Posted on 05/01/2018 3:18:41 PM PDT by Simon Green
Here's one that definitely influenced me: "Red Planet" by Robert A. Heinlein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Planet_(novel)
It's the first novel I can recall reading, around age 8 or so. It was the start of a lifelong love of speculative fiction, and Heinlein's Libertarian(ish) philosophy certainly put its imprint on me.
(The main chsracter's father discusses getting a pistol permit for his daughter. The grandfather chimes in:)
"That a free citizen should have to go before a committee, hat in hand, and pray for permission to bear arms - fantastic! Arm your daughter, sir, and pay no attention to petty bureaucrats."
Bible.
Immanuel Kant
Purpose driven life
Fundamental Chemistry
I had spent about 5 years partying and wasting my life... and one night I was so bored at my stupid night shift job that I picked up the only book I could find to read, and it was like my brain sucked it in like a vacuum cleaner- and I immediately started college and ended up with 3 degrees in physics, computer science, and accounting.
The Bible and One Second After. One is glorious and a little scary, the other is absolutely frightening.
Bible. Isaiah to be specific.
Amen. Nothing further needs to be said.
Secrets of Closing the Sale.
By Zig Zigler.
If I had read this at the start of my career I would
have had a much improved business and bottom line.
Other than The Bible, I would say “Crime And Punishment”.
“Strangers have the best candy!”
Would you accept 3?
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Cheaper by the Dozen (1948) by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, detailing the home life of an efficiency expert with 12 children.
Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman which chronicles the first year of an idealistic teacher in a the NY public school system. “Let it be a challenge to you” the principal’s favorite rejoinder to questions about resolving unsolvable situations has reverberated through my life.
It helped me reconcile my scientific nature with my spirituality.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.....
I would have to say the book that changed me the most was Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics."
1. Bible
2. Genome
3. The Brain that Changes Itself
4. The Rational Optimist
“The Gulag Archipelago” - Solthenitsyn
The Happy Hollisters and the Haunted House Mystery. Read to my second grade teacher during recess. I developed a joy in reading at that point that is almost an addiction at this point.
Bible.
My choice also, the Bible.
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