by China Mieville
- "Un Lun Dun" by China Mieville
- "Get in the Van" by Henry Rollins
- "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
- "Mother Night" by Kurt Vonnegut
- "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft
- "The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins
- "The Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan
- The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
- "The Book of Dave" by Will Self
- "The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian" anthology by Robert E. Howard
- "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
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The Hobbit was the first fantasy book I ever read, long after the time it came out too. Heck I was playing D&D already before that, but it got me into reading at all.
However, though its not a book, I'd have to say the Garfield comics volumes/books have influenced me a lot. In general ... man life is pretty F'd up. To keep sane I realized sometimes I just have to laugh it off.
The Red Box (especially Keep on the Borderlands).
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
Dragonlance Chronicles
Gord the Rogue series by Gary Gygax.
I learned to read so that I could read it. I loved the cover so much. I have not stopped reading since, and have 3 copies of the complete series that I read once a year.
you have three copies and i can't find one. where did you get these books??
The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien obviously
Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson even more obvious
The Red Queen - Matt Ridley this one and the next two form the foundation of my belief
The Selfish Gene & The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins a salute to the intricate miracle that is nature
Vampire The Masquerade :D being the foundation of my adult gaming career
The Dreamquest for unknown Kadath - H.P. Lovecraft it IS out there somewhere
D&D Basic set (Pink box? Erol Otus cover) - My first D&D experience, hooked ever since. Think I was in 6th or 7th grade at the time.
Daredevil #158 iirc, Frank Miller - is my earliest memorable comic book. Might have been an earlier comic or two, but this stands in my earliest memories of comic collecting. Also Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes and X-Men #137 stand out in the early days.
The Dragonlance Chronicles and Sword of Shannara got me heavy into reading Fantasy.
The Red Queen - Matt Ridley this one and the next two form the foundation of my belief
The Selfish Gene & The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins a salute to the intricate miracle that is nature
Vampire The Masquerade :D being the foundation of my adult gaming career
Now those are four seriously good choices. The selfish gene and The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, are foundational books, and are amongst the most important book in modern biology. Only 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.' really beat these two in my opinion.
And Vampire: The Masquerade strove to show us what role-playing could be, even if it did sort of let itself down in the end.
I was a advanced reader when I was 11. I read books like:
1984
Bhagavad Gita
The Hobbit
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Erewhon
Utopia
Looking Backwards (this show me how you write a plot twist without ruining the story)
Mythology-Edith Hamilton
Dracula (this started my life long love for vampire books and movies)
A Clockwork Orange
etc.
Fiction:
Once and Future King by T. H. White
1984 & Animal Farm by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Slaughterhouse 5, Mother Night, & Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Legacy by R. A. Salvatore (first fiction book I ever read for pleasure)
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Post Office by Charles Bukowski
The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett
Hamlet by Shakespeare
Wooster & Jeeves Series by P. G. Wodehouse
Comics:
Uncanny X-Men (is the series that started me buying comics)
Love & Rockets (is the series that most influenced my desire to draw)
Non-Fiction:
Killing Hope by William Blum
Deterring Democracy by Noam Chomsky
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
A People’s History by Howard Zinn
Elements of Style by E. B. White (still my writing bible)
Does the Center Hold? by Donald Palmer (an introductory philosophy book I bought by mistake in college)
Simcha wrote:
The Red Queen - Matt Ridley this one and the next two form the foundation of my belief
The Selfish Gene & The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins a salute to the intricate miracle that is nature
Vampire The Masquerade :D being the foundation of my adult gaming career
Now those are four seriously good choices. The selfish gene and The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, are foundational books, and are amongst the most important book in modern biology.
Well, I am a biologist after all... albeit not working as one. :'(
...and I can't get these quotes to work...
For me there's;
A Clockwork Orange
Fahrenheit 451
Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell
and Fight Club and Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Simcha wrote:
The Red Queen - Matt Ridley this one and the next two form the foundation of my belief
The Selfish Gene & The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins a salute to the intricate miracle that is nature
Vampire The Masquerade :D being the foundation of my adult gaming career
Now those are four seriously good choices. The selfish gene and The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, are foundational books, and are amongst the most important book in modern biology.Well, I am a biologist after all... albeit not working as one. :'(
...and I can't get these quotes to work...
I studied ethology, so E.O.Wilson, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins and Matt Ridley where big names in my life at Uni, soooooo much reading :p.
you have three copies and i can't find one. where did you get these books??Gord the Rogue series by Gary Gygax.
I learned to read so that I could read it. I loved the cover so much. I have not stopped reading since, and have 3 copies of the complete series that I read once a year.
20 years of looking in every used book store i come across, and i still buy every copy i see :)
*gasp*
I studied behavioural ecology!! How do you find a job??
Pwwwweeeease halp me!
*gasp*
I studied behavioural ecology!! How do you find a job??Pwwwweeeease halp me!
Ugh...people on my course ended up doing one of two things...leaving all hopes of animal science related work behind, or working their arse off.
I know two working pathways towards science based work. One is get funding from UFAW to do student research projects through your uni, do well on the paper(s) and on your dissertation, then go onto a masters, or assist several people doing the first option with their lab work, then get a job as a lab tech when your done.
What books have changed your lives and why?
I could write essays about this, but I'll try to keep this to a couple of paragraphs:
I'm almost ashamed to admit that the Xanth books by Piers Anthony were my introduction to fantasy literature. (Yeah, I know, they're mind-candy, but when I was 8 years old, they were great.) They were my gateway to Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, which led me to Marian Zimmer Bradley and a great many other fantasy authors. I didn't pick up Tolkein until I was a teenager and was already well and truly hooked on fantasy literature, though.
Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land got me hooked on science fiction when I was a teenager, though I find it virtually unreadable nowadays. His work falls into that category of writing that I found hugely profound and paradigm shifting as a young person, but that has lost all appeal to me as an adult.
On the other hand, I read Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, and Beloved, by Toni Morrison during my freshman and sophomore years in college, and I think it was the first time I ever read books with female characters whose voices really resonated with me on a visceral level. Those three books made me a lot more aware of how women were portrayed in the books I was reading for pleasure and prompted me to seek out a lot of very good female fantasy and science fiction authors that I'd never encountered before, too. Like Octavia Butler, or Sheri Tepper, or Lois McMaster Bujold, amongst others.
Dune - Proved the the best aliens are human.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - It opened my mind to possibilities out side of my backwoods upbringing. It also prepped me for the heaver philosophy writers (Kempt, Nietzsche & so on).
20 years of looking in every used book store i come across, and i still buy every copy i see :)you have three copies and i can't find one. where did you get these books??Gord the Rogue series by Gary Gygax.
I learned to read so that I could read it. I loved the cover so much. I have not stopped reading since, and have 3 copies of the complete series that I read once a year.
there are three huge used books stores in my town (tucson), and they don't have a single copy. :-(
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there are three huge used books stores in my town (tucson), and they don't have a single copy. :-(20 years of looking in every used book store i come across, and i still buy every copy i see :)you have three copies and i can't find one. where did you get these books??Gord the Rogue series by Gary Gygax.
I learned to read so that I could read it. I loved the cover so much. I have not stopped reading since, and have 3 copies of the complete series that I read once a year.
I did a quick search on amazon and it appears they have a few copies available. The "new" ones are ridiculous, but the used ones are pretty cheap IIRC.