My best friend in 7th grade had older siblings and they had all read Ender’s Game. He read it and told me I had to read it. Being the impressionable 7th grader (2006-7) that I was I gladly obliged.
I found the book to be deeply fascinating. It opened my eyes to ‘new’ technology like ‘ansible’ (can communicate anywhere in the universe instantaneously) and really opened up my imagination to what I could do with my life.
Growing up in rural South Carolina with dreams of being an explorer or an astronaut seemed kinda far fetched. Most people just wanted you to be a Dr. or Lawyer or get a job at BMW. Ender’s Game showed me that it was ok to be different. It was ok to love to read books and to think that one day I too could have an impact on society.
For what it’s worth: Mark Zuckerberg also had Ender’s Game listed in his books section on FB. But truthfully back in ‘07 I was busy writing poems on MySpace (FB wasn’t rural yet) hoping that I would one day be as influential as the Demosthenes character in Ender’s Game
I've recently been reading the Foundation series, and have found the concept of The Mule character to be incredibly eye opening. I can't say directly it's had a positive impact on my life but it's definitely changing my outlook and I feel its expanded my horizons.
Vonnegut impacted me to be a bit more fatalistic (“among the things he could not change were the past, present, and future”) and nihilistic in a positive way. Although not sure this is a positive overall for my personality. More sort of forgiving, e.g. the idea that people’s mistakes are due to their bad chemicals or faulty wiring. Suggest Cats Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5, maybe Galapagos for starters.
Once A Runner, as a runner myself, crystallized for me a philosophy of striving for excellence at something that may not matter to anybody else. And I find it fun.
What I liked about Neal Stephenson’s Anathem was the “this too shall pass” perspective on human societies and civilizations outside the wall of the maths. Whatever the current government or technology levels or wars happen to be, blend together. It reminds me of the feeling you get in Jerusalem of being in a moment of history that is no more important than other times and is of one piece with them, rises and falls included. This probably connects to the nihilism again. Anyway.
I almost exclusively read fiction but I’ll mention Working by Studs Terkel, not fiction but certainly not self help or technical. Just helped me feel connected to parts of society I don’t experience.
This book changed my life. I read this book when I was maybe 17? And read it again last year, a decade and a half later.
The most powerful lesson I learned here is what anthropologists call cultural relativism. This book also taught me that everyone is under the influence of Mother Culture and her stories. I think internalizing this can help a lot with understanding other people, building self awareness, understanding politics in general, and also history in general.
There's a narrative here about ecology and generally making the world a less shitty place which is nice too, but not the primary value-add IMO (although it's unique in proposing cultural transformation as the solution).
Nevada by Imogen Binnie was another. I read it when I was working through questions about my gender. It's dark, funny, beautiful, and brutally candid account of the (a) trans experience.
Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series follows these closely.
Steinbeck's East of Eden for coming to grips with a fundamental moral struggle of what is good and what is choice.
Anything ever written by Kurt Vonnegut for the proper cynicism needed to live in this world.
Oscar Wilde for that same cynicism minus the science fiction, plus more witty one liners.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2500/2500-h/2500-h.htm
This book resonated at a perfect time for me, opened my eyes to what peace in human mind could be, peace through acceptance, and above all the rejection of strict god-judging religions. This was important because instead of chasing "happiness" I began to work towards "contentness" which has lead to minor emotional improvements in my life.
* Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller — Perfect for a single man in his 30s. Very solipsistic and hedonistic, which is a great way to explore that decade. Each of the books in the series is a novel length prose poem. Absolutely beautiful
* Journey to the End of The Night by Louis Ferdinand Celine — my favorite book in the world. Very misanthropic, set in WWI. The protagonist finds himself drafted into the war and does his best to survive while the brave people around him die like idiots, it escalates from there. The most beautiful line I've ever read is from a part of the book where the protagonist is hanging out at a brothel: "Toward one of the beautiful girls there I soon developed an uncommon feeling of trust, which in frightened people takes the place of love." there are jaw-droppers like that on every other page
* Crime and Punishment — a cautionary tale about exactly the kind of solipsism and misanthropy that can take us over in our 30s. Fast paced and beautifully written, it reads like a modern crime thriller.
For fun conceptual stuff
* Ficciones by Borges — short stories that will twist your mind up, each are more puzzle than narrative, but tremendously engaging nonetheless. Ted Chiang is the modern writer that I would identify as the most similar in spirit to Borges.
As a note—I'm a speculative fiction author. Most of what I read these days is sff and nerdy lit fic. The value in fiction is the same as the value in philosophy, it exposes you to the inside of peoples' minds in a way that other forms of narrative entertainment do not, and the real good stuff acts as fuel for concept creation.
It's a common recommendation for exactly that - but I'm amazed by how much it's in the back of my head and gives me support. Especially in the current time.
I can't point to an exact quote.. but I'm listening to all audio books(as background noise) by Douglass Adam's for the last weeks and it just feels like there is a part in the books for almost every weird situation in life....
And it's not like it gives a solution for every weird situation... it's more like it supports to feel however you feel about it...
His style of storytelling is just great. He leaves so much off the page with his short style that at the end you get that feeling you’ve experienced something profound that can’t quiet be put into words.
The Litany in its entirety:
> "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
Learning how to manage fear is something I think we can all benefit by.
Favorite quote from the book —
“Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you’re no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn’t just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow.”
Other influential books: 1984, The Fountainhead, and Siddhartha
Italo Calvino's, "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller".
Melville's "Moby Dick" (I do not think this is a good book but it had a significant impact.)
Cormac McCarthy's, "Blood Meridian".
Together these works revealed a vanity in traditional intellectualism that is propped upon a facade of 19th century values which are easy to idolize. These works also made me keenly aware of the folly of of reactionary anti-intlectualism (which is easy to fall into once the shine has come off the collegiate apple). I know a lot of my contemporary peers did not need this same transition of values but I very much did.
It has become my life's philosophy to revel in the power of intellectual activity to reveal and rejoice in the beauty and complexity of life but to shun any intellectualism that will not connect itself to life in a fundamental way.
Others would include:
The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series - I read this when I was a kid, even got all of the books autographed by the author! It was the first series I read that I remember deeply moving me. The books subvert the traditional "chosen one" protagonist, and even the hero questions this. It's fun reading, he has a huge ego that constantly gets taken down. As a kid reading along wanting him to be this epic hero, almost self inserting myself into the fantasy, I fell in love with all the Greek mythology and characters. It's been a long time since I re read them, but I still think back with nostalgic glasses. It probably won't hold up as well going back, but I think they're timeless enough.
Sherlock Holmes - I've always been a fan of mysteries and well...it's Sherlock Holmes. Between all the copies and collections I own I either have them all or multiple copies of the same stories. I know I definitely have duplicates from different publishers with slight variations. But loved it as a kid and made me interested in science.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
The Lord of the Rings is spectacular. The movies were remarkable feats, but they missed the trilogy's heart (and ruined some great characters). It's dense reading, but the prequel The Silmarillion is perhaps the only successful epic mythology written in modern times.
C. S. Lewis' "Till We Have Faces" is a remarkable adaptation of the Cupid and Psyche myth, from the perspective of Psyche's sister.
I loved Spider Robinson's Variable Star, based on an unfinished outline by Robert Heinlein.
Surprised I haven't seen it mentioned yet, as it normally is in book threads on HN.
The reason that it had, and still has, such a positive influence on my life is the plethora of literary tools which it possesses. It allows for infinite play and imagination, while still being the apparent product of extreme dedication and earned mastery.
In fact, I prefer Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man as a novel, and I'm sure that the Wake is a perfect encyclopedia of language, cryptography, history, et al. But Ulysses takes it as an (humerous, profound, tricky, psychoanalytic, poetic, radical) example of the process of artistic experiment, the practically infinite range of the possible, and the unforgiving merit of deep study and eclectic knowledge.
I go back every so often to bounce my own ideas and troubling sentences off of it, more often than not just to get a little bit of validation.
Next would be Hesiod - Theogany, a 900 line 'epic' poem from the dawn of written literature. He is considered to be the first economist, though at that point of course it is simply philosophy. It explained for me the concept of emergent consciousness in a very biblical way, and let me realise the notion that religious works are just misunderstood metaphors; products of an imperfect language. It's unsurprising I suppose that something so short, that was written almost 3000 years ago, has such incredible lessons and timeless human value.
- Lord of the Rings: The other bible. Not even the very wise can see all ends; be of good cheer.
- A Wrinkle In Time: 9 year old me, there is such a thing as a tesseract, and there is also Mrs. Beast.
- The Master and Margarita: apocalyptic reading from someone who knew, and a cat who always pays his way.
- the Discworld series: Sir Terry knew our hearts better than most, and sin, young feller, is treatin’ people as things.
- If On A Winter’s Night, A Traveler: a perfect joke that you can tell once, plus a love story.
- Good Omens: Gaiman and Pratchett team up, what’s not to love?
- Moby Dick: And so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.
- Lucky Jim: grad school, a survival guide. Come in on the fa la la las, there’s a good chap.
This doesn’t include poetry, which is also in my head constantly.
- Brave New World: Aldous Huxley is a genius and a wordsmith
- Dune: a sci-fi masterpiece, highly recommended to anyone into sci-fi
- Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: not purely fiction but an amazing book I will surely re-read during my lifetime
But if you're specifically looking for "books that affect your outlook on life", you might try reading through Peanuts. It's a comic strip, but there's a lot going on in there.
It's different to anything I've ever read, and definitely stays with you.
Find the time to read Vonnegut.
Otherwise, the Hitchhiker's Guide is always a great read.
Anything by Dostoevsky.
Here's a quote for the OP's original question.
> He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lordship’s wisdom. All those years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can’t even say I made my own mistakes. Really – one has to ask oneself – what dignity is there in that?’
The author is a "philosopher" who finds the company of Zorba and sees in this simple man the result of the philosophy in everyday living.
Zorba is uneducated and is unable to explain the why in meta physical arguments but to the author he seems to be effortlessly living the truth that the author is an "expert" in but unable to emulate.
It affected me because I identified with being a "seeker" and a "philosopher" and this made me realize that understanding something intellectually is very different than being able to use/live it. That I wasn't somehow "superior" because of the thoughts in my head.
I'm sure there's lots more, but that's particularly memorable.
To pick a couple though:
- The Nix (best novel I’ve read in a long time): https://www.npr.org/2016/08/31/490101821/the-nix-is-a-viciou...
- Lake Success
- Permutation City
- Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality (https://www.hpmor.com/)
- True Names
- Any of the stories by Ted Chiang, but specifically “Liking what you See: A documentary” and “The life cycle of software objects”
Also the sandwich is pretty good.
The selection might seem trite, but I suspect that there wasn't a book with bigger impact on me than Hobbit, for very simple reason. It made me into voracious reader, put me on a path of reading, actually reading. All because my father prodded me to read out loud first few pages so that I could show off how well I read. That was enough to get me hooked and probably nothing compares in impact. Then there was LOTR, later on Silmarillion, and to this day I remember sometimes surprising amounts of trivia from them. A definitive positive impact.
- Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Had an impact mostly unrelated to its sci-fi content but related to more down to earth things mentioned. Whether it was positive impact remains an unanswered question, over 18 years later.
- Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. A book series that, now that I think of it, fed probably disturbing amounts of growth of my personal morals. Unclear on how positive that impact was, but I think it was? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You'll finish it in an evening. I didn't get how it impacted me at first, but I knew that I was deeply affected by it.
It was what made me internalise the idea that struggle doesn't necessarily lead to external reward.
It's near-future Sci-Fi and since it was written in 2008, it's more or less present now. It dives into a lot of topics that are relevant nowadays
I would recommend 19the century great novels, that really was a golden age of literature, so many great works came out in the period near the mid of the century.
Also George Eliot, in the current context, would recommend her novel Romola, set in Florence, perhaps the finest treatment of Savanarola in the whole of fiction.
it perfectly captures the weird information environment surrounding a global crisis
(people communicating via letter, people closer & farther from the crisis having different skews and perspectives and beliefs)
and the house of cards effects around collapsing civilizations
Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea - a gorgeous tale that brings to life the beauty of struggle and suffering.
GATES OF FIRE: AN EPIC NOVEL OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE by Steven Pressfield
STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert A. Heinlein
ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline
GHOST FLEET: A NOVEL OF THE NEXT WORLD WAR by P. W. Singer; August Cole
THE KILLER ANGELS: THE CLASSIC NOVEL OF THE CIVIL WAR by Michael Shaara
The whole 2019 reading list is great stuff, top notch reading for any hacker or c-suite, especially the discussion guides: https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/discussion...
- Dune - Came for the sci-fi, stayed for the politics.
- A Song of Ice and Fire series - You know GoT. The books are better.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera showed me another perspective of love I had never considered. Gave me insight into vulnerability.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes showed me how by looking through the world via a lens of intellect, you can often miss the point.
The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God by Etgar Keret a collection of some of my favourite short stories. Highly recommend.
Hesse, Steppenwolf — read this at an angst-filled time; the way this book builds and reconciles the conflict between two personalities that goes on within the main dude's head was extremely cathartic to my own life
Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — introduced me to the inherent absurdity present in the modern world, technology, the scale of the universe, the condition of our own existence, etc, and how making light of it helps you grapple with it and live with it
* _The Chronicles of Prydain_ (https://www.goodreads.com/series/40371-the-chronicles-of-pry...)
* _The Chronicles of Narnia_
* _The Hobbit_
* _John MacNab_ (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161001.John_MacNab / http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300621.txt)
* _The Postman_ (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/889284.The_Postman)
Adult
* _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_ (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20058/20058-h/20058-h.htm) - what is the right size for things in this world? A gentle introduction to the romance of the small and distributism.
* _A Leaf, by Nigel_ (http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Leaf_by_Niggle) - Tolkien's allegory.
* _The Space Trilogy_ by C. S. Lewis - the adult version of _The Chronicles of Narnia_
* _All Hallow's Eve_ (https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/All-Hallows-Eve/978150400668... / http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400061.txt)
* _The Eschaton Sequence_ (https://us.macmillan.com/series/theeschatonsequence/) - if you like Neal Stephenson's imagination of future society, if you are amazed by Iain Banks' scope, if you think that Asimov is brilliant ... you'll want to read this 6-book sequence.
Excellent, recommend by others in this thread already:
* _The Lord of the Rings_
Animal Farm - George Orwell The character Boxer made me rethink about authority, change in view for the better.
- The Worlds of Chrestomanci and _everything_ else by Diana Wynne Jones; it was this and 'Chronicles of Narnia' which first introduced me to fantasy as a child. Really great fun, have re-read most of her books over the years. There's something there for everyone.
- Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix; read this in my youth, deals a lot with death, undead things, and magics concerning death. Its not depressing, rather it gave me the feeling of being life re-affirming!
- The Riddle-Master trilogy Patricia McKlippet; refined high fantasy series, lacks the prosaic good v. evil, instead focuses on rationality and chaos.
- The Incal series by Alexandro Jodorowsky; when I first read this, I kept finding all these crazy parallels with other stories (books, film, tv, etc.) and then I realized that this was the source (e.g. The Fifth Element is based on this). An absolutely mouth dropping, eye-popping, mind-bending tale! Great pencil/ink to boot as well.
- The World of Edena by Moebius (because of course!); amazing, along the same vain as 'The Incal', but much 'finer' - less mind-bending, more more contemplative.
- The Dark Knight trilogy by Frank Miller; an epic right up there with Beowulf IMHO.
- Watchmen by Moore and Gibbson; genre setting with an amazing story; and 'Before Watchmen' omnibus adds to it as a modern contrast.
Three books that I haven't seen listed, but were impactful on my life:
Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita -- Incredible writing, maybe the best ever. And english was Nabokov's second language. Don't miss this just because of the creepy subject matter or because you saw one of the movies. This is an incredible read and one of the English languages greatest books.
Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses -- I initially put off reading this by McCarthy's singular use of punctuation and his long, spare sentences. But I picked up the audiobook from Books on Tape (pre Audible) and fell into it. When read by a talented narrator its like poetry (and I mean that in a good way). When I finished it I immediatly rewound the tapes and listened to it again.
Rudy Rucker, White Light -- I read this 38 years ago and still think of it often. Think Alice in Wonderland written by William Burroughs and Kurt Godel. Giant cockroaches, absolute infinite, the devil harvesting souls, Albert Einstein, the Banach–Tarski paradox: its a wild ride. Hard to find but available on Kindle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague
I read it years ago (in translation). I didn't especially enjoy it. But it made an impression and insofar it's stuck with me, I'd say the impact was positive. Or maybe "profound" is a better way to put it.
The king in the book has the head of a dragon mounted on his wall as a trophy, and one of his sons finds out that he can enter the wall and look out through the eyes into the throne room. I don't want to spoil the main thing that he sees, but before that he watches his father pick his nose and eat it when he thinks he is alone.
It made me realize that adults are people too, and that you shouldn't idolize anyone to the level of imagining them without any negative traits. It's a bit like realizing that even the most beautiful people in your life or in the media have to sit down and poop like everyone else, and that we all have sides that we don't want others to see. It made me feel more equal to everyone else, and made me feel sympathy with every other human.
One particular scene made such a strong impression on me about being calm in difficult situations. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Harry is flinging Dumbledore's precious instruments around, Dumbledore remains monk-like still.
Also, there’s a cute attempt at a stack overflow crash in the middle :)
https://www.abelard.org/asimov.php
> For most of the first eighteen years of his life, George Platen had headed firmly in one direction, that of Registered Computer Programmer. There were those in his crowd who spoke wisely of Spationautics, Refrigeration Technology, Transportation Control, and even Administration. But George held firm. He argued relative merits as vigorously as any of them, and why not? Education Day loomed ahead of them and was the great fact of their existence.
The star rover by Jack London. It helped me put in perspective some difficult moments and be a little bit more resilient. I also liked how much humanity and dignity the main character has, despite being held in jail in horrible conditions. I can say the same things about Papillon by Henri Charrière.
Neuromancer by William Gibson. Fueled my imagination and even gave me a semi-fantastical narrative to live by.
Ficciones by Borges. Like others said was mind opening.
Poésies by Arthur Rimbaud. A bit to play it off - and get laid - but on a more serious note I liked the rebelliousness and the romantic sense of infinite in his poems. I can still recall some bits of that "infinite".
Besy/Demons, Dostoevsky. I read it after I finished Archipelago Gulag I was 15. It is potent stuff, the most powerful thing I ever read by far. Highly recommended. The more you know and read about Russian revolution and what followed the better.
William Gibson's Neuromancer [2.] was excellent in providing an escape from reality, very engrossing, and fascinatingly prescient of the some societal trends extrapolated into the future.
1. The Magus - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magus_(novel)
2. Neuromancer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer
Wild by Cheryl Strayed - not strictly fiction but it could be read as such. Opened my mind to areas of society I wasn't aware of.
Also The Peripheral, and Gibson’s essay in Wired about undersea cables, and... yeah. Having read Gibson feels like a superpower.
As others have said:
- The Hitch Hiker’s Guide
- Stepehnson’s Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Seveneves, Anathem (aside: totally surprised how much love there is for Anathem, I remember it not being received very kindly at the time by people around me, though I liked it.)
- The Culture series (special shout out to The Player of Games.)
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness. My favorite Le Guin (the Dispossessed is pretty good too). Shockingly original when it was published in 1969; the portrait of the society and culture on Gethen still feels unique. A slow burn at the beginning, but builds to a dramatic conclusion.
Patrick O'Brian, Aubrey-Maturin series. Probably the best historical fiction ever written. Rich tapestry of life during the Napoleonic Wars. Set in the Royal Navy during the Age of Sail, but that description doesn't do it justice; O'Brian's great inspiration was Jane Austen, and the focus is on characters and people, particularly the brilliantly contrasting personalities of the two main characters.
Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate. Like Tolstoy's War and Peace, but set in Russia during WWII. Explores the dark heart of the 20th century (the Battle of Stalingrad, concentration camps, the gulag) through the eyes of a wide cast of characters from different walks of life. Grossman wrote about Stalingrad from firsthand experience as a war journalist, and is able to uncover moments of hope and human kindness amid horrifying world-historical events.
Books others have already mentioned:
* Tolstoy, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. * Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (interesting how several people mention this one; I used to think it was my own private discovery). * Neal Stephenson, especially Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle
And the obligatory Tolkien and Douglas Adams that I read and re-read as a teenager.
Hemingway's short fiction really kicked off a lot of reading for me. Men Without Women is a nice little collection.
A couple others to go deeper on ... Stephen Kind and Roald Dahl. King has many incredible novelas: The Body (Stand By Me); Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (Shawshank Redemption); Hearts in Atlantis. Likewise, Dahl, known more for his children's books wrote some adult fiction, short stories.
I think it is less about the book and more about when in your life you pick it up.
From there, it's got a variety of stories that interact with a framing story of the people playing a story telling game. I find it a very relaxing book, the stories feel low stakes somehow, and are a mix between familiar chestnuts and others that are very strange for a modern reader.
Not a fiction book as such, but the subject matter border on science fiction.
It did make me think of how to start contributing to humanity in better ways than I was doing. It took some time for me to change my trajectory, but eventually I did.
Through several steps partially parallel to step one in the book I ended up doing what I do today.
In life's name, and for life's sake.
100 Years of Solitude is my favorite modern classic (had to read it twice to get it), and Middlemarch is my favorite classic. I'm happy to recommend reading them. But even these I cannot call life-impacting.
Interestingly the fiction books I'm reading to my first grader may ironically have more punch that anything written for grown-ups. But, they're all lessons grown-ups already generally know.
Edit: oh, and since I don't think anyone else has mentioned them yet ... Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, and Grendel by John Gardner. Their impact on me was less specific so harder to explain, but they're great books that get mentioned on HN now and then. Another one that kind of blew my mind is The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann by Angela Carter.
I'd like to add if you like SF and Star Wars, you'll enjoy The Thrawn Trilogy [1]. I read them as kid, somewhere in the 90s. Not sure if they're still relevant.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/series/42348-star-wars-the-thrawn-...
The Diamond Age: Or, A Ladies Young Primer -- A fantastic book about a future where computation and construction of devices is nearly free. It was about 25 years ago but predicted so many things. The story meanders a little but is full of amazing ideas and revolutionary thoughts.
I try to read both these books once a year.
I'm tempted to read it again to see if the impact is the same now that I'm 25 years older.
The Cornerstone and The World is Not Enough, by Zoe Oldenbourg -- an epic duology (?) about the life a Norman knight. I've never read a more vivid (even that's too weak a word) historical novel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zo%C3%A9_Oldenbourg
The Master of Hestviken by Sigrid Unset -- the most moving account of one man's life struggles I've ever read. Unset was a Nobel prize-winning author of the 30's/40's who has been nearly forgotten. I read this tetrology straight through without stopping (about 18 hours). Couldn't stop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_of_Hestviken
Arcadia, a play by Tom Stoppard, is fantastic. Good for many re-reads (and re-watches).
Ursula Le Guin (maybe The Left Hand of Darkness is my favorite?) might be the best sci-fi/fantasy ever written, as much as I love Lois McMaster Bujold (three worlds to choose from, each offering many more or less independent novels and novellas), who is also great.
A few more:
Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey.
My Antonia, Willa Cather.
Bluebeard, Kurt Vonnegut.
"The Accidental Tourist" by Anne Tyler. (There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in)
"Dom Casmurro" by Machado de Assis (also his "Epitaph of a Small Winner") (The narrower the life, the more intense the obsessions)
"The Count of Monte Cristo" (get the Robin Buss translation from Penguin) ("Wait and hope")
It gives a glimpse in the mindset of how the Spartans viewed life and how disciplined they were. Its a really inspiring book in the sense that it gives you a view of how they (supposedly) viewed life while knowing they will probably die in battle.
edit: I should note that while the battle of Thermopylae is real the characters and the story is fictional hence this is categorised under historical fiction.
The entire series is an amazing meld of epic fantasy and philosophy that delves deep into topics surrounding human nature and human existence. We had a similar discussion on reddit[0] a few months ago and i'll summarize it here. You'll find topics like violence and its relation to power,civilization as violence against nature, phenomenology, existentialism versus essentialism. Arguments for anarcho-primitivism, arguments against anarcho-primitivism. Mutualism versus individualism versus collectivism. Class struggle and class consciousness.
The entire series is a piece of art. It also happens have a myriad of badass characters appearing and disappearing throughout the novels, so there's always something to look forward to in the next book.
[0]https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/d1vfs3/philosophy_...
I would summarize core ideas as "To live is to suffer, but you have to carry on no matter what. This is what everybody does." and "an ode to humanity", but it really is so hard to put the experience into words. You have to feel it yourself.
Link on VNDB: https://vndb.org/v92 There are also various streamers who streamed the whole story on Twitch after its popularity blew up.
As a teenager/young adult (can't remember), the ending left me puzzled until someone older tipped me about what was going on.
2.
edit (this was my first answer before I could remember the title of two other books which aren't as famous but left a mark on me):
Steppenwolf could be a good candidate.
Wind, sand and stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind,_Sand_and_Stars
There's something in it about going on.
I can't say they had a significantly positive impact on my life though.
I think reflecting back on events, trying to put things and traumas into perspective has had a positive impact.
What I am trying to say without knowing where you are coming from: there's no magic pill and books are not magic pills either.
- A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James
- NW, Zadie Smith
- The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
Multiple narrators, sweeping plot, not always easy to follow, not too postmodern.
An amazing book about choices. And what you can and cannot control in your life. I read it in college and have re-read it over the years.
https://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Adventures-Reluctant-Richar...
It helped me understand that all things must end eventually, and that it is okay. I must admit I was pretty depressed for a few days after finishing it though.
The City and the Stars, also by Clarke.
This one encouraged me to explore as much as possible, and also that people sometimes cognitively isolate themselves, and only come out of this isolation if they personally want to. They cannot be externally motivated, e.g. you cannot convince a truly zealous religious person that their religion is flawed, they need to realise it themselves.
There is also a curious anecdote involving this novel - as Clarke had rewritten the story some years after the inital publishing. The anecdote involves two people discussing the novel without realising that each had read a different version of the story [0].
I realize the question was targeting adult books, but with everyone at home with their families right now I figured I’d throw this out there.
"Monday Begins on Saturday", circa 1965, of the same authors. That is a satiric story full of brilliant humor about programmer (main hero) in Scientific Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry. This book is literally the reason why I am a programmer now.
Growing up in rural Texas, I perceived themes related to stoicism, equality, and racism, that, while probably not intended by the author, still made me think about the way I'd seen people treated, and how I wanted to treat people in the future.
In addition, there were a few quotes in some of the chapter titles that stuck with me for whatever reason: "Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.”
I doubt I would see the same things in those books if I read them now, but perhaps for the right audience at the right time there might be something there.
“The Awakening” has been one of the more empathy expanding things I’ve read. The protagonist’s perspective and plight are resonant today. The tragedy of that story - both in its specific outcome and as generalizable for society at large - affected me a lot and has stayed with me for decades.
Top on my list are William S. Burroughs' last trilogy (especially Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands) and Matthew Stover's Caine series (especially Caine Black Knife and Caine's Law). Burroughs published that trilogy when he was about my age, and there's some amazing stuff about how memory shows up. The Caine series is basically a contemplation of "What if you could undo the worst thing that you've ever done?".
I could go on about many other authors whom I've loved, over the years, but there's other stuff that I gotta do now.
Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon and Who Fears Death are also excellent books.
I also highly recommend Jeff Vandermeer's Sourthern Reach trilogy, of which the first book Annihilation was adapted into a movie.
Shadows of the Empire [0]
When I read it the intriguing parts were that it took place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Also, I still play and love the game on N64 (also on PC and on GOG). I never thought I would read and actually enjoy a Star Wars book. Dash Rendar is eternally burned into my memory and my favorite Star Wars character of all time now. I think I need to read this again after typing this. Even my dad liked it and he is not into Star Wars.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9549.Shadows_of_the_Empi...
They're a little philosophical - the author hated civilization and possibly committed suicide over it. I wouldn't say I agree entirely with it, but there is a point that civilized society is unhappier because people can no longer be beheaded for being rude. It made me question whether order and civilization are great end points and whether we might just be happiest somewhere with a mix of chaos and order, like Thailand.
"Writing with a pretentious, almost adolescent sensibility and a bad case of logorrhea, --- whines unremittingly in a single-pitched, overwrought stream of consciousness that will probably alienate most readers...
...premise is interesting enough, her characters are one-dimensional monomaniacs engaged in a disturbingly simple-minded, voyeuristic search for altered states in bona fide pathology"
Or, as some reviewer on Amazon said, this book sucks because the characters are all losers.
The movie didn't even come close to doing it justice, the book presents so many cool problems and solutions that it just failed to convey. The book is phenomenal for sparking out of the box thinking.
Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse
The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
What I love about HH's books is that I feel as if I've lived the lives of his characters vicariously, passing through their struggles with them and coming out with hard-won wisdom and character. I feel like a better, wiser person for those books, with the kind of perspective on life that otherwise would have taken me a lifetime to achieve.
Urusawa is quite famous for character development and most of his characters are _good_ - sometimes even the villains. It kinda helped me appreciate human contact more even if it's something completely simple or fleeting. You don't need to be best friends with someone to appreciate them or go on an adventure.
It's basically the opposite of his better-known Brave New World. It offers a fresh take on how a small isolated society can live, largely inspired (as I see it) by indigenous culture.
Dosadi Experiment - Frank Herbert
I moved countries and schools abruptly in '94 and the new place was too different from what I was used to. This really caused a lot of damage. I got a copy of the Verne classic from my school library and read through it. I was already a Sherlock Holmes fan by then but Phogg gave me the idea of imposition of order in my life as a way to create a semblance of control and to manage the chaos. I didn't think of it in those terms then but that's really what happened.
Amazing piece of work, specifically the book he won the nobel prize for literature. Great story of a normal man trying to be good in the face of great temptation.
The female characters in that series are also fantastic, and there's a lot to learn from them.
One quote that has stayed with me for a long time: "There is one rule, above all others, for being a man. Whatever comes, face it on your feet."
I read both of these aloud with my partner over long nights of bringing up our small children and it was the best bonding experience I could hope for. Both are packed full of observations about life and wit and wisdom, both pull for kindness and sincerity, and are unexpectedly funny in many ways.
Made me more aware of how I should act in a relationship.
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Rosie-Project-Novel-Graeme-Simsion/dp...
- Kindred by Octavia Butler Such an interesting perspective on the psychology of what it takes to break a human being. In the worst way possible.
- The Humans by Matt Haig Being outside of the human race, the language is so jarring and alien.
- 1984
- Fahrenheit 451
Basic kit to understand the world today.
2666 and The Savage Detectives are must reads.
Oh, and all the Tom Swift Jr series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Dunn_and_the_Homework_Ma...
- Flatland - An old book, but opened up the other dimension idea for me a lot. - The Mote in Gods Eye - The idea that you can't always count on your preconceptions to be true, and some people will always look out for themselves first. - Dune - For all the reasons others have mentioned.
- Asimov's Profession, his best short story IMHO
- Mimsy Were the Borogoves - just reread it, it's as great as it was when I was a teen!
- Flowers to Algernon is sad, but a must
- Everything from Lem's Cyberiad
- Everything from Borjes` Fictions
While the internet comes with its problems (toxic communities, digital addiction), I'm reminded of that book and how it can be a wonderful for self education when used properly.
Obviously the Culture is not the total ideal to strive for, but it did give me a vision of where we could go culture-wise (with a lowercase 'c') which was notably brighter than what I had maintained prior.
These books gave me a very hopeful outlook for humanity's future.
It's _based_ on a true story (but added to it), but the concepts of living in the moment and philosophy for how to treat loss and our reaction to it has made both the movie and book one of my favorites.
Jonathan Livingston seagull. Same author
It’s one of the few books I can read over and over again without feeling bored.
I’m not sure why I like it. I wish I could give some kind of all-encompassing philosophy about it. I just read it and feel understood.
And that’s more than enough for me.
The Godfather, Mario Puzo (Film good, Novel excellent) Anna Karenin, Leo Tolstoy (Best novelist ever IMO) Rendezvous With Rama Series, Arthur Clarke (Great) Replay, Ken Grimley? (Cool story)
It made a great impression on me as a boy and, later in life, helped choose what kind of people I want to associate with.
If you find yourself HOPELESS (which whole world is experiencing right now), just read this. Because this book is all about HOPE.
Edit: Go for the 'unabridged' version to truly experience this novel.
A collection of short stories united by the fact that characters have epiphanies.
Often my life has changed not gradually but in moments of epiphay and this book made me more aware of such occasions.
Read a _long_ time ago, but I recall it being a very interesting thought experiment about "nano tech" before nano tech was a thing (?)
The metaphysical aspects were also intriguing.
— Christopher Hitchens
Absalom, Absalom by Faulkner
USA by John Dos Passos
Cache Lake Country by Rowlands
First adult book I read all the way through (I was fascinated! Re-read it recently and enjoyed it.):
The Mysterious Island by Verne
Robert M. Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig: Lila - An Inquiry Into Morals
Eliezer Yudkowsky: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Taught me to not rely on logic/rationality alone. Sometimes you have to trust in intuition and the unconscious to guide your decisions.
I read it first as a teenager. I would say it helped me learn more about race, empty, systems, terrorism and young love.
Foundation, Asimov
1984, Orwell
Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky
Enders Game, Card
Jurassic Park, Crichton
Still waking up, so not going justify beyond saying these all changed how I see the world in some way at the time I read them.
Read it at a young age, and it has informed my general life philosophy ever since.
Written from a psychologist who survived the concentration camps. A wholly unique perspective on human life.
Accelerando: open source, open ideas, as a way of life
Silmarillion: shout at the gates of hell, if that's what it takes
Albus Dumbledore changed my Outlook on life.
Still my favorite book of all time. I ended up spending a few years doing crypto research after reading it.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22822858-a-little-life)
It is emotionally intense, beautifully written, and is a hypnotic read. Larger than life characters centered around one enigmatic protagonist, Jude. It's about pain, friendship, love, and the brutality of memory and experience.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33600.Shantaram)
An Australian gangster escaping his home country and falling in love with India (Mumbai). Lots of philosophy. A moral tale. Plenty of drama. And a love story with deep, dark characters.
Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2122.The_Fountainhead)
A novel on idealism for the irrational, real world we live in. Centered around an ideal man, Roark, who struggles to survive despite being a brilliant architect; he doesn't give up on his principles and never conforms. Not a typical novel, disliked by many.
Amazon has turned it into a Prime Video Original, which I have yet to watch since Episode 1 didn't strike me as great.
Edit: I think the best sci-fi fiction book I have ever read is Red Rising, it is a newer book.
A collection of short stories united by the fact that characters have epiphanies.
Lilith’s Brood - nothing like it.
- When Nietzsche Wept
- The Schopenhauer Cure
- The Spinoza Problem
Voltaire's Candide
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Karamazovs
Orwell's 1984
Lem's Solaris
In particular, his telling of the story of Lancelot
- Robot and Foundation series - Asimov
- 1984 - George Orwell
Mon. Grass by the wayside. And then. Soseki.
It makes you feel like you have an innate duty to do productive work.
Great leaders should be come with a warning on attach to their heads.
He's an amazing writer. He actually criticized transhumanism before it existed. What good is it to have a 300 year old perfect body when you feel middle-aged and unwanted on the inside, and man secretly being taken care of by the animal-humans that he made is so poignant. His works were startling to me, really not like a lot of science fiction of the time.
Doorways in the Sand
(here are a few in no particular order)
--
Palahniuk, Chuck. Diary (2003).
Horror genre. Artist in a community conspiracy--not the 'social machine' sort of conspiracy, but the more personal and creepier 'family horror'. EWWW.
--
Stephenson, Neal. The Baroque Cycle (2003, 2004).
This is a story of the dawn of science through the network of scientists surrounding the Royal Society of London. I read these non-fiction books around the same time, so the total effect was very moving:
- Berlinski, David. Newton's gift : how Sir Isaac Newton unlocked the system of the world (2000) [its surprising just how many books have the same theme of 'the system of the world']
- Aczel, Amir D. Mystery of the aleph : mathematics, the kabbalah, and the search for infinity (2000) [this largely concerns Georg Cantor]
- Swetz, Frank J. From five fingers to infinity : a journey through the history of mathematics (1994) [This is a collection of short essays, primarily for and by teachers. I don't have formal training (past some college courses) in mathematics, so YMMV].
--
Jong, Erica. Fear of Flying (1973).
From Wikipedia: "Fear of Flying is a 1973 novel by Erica Jong which became famously controversial for its portrayal of female sexuality and figured in the development of second-wave feminism." (thanks to my GF Martina for that recommendation back in the day).
--
The entire works of Willian Shakespeare. When I don't feel like suffering anything too personal or too timely, Bill just connects.
++
PLUS1 Not fiction, but frack it. They're good
- Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential (2000)
- Buford, Bill. Heat. (2006)
++
PLUS2. I read an article (New Yorker? 2005?) by a retired professor who had the habit of writing a brief review/book report after finishing each book (and he would grading it, too!).
I adopted a similar practice, because I wanted to remember my thoughts of each book in more specific terms. And I was practicing my touch-typing skills. I can say after 15 years I have a good collection of grep searchable text files and much better typing skills.
++
Plus3. Astronaut Scott Kelly recommends keeping a journal as a means of wellbeing during this time of self-isolation [1].
I can't think of a better way to start than writing a few sentences about a moving reading experience.
[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/opinion/scott-kelly-coron...
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The finale in the last book really touched my heart and let me think about love and how much to value the time you have with each other.
--- no spoilers ---
I never thought to find this in a science fiction space opera - I was shocked.
The idea in the book I am talking about is crazy and I cannot fathom how one would feel if something like this really happened. It is wonderful and sad at the same time.
That said and totally apart from it, the whole thing is a masterpiece. You have to read all books of the canon, even if the first book with the unique stories seems strange - I could not put it down though. Apart from that it also has great storytelling, wonderful language, crazy ideas (a house with rooms on different... no spoiler :) and more.
LOTR and Narnia awaken my imagination to something beautiful beyond this world, which set the course of my life. Back of the North Wind's meditation on death somehow put me at ease during a very depressed time of my life, that in the worst of my pits everything will be ok.
Planet Trilogy helped me understand the modern worldview.
Also, Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray is something beyond.