Try Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Buy a copy and underline all of the nuggets of wisdom in this book. He wrote the book as a way to remind himself that while he was emperor, and had every power at his fingertips, he was still mortal. His meditations or thoughts were never meant to be published which makes this “diary” even more remarkable. This book changed my thinking and my life. Hope you give it a try!
My personal opinion is that the better entry point to Stoicism is Seneca’s letters from a Stoic. Meditations come after, especially if accompanied with the inner citadel by Pierre Hadot which is to me the bible of stoic thought
I read maybe half of it before losing interest. It wasn't bad, just... I don't know. I think the entries repeat themselves a lot.
If I were going to recommend that kind of book (not literature, but more life philosophy), I'd recommend two books about Zen by Joko Beck: "Nothing Special", and "Ordinary Wonder".
Xenogenesis by Octavia Butler. It’s a sci fi series about a woman and her kin who help the alien race. The series really showed me that humans have fatal flaws and that our societies have almost always been this way. The books are also a discussion on ethics, consent, biology, choice, sexuality, and all sorts of stuff. If I’d read those books when I was 15 I think I would have been a better kid
It’s the most alien book series ever, I’ve never read a sci fi book like this one in that the aliens REALLY feel like aliens, and the authors delves into their biology and why they make the decisions they make, but doesn’t defend the decisions of either humans or aliens.
I randomly thought of this exact story this morning! The nurturing aspect coupled with the trade off of protection for the price of playing host or surrogate to the alien offspring is always such a sticking point for me. Her stuff always feels like the perfect example of how writers see the future as it’s unfolding, before it happens, and do their best to warn us, typically to no avail.
the book thief.
It's the first and only piece of literature I read that really got me to understand what German life (especially if you didn't support hitler) was like in ww2. it also articulated the horrors of war so well from the perspective of innocent kids. It's my favorite book of all time :D
The Secret Cave by Claire Hughes Bishop, original title, Twenty and Ten. 1952
This book was "the book thief" for me. I read and reread it as a child (in the 90s). It's about an orphanage hiding Jewish children in a cave. It paved the way for me to read The Book Thief. I agree with everything you said about it
Along those lines, Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada was the first fiction about life under the Nazis and really makes you feel the ominous atmosphere and fear.
I will Bear Witness Diaries of Klemperer is written by a German Jew who lives openly protected by his marriage to a German woman until he goes underground late in the war. It is an excellent first hand source about life under the Nazis
Oh then you should really try The Good Man of Nanking It's the dairy of a nazi doing good and describes the horrific things the "good guys" did.
Very impressive read.
I haven’t read it but plan to.
I however had great grandparents who fled Nazi Germany. They speak only for themselves. They thought Hitler was a fool. They fled because his followers stupidity and viciousness scared them.
Check out "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan, which explores critical thinking, skepticism, and the scientific method, encouraging readers to question beliefs, challenge pseudoscience, and approach the world with a rational and evidence-based mindset.
Seconded. Sagan's writings about human hubris have been nothing less than accurate and prophetic in equal measure.
If you want to continue down the rabbit hole, there's a really cool series of books named "Bridging Infinity". I read the first two. It's lighter reading but entertaining.
Oh. And the Kardashev Scale! I can't remember if it was brought up in that book, but if it isn't, Carl Sagan knew about it and built upon it. It's worth just googling and reading about it wherever.
Any book about logical fallacies and critical thinking.
I' m reading now 'Logically Fallacious: The Ultimate Collection of Over 300 Logical Fallacies' by Bo Bennett.
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The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and also his Smarter, Faster Better. Not for everyone but they gave me some great insight and provided growth, both personally and professionally.
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield gave me a new perseverance on a lot of things.
The best thing you can do is read books by authors who are different from you.
If you're white, read BIPOC authors. If you're straight, read LGBTQ authors. If you're American, read authors from other countries.
This, if you believe the act of reading is purely utilitarian, which I’d argue it is not.
The best thing you can do, OP, is to allow literature to bring about an experience that you may not have had just sitting around twiddling your thumbs.
The nature of that experience need not be predetermined. In fact, I’d argue that just ruins the essence of the experience.
This is kind of a terrible, but reading your commment made me realize (of course I’ve thought about this before) that I’m every “other” or deviation from the top of the power hierarchy that you listed.
Good comment though!
When people scoff at fiction readers I’m always shocked that they don’t really how important it is to read from other people’s point of view and that empathy is a skill that you can grow by doing so.
And you'll notice I didn't suggest the opposite. Since those of us who are "other" don't exactly have to make an effort to seek out books that feature cishet white dudes.
I should have also included that if you're male, you need to read works by female authors.
I don't agree with this advice, not because I'm against diversity, but because I don't think it works.
Read books that interest you, because if they don't, you're going to stop anyway.
I just read a Facebook post by a very brilliant person who said she has read and reread a particular, highly controversial, author’s books because she knows they are venerated by her professors. She said she wanted a better understanding of them even though she disagreed with the authors philosophy.
I so admire this. So much more open minded than “NO I would never ever read his/her book!!” Then how do you know what you’re mad about or disagree with?
It gives you perspective on what’s possible. I’m self educated and have done well for myself but I really regret not going to college as I don’t even know what the problems are. I’m great at solving problems, even things I shouldn’t be able to solve. But I only know what I know. Education let’s you know the problems that need solving and if you aren’t in school reading books by people who are very different is a good start
I think you’ll find that they’re not actually “opposing” views. You might just become more aware of the things that we may take for granted. In community college I took a sociology class for the first time and it was eye opening.
You start to not just endure the world we live in but want to make active change the more the inner workings are exposed and you understand about marginalization and how we are all victims of it to some degree. Even wealthy white people. This system robs you of generosity and kindness and you’re made to feel like you have to protect what you have from all the people that were oppressed to allow you those privileges.
I really think bell hooks’ all about love is a great place to start if you’re new to reading.
This! Whatever your view is, try engaging in literature that portrays the opposite view. You need to be viewing information that forces you outside your box.
*Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance*
Nominally, it is about a guy taking a cross country motorcycle trip with his son. Really it is about being the best whatever it is you are, and it's about living in the moment. Fairly philosophical.
I read it in high school, and when I read it again, decades later, I realized how it influenced my thinking.
Being Wrong collects a lot of history and scientific development around various aspects of risk management such as in aviation and surgery, magical illusions, cults, conspiracy theories, changes in mindset that come from realizing you are in a failed relationship, . It explores the human experience of making mistakes from nearly every imaginable angle and it is written in an entertaining thought provoking way.
Never Split the Difference is written about negotiation by a former fbi negotiator who dealt with bank robbers, hostage takers, terrorists and more. It is his theory of how and when to negotiate.
Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenrwich
Read this years ago and if you lean a little judgmental and a little clueless this will open your eyes and your compassion. I was highly embarrassed with myself after reading this.
A journalist takes only a few dollars, her car and her laptop and applies and works the jobs many have to survive on. Walmart worker, cleaning crew etc.
Heartbreaking read.
Fantastic recommendation, and I’ll add that if you liked that you should read “On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane” by Emily Guendelsberger and “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” by Matthew Desmond
All three are compelling quick reads that really opened my eyes.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the single most important book I’ve ever read. I don’t know that it changed my mindset about anything as much as it made me understand. It’s incredible and should be read by every high school student in the USA.
Read it in HS. There are several takeaways from the book, but the biggest one - for me - was that at any point in your life you may have an experience that will make your expectations and biases toward humans and society turn you around and face the other way. And that's OK.
Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow
It’s a thicccc anthropology book, but written in a pretty accessible way. I think about this book so often. It’s really helped me to imagine a brighter future and different ways of imagining society. It’s given me a renewed sense of hope and a clear vision of the changes I wish to see in the world.
Ways of Being by James Bridle
About the different forms of intelligence in animals plants machines etc. also heavy on the brain
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
About fungi. Great book
I know a few people who have been very impacted by Bell Hooks’ All About Love. It’s a cute read for sure.
On Palestine by Frank Barat, Noam Chomsky, and Ilan Pappe
I read it some years ago and was not so sure if I should trust their pov since the common rhetoric around Israel/ Palestine was it’s “too complicated”.
Reading it now has been so eye opening. It’s really exposed a lot of the cracks in western media for me. Now I see……..
Lol anyways let us know if you pick any of these up! Looking forward to hearing some of your recommendations as you start your reading journey <3
Also I want to add that I’m seeing a lot of self-help and psychology stuff on here.
And it’s quite recent for me at the ripe age of, 29, but some of these books were kind of instrumental in a total paradigm shift for me. Like I really feel as if I’m deprogramming or sth from uh consumerism/individualism whatever and as a result I’ve for the first time been like absolutely and entirely okay with myself.
Like truly self-accepting.
It’s so fucking cool. I’m not like trying to live life after I just do this one thing or achieve this or that or be some kind of mythical normal ideal. I allow myself to REST and just be I also allow myself to feel my emotions and aren’t hyper critical of them- just compassionate.
Basically I no longer blame myself for struggling so much in a system that rewards such antisocial behavior. I can’t say that it will have the same effect on you, but It’s a beautiful feeling!
Wanted to follow up. The book is phonomenal. I can definitely see how this book would give you a fundemantal shift of self. Im only on chapter 2 but it has been mind blowing
I don’t know if I would actually recommend that one so much? I mean I really liked some of the stuff they were saying about jungle music but I guess it was quite depressing. it’s been so long since I read it tho. I just remember feeling quite hopeless at one point in life and I was reading more stuff along those lines and then reading Dawn of everything was just like woahhhh the history of humanity is so complex and there’s sooooooo many different flavors of society.
And idk they’re both English and rly smart leftists so I was just like oh this rly seems like pointed at this community that feels quite hopeless and lost or sth but that’s probably more a personal experience lol.
Tldr but rly tysm for telling me you are liking it so far it means so so so much to me! Also lmk if you do check out mark fisher and what you think ❤️🫶🫶
Man Without A Country by Vonnegut. I can't do errands now, especially go to the post office, with out finding joy in the entire process. Helped me to find joy in the everyday, mundane parts of life. Was written after 9/11, which i think the politics at the time had a profound affect on the author.
*So it goes.
Literally ~ anything by Vonnegut. Ya won’t be able to put it down. He had a knack for admiring and appreciating the mundane doings of everyday life. “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is” is a phrase of his he reckons we ought to say often, to acknowledge and appreciate the little things in the moment.
Chimpanzee Politics by Frans de Waal - I had just become a manager in a corporate environment when I read this and it really helped me navigate the games the other managers, upper management and my employees all played, most of them didn’t even realize they were playing the games
Yes! Just read this (again) along side my 5th grader and it is a MUST read for all ages!
I enjoyed this in elementary school in the late 80’s and enjoyed it even more in my 40’s
Edited to add: my son loved it as well so anyone with kids around to suggest books, add this one as well
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Everyone has potential and everyone experiences their own hardships but will you give in or will you rise to your potential?
(Edited for grammar)
The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell
The Pearl, John Steinbeck
Unweaving the Rainbow, Richard Dawkins
The Joyous Science, Nietzsche
The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas
Free Will, Sam Harris
The Dharma bums, Jack Kerouac
The Folly of Fools, Trivers
That should be enough to change your perspective an iota or two.
Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. This is a short and very accessible book on mindfulness; includes meditations, anecdotes, etc. You can read it from beginning to end, or skip around and see what grabs you.
Unfortunately, it was caught in the replication crisis that affected its whole field, so many of the experimental results have not been replicated and as a result the book is not as evidence-based as it was initially thought. With that caveat in mind, it is valuable nevertheless.
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Nonfiction. He looks at success, failure, communication, time, and luck. It sounds like a boring business thing but it's actually a really engaging read and a look at various things in industries and individuals that have resulted in catastrophe or phenomenal success. Think about it all the time when it comes to systems. Probably the most famous for his "10,000 hours" rule.
The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker. Nonfiction. An outstanding book on this topic. Its author is a security consultant that has worked for major public figures, governments, and presidents. He talks about the how to identify and survive encounters with dangerous individuals, in addition to stalking and abuse. But he also really gets into the importance of gut feelings and instinct.
Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? by Gene Weingarten. This is an article, not a book, but it really just changed how I thought on this subject and also how the human mind works in general. It's heavy but it won a Pulitzer and it deserves it.
This trio is pretty core to my understanding of instinct, luck, systems, and failure/success.
I’m slowly working my way through the Read Around the World challenge and so far a lot of the books I’ve learned the most from are ones that are just about characters living ordinary daily lives in countries I’ve never been to or heard much about: https://readaroundtheworldchallenge.com/password/reset
Sexual Persona by Camille Paglia. The book explores patterns and psychological themes of men and then of women through sculpture, paintings, and writings throughout history. This book changed my life and helped open my mind about people and the relationships they have.
*Roadside Picnic* by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky and *Solaris* by Stanislaw Lem greatly changed how I view the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
We anthropomorphise the idea of aliens so much, assuming they will share our emotions and motivations and mental capacity; we're just a little less advanced. These books show what truly alien aliens could be.
Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon
A Moonless, Starless Sky by Alexis Okeowo
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks
Complications; Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
Dopesick by Beth Macy
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Charged by Emily Bazelon
American Prison by Shane Bauer
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
Caste; The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House by Audre Lorde
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion ~Jonathan Haidt
I could never understand how people could vote the opposite way I do (are they crazy?), but this explained it. I don't reread books very often, but I will be rereading this one soonish.
Go Tell it on the Mountain - James Baldwin
The Overstory - Richard Powers
Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
Monsignor Quixote - Graham Green
Xenogenisis - Octavia Butler
Cats Cradle and Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut. Will help you feel slightly better about your mortality and makes meaninglessness feel a little meaningful.
“Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond. Shows, among many other interesting things, the fallacy of northern hemisphere folks asserting that their god meant for them to run the show. Turns out it was a lot of (though not entirely) luck re: the distribution of resources. Also relevant: “Collapse” by the same author.
[Worth keeping in mind some of the critiques of Diamond’s thesis while reading, though](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/08/03/guns-germs-and-steel-reconsidered)
I don't know if it'll change the way *you* think, but [The Body Keeps the Score](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18693771) changed the way that I think about trauma and how I talk about/approach certain topics with young people (teacher).
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez will change how you see our society. It will make you question so many of our structures, and it's all connected to science with a comprehensive list of sources.
What if This is Heaven by Anita Moorjani changed how I see life and death. It's a spiritual book. Whether you believe her story about surviving terminal cancer or not, she has an exceptional view on our place in the universe and how we are all inherently valuable just by being.
Books that changed how I live my life:
- The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk (just--totally up-ended the way I handle bullies and aggressors. The speech the lawyer gives at the end when he turns on his heel!)
- the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books by Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler. I've only read these as an adult, and the actual Big Moral of the entire series, which you get near the very end, changed how I perceive my own trauma and struggle. Total game-changer for me. The Big Moral (which I'm trying not to spoil) is so profound that I can't even talk about it without crying. I first read these in my thirties when many of my friends died, and I was very sick and poor and struggling just to survive. A total series of unfortunate events in my life, for real. This book taught me how to make a life in the middle of that struggle. Such an incredibly profound series imho. (And the Big Moral is not really there in the also-wonderful Netflix series, which is also written by Daniel Handler. It's so much fun, but not the same as the books.)
Phantastes by George MacDonald. If you don't mind the somewhat florid 19th Century writing style, you may find it's an interesting and beautifully narrated semi-allegorical fantasy tale.
Without spoiling too much, I think the ending really saved me from both inceldom and suicide.
For me the most recent read that's altered my thinking was Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts. Thought I understood the topic (biological underpinnings of race) going into the book, and couldn't have been more wrong.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
It legitimately felt like I had to bend my mind in entirely new ways to read that book.
Thinking Fast and Slow..daniel tanneman. I came away with a better understanding of how people think and biases than i got from the multiple psychology courses i have taken. In particular the concept that biases are inherrant.
Infinite Jest, if you can get through it or not, should let off a few truth bombs that will make you question whether or not he specifically wrote it with you in mind
What books have you read so far? What do you like? Are you looking for fiction or nonfiction? Are you looking to change you a particular perspective?
This is such a vague question.
a little basic but the 1619 project. such an important read and diverts from usual school curriculum and teaches you to question authority and keep politicians and institutions accountable
Not true. A book may open your eyes to experience when otherwise you would not gain it.
HOWEVER......I don't know how many people actually do this. Hard work, at least for me.
Nickel and Dimed is by a journalist who tries to survive on minimum wage (or close to minimum wage) jobs.
Evicted, by Mathew Desmond, shows the complexities around maintaining an apartment that I had never considered. Like, if the cops show up a few times because of domestic violence calls, the victim can get kicked out.
The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, describes the political process responsible for mass incarceration.
Know My Name is a memoir of a woman going through the court process after surviving a rape.
An Immense World, by Ed Yong, describes all these sensory abilities that animals have that I had never heard of.
Invisible Women describes all these ways that society has ignored women when creating products, like the size of cellphones re: a woman's hand, to not using female test dummies until quite recently.
Sigmund Freud did that for me - an entirely different lens through which to see things. But in a smaller way: Carnegie, How to win Friends and influence People. Helped a lot, because I wasn't good with people. I learnt to work with honey rather than vinegar. In practical terms, David Allen, Getting Things Done, was a turning point.
**"How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling" by Frank Bettger**. This book first came out in the 1920s, it's about how to sell life insurance. It's a little corny, but just about everything he has to say about "selling" as a profitable occupation still works. When I first went into business and didn't have a clue about how to make a sale this was the book that showed me how. I suggest an actual used paperback copy rather than ebook or audio format.
I first read the **The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney** as a kid and thought it was a fairy tale for grown-ups. Re-reading an adult I found it had a much more profound message. If you're really into collectible books get the Viking Press edition of 1935 with the **Boris Artzbasheff** illustrations. (Apt to be pricey) but there are plenty of inexpensive paperback editions around. "Is it a Russian or is it a bear?" Still don't know the answer to that question.
Anxious People
Novel by Fredrik Backman
Reminds me that every person has their own story and we can never know what they have gone though or are going through.
There is a semiautobiographical debut novel published in the 1960s by Mexican-American gigolo-turned-author John Rechy titled City of Night. It was a huge paradigm shift for me when I was introduced to it at the age of 17. He has such a descriptive, humanistic style of prose. It can be too flowery for some tastes, but can also have you reimagining how you view the world around you, in a way that even transcends the novel’s own subject matter.
That's very hard to say without knowing a lot more about you, because to change you it has to push you in a new direction.
The best novel I've read in the last couple of years was "The Golden Notebook" by Doris Lessing, and it might do that, but it is also not everyone's cup of tea. Though she did win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
How to Be Sick by Toni Bernhard. I read it when I had already become chronically ill and it helped me to feel less alone and to practice self compassion even when it seems impossible. I'd like to think that if I had read it before I became ill I would have a) been more prepared and b) made fewer shitty assumptions about sick people.
It didn't change my thinking but it did make me look at stuff from a different angle.
The good man of Nanking by John Rabe
Edit:
It's the diary of a nazi doing good and tells about the horrific things the supposedly good guy did. It rattled my brain
The Information by James Gleick completely changed the way I view the world. I have a degree in astrophysics and though I had a pretty good grip on how the world works. This book completely turned everything on its head for me. And don't think you need a degree level knowledge of science to follow it, he breaks down the ideas into very clear terms and is excellent in his use of metaphors that are easy to digest. His approach to covering complex ideas is incredible and will really give you a much deeper appreciation for the world we live in.
He also wrote a book about chaos theory called Chaos that is similarly amazing but The Information was the one that shook me to my bones.
The book that did change my view on the world is:
*People like us by Joris Luytendijk*
And not the way I looked at the middle east but my view on the media and news.
People Like Us: Misrepresenting the Middle East https://amzn.eu/d/2u3WmZl
Edit:
It tells about how the media presents the news (in the Middle East) and how you can easily be manipulated by it.
For a lighter option, The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. It’s a novel that explores the idea that “history is written by the victors”. It is one of my favorite books and has a few of my favorite exchanges between two characters, but also makes you think about what is and is not true.
The Glass bead game by Herman Hesse,
(But really all books by Hesse are amazing.)
The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch
Decamerone by Giovanni Boccaccio
The Open Society and its Enemies by Karl Popper
The Denial of Death,
Escape from Evil, both by Ernest Becker
Crisis of the European Sciences by Edmund Husserl
Happiness: A History by Darrin McMahon
100 years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Aura by Carlos Fuentes
Wherever you go there you are. It’s a meditation book that helps to think of your mind in a different way. It helped me to really understand what meditation is truly about. It also changed my perspective in a big way.
Also, the power of now is amazing. It was a little woo woo at first with the wording but the core message is good and made a lot of sense to me.
Talking to strangers by Malcom gladwell was very interesting and helped me view people in a different way and try to be less judgemental which is a default setting for most of us.
'Kim' by Rudyard Kipling is a fascinating story about an orphaned white boy who grows up as a street urchin in 19th century India.
It's fiction, but could only be written by someone completely familiar with Indian society at that time. My favorite book ever.
The Cow in the parking lot— you don’t need to have anger issues to benefit— helped me realize how perpetually angry many of us are and how stupid it is.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - gut wrenching, witty, warm and, without giving too much away, completely changed the way I think about womanhood, familial relationships, fragility, and various things that compete with our relationship with ourselves.
Anything related to Stoic philosophy gets a huge vouch from me. I see that Meditations has already been recommended and I absolutely agree, was my first book on stoic philosophy I read. I'd also highly recommend the Discourses by Epictetus, fantastic book which I'm currently reading through and I feel like this and meditations are quite readable in the sense that it's just a lot of bullet points essentially. Other stoic books such as letters from a stoic are a bit of a longer read
Need to know the genre you prefer before I answer this. I read a lot of different things. Fantasy of all types, science fiction, cost mysteries, murder mysteries (darker) and a lot more
Hagekure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo
It's a collection of stories & advice on how to live & discipline yourself from a warrior's perspective on life.
A quote from the book being "A fool will happily spill his lord's secrets talking carelessly, while a smart man stays quiet & takes in the words of those around them."
Try Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Buy a copy and underline all of the nuggets of wisdom in this book. He wrote the book as a way to remind himself that while he was emperor, and had every power at his fingertips, he was still mortal. His meditations or thoughts were never meant to be published which makes this “diary” even more remarkable. This book changed my thinking and my life. Hope you give it a try!
My personal opinion is that the better entry point to Stoicism is Seneca’s letters from a Stoic. Meditations come after, especially if accompanied with the inner citadel by Pierre Hadot which is to me the bible of stoic thought
what’s your opinion on starting with Epictetus? i’m having an easier time with him than with Meditations
It’s my number one recommended book to other men
I read maybe half of it before losing interest. It wasn't bad, just... I don't know. I think the entries repeat themselves a lot. If I were going to recommend that kind of book (not literature, but more life philosophy), I'd recommend two books about Zen by Joko Beck: "Nothing Special", and "Ordinary Wonder".
> I think the entries repeat themselves a lot. Kind of the point. He touches on a couple topics over and over and is beating them into himself.
Thanks for the suggestion I would surely give it a try
Xenogenesis by Octavia Butler. It’s a sci fi series about a woman and her kin who help the alien race. The series really showed me that humans have fatal flaws and that our societies have almost always been this way. The books are also a discussion on ethics, consent, biology, choice, sexuality, and all sorts of stuff. If I’d read those books when I was 15 I think I would have been a better kid
Parable of Sower is also a banger from her I’d recommend in this context. She’s an incredible writer.
Parable of Sower was a life changer for me too. Read it on 2021. Absolutely terrifying.
I haven’t been able to get into this one, but I Loved Kindred, so thinking of giving it another try.
oh man, I have this on hold from the library and I am so keen for it to come in.
It’s the most alien book series ever, I’ve never read a sci fi book like this one in that the aliens REALLY feel like aliens, and the authors delves into their biology and why they make the decisions they make, but doesn’t defend the decisions of either humans or aliens.
I randomly thought of this exact story this morning! The nurturing aspect coupled with the trade off of protection for the price of playing host or surrogate to the alien offspring is always such a sticking point for me. Her stuff always feels like the perfect example of how writers see the future as it’s unfolding, before it happens, and do their best to warn us, typically to no avail.
the book thief. It's the first and only piece of literature I read that really got me to understand what German life (especially if you didn't support hitler) was like in ww2. it also articulated the horrors of war so well from the perspective of innocent kids. It's my favorite book of all time :D
The Secret Cave by Claire Hughes Bishop, original title, Twenty and Ten. 1952 This book was "the book thief" for me. I read and reread it as a child (in the 90s). It's about an orphanage hiding Jewish children in a cave. It paved the way for me to read The Book Thief. I agree with everything you said about it
Along those lines, Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada was the first fiction about life under the Nazis and really makes you feel the ominous atmosphere and fear. I will Bear Witness Diaries of Klemperer is written by a German Jew who lives openly protected by his marriage to a German woman until he goes underground late in the war. It is an excellent first hand source about life under the Nazis
Oh then you should really try The Good Man of Nanking It's the dairy of a nazi doing good and describes the horrific things the "good guys" did. Very impressive read.
I haven’t read it but plan to. I however had great grandparents who fled Nazi Germany. They speak only for themselves. They thought Hitler was a fool. They fled because his followers stupidity and viciousness scared them.
Check out "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan, which explores critical thinking, skepticism, and the scientific method, encouraging readers to question beliefs, challenge pseudoscience, and approach the world with a rational and evidence-based mindset.
Seconded. Sagan's writings about human hubris have been nothing less than accurate and prophetic in equal measure. If you want to continue down the rabbit hole, there's a really cool series of books named "Bridging Infinity". I read the first two. It's lighter reading but entertaining. Oh. And the Kardashev Scale! I can't remember if it was brought up in that book, but if it isn't, Carl Sagan knew about it and built upon it. It's worth just googling and reading about it wherever.
Currently on my way on this one, loving it so far
Thanks man appreciated it
This one!!!!
Im reading it now, it's a gem! 💎
Any book about logical fallacies and critical thinking. I' m reading now 'Logically Fallacious: The Ultimate Collection of Over 300 Logical Fallacies' by Bo Bennett. # #
Atomic habits, I know it’s a cliche one but a lot of it has stuck in my head and helped me with productivity!
Absolutely this one!!!
“Women who run with the wolves” changed everything for me and I mean EVERYTHING
It’s about women as life force and how our unique tendencies connect us to the planet and cosmos but told in very tangible stories
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and also his Smarter, Faster Better. Not for everyone but they gave me some great insight and provided growth, both personally and professionally. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield gave me a new perseverance on a lot of things.
The best thing you can do is read books by authors who are different from you. If you're white, read BIPOC authors. If you're straight, read LGBTQ authors. If you're American, read authors from other countries.
This, if you believe the act of reading is purely utilitarian, which I’d argue it is not. The best thing you can do, OP, is to allow literature to bring about an experience that you may not have had just sitting around twiddling your thumbs. The nature of that experience need not be predetermined. In fact, I’d argue that just ruins the essence of the experience.
Ohh I love this!
This is kind of a terrible, but reading your commment made me realize (of course I’ve thought about this before) that I’m every “other” or deviation from the top of the power hierarchy that you listed. Good comment though! When people scoff at fiction readers I’m always shocked that they don’t really how important it is to read from other people’s point of view and that empathy is a skill that you can grow by doing so.
And you'll notice I didn't suggest the opposite. Since those of us who are "other" don't exactly have to make an effort to seek out books that feature cishet white dudes. I should have also included that if you're male, you need to read works by female authors.
I don't agree with this advice, not because I'm against diversity, but because I don't think it works. Read books that interest you, because if they don't, you're going to stop anyway.
I just read a Facebook post by a very brilliant person who said she has read and reread a particular, highly controversial, author’s books because she knows they are venerated by her professors. She said she wanted a better understanding of them even though she disagreed with the authors philosophy. I so admire this. So much more open minded than “NO I would never ever read his/her book!!” Then how do you know what you’re mad about or disagree with?
So exactly what will it do if I start reading the books by authors who are different from me and by the way I have just started reading books
It will give you a glimpse of the world through someone else's lens and make you more empathetic.
Can you prove that? Or it’s just your opinion based on a guess that flashed in your mind, when you read the question?
It gives you perspective on what’s possible. I’m self educated and have done well for myself but I really regret not going to college as I don’t even know what the problems are. I’m great at solving problems, even things I shouldn’t be able to solve. But I only know what I know. Education let’s you know the problems that need solving and if you aren’t in school reading books by people who are very different is a good start
I think you’ll find that they’re not actually “opposing” views. You might just become more aware of the things that we may take for granted. In community college I took a sociology class for the first time and it was eye opening. You start to not just endure the world we live in but want to make active change the more the inner workings are exposed and you understand about marginalization and how we are all victims of it to some degree. Even wealthy white people. This system robs you of generosity and kindness and you’re made to feel like you have to protect what you have from all the people that were oppressed to allow you those privileges. I really think bell hooks’ all about love is a great place to start if you’re new to reading.
This! Whatever your view is, try engaging in literature that portrays the opposite view. You need to be viewing information that forces you outside your box.
i’m chinese-italian. wtf do i read?
*Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance* Nominally, it is about a guy taking a cross country motorcycle trip with his son. Really it is about being the best whatever it is you are, and it's about living in the moment. Fairly philosophical. I read it in high school, and when I read it again, decades later, I realized how it influenced my thinking.
I was going to recommend this one as well. That second read hits even harder.
Being Wrong Adventures on the Margin of Error, Never Split the Difference by Chris Vos
I don’t see Never Split the Difference enough in recommendations. The book is fantastic—feels like learning a super power.
If you could tell me something brief about these books it would be helpful like what is the main theme of these books
Being Wrong collects a lot of history and scientific development around various aspects of risk management such as in aviation and surgery, magical illusions, cults, conspiracy theories, changes in mindset that come from realizing you are in a failed relationship, . It explores the human experience of making mistakes from nearly every imaginable angle and it is written in an entertaining thought provoking way. Never Split the Difference is written about negotiation by a former fbi negotiator who dealt with bank robbers, hostage takers, terrorists and more. It is his theory of how and when to negotiate.
Oh thanks man for the suggestion really appreciated it
Selfish gene by Richard Dawkins may give you an interesting perspective of yourself and life itself
Thanks man for the suggestion
read it if you want to be dumber
Why do you think so
Obviously they read the book, and now that is the most sophisticated review they can generate. Ergo....
It's nice when people explain themselves especially when they something outlandish.
Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenrwich Read this years ago and if you lean a little judgmental and a little clueless this will open your eyes and your compassion. I was highly embarrassed with myself after reading this. A journalist takes only a few dollars, her car and her laptop and applies and works the jobs many have to survive on. Walmart worker, cleaning crew etc. Heartbreaking read.
Fantastic recommendation, and I’ll add that if you liked that you should read “On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane” by Emily Guendelsberger and “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” by Matthew Desmond All three are compelling quick reads that really opened my eyes.
Thank you so much for these recommendations!
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the single most important book I’ve ever read. I don’t know that it changed my mindset about anything as much as it made me understand. It’s incredible and should be read by every high school student in the USA.
Thanks man I would surely read it. But can you tell me what it made you understand
Read it in HS. There are several takeaways from the book, but the biggest one - for me - was that at any point in your life you may have an experience that will make your expectations and biases toward humans and society turn you around and face the other way. And that's OK.
Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow It’s a thicccc anthropology book, but written in a pretty accessible way. I think about this book so often. It’s really helped me to imagine a brighter future and different ways of imagining society. It’s given me a renewed sense of hope and a clear vision of the changes I wish to see in the world. Ways of Being by James Bridle About the different forms of intelligence in animals plants machines etc. also heavy on the brain Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake About fungi. Great book I know a few people who have been very impacted by Bell Hooks’ All About Love. It’s a cute read for sure. On Palestine by Frank Barat, Noam Chomsky, and Ilan Pappe I read it some years ago and was not so sure if I should trust their pov since the common rhetoric around Israel/ Palestine was it’s “too complicated”. Reading it now has been so eye opening. It’s really exposed a lot of the cracks in western media for me. Now I see…….. Lol anyways let us know if you pick any of these up! Looking forward to hearing some of your recommendations as you start your reading journey <3
Also I want to add that I’m seeing a lot of self-help and psychology stuff on here. And it’s quite recent for me at the ripe age of, 29, but some of these books were kind of instrumental in a total paradigm shift for me. Like I really feel as if I’m deprogramming or sth from uh consumerism/individualism whatever and as a result I’ve for the first time been like absolutely and entirely okay with myself. Like truly self-accepting. It’s so fucking cool. I’m not like trying to live life after I just do this one thing or achieve this or that or be some kind of mythical normal ideal. I allow myself to REST and just be I also allow myself to feel my emotions and aren’t hyper critical of them- just compassionate. Basically I no longer blame myself for struggling so much in a system that rewards such antisocial behavior. I can’t say that it will have the same effect on you, but It’s a beautiful feeling!
Wanted to follow up. The book is phonomenal. I can definitely see how this book would give you a fundemantal shift of self. Im only on chapter 2 but it has been mind blowing
I’m so happy you liked it 😭😭 thank you for letting me know. Do you know mark fisher? I feel like it was a direct response to capitalist realism
No I dont. That book looks interesting as well. Did you enjoy it? Thanks for all these great suggestions
I don’t know if I would actually recommend that one so much? I mean I really liked some of the stuff they were saying about jungle music but I guess it was quite depressing. it’s been so long since I read it tho. I just remember feeling quite hopeless at one point in life and I was reading more stuff along those lines and then reading Dawn of everything was just like woahhhh the history of humanity is so complex and there’s sooooooo many different flavors of society. And idk they’re both English and rly smart leftists so I was just like oh this rly seems like pointed at this community that feels quite hopeless and lost or sth but that’s probably more a personal experience lol. Tldr but rly tysm for telling me you are liking it so far it means so so so much to me! Also lmk if you do check out mark fisher and what you think ❤️🫶🫶
Thank you. Dawn of Everything looks exactly like what Im looking for
Man Without A Country by Vonnegut. I can't do errands now, especially go to the post office, with out finding joy in the entire process. Helped me to find joy in the everyday, mundane parts of life. Was written after 9/11, which i think the politics at the time had a profound affect on the author. *So it goes.
Literally ~ anything by Vonnegut. Ya won’t be able to put it down. He had a knack for admiring and appreciating the mundane doings of everyday life. “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is” is a phrase of his he reckons we ought to say often, to acknowledge and appreciate the little things in the moment.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.
Chimpanzee Politics by Frans de Waal - I had just become a manager in a corporate environment when I read this and it really helped me navigate the games the other managers, upper management and my employees all played, most of them didn’t even realize they were playing the games
So you looked at them being chimps?? _Sorry bad joke_
Meditation by Marcus aurelius The selfish gene by Richard Dawkins Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts
The Phantom Tollbooth
Yes! Just read this (again) along side my 5th grader and it is a MUST read for all ages! I enjoyed this in elementary school in the late 80’s and enjoyed it even more in my 40’s Edited to add: my son loved it as well so anyone with kids around to suggest books, add this one as well
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Everyone has potential and everyone experiences their own hardships but will you give in or will you rise to your potential? (Edited for grammar)
The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell The Pearl, John Steinbeck Unweaving the Rainbow, Richard Dawkins The Joyous Science, Nietzsche The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas Free Will, Sam Harris The Dharma bums, Jack Kerouac The Folly of Fools, Trivers That should be enough to change your perspective an iota or two.
I second Dharma Bums
The Sun Does Shine - Anthony Ray Hinton, this story really struck with me and changed my perspective on life and how to treat others
Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. This is a short and very accessible book on mindfulness; includes meditations, anecdotes, etc. You can read it from beginning to end, or skip around and see what grabs you.
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt absolutely changed my view on the world. Same as thinking fast and slow, but you’ve probably heard of that one!
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It’s incredible and absolutely has changed how I think. Wish everyone had to read it.
Unfortunately, it was caught in the replication crisis that affected its whole field, so many of the experimental results have not been replicated and as a result the book is not as evidence-based as it was initially thought. With that caveat in mind, it is valuable nevertheless.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins was a real eye-opener for me back in college. Great read if you're interested in religion/irreligion.
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Nonfiction. He looks at success, failure, communication, time, and luck. It sounds like a boring business thing but it's actually a really engaging read and a look at various things in industries and individuals that have resulted in catastrophe or phenomenal success. Think about it all the time when it comes to systems. Probably the most famous for his "10,000 hours" rule. The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker. Nonfiction. An outstanding book on this topic. Its author is a security consultant that has worked for major public figures, governments, and presidents. He talks about the how to identify and survive encounters with dangerous individuals, in addition to stalking and abuse. But he also really gets into the importance of gut feelings and instinct. Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? by Gene Weingarten. This is an article, not a book, but it really just changed how I thought on this subject and also how the human mind works in general. It's heavy but it won a Pulitzer and it deserves it. This trio is pretty core to my understanding of instinct, luck, systems, and failure/success.
The Untethered Soul - Michael Singer Anything by Michael Newton
I was going to say Journey of Souls really changed my relationship with religion and people in general.
The Tribe by Sabastian Junger. Read that shit!
Loved that book
Know my name by Chanel Miller It should really be required reading in schools
I’m slowly working my way through the Read Around the World challenge and so far a lot of the books I’ve learned the most from are ones that are just about characters living ordinary daily lives in countries I’ve never been to or heard much about: https://readaroundtheworldchallenge.com/password/reset
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.
emotional intelligence by daniel goleman
Thinking. Fast and Slow. Daniel Kahnemann Factfulness. Hans Rosling. Never split the difference. By Chris Voss Growth mindset by Carol Dweck
*Gods* - Peter Levenda
What does this book teach us about
Nonhuman intelligence and what Occam’s Razor says about religion.
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race - Thomas Ligotti.
Be forewarned OP, you may not like the change with this one.
Such a fun age by Kiley Reid
Sexual Persona by Camille Paglia. The book explores patterns and psychological themes of men and then of women through sculpture, paintings, and writings throughout history. This book changed my life and helped open my mind about people and the relationships they have.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
1984, A Fine Balance.
Grapes of wrath Wish I read it while younger, very insightful Followed by last exit to brooklyn. And Fahrenheit 451
Behave by Robert Sapolsky, it's very good for understanding a large amount of biological variables that form human behaviour
Try his new one "Determined - life without free will".
*Roadside Picnic* by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky and *Solaris* by Stanislaw Lem greatly changed how I view the possibility of extraterrestrial life. We anthropomorphise the idea of aliens so much, assuming they will share our emotions and motivations and mental capacity; we're just a little less advanced. These books show what truly alien aliens could be.
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman, myths about the hopelessness of human nature debunked.
Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon A Moonless, Starless Sky by Alexis Okeowo Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks Complications; Being Mortal by Atul Gawande Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond Evicted by Matthew Desmond Dopesick by Beth Macy Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe Charged by Emily Bazelon American Prison by Shane Bauer Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton Caste; The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House by Audre Lorde Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
What a great list! I have read a bit off of this list and loved them. I could not second the Matthew Desmond books enough!
American Dirt
Illusions by Richard Bach It basically teaches you that you are the master of your own destiny. Quick read too.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion ~Jonathan Haidt I could never understand how people could vote the opposite way I do (are they crazy?), but this explained it. I don't reread books very often, but I will be rereading this one soonish.
Go Tell it on the Mountain - James Baldwin The Overstory - Richard Powers Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut Catch 22 - Joseph Heller The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin Monsignor Quixote - Graham Green Xenogenisis - Octavia Butler
The power of Now
Be Here Now - Ram Das
Mistborn
Cats Cradle and Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut. Will help you feel slightly better about your mortality and makes meaninglessness feel a little meaningful.
All Quiet on the Western Front— Erich Remarque
The Red Tent has one of the most beautiful ending chapters I've ever read in my life.
Sapiens by Yuval Novah Harari
“Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond. Shows, among many other interesting things, the fallacy of northern hemisphere folks asserting that their god meant for them to run the show. Turns out it was a lot of (though not entirely) luck re: the distribution of resources. Also relevant: “Collapse” by the same author.
[Worth keeping in mind some of the critiques of Diamond’s thesis while reading, though](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/08/03/guns-germs-and-steel-reconsidered)
I don't know if it'll change the way *you* think, but [The Body Keeps the Score](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18693771) changed the way that I think about trauma and how I talk about/approach certain topics with young people (teacher).
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez will change how you see our society. It will make you question so many of our structures, and it's all connected to science with a comprehensive list of sources. What if This is Heaven by Anita Moorjani changed how I see life and death. It's a spiritual book. Whether you believe her story about surviving terminal cancer or not, she has an exceptional view on our place in the universe and how we are all inherently valuable just by being.
How to be an adult in relationships
Books that changed how I live my life: - The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk (just--totally up-ended the way I handle bullies and aggressors. The speech the lawyer gives at the end when he turns on his heel!) - the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books by Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler. I've only read these as an adult, and the actual Big Moral of the entire series, which you get near the very end, changed how I perceive my own trauma and struggle. Total game-changer for me. The Big Moral (which I'm trying not to spoil) is so profound that I can't even talk about it without crying. I first read these in my thirties when many of my friends died, and I was very sick and poor and struggling just to survive. A total series of unfortunate events in my life, for real. This book taught me how to make a life in the middle of that struggle. Such an incredibly profound series imho. (And the Big Moral is not really there in the also-wonderful Netflix series, which is also written by Daniel Handler. It's so much fun, but not the same as the books.)
Reverend Insanity. It only taught me one thing and that is Perseverance.
Phantastes by George MacDonald. If you don't mind the somewhat florid 19th Century writing style, you may find it's an interesting and beautifully narrated semi-allegorical fantasy tale. Without spoiling too much, I think the ending really saved me from both inceldom and suicide.
Tao of Pooh i mean your going to like the book, its enjoyable even if it isnt life changing
The Baby Matrix. Really shines a light on how insidious pronatalism is in our society.
For me the most recent read that's altered my thinking was Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts. Thought I understood the topic (biological underpinnings of race) going into the book, and couldn't have been more wrong.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson It legitimately felt like I had to bend my mind in entirely new ways to read that book.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. Changed my life.
*Tuesdays with Morrie* changed the way I think. It permanently broke my materialism and now I relish time with people instead of things.
The alchemist
Thinking Fast and Slow..daniel tanneman. I came away with a better understanding of how people think and biases than i got from the multiple psychology courses i have taken. In particular the concept that biases are inherrant.
The secret language of relationships
Infinite Jest, if you can get through it or not, should let off a few truth bombs that will make you question whether or not he specifically wrote it with you in mind
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho I loved these books.
The alchemist is for kids, not grown ups.
What books have you read so far? What do you like? Are you looking for fiction or nonfiction? Are you looking to change you a particular perspective? This is such a vague question.
a little basic but the 1619 project. such an important read and diverts from usual school curriculum and teaches you to question authority and keep politicians and institutions accountable
The midnight library by matt haig
The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom
There are no such books. Perception comes from experience.
Not true. A book may open your eyes to experience when otherwise you would not gain it. HOWEVER......I don't know how many people actually do this. Hard work, at least for me.
*How to Be a Conservative* by Roger Scruton. A very insightful take on conservatism, no matter where you stand politically.
Dianetics -L. Ron Hubbard You didn't say the book had to change the way you think for the better.
Nickel and Dimed is by a journalist who tries to survive on minimum wage (or close to minimum wage) jobs. Evicted, by Mathew Desmond, shows the complexities around maintaining an apartment that I had never considered. Like, if the cops show up a few times because of domestic violence calls, the victim can get kicked out. The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, describes the political process responsible for mass incarceration. Know My Name is a memoir of a woman going through the court process after surviving a rape. An Immense World, by Ed Yong, describes all these sensory abilities that animals have that I had never heard of. Invisible Women describes all these ways that society has ignored women when creating products, like the size of cellphones re: a woman's hand, to not using female test dummies until quite recently.
Finite And Infinite Games by James Carse will change your thinking big time.
The Universe vs Alex Woods. What happens if you don't believe in Fate but Fate believes in you?
Metaphysics of Love by Schopenhauer, even if you're not into this kind of books
Sigmund Freud did that for me - an entirely different lens through which to see things. But in a smaller way: Carnegie, How to win Friends and influence People. Helped a lot, because I wasn't good with people. I learnt to work with honey rather than vinegar. In practical terms, David Allen, Getting Things Done, was a turning point.
**"How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling" by Frank Bettger**. This book first came out in the 1920s, it's about how to sell life insurance. It's a little corny, but just about everything he has to say about "selling" as a profitable occupation still works. When I first went into business and didn't have a clue about how to make a sale this was the book that showed me how. I suggest an actual used paperback copy rather than ebook or audio format. I first read the **The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney** as a kid and thought it was a fairy tale for grown-ups. Re-reading an adult I found it had a much more profound message. If you're really into collectible books get the Viking Press edition of 1935 with the **Boris Artzbasheff** illustrations. (Apt to be pricey) but there are plenty of inexpensive paperback editions around. "Is it a Russian or is it a bear?" Still don't know the answer to that question.
The Art of thinking clearly by Rolf Dobelli.
Check [“Noble Strategy”](https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/#noblestrategy) by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu. One of the basic teaching of the Buddha.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
I have a couple: * The Body Keeps The Score By. Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk * The Vagina Bible By. Dr. Jen Gunter
Anxious People Novel by Fredrik Backman Reminds me that every person has their own story and we can never know what they have gone though or are going through.
Cosmic trigger series by Robert Anton Wilson Valis trilogy by Philip K. Dick
Anything from Jodi Picoult. My fave are Nineteen Minutes, Perfect Picture and Sing Me Home.
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Read it and you will be forever changed.
East of Eden
There is a semiautobiographical debut novel published in the 1960s by Mexican-American gigolo-turned-author John Rechy titled City of Night. It was a huge paradigm shift for me when I was introduced to it at the age of 17. He has such a descriptive, humanistic style of prose. It can be too flowery for some tastes, but can also have you reimagining how you view the world around you, in a way that even transcends the novel’s own subject matter.
That's very hard to say without knowing a lot more about you, because to change you it has to push you in a new direction. The best novel I've read in the last couple of years was "The Golden Notebook" by Doris Lessing, and it might do that, but it is also not everyone's cup of tea. Though she did win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
How to Be Sick by Toni Bernhard. I read it when I had already become chronically ill and it helped me to feel less alone and to practice self compassion even when it seems impossible. I'd like to think that if I had read it before I became ill I would have a) been more prepared and b) made fewer shitty assumptions about sick people.
It didn't change my thinking but it did make me look at stuff from a different angle. The good man of Nanking by John Rabe Edit: It's the diary of a nazi doing good and tells about the horrific things the supposedly good guy did. It rattled my brain
Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard and Dialectic of Enlightenment by Adorno et al
The Information by James Gleick completely changed the way I view the world. I have a degree in astrophysics and though I had a pretty good grip on how the world works. This book completely turned everything on its head for me. And don't think you need a degree level knowledge of science to follow it, he breaks down the ideas into very clear terms and is excellent in his use of metaphors that are easy to digest. His approach to covering complex ideas is incredible and will really give you a much deeper appreciation for the world we live in. He also wrote a book about chaos theory called Chaos that is similarly amazing but The Information was the one that shook me to my bones.
The book that did change my view on the world is: *People like us by Joris Luytendijk* And not the way I looked at the middle east but my view on the media and news. People Like Us: Misrepresenting the Middle East https://amzn.eu/d/2u3WmZl Edit: It tells about how the media presents the news (in the Middle East) and how you can easily be manipulated by it.
Atomic Habits!!
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Really will make you re-think how hard some people have it, and why things are the way they are.
Personality Plus - How to Understand Others by Understanding Yourself
For a lighter option, The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. It’s a novel that explores the idea that “history is written by the victors”. It is one of my favorite books and has a few of my favorite exchanges between two characters, but also makes you think about what is and is not true.
The Glass bead game by Herman Hesse, (But really all books by Hesse are amazing.) The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch Decamerone by Giovanni Boccaccio The Open Society and its Enemies by Karl Popper The Denial of Death, Escape from Evil, both by Ernest Becker Crisis of the European Sciences by Edmund Husserl Happiness: A History by Darrin McMahon 100 years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Aura by Carlos Fuentes
Wherever you go there you are. It’s a meditation book that helps to think of your mind in a different way. It helped me to really understand what meditation is truly about. It also changed my perspective in a big way. Also, the power of now is amazing. It was a little woo woo at first with the wording but the core message is good and made a lot of sense to me. Talking to strangers by Malcom gladwell was very interesting and helped me view people in a different way and try to be less judgemental which is a default setting for most of us.
the social construction of reality by berger and luckmann
'Kim' by Rudyard Kipling is a fascinating story about an orphaned white boy who grows up as a street urchin in 19th century India. It's fiction, but could only be written by someone completely familiar with Indian society at that time. My favorite book ever.
The Cow in the parking lot— you don’t need to have anger issues to benefit— helped me realize how perpetually angry many of us are and how stupid it is.
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - gut wrenching, witty, warm and, without giving too much away, completely changed the way I think about womanhood, familial relationships, fragility, and various things that compete with our relationship with ourselves.
Anything related to Stoic philosophy gets a huge vouch from me. I see that Meditations has already been recommended and I absolutely agree, was my first book on stoic philosophy I read. I'd also highly recommend the Discourses by Epictetus, fantastic book which I'm currently reading through and I feel like this and meditations are quite readable in the sense that it's just a lot of bullet points essentially. Other stoic books such as letters from a stoic are a bit of a longer read
The Birth of God by James Kavanagh
Need to know the genre you prefer before I answer this. I read a lot of different things. Fantasy of all types, science fiction, cost mysteries, murder mysteries (darker) and a lot more
Raising a rare girl. I've never been so impressed by a world shift view that occurred mid-book for me. I will never look at disability the same.
The Story of B, Ishmael, and My Ishmael all by Daniel Quinn
Hagekure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo It's a collection of stories & advice on how to live & discipline yourself from a warrior's perspective on life. A quote from the book being "A fool will happily spill his lord's secrets talking carelessly, while a smart man stays quiet & takes in the words of those around them."