Question of the Day:
What book has changed your life for the better?
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The Bible is the one and only book worth reading.
Really? I found my driving safty handbook quite useful but I supose I could be mistaken.
One can only learn how to drive safely by putting his faith in the Lord.
Don has to be a Poe. I thought he was serious at first, but he’s either a Poe or insane.
I love you Daniel. I can sense you were a man of God through your lovely soothing prose.
I wish I had something to stroke :(
I think you are stroking it now. It is that little thing in your hand.
OK Don, I think you’re kuhl – you’re one of us. I’ll just stroke your ego now if that’s ok with you.
Read his website. The really disgusting thing is, he’s serious.
Actually… I’m starting to think that he’s just a very good Poe.
I chekd out the site – it didn’t make any sense! Or is it just me?
Check out his blog on the occult. Lightweight reading, but he compensates with juicy and disturbing pictures. The bad news- he apparently has kids. He claims he told them that if they mess with the occult demons will throw ballpoint pens at them all night.
Don– Did you find a nice dress at BR yet???
At first I thought Don was real…I’m not so sure anymore, just go read his latest post on his blog, it’s just crazy…he’s either a really funny poe or disturbingly insane
My vote goes for disturbingly insane. There’s nothing about his blog that resembles even a primitive attempt at satire.
I’d rather be considered insane by Atheists than accepted as sane.
Every right minded person knows me as an upstanding and outstanding member of society even though I have been arrested on a number of occasions for forgetting to wear clothes. That’s only because I’m so immersed in God’s love that I struggle to focus sometimes.
I’m terrified that I’ll black out one day and walk into church on Sunday with my rod snapping too and fro off my thighs like a furry love pendulum.
That good enough for you, Brian?
…or by not texting, shoulder checking, and wearing seat belts. That works too.
Don “attention whore” Kroner (Poe dilettante and Godwin Lover): I’ll pray for you!
I wandered over to Don’s wonderful blog last night and did battle over the issue of abortion with him (as only I could do). I can’t imagine anyone performing a service more fitting for Xians.
Well, I think your brain surgeon could train himself or herself using only a bible, because there wouldn’t be much there to operate on anyway!
I didn’t find the bible very inspiring reading, but I did find it useful to put under one leg of my table – now it doesn’t wobble around as much.
Probably every single book. don’t all books change your life for the better?
All books… for the better? I don’t read a lot of books but I can say I’ve read some that have wasted my time. If you cut yourself off and put the book back on the shelf, then maybe all books you allow yourself to finish have the capacity to improve your life, at least teach you something or entertain you, but change your life for the better, all books? No effing way. Overstatement.
I don’t have an answer to the QotD today. Like I said, I’m not a reader, but appealing to me, entertaining me, learning something I didn’t know before, etc. are all fine qualities of books, you can not say that is not life-changing on a small degree of change for the better, but when I hear the term ‘life-changing,’ I assume all properties of my whole life were able to be transformed by a single book, my outlook and inspiration to become a completely different person. Nope. Not happening with books. I use this one book at least once a year to remember how to make gravy from a roast turkey, that has helped a lot, it also has a recipe for my very popular butterscotch blondies that I make around Christmas. I previously mentioned The Velveteen Rabbit, I’m not sure my life is better having read it though. Don Aslett has a series of books on how to get rid of clutter, I have it all up in my head, but it doesn’t clean the house or take out the garbage. That’s 3 books over my life that are probably the better of anything I’ve ever read (not including the one I’m supposed to be reading for the UF forum book club thingie – i r procrastinator).
Twilight will not change your life for the better.
Promises.
Unless you’re freezing to death and need something to burn.
Oh, but it will! It will make you appreciate real literature.
And make you never, ever, repeat that mistake again.
*shudder*
Twilight actually kept me from killing myself. Too busy reading….
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time
nice wee story!!! Made me smile and shed a tear.
You obviously haven’t read Palin’s new “book”. Oh right, neither have I.
I generally don’t consider books as a vehicle for changing my life. Just a small part of it. Reading things like the bible or The God Delusion help me contemplate the words, the source, and put things in perspective. Maybe it’s because I am a skeptic after all.
I agree. The book that was most startling to me (because it was my introduction to atheism) was “The Final Superstition” by Daleiden.
The Lord of the Rings. I’m waiting for the Elves to return. They seemed to have their shit together better than Christians.
Ditto! Me Too!
That sounds right. excellent books.
The Book of Mormon. As I was raised, I was taught it was a real history of real ancient American Jews and contained the word of God. When I discovered it was fiction written by a horny fraud, and was not God’s word, it changed my life dramatically for the better.
“Misquoting Jesus” by Ehrman. I picked it up at an international airport somewhere, after I had stopped attending church but hadn’t quite made it the rest of the way to intentional non-belief. Ehrman’s book was what pushed me kindly over the edge, and I’m very grateful for that.
Also, a lot of fiction – “Omeros” by Derek Walcott and “My Happy Life” by Lydia Millet are the first two to come to mind. And honestly- don’t hate me for this – reading “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead” when I was freshly deconverted changed my life for the better, but not in the asshole-y ways you might think :)
The Novelisation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Introduced me to Science Fiction (my one true genre love) and, looking back, introduced me to the concept of immensely powerful, wise, and intelligent beings – that definitely were NOT god. Took a while for that seed to sprout, but it did.
Shantaram – the richest book I’ve ever read. It screams wisdom with every word.
The His Dark Materials series completely changed my outlook on life. I was already an atheist when I read them, but they made the universe even more beautiful and wonderful to me.
Another series that really affected me was the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The human connections and the message that the journey is the most important part of life really stuck with me.
A Brief History of Time in 9th grade. Never did really get the whole church thing growing up, but didn’t know why. Then I read this, and it aaaaaalll made sense. Church wasn’t true. = )
hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
+10
Don’t panic!
I just got part six of the trilogy (by Eoin Colfer) – it’s the next on my reading list. Hope it’s as good.
I have to say that Neil Gaiman changed my life. His love of storytelling taught me that you can love something beyond yourself that isn’t tied into a religion. So, as a musician I know that I can love music more than anything on the planet, christianity, islam, and judaism included!
“Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn. That book was an awakening for me.
“The Case for Christ”
As a Christian looking for better answers to big questions and a way to rebuke my atheist friends, I thought reading this book would help. After reading it, it really shook me that this book that many Christians I know held in good standings, was so incredibly wrong!
Especially his justification for sending people to hell. Essentially, “well, you rejected God’s love… so you deserve it”.
I don’t think so Mr. Lawyer, I don’t think so.
Actually, Lee Strobel was a journalist. And his arguments are pathetically simplistic and very unsatisfying.
Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer
Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon by Nick Trout.
This book brought back my urge to become a veterinarian. I always wanted to be an animal doctor when I was a kid and a rather negative experience as a kennel girl at the local clinic had diminished my dreams. I’m at the point of waiting to be accepted to a vet school now.
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. Axis only deepened the effect.
To Kill a Mocking Bird. It summed up the concept of respect so well. A subject that the bible doesn’t touch upon too much. Atticus Finch was a stronger moral figure for me than Jesus ever was.
Same here :D
Mocking was required reading back in my Catholic High School, and we found it much easier to relate to Atticus as an ideal concept of a good man, as compared to Jesus.
To me Mocking Bird is the most inspirational book. Who needs Jesus when you have Atticus Finch?!
“Myth and Religion” by Alan Watts.
Hard question. I’ve so many books I’ve loved and cherished, and which changed me in small ways, that I can’t really pinpoint one.
I’d say Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World was the book which cemented lack of faith for me – I already “suspected” my atheism, but it was reading Mr. Sagan’s book that put the nail in the coffin, as to speak.
OK, thought I’d speak up for the hippy-dippy tooty-fruity contingency and bring up Eckhart Tolle. Even though he got Oprah-fied, I still found his works caused me to think and see things with fresh perspective. Actually, the New Earth book inspired a lot of my photography!
EASILY far and away the best book EVER written is “The Demon Haunted World” by Carl Sagan. That fucking book WILL change your life.
I give them away to people like the religious give out bible tracts!
I know it says book, not books, but I dont think I could narrow it down to one as books have been the main thing which have changed my life for the better. But my short list would be “1984″ “Age of Reason” “The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy” “Thus Spake Zarathustra” “The Dark Tower” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”.
Calvin & Hobbes (take your pick, they’re all life-changing)
“You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can’t Make Him Think: Answers to Questions from Angry Skeptics” by Ray Comfort.
<snicker>
I’ve read so many, but I would go with Ender’s Game, Foundation, and Walter Lord’s A Day of Infamy.
I also really liked the Ender’s Game series, so I was disappointed when I eventually found out how much of a dickbag the author is. Ah well, his books can stand on their own.
I wouldn’t say the whole series, but I read first book when I was 8 and have read it hundreds of times since.
I read Contact by Carl Sagan in my early 20s, during the year in-between Sagan’s death and the release of the movie. It was a time in my life when I came to realize how little I knew and how much I had to learn about life. Some of the main characters in the story are extremely intelligent, but cannot answer the ultimate questions. Really, it’s OK not to know.
Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart by Gordon Livingston a psychologist, Vietnam veteran, ex-alcoholic and parent who lost a child. He has experienced life and heard many peoples stories. His conclusions about living your life impressed me with their wisdom.
Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstader. Anything from Nietzsche’s middle period, but especially The Wanderer and His Shadow. Strangely enough, the Bible. I had just been introduced to fantasy via the Lord of the Rings, and mythology via D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, and so reading it right afterward really put it in an appropriate perspective.
If I had to pick just one, I’d go for GEB too. I’d never read anything that was at the same time, informative, humourous, playful, insigntful, intelligent, inspiring…
The Selfish Gene would be an infinitesimally close second though.
Those two books are what made we want to become a scientist. Since I eventually did, that seems to qualify them as life changing :)
Cosmic Trigger – Robert Anton Wilson
The Red Queen by Matt Ridley.
I think I have to agree that there are too many significant books to name, but the ones that are coming to mind right now are Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Also, The Things They Carried (Tim O’Brian) was an interesting read that was requires for a college course that took on more significant meaning after the professor showed us an interview with author where he discussed his ideas about the nature of fiction and it’s role in belief, life … Anyhow, I’m going to stop now before I think of any more.
So many of the above mentioned books are on my “to read” list, it makes me wish I had more time.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maitenance by Robert Pirsig
Also Zen and the art of motorcycle mechanics!!! Superbe!!
Ian you got there before me!! And with the proper title
Let me throw one more into the mix. The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
That reminds me of Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History series. Good enough to be used as textbooks, funny enough to avoid being textbooks.
Peter Irons’ People’s History of the US Supreme Court is also quite good.
Thanks for the heads up on these. I’ve added a bunch of them to my Amazon wish list so I can get them for the kids.
Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History, especially the first collection, “From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great”, is EFFING BRILLIANT.
You’re right. I picked up his book about the history of the US and it is fucking brilliant. Looking at Gonick’s bibliography though I see he’s used Howard Zinn’s “A PEOPLE’S HISTORY” as one of his sources!
There are quite a lot of excellent books I’ve enjoyed, but these books are probably the most “life-changing” for me:
At age 12, perhaps more than any book: Cosmos by Carl Sagan. This book taught me curiosity and wonder at the universe we live in, and the value of learning. Even though there was a time in my early twenties when, out of emotional insecurity, I was involved in the Church of Christ (uber sola scritura fundies), I think I was already inoculated against some of their crazier ideas & so was still skeptical. Eventually I got out. I do credit a lot of that to reading Carl Sagan at such a young age. I never could completely buy into what they were selling.
Thoreau’s Walden and, perhaps even more, his Journal. Thoreau taught me (and still teaches me) the joy of simplicity, being close to nature, and has always felt like a “kindred spirit” to me.
R.H. Blyth’s four volume Haiku. A wonderful (sadly, out of print) book on this complex Japanese poetic form that makes me think of it as “compressed Thoreau.” More than just a kind of poetry, it is a way of seeing.
A compendium of quotes selected and edited by Goldian VandenBroek, Less is More: An Anthology of Ancient & Modern Voices in Praise of Simplicity. I came across this in a used bookstore in Dallas, living high on the hog. I was unhappy though, in spite of making so much money, and I eventually left, scaling back my life and I am much happier for it. The book helped me to rediscover Thoreau as well.
When I was 12 years old I frequently ducked out of catechism lessons and sneaked back to my house. I would have some books stashed under a bump out and I would stay under there, rain or shine and read. I was fortunate because my mother was a nurse, my father a physicist, and we had their libraries and the libraries of both my grandfathers– one an attorney and one a physician. Black’s Law dictionary was fascinating for its exactness and the Life of Sir William Osler was inspiring, but the transforming work was in a volume of the Harvard Classics: Voltaire’s Letters on the English– which I recommend to this day. It showed me 1) that I was not only not alone in seeing hypocrisy, but someone worthy of the Harvard Classics had my back; and 2) serious books could be really, really funny. This thread has led me to download the Kindle version and I am once again laughing out loud with Voltaire.
How the Mind Works by Stephen Pinker
The End of Faith by Sam Harris
“The Power of Myth” by Joseph Campbell (w/Bill Moyers).
The book (and video) showed me that we can still enjoy myth/religion for it’s metaphors, teachings & storytelling without the burden of literalism. I was able to remove myself from the shackles of “faith” I was brought up in and soon realized that it was okay to question my beliefs. Campbell opened my eyes to a new world & method of understanding the beliefs & ideas that mankind possesses–but not feel obligated to adhere to dogma.
It set me free from the blindness & arrogance of “faith”.
Richard Bach’s Illusions, the adventures of a reluctant messiah which led me the last step away from looking for a religion after rejecting Christianity in high school. My folks raised me as a pacifist Southern Baptist and sent me to an all boy Catholic Military school – I credit it to my father’s sense of irony, but they claim it was just the best school they could afford and the local public schools were horrible here in Georgia. (They still are) My brother and I both came out as atheists. My sister went to public schools and is still a christian.
Reading and studying it got me out of Pentecostalism/Evangelicism so I’d have to say the Bible is it for me.
I would say a book that changed my life positively,one others might be surprised by in fact, was Brave New World,by Huxely. The reason being I was very pessimistict at the time and thought man,as in humanity,needed a dose of a worst case scenario, then I read the book and realized first that I hated it,second that no one in the book had any good/redeming qualities,and that this future would drive me to kill. The book has stuck with me so to speak,whenever I get too sarcastic,pessimistic,or cynical it reminds me things could be so much worse, and so could I. Though I hate it and all such stories with no hope,and just about all the man wrote, it changed me in a positive way. I also find myself saying it could always be worse a lot.
I also was changed by Brave New World, in ways I didn’t understand for years to come. I was 13, way too young to fully, or probably partially understand it, although it’s concepts percolated through my young head; repeated readings over the years gave me a greater understanding of the themes of the book.
“no one in the book had any good/redeming qualities”
Read it again, WarbVIII. Yes, the book is about a dystopia. Yet the Savage figures out how to quit the “experiment” to which he has been condemned, and there are those few who protest the godless society that worships at the alters of consumerism and statism. (Now that I think about it, China seems to exhibit some of the attributes of Huxley’s Brave New World, at least more so than we find in the Western world – capitalism and consumerism under dictatorship the elite, eugenics, society broken down into classes.)
Not in total seriousness, but..
I found this “awesome” booklet in a public restroom.. it wiped away all remaining traces of my lingering Christian faith.
This stuff is pretty messed-up.
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0041/0041_01.asp
wow
Fahrenheit 451
Because of this book, I started thinking.
Go Rin No Sho, and Ueshiba’s The Art of Peace.
Martial Arts books, but they made far more sense to me than the theology books I was required to read at the time.
Purpose-Driven Life.
Seriously – That book sparked my long-standing distrust of Christianity, and made me realize Tv evangelists are full of crap.
This may sound silly but The Hobbit changed my life forever. It was given to me in a random book grab at school and I was forced to read it. I would not have read it for that. Thank you school for expanding my mind and thank you chance for allowing that book to fall into my possession……
I picked up “Conversations With God” by Neale Donald Walsch at an airport bookstore. I didn’t have much confidence in the book, but I was amazed at how it answered most of the questions I had thought about in life in a logical way. Much better than the confilicting BS I had been reading in the Bible for the last 45 years. So right then, I started sliding down the slippery slope away from Christianity. I am much happier away from Christianity. I didn’t go from that to some other form of religious BS. Just free to live my life without all the religious baggage.
I have to agree with many on the replies that it’s difficult for a single book to be life changing so I’ve gone for the book that has changed my life the most, The Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I’ve always been a keen cook but reading this book made me start to really think about how food arrives at our tables and why it’s more than just something you eat.
“Dune” by Frank Herbert (best novel *and* second best sci-fi), then “A Brief history of nearly everything” by Bill Bryson (best and funniest science introduction ever!), then “… og resten står skrivd i stjernene” by Axel Jensen (best sci-fi and literary masterpiece)
There’s heaps more, like “Women, fire and dangerous things” by George Lakoff (linguistics and category theory), “The lost gospel: the book of Q & Christian origins” by Burton L. Mack (Christianity), “The Christian Doctrine” 6 series book by Jaroslav Pelican (Christian doctrine through the ages) … and perhaps a bit weird, but the Topic Maps standard specification and XTM 1.0 standard for forever shifting my epistemological mindset.
I need to go through my books to get a better list, but these represent some pretty important paradigm shifts in my thinking.
Different books at different times… Harry Potter :D when I was a kid.. (JK Rowling.)
‘His Dark Materials’ and the ‘Sally Lockhart’ series (Phillip Pullman)
‘Death Note’ (Tsugumi Ohba) I know its a manga, but shit.
‘Engleby’, especially the end (Sebastian Faulks)
‘American Psycho’ (Bret Easton Ellis) (also Glamorama and The Rules of Attraction…)
(Deep breath.) I am hereby ‘outing’ myself as a reader of Regency romances. In truth, there is usually very little romance in these, though there may be a bit of smut. They’re all about the plucky heroine overcoming stifling and unjust social conventions, predatory relatives, etc. to win the affection and protection of a handsome, moneyed man. I live a life without drama, so a bit of low-brow reading compensates.
But back to the question, I would vote for The Red Queen by Matt Ridley. While books on cosmology are splendid, Red Queen helped me understand why people act in certain ways.
“The World of Null-A” by A.E.van Vogt (and the other two by him in the series) made me think about how we think.
“Job: A Comedy of Justice” by Robert Heinlein.
Mmm, that was a fun one.
Thinking about it, I’ve to add Brave New World as well. It made me think, in special about what is happiness and is it worth it? It also made me realize that dystopias are not necessarily enforced by the obvious methods (repression and brute force). They can be far more insidious.
Man, I’ve read too much stuff to come anywhere near choosing.
I can’t even think of like a top ten list.
If you want to get really technical, the book that has most changed my life for the better was the Kindergarten reader I learned to read from. My first memory is of sitting in my little sister’s room, next to her crib, with the sun shining in all golden-warm as I demonstrated my wonderful new talent — reading. I haven’t put down a book since, and every book I read impacts my view of the world and my store of knowledge in a new and fascinating way.
One book that really got me to thinking was “Stranger in a Strage Land” by Robert Heinlein. That’s the first book that got me to thinkng if could be just as true as the bible. I’ve read the book three times over the years.
Early teen – “Best SF” Volume 1 the first “proper” science fiction I read. What a strange place the universe is.
Late teens – “Stranger in a Strange Land” – Nothing is sacred
Early twenties – James Baldwin’s “Tell me how long the trains been gone” – This goes together in my head with John Lennon’s line “well, you know, we’re all doin’ what we can”
Mid life – “The Crow Road” by Ian Banks – Never give up hope!!!!
Now I’ll stretch the envelope a bit and mention a UK series of Plays for Televion called “Play for Today” broadcast in the early sixties. Hugely radical ideas wrapped up in stories about everyday people – which my parents didn’t “get” so I was allowed to watch ;)
Oops – having reseached my own past I think I may have meant “The Wedhesday Play” that was the precursor of “Play for Today” – trouble is I can’t find a complete list of abstracts – or even titles- to link me back to these life-changing hors of black & white images.
Great question Daniel! Can I list more than one? There were a few books that were absolutely pivotal on my journey. Some of them were actually progressive christian writers. The first was Religion that Harms, Religion that Heals by Celia Dunn Murray. This book analyzed the psche damage from a fundy upbringing. I felt very understood and made me realize that my feelings and reactions were “normal”. Then there was Christianity must Change or Die by Bishop John Shelby Spong. Then the “4 horsemen” – Hitchens, Harris & Dawkins in particular.
I’d say the main candidate would have to be The Hobbit. I read it when I was 7, and I loved it enough to move on to The Lord of the Rings when I was around 8. From then on, I had — very much like Bilbo in those books — a profound interest in legends and maps. I was hooked on medieval-fantasy literature of all sorts.
Perhaps a book of secondary influence would be Le Morte d’Darthur, which I read as a sophomore in high school. As a result of that, I discovered the vast array of scholarship in “the matter of Britain” and Arthurian legend in particular. I went from being interested in the medieval-fantasy genre (including both medieval and modern works of this sort), to medieval literature as a whole and scholarship about it. Later I ended up studying the Middle Ages in college and got my degree in history.
Letters to a Young Poet. I don’t think I’ve read a more poignant or insightful text.
“The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand. It made me realize that it is *not* my moral obligation to live for others (a la christian doctrine).
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. It is better to own your misdeeds and make them right than to hide them.
“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley. Very interesting if you think of the doctor as an absentee father, or god for that matter.
“The Law” by Frederic Bastiat. Equating Law with legal plunder is a balsy move.
“A Canticle for Leibowitz” – Walter Miller, Jr.
One of the true masterpieces of the 20th century. It’s the kind of book that made me think and enjoy thinking.
Richard Dawkins’ “The Greatest Show On Earth” was amazing because it really opened my eyes to the truly exhaustive evidence for evolution. I never had any doubts about evolution, but Dawkins made me appreciate science and life in general that much more.
Douglas Adams – “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” My first exposure to British humor and my first exposure to atheism, though I didn’t recognize it as such at first. Subversive and hilarious and well worth the stomachache that would result from long sessions of laughter. It’s such a shame he left so soon…I would have loved to have met him.
Okay, I know I’ve credited the Twilight Saga as literally saving my life, but I guess if I had to pinpoint a book or books that actually changed my life?
Douglas Adams’ “Hitchiker’s Guide” series. My introduction to Brit-comedy, and the concept of interminable beaura- burro– governmental red tape. (The Vogons are a highly accurate depiction of government, by the way.)
Oh, and I ALWAYS know where my towel is.
The Demon Haunted World – C. Sagan
I think a lot of the ones mentioned above are wonderful. I’m particularly glad someone mentioned Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke. That one moved me as well, as a teen.
I would say that the books that actually, dramatically changed my views on life are The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. Not because I actually agree with all the claims of existentialism–to be honest, I don’t really recall the nuances of that philosophy–but because Camus introduced me to a plausible alternative perspective on life that didn’t require God as a source of meaning. For me, who until that point had simply wobbled between devout and casual belief, it was world-shaking: I could just stop being religious altogether! Those books probably mark the start of my journey towards examining and articulating what I do and don’t believe.
There are plenty of other books that greatly enhanced my views: all the Carl Sagan books mentioned by others here (as well as the Cosmos TV series), the Dawkins and Harris books, etc. As for fiction, if “life-changing” means just incredibly good stories that I knew would stay with me forever: One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Grapes of Wrath, The Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials, the Earthsea cycle, 2001, 2010, to name a few. Oh yes, and Douglas Adams rocks.
Diary of a Drug Fiend-Aleister Crowley. The timing of my reading of this book was fortuitous.
Crowley was quite a character. I’ve read some of his poetry – it’s either highly erotic or twisted, depending on where you’re coming from. He was from a fundy background though – makes sense that he was slightly “touched”.
Brave New World. I read it as a kid and fell in love with books and exploring ideas.
It’s impossible to narrow this down to a single book, but here are a few that significantly altered my view of the world the first time I read them:
A Catcher in The Rye
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
Slaughterhouse Five
Cannery Row
The Giver and the Tao Te Ching