What non-fiction book has changed your life?

I already cheated and mentioned "The Adventures of a Parapsychologist" in the other thread. Offhand I can't think of another single title that had a big influence, but of course it won't hit most people the way it did me, much of it had to do with where I was at the time I read it.

But in general, popular and technical books on science and technology have made a strong impression on me, showing how we have a remarkable and exponentiially increasing amount of knowledge and control of the physical universe.

And what I might call metascience books, about the philosophy of science and what it all might mean, for examples, Kurzweil's recent books. One book that straddles the line between fact and fiction is "The Mind's I," a collection of short stories selected and commented on by Daniel Dennett and Douglas Hofstadter. I found it mind expanding.

Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. It made me feel for the first time that maybe I really could write a book, and that I was small part of a greater whole. It resonated so loudly that you probably could have tuned a piano with me while I read it. Ah, discovering the joys of writing a shitty first draft, getting it done bird by bird, living as if I were dying, and (of course) how it's perfectly reasonable to hate the people who get rich and famous writing well and easily. Hee!

I read very little non-fiction but Harvey Penick's Little Red Book made me golf better. Does that count?

Boy, this is an extremely interesting topic. In the case of novels, I wonder if I am usually affected subcosciously; that I'm moved in such a way that I wouldn't even recognize that I have in same way been "changed".

I do know that back at school the works of Wilfred Owen (poetry though of course) changed (or deepened) my attitudes to war forever. My childhood was in the post-war mood, and we all played with toy guns and I guess thought it was all quite exciting. Owen's poetry was perhaps the first thing that made me really think about the reality of war. To this day Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori would be one of the few Latin phrases that I could immediateoy recite. Really powerful imagery.

I was recently in the hospital unexpectedly. When I came home I couldn't go back to work right away and read a few books that changed the way I think. One was The Secret and another was Change Your Life in 30 Days (I think that's the title). I already knew the premise of The Secret, and I liked the book. Ever since I was sick, I've stopped myself from having negative thoughts (or gossiping, etc.) and I feel much happier everyday. It is true if you think happy thoughts you do feel better.

I recently read Vidocq's Memoirs. Not only did the book inspire a whole new novel idea, but it jump-started a passion for history which I had forgotten I had. The book is so humerous and lively (sometimes darn unbelievable, too) that I've become completely fascinated with France in the 17th and 18th centuries. I'm researching Argot, and Canler, and the Judicial system, and the countryside, and the culture. It's glorious.
And it was all started by reading about Vidocq.
Not to mention it taught me a little lesson about prevailing against insurmountable odds. Hey, if a convict can become the Head of the Surete, what's to stop me from fulfilling my goals?

The Woman's guide to ADD.

Now I know there are others out there like me-- like finding the "just-right" greeting card-- there's comfort in knowing someone else has gone through it, too, and I'm not a freak. Well, I'm still a freak, but there are other freaks, too, so I'm not a lonely freak.

Hmm..good idea. Here's my little list:

No Logo--naomi Klein. Fuelled my fire
The Beauty Myth-- Naomi Wolf. She taught me to 'get over myself'
The Wisdom of no escape and the path of loving kindness--Pema Choron
I read this when life gets way to hectic. It calms me right down.
A Brief History of Time--Stephen Hawking Still not sure why? Just blows my mind
The Tibetan Book Of Living & Dying--Sogyal Rinpoche A beautiful text and helps bring life into perspective.

101 Sexual Positions

Jabs said:

101 Sexual Positions

Click to expand...

...oops

scarletpeaches said:

He got stuck on no.69.

Click to expand...

X 2 ....what a screw-up!

Jabs said:

101 Sexual Positions

Click to expand...

yeah, that one, too.

scarletpeaches said:

He got stuck on no.69.

Click to expand...

You can say that while wearing red lipstick? (Ha!)

On a more serious note, my favorite work of nonfiction recently was The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

I look up and see my friend. Jim.

Now, Seabisquit (sp?) An American Legend

The Moon's a Balloon--David Niven

Bring on the Empty Horses--David Niven

The Onion Field--Joseph Wambaugh.

(Almost forgot Helter Skelter--a tremendous impact)
Tri

Nothing that's conciously changed my life, but One Child, by Torey Hayden definitely made an impact on me.

Wheels of Life, by Anodea Judith.

triceretops said:

I look up and see my friend. Jim.

Now, Seabisquit (sp?) An American Legend

The Moon's a Balloon--David Niven

Bring on the Empty Horses--David Niven

The Onion Field--Joseph Wambaugh.

(Almost forgot Helter Skelter--a tremendous impact)
Tri

Click to expand...

I agree, Tri. Helter Skelter was a mind-blower.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.

The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim.

They didn't change my life, but made me look at life afresh.

I just finished reading Letting Go Of Your Bananas (how to become more successful by getting rid of everything rotten in your life) By Dr. Daniel T. Drubin.
It was good. I enjoy books that give you straight tips on how to improve things, and this one does at the end of every chapter (or "key" in this case).

The Immense Journey, Loren Eisley.

I read this as a teenager and it opened me up to the magic of nature and science, and at the same time, the power of words to make ideas come alive. A visionary book.

Second, Under The Sea Wind, Rachel Carson--another poet of the natural world.

It bemuses me that the most influential books for me both were nonfiction nature and philosophy, yet I ended up writing thrillers and fantasy.

I don't think it changed my life, but I'm really fond of The Blank Slate, by Steven Pinker.