Most influential Books you've read

[Kathryn]

Back when I became a vegetarian, (waaay back!), I found a lot of articles by Victoria Moran (in Vegetarian Times, which used to be less of a recipe magazine than a magazine promoting vegetarianism more actively) really spoke to me. She seemed to be following the same path I was on at about the same time (so they didn't really influence me as much as reinforce what I was feeling).

 

Thrive is a recent book that has influenced some directional changes in my diet.

 

Other books are not as much influences (as in causing me to change in some way), but rather reinforce my beliefs:

The Diet Revolution (as well as Robbins' previous "Diet for a New America"), The China Study (T. Collin Campbell), Eat to Live (Fuhrman).

 

Going way back, I think one story (not a book) that influenced me (because I still remember it) was a short 1/2 column in a comic book!) that was a first person-story from the perspective of a puppy, who loved everyone and had many animal friends, and at the end, there was something about how he didn't understand hatred and not accepting others (other animals, in this case) because (last line).. "you see...I'm blind." Maybe corny, but my impressional pre=adolescent mind thought it was very touching and it brought tears to my eyes.

[minimalistica]

vegan books:

The Vegan Sourcebook, by Joann Stepaniak

The Vegan Handbook

 

 

- - -

 

Seeing as it wasn't a book that convinced me to be vegan but the fact that I was raised in a vegan household, these books were more like guides in a how-to sort of sense.

 

- - -

 

Other books worth mentioning, since I'm a multifaceted person and there's more to me than what I eat...

 

Highly Sensitive People by Elaine Aron

Nickeled and Dimed (forget author)

(Currently reading: Democracy Matters by Cornel West)

[CashOverAss]

Diet for a new america is definitely the book that caused me to go vegan. It would be hard to believe anyone on this board hasnt read it yet, but if you havent read it, you should LITERALLY, get up right now, get in your car, and go to the book store. buy both copies of it that they have on the shelf cause you are gonna want to give one to a friend.

[Lindsay76]

Core Performance by Mark Verstegan

 

Diet for a New America . . .

 

Eat to Live - Joel Fuhrman

 

Vegan with a Vengeance

 

Vegan Freak

 

The Ashtanga Yoga Manual - John Swenson

[the Asocial Ape]

ha! i was just writing about this the other day! the top ten works (i include a poem and short story) that made me me are:

 

The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck

Quantum Reality, Nick Herbert

'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', Coleridge

Animal Liberation, Peter Singer

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey

The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway

'The Snows of Kilimanjaro', Hemingway

The Inheritors, William Golding

The Hobbit, Tolkien

 

(I know that's only nine - I like to leave a slot open for the book i haven't yet read)

[gkleinman]

Diet for A New America

Garden of Vegan

Men in Black (not the movie, a book by Scott Spencer)

The Contortionist Handbook

Fight Club

Siddhartha

[the Asocial Ape]

...Siddhartha...

 

awesome book! it's in my top N. Hesse rocks!

[the Asocial Ape]

...Vegan with a Vengeance...

awesome cook book.

[BJJVegan]

Harry Potter

[acatherine13]

HARRY POTTER ROCKS!

what did you think of the last book?

[Clever Name]

*Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, which I began but couldn't go through with reading.

*Dominion by Matthew Skully

 

Animal Lib is the most influential book I've ever read...picked it up 16 years ago after I decided to go veg b/c of not wanting to contribute to killing animals, but it made me first decide to go VEGAN b/c of not wanting to contribute to SUFFERING! And the reason I quoted you on both these books is that even after 16 years, I still haven't been able to bear reading Animal Lib for long enough to finish the book, the expose is so appalling! I acquired Dominion in the fall of 2005 and made little dents in it here and there...for the same reason, wasn't able to read the whole thing.

 

*Peace to All Beings -- Veggie Soup for the Chicken's Soul by Judy Carman

 

I'm going to have to get this one! I always rolled my eyes when I saw Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul and said to myself, "Why don't they just write one for the vegetarian soul and perfect the irony?" Finally!

 

My 2nd most influential book (really can't cite Dominion, as I haven't yet read enough) is a tie between The Women's Room by Marilyn French (a feminist novel), and Feeding the Hungry Heart, by Geneen Roth (a compilation of writings by women who suffer or used to suffer from binge eating).

[veggieprincess]

I've read lots of books that have influenced me. Two of them being Dale Carnegie "How To Win Friends and Influence People" and "How To Stop Worrying and Start Living" both read when I was 13 (I know, I was a weird kid).

 

But the book that has influenced me the most was The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn(sp?)

 

She planted the concept in my head to consume less and reuse things, which led to a chain of events that brought me here. No book ever changed my way of thinking so much as that one. I still refer to the Complete Tightwad Gazette (which has all three books in 1) almost daily.

[robert]

How To Win Friends And Influence People is one of my favorite books too! I often list that anytime I fill out lists of favorite books. It had a huge impact on me when I was a teenager and I still reference it today.

 

Good stuff.

[veggieprincess]

Totally agree!

 

I have been telling myself that I have to go re-read both of those books again! Amazing that they were written in the 1950's and his principles still apply to every aspect of your life! They are timeless, timeless books!

[Chitty.xvx]

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

That book still tears me up everytime I read it purely because I question everything after reading it; civilisation, morality etc. Amazing book.

Howl and Other Poems - Allen Ginsberg

Its just amazing, such a great voice.

 

More, but its late here in good old Aus.

[cubby2112]

In general the poetry of T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, Jon Donne, Ezra Pound, John Donne and Amy Newman. The Catcher in the Rye, The Sound of Waves, The Grapes of Wrath, Tracks, The House of the Seven Gables and Respected Sir are among the novels. I love the way R.A. Salvatore writes and the imagination of Tollkien.

[beforewisdom]

My contribution to this thread went with the last server crash, so here it goes again:

 

1. Green Eggs And Ham by Dr. seuss.

As a toddler my sister indulged me be reading it to me OVER AND OVER again to the point where I memorized it. I played a trick on my parents by pretending to know how to read. I got so much attention for that I kept practicing and actually did learn how to read by learning to associate the sounds I memorized with the words in the book. This gave me a tremendous head start on reading, which influenced me in so many ways.

2. Orphan's Of The Sky by Robert Heinlein.

Turned me into a reader and a sci-fi fan as a child, both of which had tremendous influence on my life.

 

3. Diet For A Small Planet by France Moor-Lappe

I picked up a book on raw foodism when I was 14, did it for a year, my weight dropped to 145 lbs ( Im 5 11 ) and I got sick. My family GP who had a lot of hippy daughters told me about this book. A girl-friend I had in highschool loaned me her copy. It helped me stay vegetarian and my diet has been legume and grain focused ever since.

 

4. Diet For A New American by John Robbins

Turned Me Vegan

 

 

5. What The Buddha Taught by Walpoa Rahula

6. Old Path, White Clouds by Thict Naht Hanh

7. The First And Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti

8. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

9. A Peoples History Of The United States by Dr. Howard Zinn.

10 How To Get Control Of Your Time And Your Life by Alan Lakein

11. Feeling Good by Dr. David Burns.

12. A Guide To Rational Living by Dr. Albert Ellis

 

13. Ethics Into Action ( bio of Henry Spira ) by Peter Singer.

Henry Spira was one of the first modern animal rights activists. His views about activism have greatly influenced mine.

Edited December 28, 2007 by beforewisdom

[Tigress]

Skinny Bitch - and now Skinny Bitch in the Kitch

Vegan Freak

The Pig who Sang to the Moon

 

I read lots and lots so this is a good thread for finding books to add to my list of what to read

[beforewisdom]

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

 

How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

 

I've been meaning to read that for years. I think I will make some plans over the holiday weekend and put that on a list somewhere.

[beforewisdom]

Skinny Bitch -

 

Another book I've been meaning to read....to my "to do" list

[beforewisdom]

I've read lots of books that have influenced me. Two of them being Dale Carnegie "How To Win Friends and Influence People" and "How To Stop Worrying and Start Living" both read when I was 13 (I know, I was a weird kid).

 

I never heard of the second one. I will have to put that on a list too.

 

But the book that has influenced me the most was The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn(sp?)

 

She planted the concept in my head to consume less and reuse things, which led to a chain of events that brought me here. No book ever changed my way of thinking so much as that one. I still refer to the Complete Tightwad Gazette (which has all three books in 1) almost daily.

 

Voluntary Simplicity did the same thing to me. Can you get the Tightwad Gazette in a book through Amazon. I heard that she stopped publishing it.

 

I saw a video on the web of a 20/20 segment about a family of about 6 that lives on about less than 30 K a year. They just published a book telling people how they do it.

[DV]

I read a lot of books and am constantly being influenced by them. Rather than give a list, I'll just mention the most recent one:

 

www.worldwithoutus.com

 

The above link takes you to an interactive site for "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. What I found fascinating about the book was the use of past and present to project the possible outcome of a world without humans.

 

I wish this could be required reading for everyone.

[beforewisdom]

I've read articles about and excerpts from that book.

 

I was impressed by his prediction that New York City would begin deteriorating in less than a week without human beings performing maintenance on it.

[DV]

I thought you might comment on this. You should really read the book. It's fascinating. He uses many different professionals in the book and covers things like the extinction of megafauna in the Americas and the decimation of the oceans. He also looks at areas in the world that have recently been abandoned by humans and how nature has taken over.

 

Just read it!

[beforewisdom]

My "to read" list for 2008 is already above 20 books I'll put it on my list and give it a priority number so that I read it after I get through some 2-3 books I want to get done by sometime in March.