What is the book that changed your life?

Closed Thread
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 12-07-2014, 01:24 PM
BarryRX's Avatar
BarryRX BarryRX is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau County, Evansville IN, Boca Raton, Toledo OH, Pennecamp
Posts: 1,806
Thanks: 1
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default 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".
__________________
How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
  #2  
Old 12-07-2014, 01:28 PM
NotGolfer NotGolfer is offline
Sage
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: The Villages
Posts: 3,893
Thanks: 2,561
Thanked 958 Times in 389 Posts
Default

Profoundly.....the Bible!!
  #3  
Old 12-07-2014, 01:38 PM
kittygilchrist's Avatar
kittygilchrist kittygilchrist is offline
Sage
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Gilchrist, from Gainesville
Posts: 5,811
Thanks: 0
Thanked 18 Times in 12 Posts
Default

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.
  #4  
Old 12-07-2014, 01:55 PM
rubicon rubicon is offline
Email Reported As Spam
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 13,694
Thanks: 0
Thanked 13 Times in 11 Posts
Default

Fifty Shades Of Grey

Ok Ok Super Joy by Paul Pearsall
  #5  
Old 12-07-2014, 02:03 PM
Bonnevie Bonnevie is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,537
Thanks: 12
Thanked 732 Times in 240 Posts
Default

I remember being very moved by "The Grapes of Wrath".
  #6  
Old 12-07-2014, 02:03 PM
LI SNOWBIRD's Avatar
LI SNOWBIRD LI SNOWBIRD is offline
Gold member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,156
Thanks: 1
Thanked 51 Times in 33 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BarryRX View Post
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".
I'll agree with Siddhartha and A Catcher in the Rye never read "Atlas Shrugged"
but was influenced by "Nausea" by Sartre.
__________________
LI SNOWBIRD LI, Tall Trees
"Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet."
Plato
  #7  
Old 12-07-2014, 02:24 PM
redwitch's Avatar
redwitch redwitch is offline
Sage
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 9,099
Thanks: 3
Thanked 78 Times in 35 Posts
Send a message via Yahoo to redwitch
Default

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.
__________________
Army/embassy brat - traveled too much to mention
Moved here from SF Bay Area (East Bay)

"There are only two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein
  #8  
Old 12-07-2014, 02:55 PM
eweissenbach's Avatar
eweissenbach eweissenbach is offline
Sage
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Smithville (Kansas City) Mo./ LaBelle North
Posts: 4,566
Thanks: 112
Thanked 726 Times in 225 Posts
Send a message via AIM to eweissenbach
Default

"Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" By Stephen Covey
__________________
Oldcoach Ed
"You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails" "Be yourself - everyone else is taken"
  #9  
Old 12-07-2014, 03:08 PM
TheVillageChicken's Avatar
TheVillageChicken TheVillageChicken is offline
Gold member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land
Posts: 1,302
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

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.
  #10  
Old 12-07-2014, 03:13 PM
graciegirl's Avatar
graciegirl graciegirl is offline
Sage
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 40,004
Thanks: 4,850
Thanked 5,493 Times in 1,903 Posts
Send a message via AIM to graciegirl
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheVillageChicken View Post
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.
__________________
It is better to laugh than to cry.
  #11  
Old 12-07-2014, 03:55 PM
tucson tucson is offline
Veteran member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 687
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Smile

Quote:
Originally Posted by NotGolfer View Post
Profoundly.....the Bible!!
I agree, the Bible taught me how to attain eternal life through Jesus, changed my life 40yrs ago.
  #12  
Old 12-07-2014, 04:12 PM
manaboutown manaboutown is offline
Sage
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NJ, NM, SC, PA, DC, MD, VA, NY, CA, ID and finally FL.
Posts: 7,379
Thanks: 12,798
Thanked 4,573 Times in 1,749 Posts
Default

"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!
__________________
"No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth." Plato

“To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Thomas Paine
  #13  
Old 12-07-2014, 04:12 PM
Loudoll's Avatar
Loudoll Loudoll is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 354
Thanks: 1
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

As a child: Angel Unaware by Dale Evans
As a teen: The Bible
  #14  
Old 12-07-2014, 04:36 PM
JP's Avatar
JP JP is offline
Veteran member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: The Village of St. James and Marquette, Michigan
Posts: 901
Thanks: 7
Thanked 261 Times in 116 Posts
Default

The Fountainhead
__________________
"I am a great believer in luck, and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it." -Thomas Jefferson
  #15  
Old 12-07-2014, 05:24 PM
Ohiogirl Ohiogirl is offline
Gold member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Seasonal Villager - summer in Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,496
Thanks: 0
Thanked 11 Times in 4 Posts
Default

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.
Closed Thread

Thread Tools

You are viewing a new design of the TOTV site. Click here to revert to the old version.

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:03 PM.