What books have changed your life?

[Rollin]

The Four Agreements
Master of Self

[okisok]

How to keep house while drowning : a gentle approach to cleaning and organizing by KC Davis

It's about how to take care of yourself and your home when depressed, overwhelmed, or neurodivergent. It was very thought-provoking about breaking patterns and finding ways that work *for you* to take care of your stuff. The idea that a dirty house or unwashed clothes are morally neutral was very new to me--my worth as a person does not hinge on how clean my floors are or how organized my pantry is. It is a very quick read that is organized to be easy to process, from the text to the font.

[namasteyall]

These improved my knowledge and changed my POV:

Silent Spring, Rachel Carson (Changed my behaviour)

The God Delusion, R Dawkins

Second Nature, Alice Hoffman

Churchill's Secret War, Mukherjee

Skinny Legs and All, Tom Robbins

Tightwad Gazette, Amy Dacyczyn

[Reader]

Lonely Planet - Europe on a Shoestring
Thomas Cook Eurorail Time Table

these bring back so many good memories. europe in the late 90s was really fun.

[Weisass]

Tattoos on the Heart by Greg Boyle. That book is magic.

[Extramedium]

A few when I was much younger:

The Old Man and the Sea, by Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (have since re-read twice, and see something new every time)
Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig (may be time to revisit)
The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac
The Lord of the Rings, by Tolkien
Various short story collections of Jack London
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
All/any of Sherlock Holmes

More recently:

The Harry Potter series, read aloud to my daughters, using different voices and accents for each character.  So much fun together.
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, by William B. Irvine, which in turn led to...
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
The Better Angels of Our Nature, by Stephen Pinker
The Great Big Book of Horrible Things, by Matthew White  (these last two help remind me that we're living in the least violent, most advantaged time in human history, by a long shot.  This is good to reflect on (for me, at least).
Fleischman Is in Trouble, by Taffy Brodesser-Anker
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
The Blue Zones, by Dan Buettner
Rivers of London (Midnight Riot in the US) and the Peter Grant series, by Ben Aaronovitch
Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand

I'll just quit here for now.  There are so many books that mean so much to me, and leave me feeling changed.  I just don't understand how people can not love reading.

[morethanconquerors]

four thousand weeks - oliver burkeman

[MgoSam]

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand

I'll just quit here for now.  There are so many books that mean so much to me, and leave me feeling changed.  I just don't understand how people can not love reading.

Thanks for the list, how hard is Unbroken? I got it on Audible but haven't started it yet. I read Grisham's "The Reckoning" and wow was it difficult to hear about POW days in the Phillipines. I cannot imagine what the book feels like hearing about how he was specifically targeted. Thanks!

Plan on adding much of your list to my to read.

[Extramedium]

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand

I'll just quit here for now.  There are so many books that mean so much to me, and leave me feeling changed.  I just don't understand how people can not love reading.

Thanks for the list, how hard is Unbroken? I got it on Audible but haven't started it yet. I read Grisham's "The Reckoning" and wow was it difficult to hear about POW days in the Phillipines. I cannot imagine what the book feels like hearing about how he was specifically targeted. Thanks!

Plan on adding much of your list to my to read.

It's occasionally stressful, but concentrates more on his response to the stress, which is really inspirational.  I intend to incentive my teenager to read it this summer.

[cool7hand]

Integral Spirituality by Ken Wilber

[Loretta]

After some pretty intense workplace drama with unsavory USMIL types, I reread my beloved father’s copy of The Art of War at just the right time in just the right place.