VANITY... Books That Have Influenced You

[Minus_The_Bear]

What books have influenced your political, religious, or historical reasoning?

[mysterio]

I need to read Clockwork Orange still. But Farenheit 451 is a great work. It shows what happens when we empower a government to protect us from being offended. Exactly as we are doing now, actually.

[MitchellC]

Do comic books count?

Heh... You know, if comic books are your biggest influence, you're probably a Liberal. I used to read Marvel Comics as a teenager and they used such amazingly convoluted reasoning to get from point A to point B in a story, such as the Cosmic Beings having "near infinite" power... :)

[Cboldt]

James Burnham - Suicide of the West

[phantomworker]

The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury also had political statements like that.

[hosepipe]

[ The Ancient Engineers by L. Sprague de Camp ]

Thats my bathroom book.. on the 3rd reading..

[gleeaikin]

Books by Heinlin, Asimov, Bradbury
Atlas Shrugged, Rand
Outline of History, H.G. Wells
The Primal Scream, A. Janov
Connections
Let's Have Healthy Children, Adelle Davis
Books by Graham Hancock

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

http://www.blackmask.com/Action_Adventure/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs/index.html

Many of his books are at above URL, they are free and in several formats such as MS-Reader † Acrobat † Rocket eBook † Zipped format † iSilo † Mobipocket † EB-1150 † Plucker

[Zeroisanumber]

The Autobiography of Malcom X by Malcom X (with Alex Haley)

Team of Rivals by Doris Goodwin

Shadow: Five Presidents in the Shadow of Watergate by Bob Woodward

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Bridges at Toko-Ri by James Michener

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer

Harrison Bergeron (short story) by Kurt Vonnegut

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Native Son by Richard Wright

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

To name a few.

[Bear_Slayer]

My Side of the Mountain
The Grapes of Wrath
The Bible
The Screwtape Letters
The Journals of Jim Elliot

[Bear_Slayer]

Jim Elliot -- (diaries) Shadow of The Almighty

I enjoyed discovering that Jim was very much like me and encouraged that he went farther.

He was a true warrior poet.

[dmw]

Funny, I just watched Spiderman last night on TNT. It was the first time I ever seen the movie, and I only watched it because nothing else was on, plus my two adult sons have been on me to watch it. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed watching it--as corny as it was. Had I not watched the movie, your comment would not have made sense to me. Have a great week!

[LS]

"Wealth and Poverty"

"The Camp of the Saints"

"Atlas Shrugged"

"The Impending Crisis"

May I suggest, for others to check out my new 9/11 novel---not that it would "influence" you, but it might uplift you, chill you, entertain you, and touch your heart strings: "September Day."

http://www.jeffhead.com/septemberday/

[Borax Queen]

Death Valley and the Amargosa, by Richard Ligenfelter.

Fantastic book!

[Californiajones]

"Lincoln Talks" Emmanuel Hertz 1939
"Witness" Whitaker Chambers
"The Name Above The Title" Frank Capra 1971
"The Disenchanted" Budd Shulberg 1949
"Lincoln The Unknown" Dale Carnegie 1931
"The Second Oldest Profession" Philip Knightley 1988
"The Final Quest" Rick Joyner 1996
"Inside the Third Reich" Albert Speer 1960
"FDR'S Last Year" Jim Bishop 1972
"Marlene Dietrich" Maria Riva 1993
"Marilyn Monroe" Maurice Zolotow 1960
"The Collected Poems of John Donne" John Donne
"Don Quixote" Cervantes
"Poetic Closure" Barbara Hernstein Smith 1968
"Poetics" Aristotle
"My Imitation Of Christ" Thomas A Kempis
"Against Interpretation" Susan Sontag

and The Holy Bible

[Californiajones]

ooops forgot

"1984" George Orwell "Animal Farm" George Orwell "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" Josh McDowell

[ko_kyi]

Starship Troopers, Atlas shrugged, The Caine Mutiny, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Farenheit 451.

I am fascinated by the concepts of individualism v. collectivism, duty v. personal needs, and the way so-called "higher purposes" are so frequently self-serving justifications for immoral behavior.

[dmw]

I think I read my last comic book about 35 years ago. But even at the tender age of fifteen I was a conservative. Maybe I wasn't conscience of it at the time, however, considering that I read Archie, Jughead, Richie Rich, LuLu, Casper the Friendly Ghost, etc--I would say those are pretty clean-cut conservative type comics. :) I was never into the action hero comic books, but I will confess--last night I watched Spiderman on TV. Hope that doesn't mean that I'm becoming a liberal. ;-)

[Preachin']

The Bible, especially the Gospels, Genesis, Exodus and Esther.

Evidence That Demands a Verdict- Josh McDowell

The Late Great Planet Earth- Hal Lindsey

[Eagle Eye]

The Bible (of course!)

Patton biography author unknown

Soldier - Anthony Herbert

Instant Replay - Jerry Kramer

See you at the Top (and others by) Zig Ziglar

The Greatest Saleman in the World - Og Mandino

Gungo Ho! - Ken Blanchard

[MarkL]

Many of his books are at above URL, they are free and in several formats such as MS-Reader † Acrobat † Rocket eBook † Zipped format † iSilo † Mobipocket † EB-1150 † Plucker

Yes, I've seen those. Thanks!

Mark