Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

What is the most influential book you've read about veganism or anything else that really inspired you?

I'll be honest, I don't read a lot. It is one of the things I really am not very happy with. I wish I read a whole lot more, and that is one of my goals.

For me, some of the most influential books have been:

How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Diet For A New America by John Robbins

Fit For Life by Harvey Diamond

What about the rest of you?

Scott Nearing's autobiography The Making of a Radical was what finally pushed me over the edge into veganism, but I was just about ready for veganism and many other books would have had the same effect.

Manufacturing Consent by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky had a similar life changing effect. But that had nothing to do with being the right book at the right time. Anytime from the age of 10 to 28 that book would have been huge. Was like a religion experience. I walked around in a daze for weeks afterwards.

Little Engine That Could, and Origin of the Species

1. Conversation with God - Neil Donald Walsh.

2. Diet for a new America - John Robbins.


Others, but those two (well, four, as CwG is a trilogy) were the most important, in that order.

This should probably be a list that is dynamic in nature, continued reading should bring about a new appreciation for the books we read.

Here is my list, as of now: "Running Scarred" by Tex Maule, "Ravelstein" by Saul Bellow, "Aerobics" by Ken Cooper (yea, it's almost 40 years old...), "Being Peace" by Thich Nhat Hanh (I wouldn't have known about Thich Nhat Hanh if I hadn't visited Mike Mahler's site...). The "Nautilus Book" by Dr. Ellington Darden.

There they are.

Jon

We should sticky post this one to continually follow it.

Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah - Richard Bach

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull - RB

Sand & Foam: The Book of Aphorisms - Kahlil Gibran

TO DO:
- Conversations with God
- In communion with conciousness

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

probably Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

It was the first book I read that "woke me up"
I was appalled enough to want to learn more and ultimately become vegan

Fast food nation is a good book Id say

My favorite is Intuitive Eating by Humbart "Smokey" Santillo. If you haven't read it, its a must for a vegan. I also like Jay Kordich's book on juicing. I do alot of juicing. Anyone else out there do juicing?? I really like carrot and ginger juice. Juicing is really good for you. Fruit juices for cleansing and veggie juices for building. I did alot of juicing the first time I became a vegan and have started again since returning to a veggie diet.

I juice. Not as much as I used to (2-3 pints a day now). I used to drink up to 2-3 quarts a day. My favorite book on juicing was by Norman Walker.

Jon

Yeah, I don't do as much as I used to either. I am slowing working it back up. I do 8oz of carrot/ginger juice right now but I am going to add another 8 oz soon. I used to do (3) glasses (8oz) a day.

Have you ever heard of the Hallelujah Diet?? That's where I first learned about juicing and a vegan diet.

I still use their Herbal Fiberblend which is a great source of fiber and helps clean you out!!

I also like their Barleygreen which I used to add to the juice. I am thinking of buying that again but it is kind of expensive. Do you use any greens?
Leslie

I was a vegetarian for years but it was Fast Food Nation that made me consider veganism and The Food Revolution that made me realize I could never not be vegan.

Free the Animals by Ingrid Newkirk had a pretty big effect on me. I just finished Eternal Treblinka which helped me make a lot of connections.

Nonveganwise, Einstein's Dreams moved me to tears many times.

And Harry Potter makes me happier than just about anything!

I haven't read too many books on veganism or animal rights, I'm sorry to say. But these are the ones I have read.

1. Diet for a New America by John Robbins, which helped me finalize the decision to go vegan.
2. Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat by Howard F. Lyman, which kept me vegan.
3. Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, which showed me that you can be vegan and fall prey to unhealthy eating habits. (I wrote my review of it in my veg blog: http://vegan-noise.blogspot.com/2006/04 ... bitch.html)

I'm currently reading When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago, but that has nothing to do with veganism. However, I do have a whole list of books to tackle addressing the issues of diet, health, veganism, and animal rights. These are just some of the ones waiting, on my book shelves, to be read:

*Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, which I began but couldn't go through with reading.
*Dominion by Matthew Skully
*Peace to All Beings -- Veggie Soup for the Chicken's Soul by Judy Carman
*Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
*Making Kind Choices by Ingrid Newkirk, which I've only flipped through as a guide.
*Breaking the Food Seduction by Neal Barnard, M.D.

'How to Win Friends and Influence People' by Dale Carnegie is definitely an essential book. Very influential, it draws on the history of wisdom, virtue, and interpersonal relations.

Another absolute "must-read" is 'Sophie's World' by Jostein Gaarder. These paragraphs sum it up nicely:

http://www.bol.de/shop/home/artikeldeta ... s6p6.fdc62