The most influential book you ever read (NO SPAM)

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 8:35 am

Well fable, I don't think we have heard your favourite or most influential book yet.

Vicsun · Post by **Vicsun** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 11:20 am

Originally posted by Beldin
DUNE

No worries,

Beldin

Ditto!

(I havn't read the Bible... but hey I'm only 14, the world is in front of me =) )

humanflyz · Post by **humanflyz** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 3:44 pm

Hmm...

Several people here seem to be influenced by Animal Farm. May I ask why the people who chose it instead of choosing 1984, the other work that Orwell is famous for? The two books contains essentially the same message, I am just curious why the responses I have seen so far state that Animal Farm had a greater impact.

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 4:05 pm

"A Bright Shining Lie" by Neil Sheehan. I read it when I was 13, then again at 20.

Apart from LoTR and Fight Club its the only book I've read twice.

Re: Animal Farm, its shorter than 1984, and has talking animals in it - maybe that makes it more appealing when you're younger?

"Homage to Catalonia" is a scary book when you're 11.

Maharlika · Post by **Maharlika** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 10:44 pm

Why Animal Farm?

Originally posted by humanflyz
Hmm...

Several people here seem to be influenced by Animal Farm. May I ask why the people who chose it instead of choosing 1984, the other work that Orwell is famous for? The two books contains essentially the same message, I am just curious why the responses I have seen so far state that Animal Farm had a greater impact.

All animals are equal...

...[but]some animals are MORE EQUAL than others...

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 8:34 am

As if you couldn't have guessed

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.

The Z · Post by **The Z** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 12:27 pm

I can't think of ONLY one:

The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane
The Hobbit - J.R Tolkien
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton

EDIT: Thanks Humanflyz....My bad....I knew I had the wrong guy in mind.

humanflyz · Post by **humanflyz** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 1:35 pm

@The Z:

I don't think Mark Twain wrote "The Red Badge Of Courage". The correct author should be Stephen Crane.

frogus · Post by **frogus** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 5:45 pm

1984
The Brothers Karamazov
The Prince

I agree with these three...all very important to me undoubtedly (did you guess @Eminem?

)...but the *one* book must be:

The Protagoras - Plato

sorry to pick something boring, but I read it at a young age, and it entirely created my interest in the outside world, science, morals, justice and all other noble, virtuous things

. It also taught me the value of books, by impressing me by teaching me something which I really didn't know...I'm certain I would have not read any more books than the next teenager had it not been for this one. Cheers Plato

.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 6:22 pm

Hmm - the only thing I've ever read of Plato was some of his scriptures about Atlantis (I like that myth)
Maybe I should find other stuff of him

josh · Post by **josh** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 7:31 pm

I read "Animal Farm" before "1984". It was the first novel with a serious message I came across.

Littiz · Post by **Littiz** » Sat Jul 06, 2002 4:01 am

Despite the medium (graphic novel) I consider this story
the greatest work of LITERATURE ever printed on pages!

Taught me that life doesn't need to be tied with
religion, beliefs, or anything.
It's just... life. Embrace it. Understand the
beings who'll share your same fate, one day.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Jul 06, 2002 8:23 pm

The book that most influenced me was probably Herodotus' Histories. He wasn't the first historian to write and he certainly wasn't the greatest, but he crystallized IMO the realization that the study of a culture lies, not in their GNP or per capita income, but in the things they believe about others and themselves. He taught me the value of cultural myths, accurate and false, as a mirror to people.

Littiz · Post by **Littiz** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 2:25 am

You seem to have a pretty vast classical culture, @Fable!

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 3:48 am

Originally posted by Littiz
You seem to have a pretty vast classical culture, @Fable!

Well, when you're over 4,000 years old you pick up a few things along the way.

Perroxx · Post by **Perroxx** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 4:05 am

Divina Comedia by Dante...

I've always wondered what Hell looks like..

it's a very good book!

Littiz · Post by **Littiz** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 2:20 pm

Divina Comedia by Dante...
I've always wondered what Hell looks like..
it's a very good book!

Not if you're FORCED to study it!
You know, living in Dante's city and all..

Also his italian is damn involute and arcaic, maybe I should try an english translation...

But I agree, some good points by Dante, now and then...

@Fable: I know 4000 years old guys who know only football!!

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 3:48 pm

Hmm, frogus, maybe if you'd read any Plato in the original Greek you wouldn't be thanking him...a more boring writer I have yet to find (well there's Pliny, but that's another story) As for Herodotus, I really enjoy his writings, but for Greek history I prefer the style of Thucydides. I've also got a soft spot for Xenophon, but that's probably due to the fact that I seem to get them for unseen translation so much, and they're easy

As for books that have had an impact, none has changed my life hugely, but on my list are:

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (no I won't stop talking about this book until I've gotten everyone to read it

)
Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck
Animal Farm - George Orwell (had more impact because I read it when I was younger, I think)

PosterX · Post by **PosterX** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 6:48 pm

The Federalist Papers

Since some might not technically call this a book my alternate answer is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Tue Jul 16, 2002 1:48 pm

Re: The most influential book you ever read

Originally posted by fable
Just that: name *one* book that has had the greatest impact on your life.

One book? Torture is violating human rights, Fable!

Forced in this most unfair and inhumane way, I must choose a book called something like "Life on earth" (I have no idea who the author was, probably it was many people since it was a textbook spanning many areas). I read this book several times between age 4 and 5. It was as I said a textbook, very thick, probably over 1000 pages, beginning with how the solar system formed, and ending with human life. I had previously read a lot of books about the universe, the Big Bang and how stars and planets developed, but I can't remember only one book since I was so young (I started reading before age 3).

This book about our earth however, immediately fascinated me. I somehow realised that my own existance and humans as a race, were not so special and certainly not some kind of pinnacle and natural lords of life on earth. Instead, I developed a view of human life as a small part of a huge system, and I realised we humans were in fact a very destructive power to other life forms. I read this book many times (more times than I've read any other book except maybe Shakespeare's King Lear). The first time, I used my parents thesaurus because there were so many words I didn't know. It also inspired me to read many other, more specialised books, about things that interested me particularly much, such as geomorphology (how the earth is formed as still is changing). Like all kids, I liked dinosaurs, but I was far more interested in the Cambrian era where so many more different life forms seems to have existed. This was so exciting stuff I thought, much more exciting than the (IMO) stupid fairy tale books my friends read!