Good Morning, Hubski! As the year winds down, I've just finished reading a book, and I start to consider what my reading list should look like for next year, I thought I would ask you for recommendations on what to include. So as I close out my thirties, let's send me into my forties with some life-changing texts read or on the list! What book or books have changed your life or perspective, and why? (I'll submit an answer of my own in the comments later.)
Y’know, I always really liked Lord of the Rings. I’m talking about like taught-myself-elvish, the-poem-I-recited-because-of-a-mandatory-English-requirement-in-eighth-grade-was-TheLayOfLethian, my first TWO email addresses were elvish references, my first online internet friend was from Lotr role playing forums, that’s how much I liked LOTR, liked LOTR sorta person. Everyone here so far as I can see is kind of focusing on books that changed who they were on some fundamentalist, Ayn Rand sort of libertarian level. Nah I ain’t got that. I haven’t read a book that singlehandedly shaped me politically or changed how I related to my peers. On that note, Holden Caulfield is kind of a piece of shit. But was I gifted Sméagol/Gollum posters almost every secret Santa we had in high school? And could I write in Dwarven characters if I was pressed? You bet your god damn ass on both counts I can, and for that, and the Lay of Luthien which I can still at least begin to recite — the leaves were long, the grass was green The hemlock umbels tall and fair And in the glade a light was seen Tinuviel was dancing there The light of stars was in her hair And in her raiment, shimmering... Aye, yeah, those books changed my life. And my early internet friendships, through LOTR role playing forums, brought me here. I wouldn’t be half so accepting (and loving) of your took-fools if it weren’t for that. Ay, me. Memory lane, and it smells all of Kings-foil.
13 year old: Dune, Herbert, the institutions are bad, but you can trick them 16 : The stranger, Camus, you dont have to care about the world 17 : Les fleurs du mal, Baudelaire, women and cities are beautiful 18 : The golem, Meyrink.. cities are dreamlike at night 19 : Les nuits de Paris, Restif de la Bretonne, Paris in medieval time at night, was almost like it is in modern time, some things never changes 20 : The world according to Garp, Irving , there is so many randomness in the live of a guy, you should accept it 21 : A History of Eternity, Borges ; reality can be enhanced by fiction, or the other way around, or they just are the same (still my favorite) 22 : Less than zero, Ellis (it tickle the same spot as The Stranger, with more energy) 24 : La recherche du temps Perdu, Proust (funnier writer ever, just a lot to skip in between funny bits) 25 : Whatever , Houellebeck (same itch as The stanger, with a gloomer but somehow funnier approach) Nothing since then.. So it mean, I'm brain dead Beside Houellebeck, I read all of them twice. More for Herbert. And Way more for Borges
A Collection of Short Stories comprised of Jorge Luis Borges would be one of my first choices as well. Labyrinths in particular was what impacted me the most.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Unfortunately, Ishmael is a shit book. I knew it was a shit book at the time - it starts as a shit book, has a shit book in the middle, and ends as a shit book. This is because the basic argument put forth by Ishmael is that humans were happier as hunter-gatherers. That's it. That's the whole enchilada. In order to make this argument, however, Daniel Quinn has one character that's nothing but a Socratic questioner of truth and another character that is an I-shit-you-not talking gorilla. It doesn't take a whole lot of cultural exposure to recognize that Ishmael is to Conrad Lorenz' On Aggression what The Da Vinci Code is to Holy Blood Holy Grail: a deliberate dumbing-down of the key concepts so that people troubled by multi-syllabic words can feel clever. But hey, since Lorenz wrote for German academics who, like him, probably had some troubling Naziism in their pasts while Daniel Quinn wrote for a fucking contest, every third "thought leader" in 1991 was shoving Ishmael down everyone else's throat as if it offered new insights. Despite the fact that it does not include the quote "The modern human lifestyle is the worst evolutionary adaptation since peacock feathers." Ishmael was the book where I began to suspect that all these smart adults all around me were just pretending to be smart and that really, there isn't a whole lot of universal expertise. More than that, it's a lot easier to lean into an "expert" than express your own thoughts and feelings because if you beat someone else over the head with an expert, you don't have to put the strength of your own convictions behind the knowledge. Ishmael taught me that really, culture is an endless miasma of one bad idea after another being held up as wisdom until it too can be trashed and cast aside in the constant conflict of ideas that is any free society and the fact that it was such a trite piece of shit goes a long way towards explaining my insufferable cynicism. Because at sixteen years old, every fucking adult I knew was shoving a book about a talking fucking gorilla in my face because it would "blow my mind." Once I finally got to Lorenz (at 23 - because I was keeping cichlids, a fish Lorenz studied at length) it really cemented the notion that we keep rehashing it all without learning. This contempt only grew when they cast Anthony Hopkins as the gorilla. I wish I could give you a positive role model. I cannot. There are books I enjoyed greatly, there are books I recommend widely, but the one that changed my life changed it through sucking.
Quinn has one character that's nothing but a Socratic questioner of truth and another character that is an I-shit-you-not talking gorilla.
LOL. I read this book when I was in High School. I enjoyed at the time. I don't recall much of it... except the talking Gorilla. Years later I remember someone recommending it to me again because the bass player from Pearl Jam said it was his favorite book.
Chiming in to say this was also something I read in high school. You couldn't pay me to go back in time and listen to 30 rich white kids in a temperature controlled classroom talk, with full bellies and sterling health, about how much they wanted to hunt and gather.
That’s not entirely a bad thing, I am a firm believer in anti-role models.I wish I could give you a positive role model. I cannot. There are books I enjoyed greatly, there are books I recommend widely, but the one that changed my life changed it through sucking.
I think I can ascribe the largest delta in my life to the Waanzinnig om te Weten (Amazing to Know) book series, which is called Horrible Science / Horrible Histories / Horrible Geographies in the UK. They were funny nonfiction books aimed at young teenagers, and I read every single one my library had. It taught me science, history, through amazing facts and interesting stories. It taught me to see the world in a wonderful way, yet also to be critical and think for yourself. This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein, which I read in conjunction with a course on ecological politics, probably set me on the path to working towards a more sustainable planet. It's not a very great book - she basically yells CAPITALISM IS BAD FOR THE CLIMATE over and over. But it made me think much more about the topic. Essentialism by Gregor McKeown is probably the only book I've read more than twice, and that I still read or at least leaf through from time to time. It is as close to a Bible that I have, as it provides me the first principles to take a plethora of other decisions. Reclaiming Conversation probably did more for my social life than any other book. Sherry Turkle made me realize I was being an antisocial dick and made me appreciate good, in-person conversations as the most valuable platonic human contact we have.
I read all the Sagan I could between 18-20. Broca’s Brain probably had the biggest impact on me. It made me realize that passion needn’t be relegated to art. To this day, I continue to be struck by the incomprehensible fact of our temporal and spatial isolation and insignificance, and find the greatest meaning in that we share it all.
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. It showed me a new, different way to approach the world, God, and the interactions between the two. Dune. It taught me about political manipulation, sure, but more importantly, that we can be more than the sum of our parts. That we can teach ourselves to be more.
+1 for The Prophet. The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish. Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you. And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving? And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed? See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving. For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."
Dune. I think I first read it when I was 12 or 13. It was my first introduction to the idea of religion being used cynically by people with ulterior motives. It was my first introduction to the idea that a human being is more than just the animal homo sapiens. That it is our actions that run counter to our animal responses that separate us from beasts.
Dunno. Usagi Yojimbo introduced me to a hero trope that I highly enjoy to this day, that of the wandering warrior. It's a well used trope, obviously, and one that's easy for people to connect with, if the popularity of games like Fallout and movies like Yojimbo/Sanjuro, The Man With No Name trilogy, and The Mad Max series are any indication. My mother's old field guides are another. They didn't kindle my love for nature, but they've been a wonderful supplement while growing up. There's all those children's books, from folk tales from around the world to Dr. Seuss. From the words to the pictures, they really introduced me to the magic of good story telling. I can't forget comics in general, as they've been a staple on and off ever since I first learned to read. Gotta say, I don't think there's a single book that's changed my life, but books as a whole sure as heck have always been a part of it. I definitely wouldn't be who I am today without them.
When I was a kid I used to play a lot of competitive baseball. My grandfather played in at least a minor league and my father went far but never made it. So naturally I was surrounded by it growing up. We would go to games, we would play catch, we would play pickup games in the schoolyard. In grade 4 they started letting kids pitch. I couldn't tell you how many times I got absolutely drilled by a hardball and fell to the ground crying. I hated it. I wasn't having fun at all. But my dad still wanted me to succeed. By the time I was 10 playing baseball began to feel like taking out the trash or being told to eat my vegetables. So when I was 14 I started to refuse. I wouldn't do anything baseball related, not even for fun. I wouldn't even play catch with my dad. Could you believe that? A kid refusing to play catch with his own father? That's when I read The Boat Rocker by Terrence Mann.
The Power of Now had a pretty big impact on me. It was my first step in to the world of self improvement and mindfulness. Not sure I'd be doing many of the things I'm doing if I hadn't taken that first step. The message is as true when I read it as it is now.
Richard Bach. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah and Johnathan Livingston Seagull are amazing and lovely books, full of memorable sentences and thoughtful philosophy. They just make you think, and basically give you permission to trust yourself to be your best. BUT... A Gift of Wings is the source material and experiences that led to the creation of those two books. Alone, it is an interesting read. But, reading it AFTER the other two, makes this book an amazing experience. It is basically a collection of stories about his time being a Barnstormer. In the 1920s-1960s, it was common for a group of pilots - mostly biplanes, but some other aircraft too - to fly in groups around the countryside, set up camp in an empty field, and give people flights for cash. It was a roving gypsy lifestyle, with the glamour and hard work/skills of flying. As he tells the stories of his summers spent barnstorming across the US unfold, you can see where the ideas for Illusions and Johnathan came from... which makes those books even better. And you wind up feeling very close to Richard Bach. Like he's a close friend you shared these experiences with. It's a lovely journey.