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Most influential Books you've read


robert
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1984 by George Orwell

Notes from Undergorund/ The Idiot / Crime and punishment - all by Dostoyevsky

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley (not a novel, but had a big influence on me)

Divine Names, Mystical Theology & Celestial Hierarchy by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (not novels, too - but very interesting for those who like mysticism)

I don't read much literature and when I do, I am more into classics. Usually, I read book about history, art, spirituality...

 

And my favorite and most used book about healthy food and lifestyle is

Aveline Kushi's Complete Guide to Macrobiotic Cooking: For Health, Harmony, and Peace

 

and not to forget, the latest I've read about nutrition:

Douglas Graham's "80/10/10 Diet"

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I don't read much these days... actually, its been many years since I've read a novel or a book about spirituality. I've read 4 or 5 books about nutrition and veganism, animal rights in the past 5 years but nothing else. (the World according to Monsanto, 80/10/10 Diet, etc). I don't know why, I used to read a lot. Many novels, essays, compilations of short stories... Now I'm not even able to read books that I must read. I'm supposed to study books about massage therapy but it takes me months and I haven't read even half of what I need to.

 

Anyways, the next books I wanna read and I think I will really like them are: Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama, and Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda.

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"Ask and It Is Given," by Abraham-Hicks. And every other thing they've done.

"The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins. And every other thing he's done.

"All Thoughts Work™ Outdoors," and every other thing I've done.

 

Benjamin Disraeli said it best: "When I want to read a book, I write one."

 

Baby Hercules

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Ishmael by Daniel Quinn - Although I think The Story of B is actually better, but I read that ten years after Ishmael changed my life.

The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka

The China Study by T Colin Campbell

 

Just finished reading Men's Work: How to stop the violence that tears our lives apart by Paul Kivel - I recommend it to all males!

 

Presently reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X - both really inspirational.

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Using Fear and Anger to Gain Courage and Happiness - http://www.randallwright.com/pdfs/FearAngerCourageHappiness.pdf

 

Andrea, I really like the part that illuminates how complaining, lashing out, etc. reveals what a person is afraid of, his perceived weaknesses. Reason enough to stop complaining from now on. Never let 'em see you sweat! (Unless you're at the dumbbell rack.)

 

Herc

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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Robert Calasso

Skinny Bitch - say what you will about it, it drove me from dietary to lifestyle vegan

The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L'Engle

 

Adding to this:

 

Phillip K Dick - VALIS

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I'm reading a book on secret societies. I am prepared for stigmas to be removed and for gaps of knowledge to be filled in

 

Which ones? The Freemasons are shockingly dull because most of them have lost any knowledge of what they're doing beyond "it's all just symbolic" but these days they're slowly getting an influx of people who have backgrounds in various mystery schools so that could change.

 

All based on what I know from my male friends, of course.

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If speaking of life affecting books:

Fit for life by Harvey and Merylin Diamond - I read this book when I was like 17 and it literally changed me - I was a vegetarian at this time, and it was then when I first started with the vegan diet, and more recently:

Skinny bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin that brought me back to vegan after years of vegetarian lifestyle.

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"The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins....

 

is certainly one of my most influential books, Dawkins writes with a lucid realism, for life free from the shackles of religious dogma.

 

it seems that most of his points are against organized religion, for for atheism...

Clue is in the title of the book

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For the "God Delusion" to be influential to someone I'd argue that it must have changed the path of their life. If you don't believe in religion and have never felt any kind of religious calling, what influence does reading it have? Surely it's just a warm feeling of confirmation, nothing more.

 

I read "Walden" shortly after I got my first proper job and had money to spend. It knocked me sideways into ascetism.

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"The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins....

 

is certainly one of my most influential books, Dawkins writes with a lucid realism, for life free from the shackles of religious dogma.

 

it seems that most of his points are against organized religion, for for atheism...

Clue is in the title of the book

I was reared an atheist so anything having to do with infidelity or exorcism movies have no effect on me. Although I will say there is an inverted cross on my blog but that's only for my amusement

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The Jungle by Upton Sinclair has probably done more to influence me than any other book. Not only my diet, but my attitude towards social injustice. For animals and humans as well.

 

Other books that have inspired me:

Hardcore Zen - Brad Warner

Sit Down and Shut Up - Brad warner

Awakening the Buddha Within - Lama Surya Das

 

(that's the short list, I read all the time, but I didn't want to fill up the board with me, me, me...)

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Gonna have to stay the Satanic Bible as the most influential book. The belief that you are fully responsible for your actions and that constant pursuit of knowledge is something not to be frowned upon but held up in high regard agrees with me pretty well. I dont see the Satanic Bible as a religous tool but rather a self help guide for the unique who stand up for what they believe in! Which is pretty much every single person on here!

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Gonna have to stay the Satanic Bible as the most influential book. The belief that you are fully responsible for your actions and that constant pursuit of knowledge is something not to be frowned upon but held up in high regard agrees with me pretty well. I dont see the Satanic Bible as a religous tool but rather a self help guide for the unique who stand up for what they believe in! Which is pretty much every single person on here!

 

It's really just a bastardized version of "Might Is Right." Parts of it are borderline plagiarism, but I don't suppose either author should care if they take themselves seriously. I don't subscribe to the tenants of "selfishness" that are in the book(s) myself. It's not really all about "me", even if I want it to be. Responsibility for your actions and the pursuit of knowledge do not require an inflated ego. I'm a Buddhist (or an atheist with allot of rituals if you like) and the foundation of my belief system is grounded in personal responsibility, the laws of cause and affect, and the constant pursuit of knowledge. Without ego.

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Ima check out the might is right asap! I believe in confidence within yourself,but among others I allow myself to be taught and criticized for the simple fact that I say to to myself " who the fuck are you to not hear this persons opinion on the matter?!"Then after I hear their argument I draw my own conclusion. I do believe Anton was a bighead, but I think he did it to achieve a sense of self, but ultimately he comes off being a conceded douche.

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For the "God Delusion" to be influential to someone I'd argue that it must have changed the path of their life. If you don't believe in religion and have never felt any kind of religious calling, what influence does reading it have? Surely it's just a warm feeling of confirmation, nothing more.

 

I read "Walden" shortly after I got my first proper job and had money to spend. It knocked me sideways into ascetism.

 

 

Mostly agreed. The God Delusion was just the same tired argument over and over. Dawkins gives secularism a bad name.

 

 

However Walden is definitely the most epic piece on asceticism and transcendentalist thought that I have ever read. Perfect!

 

"I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was all undusted still, and threw them out the window in disgust." - from Walden

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