What is the book that changed your life?
 

Was it Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, or perhaps it was The Stranger by Camus. For me, there were different books that had big impacts at different stages of my life. When I was just a boy, I remember being moved by "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and by "The Yearling". As a teenager, "Atlas Shrugged" and "A Catcher in the Rye".

Profoundly.....the Bible!!

The Bible is what God Said...if you have a better truth than your Creator, ehhhhh.
The devil is a liar, opposing the truth of God on earth.

Fifty Shades Of Grey:D

Ok Ok Super Joy by Paul Pearsall

I remember being very moved by "The Grapes of Wrath".

I'll agree with Siddhartha and A Catcher in the Rye never read "Atlas Shrugged"
but was influenced by "Nausea" by Sartre.

Can't say any one book has changed my life but more than a few have had some influence on me. Atlas Shrugged, Stranger in a Strange Land are two that I reread about every five years. Johnny Got His Gun brings me to tears every time I read it.

"Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" By Stephen Covey

Worlds in Collision was the most thought provoking book I ever read.
As far as life changing, The works of Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Milton made me change my major from English Lit to Electrical Engineering and Open Marriage nearly ruined my life.

You are one funny guy.

Can't think of a book that changed my life, but my study of science and the scientific method changed the way I looked at some, possibly most, problems.

I agree, the Bible taught me how to attain eternal life through Jesus, changed my life 40yrs ago.

"How I turned $1,000 into a Million in Real Estate in my Spare Time" by William Nickerson stands out. I picked it up during my lunch hour at Brentano's in D.C. in 1966. I ended up buying a 4 unit building on Capitol Hill for $1,000 down and followed the book's recommendations, i.e., rehab to increase value; do 1031 exchanges and so on. It has gone on from there 48 years and counting. That book changed my life more so than any other book by itself although certainly other books have significantly impacted how I view and do life.

Great question to contemplate. Thanks BarryRX!

As a child: Angel Unaware by Dale Evans
As a teen: The Bible

The Fountainhead

I think I read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead as a teenager - must have been too young because I think I missed all the symbolism, etc, just thought they were good stories - time to reread, I guess.

Also remember reading "War and Peace" by Tolstoy in high school and just remember struggling with all of the names and nicknames. Think that one could have benefited by some editing!

How about "To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee? I also read "Exodus" by Leon Uris as a teenager, which probably opened my eyes more than any other book or news show about the Holocaust.

I'm still waiting to be changed, but I did read I'm Okay, You're Okay when it came out in 1969 and it definitely made me begin to think of different ways I might approach problems or hurdles in my life. I've never revisited it and would likely find it laughable now, but heck, I was 17 at the time. ;)

Still an instructional book on interactional psychology. I wrote a paper in Grad school in the early eighties on transactional psychology vs Gestalt theory and used that book as one of my primary sources.

Walden Pond..... You don't own the cow, the cow owns you. Less is more.
The other one was also "I'm OK, Your OK." [Do you remember the board game Cop Out?]

Living free in an unfree world by Harry Browne. Atlas Shrrugged is a close second.

The Magic of Believing by Claude Bristol.

'The Late Great Planet Earth' by Hal Linsey

I've never gotten over Old Yeller.

From an educational standpoint, I learned a lot from The Wall and Exodus.

I thought "I'm OK, You're OK" was an interesting book when I first read it.
Over 40 years later, I still find still find transactional analysis helpful in understanding behavior.

I was influenced by Wayne Dyer's Many Lives, Many masters. Very impressive book. And also, Beatty Eady's Embraced by the Light. That book brought much consolation after mom's passing.

I find it interesting that this book, affected so many. To live in the villages you have to be pretty comfortable leaving others behind. Hopefully they are comfortable letting you go. I wonder if I'm OK, Your OK has something to do with both of those decisions.

Your the last person to mention the book so i posted here. the discussion is open to anyone.

"Who moved my cheese?" Helped me through a few big changes in my life.

. Probably "Grace and Grit" by Ken Wilber although most of it was taken from notes written by his beloved dying wife. It touches everyone who reads it.

The China Study by Colin Campbell Ph.D.
 

His life's work was in nutrition and he proved that animal protein promotes cancer. Cancer was my main concern because everyone in my family had it. After reading his book I became a vegan to help avoid getting cancer.

Becoming a vegan was a big change in my life and now I feel a lot more hopeful about my future. Cancer doesn't seem like a big threat anymore.

Oh, one more, "Leisureville" by Andrew Blechman. Had I not read it I probably never would have heard of The Villages.

Most of us have read many, many books. I believe my life has been influenced by great numbers of books, and regrettably I can't single out just one to add to this great thread topic.

How can I count all the books that stirred my life long passion for reading and further reading? How can I make a workable list and then narrow it down to one? I'm a relgious man, but to just blurt out The Bible would be very inaccurate. Biographies, autobiographies, travelogues, novels of all sorts, histories, and so on and so on.

They all have in ways affected my life, some in big ways, some in unnoticeable ways. And without any offense or smart alec attitude toward BarryRX ( who stands tall among the posters here) I am sure others feel as I do.

i know what you mean

:agree:

I read half of Atlas Shrugged and got bored and quit. If it is so good that it has changed lives, perhaps I need to revisit it with renewed vigor. I cried over The Grapes of Wrath, and over To Kill a Mockingbird. Fifty Shades of Grey was fifty shades of stupid as far as I'm concerned.

I guess the books that literally most changed my life were the ones I read in college, because once I got a degree I really started moving up in my career. So I'm going with Business Accounting, Physics I and II, American History, etc.

Now if you want to talk about the best books I ever read, that is a horse of a different color. I'll list these in no particular order: Last of the Breed, The Light Between Oceans, The Great Santini, The Prince of Tides, The Green Mile, The Hour I First Believed, The Cider House Rules, Tuesdays With Morrie, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, Cold Mountain, Snow Falling on Cedars, Lord of the Flies, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, The Help, I Know This Much is True, oh Lord, I could go on and on. I do love a good book.

Love your list. I'd add The World According to Garp and A Prayer for Owen Meany. She's Come Undone. But that's a whole 'nother thread.

Ohhhh, I haven't read A Prayer for Owen Meany. I'm ordering it now. Do recommend the other two! :clap2:

It's one of the few books I've read twice. Hope you enjoy it!

"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle

I hated their perfect family, though.:angel:

The Wind in the Willows.