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Books that changed the way you look at the world
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wishfullthinkng



Joined: 05 Mar 2010

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 11:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

unbearable lightness of being by kundera and crime and punishment by dostoyevsky. both are staggering works that illustrate how people actually feel and think.
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slothrop



Joined: 03 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 11:20 pm    Post subject: Re: books Reply with quote

edit

Last edited by slothrop on Sun Jan 06, 2013 8:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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MoneyMike



Joined: 03 Dec 2008

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One book the changed the way I look at things was The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. It's all about space and time, and what we know about the reality of these things. Some of it's a little difficult to wrap your head around, but it does a really good job of showing that the way we usually think of the world around us doesn't at all correspond to the reality. I've been really interested in theoretical and particle physics since I read it years ago.
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FMPJ



Joined: 03 Jun 2008

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MoneyMike wrote:
One book the changed the way I look at things was The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. It's all about space and time, and what we know about the reality of these things. Some of it's a little difficult to wrap your head around, but it does a really good job of showing that the way we usually think of the world around us doesn't at all correspond to the reality. I've been really interested in theoretical and particle physics since I read it years ago.


Very good book, and Greene is a terrific writer. The Elegant Universe is no less awesome.
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thrylos



Joined: 10 Jun 2008

PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really like most of Michener's books, he does a great job story-telling sweeping histories of different regions (Texas, South Pacific, Caribbean, Alaska), however The Drifters seemed really cool when I was in my early 20's(and it still is) and validated my need to, well, drift around.

Gary Jennings writes similar historical-related novels, though in shorter timespans. The Journeyer (about Marco Polo) and The Aztec are two favorites. Seamlessly tying in history and fiction is great.

Though not a fan of the genre, Camus' The Stranger hit a sweet spot nerve as well.

Lots of respect for Rowling the first time I read Harry Potter. Not just for kids.


Last edited by thrylos on Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:58 am; edited 1 time in total
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everything-is-everything



Joined: 06 Jun 2011

PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-World-Terrifying-Circumnavigation/dp/B002DMJTUU



The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called �The Lost City of Z.� In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett�s quest for �Z� and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession/dp/1400078458/ref=pd_vtp_b_7



Mushrooms and Mankind: The Impact of Mushrooms on Human Consciousness and Religion

For thousands of years, humanity has been involved in a symbiotic relationship with plants. Not only have plants supplied mankind with a never-ending food source, but have also served us in another way. This book uncovers the natural link between man, consciousness, and God. This discovery may at first seem abstract, wishful thinking, or even impossible; yet as evidence presented on these pages unfolds, one may find that its understanding does not require as much of a leap of faith as first thought. The author believes this to be the most significant discovery in the entire field of religious knowledge ever to happen in the history of mankind. Should people explore this knowledge, it may allow many to put aside their differences, and join in the understanding that each and every one of us may now experience that which has been, until this time, hidden away in the recesses of our spiritual history. According to the author, we may at last be able to open ourselves to an entirely new and valuable consciousness.

http://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Mankind-Impact-Consciousness-Religion/dp/1585091510/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353408295&sr=1-3&keywords=james+arthur


The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

"An American classic" (Newsweek) that defined a generation. �An astonishing book� (The New York Times Book Review) and an unflinching portrait of Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, and the 1960s.

http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Kool-Aid-Acid-Test/dp/031242759X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353408978&sr=1-1&keywords=the+electric+kool-aid+acid+test
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Privateer



Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steven Pinker on language and Richard Dawkins on evolution (*not* on atheism): all their books are great.

Also: Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson is a very interesting read.

Also, all great literature speaks so much to the human condition. War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and, to a lesser extent, Pride and Prejudice, tell us so much about human behaviour.
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Died By Bear



Joined: 13 Jul 2010
Location: On the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 2:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Recently picked up a few NDE (Near Death Experience) books and am fascinated with the arguments on both sides of the aisle.
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Steelrails



Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some that didn't change my life, but I ended up devoting a bunch of time because of and changing my living habits, oh crap, did they really change my life....?

Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monstrous Manual
Cyberpunk 2020 rulebook
Dragon's of Autumn Twilight
Star Wars Technical Manual- never was really into Star Wars before I picked this up. I was obsessed with Star Trek already, but that wasn't due to a book.
The first Archie Comic I ever read
The first Rumiko Takahashi manga I ever read- I don't like manga with robots and death and grimness and all that, but I like ones that I guess are the Japanese version of Archie.
Weirdo's From Another Planet
Destination Moon
Asterix & Cleopatra
The Guns of the South
Henry Huggins
Ramona Quimby, Age 8- Always important that first book you read written from the perspective of the opposite sex.
The Killer Angels- probably the only respectable book on here and the cause of my most enduring and profound obsession.


Now I've read a bunch of highbrow literature and non-fiction, but books like these have started obsessions and caused me to waste time and money.
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Unposter



Joined: 04 Jun 2006

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 3:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

From different points of my life:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Outsiders

Inherit the Wind

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Advanced Dungeons and Dragon's Player's Handbook

From Nature I Become a Transparent Eyeball (poetry)

Siddhartha

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintnance

Dharma Bums

The Razor's Edge

Point Counter Point

Island

The Count of Monte Cristo
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GF



Joined: 26 Sep 2012

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:21 pm    Post subject: Re: books Reply with quote

slothrop wrote:
mzeno wrote:
" the trouble with being born " ... by e.m. cioran


DEEEEEP!


A few scholars have said that Cioran is a conscious existentialist self-parody. I think it's true, I mean, just look at this stuff:

Quote:
It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late.

What would be left of our tragedies if an insect were to present us his?

If, in my youth, my parents had not financed my insomnias, I should surely have killed myself.


It's very humourous.
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slothrop



Joined: 03 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:20 pm    Post subject: Re: books Reply with quote

edit

Last edited by slothrop on Sun Jan 06, 2013 8:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Lunar Groove Gardener



Joined: 05 Jan 2005
Location: 1987 Subaru

PostPosted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 3:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Certain authors:
Kurt Vonnegut
Carlos Castaneda
Herman Hesse
J.D. Salinger
Henry Miller
Charles Bukowski
Fydor Dostoevski
Tom Robbins
Jack London
John Steinbeck
Robert Frost
Tom Wolf
Anton Chekov
Franz Kafka
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Harpeau



Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Location: Coquitlam, BC

PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

TOO SOON OLD, TOO LATE SMART - by Gordon Livingston.

LEARNED OPTIMISM - by Martin Seligman

FIRE IN THE BELLY - by Sam Keen

SILENCE - by Shusako Endo
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Unibrow



Joined: 20 Aug 2012

PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Imperium by Ryszard Kapuściński
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperium_%28Polish_book%29

He's such an amazing writer. I've read almost all of his books and they are all incredible. He lived the kind of life I want to live. He witnessed over 20 coups and revolutions. His book "Shah of Shahs" is amazing as well, he was one of the few foreign correspondents left after the 1979 revolution.
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