What was the book that changed your life and why? NB No Celestine Prophecy and its ilk please.?

Question

I'd hate to choose just one, so let me break my own rules instantly by nominating Nothing Special, by Charlotte Joko Beck, which said the same thing over and over about being present until I got it. Although I still don't do it. And The Diceman by Luke Reinhardt (or who knows?) which offers up an idea so simple and powerful I'll never be able to forget it. Or stop wondering if |I shouldn't try it. It's bloody funny, too.

Answer 1

Since you listed two:

Aldous Huxley, "Ape and Essence".  The wild intro chapter hooked me.  This book itself didn't change my life very much, but it inspired me to read all of Huxley's other novels, and in aggregate they had an impact on my world-view.

Ralph Metzger, "Maps of Consciousness."  Metzger was a colleague of Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Baba Ram Dass).  I found his careful exploration of astrology, tarot, tantra and alchemy to be an excellent introduction to such topics; far more analytical and far less didactic than his colleagues'.

Answer 2

The Bridges of Madison County by what's his name opened my eyes to a few things. Poor writing skills in America can still get you a book deal AND your book bought by the masses-even if it is hard to distinguish between. the book and a plate of fresh fromage bleu.  The buying public is not very discerning having difficulty recognizing a well-crafted story from trash. The buying public has difficulty telling fact from fiction-folks were ringing up the offices of National Geographic looking for Robert! There are few critical thinkers amongst the general public that can make up their own minds to the validity of a piece of work rather choosing to allow a tv personality to do their thinking for them. (I knew a shelf-monkey who would ask potential dates whether they had read the book or not. It they had,he was not inclined to ask for their phone number...) The success of this 'book' illustrates well the bandwagon effect and disavowed me of any illusions that the general public is well-informed.

Answer 3

Aside from religious books, definitely "1984".  It completely changed how I look at politics and society.

Answer 4

The Cat In The Hat

Obviously someone had to read it to me as I was quite young when the profound concept of the "multiplying mess" took hold and lit up my young mind.  For it was this very thing that was following me around like a dark cloud at age 4 and a half.  My mud  pies were runny, my finger paintings always went out of the boundaries;  my Easter egg dyes were always the ones that spilled on the floor and then got tracked through the house. It was always my fingerprints that were on the walls, my shoe prints that were on the clean carpet, and my koolaid stains that were on the couch cushions. That book really changed my life.  And to this day, I catch myself and stop something before I start it because I hear myself say  in a whisper "That's gonna be a Cat in the Hat kinda deal if there ever was one."  Now who do  YOU  know that  is  so impressed by a flea bitten mongrel in a striped hat?

Answer 5

The book that changed my life/saved me was "The Buddha in Your Mirror". It came during time in my life where I really needed what that books has to offer. The theories, the ideas, the inspiration. Totally changed my perspective...in a completely good way..

Answer 6

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert M. Persig (Worthwhile read with a critical mind)