Which book(s) left a lasting impression on you?
Edit: thank you for sharing your suggestions, everyone. I’ll try to check out the ones I haven’t read. Hopefully the responses in this thread were helpful for you too. <3
Dragons of Autumn Twilight was one that set me on quite the Dragonlance collection and reading journey
The ending of the last night angel books really follows you around.
The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer
It isn't just sci-fi, there's a lot of coming to terms with your limited amount of human influence on your environment and life, that there unknowns that will always be unknown, and that's ok, we're no different than the gains of sand by the lighthouse, as subject to nature as the grass, or birds.
There are also clones of people that have to come to terms with their identity as to what they are, even if they themselves don't fully understand it, and can't.
The universe is bigger than you, and your scope is limited, but that's ok. Find wherever you fit and try to find purpose in the chaos.
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Grew up seeing it on the bookshelf and thought it was a horror book. Like Texas Chainsaw Massacre in book form.
I'd say it contains some existential horror...
Enders game a it was the only novel I had finished in my life. Took me 3 years but disabilities like ADHD is horrible for me. I can read pretty well but any books like novels just can't do it. Also with aphantasia it gets even worse.
This was my answer as well. It's an amazing book amd I always recommend it.
Oh it was not a good book. Made by someone who's donated actively to organization that want to make me dead for existing. It was a shit book but the only novel.i ever read.
The Lord of The Rings. This book changed reading for me. I always enjoyed fantastical themes, but this one really got me. Then, I found out there was more. More background, more world building, more why.
I've never turned back. I re read it occasionally and I've read much of Tolkien's other works. Next on the list is to begin working through The History of Middle Earth. I will be starting this in the fall. It may take me quite some time to get through.
How to seize the means of computation By cory Doctorow.
Great author love all of his books. Love his its free to read any of his books on craphound. But i ended up buying physical copys because i just needed to own them.
The book talks about how things were with betamax and VHS. And how modern day tech is crap and how to fix it!
Its diffently the most influential books ive read.
Foundation by Isaac Asimov. Gave me fresh perspective on the state of America
Foundation is great, have you also read the Empire trilogy? Also after reading Empire + Foundation you should read The end of Eternity, it's an amazing book whose impact is only felt if you've read the other books.
Can I say the entire Discworld series? Sure they're funny fantasy stories, but I reckon Pterry's view on humanity formed a lot of how I think about the world.
Also Dark Money by Jane Mayer.
Going to add Dark Money to my reading list. Thanks!
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
it was the first book I ever read, and I decided to do it on my own. I was 16 and it was the greatest thing I had done for myself up to that point. It was such a big thing for me. I had never read a book front to back before, let alone deciding to do it on my own.
And so I checked that book out at the library. Went home and started to read the first couple chapters. Got some tomato soup and a grilled cheese and then next thing I know its 2AM and I read that whole book in almost one sitting!!!
The freedom it gave my mind was a gift I can never reply. Douglass Adams is and always will be one of my favorite humans for what he gave me in that story.
I agree. I've introduced it to a number of people and I find it's a bit of a litmus test for me. If they come back with "that's just stupid" I know they're missing a sense of play that comes with messing with the rules of life.
We lost DA far too early, but he left us a wonderful gift.
Learning Perl, 2nd edition
There's therapy for that.
Fear of Small Numbers, by Arjun Appadurai
The Scar, China Meiville - It's an epic journey and the clear best, in my opinion, of the Bas Lag novels. It has such weight and magic to the journey. Mystery too. It's a book that leaves you feeling like you want to feel more.
The Wild Girls, Ursula K Le Guin - a tale so emotional that I was broken for two days after reading it. Couldn't bring myself to read, or really do much except think about what I'd read.
Its about a slaving raid on a village near a city state, family, love, and gender.
How to solve it by Polya.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Tells you everything you need to know about war. First book which made me cry. Everybody should read it.
That book is partly why I oppose all war. The film Netflix produced of it a few years ago is pretty amazing too. The cinematography is almost too beautiful given the subject matter.
Harrison Bergeron is my favorite piece of US literature. Incredible short story
Another great short story that I never see mentioned is "Teddy" By J.D. Salinger.
There is also a Dave Eggars short story that always stuck with me from his one collection called, "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned."
Also, almost forgot, "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce is also fantastic.
Top three short stories imo.
Edit: Yikes... without spoiling anything, I just realized that there is a (kind of dark) theme connecting all of those. Should I be worried?
So much impact for so short a story. Great pick!
The description of Harrison dancing with the ballerina in the studio is forever burned in my brain. Textbook case of words being “evocative.” I can see every second of that scene play out in my mind. It’s passion, it’s beauty and form, it’s the human spirit.
Voltaire's Bastards by John Ralston Saul. It showed me how the world really works. Also The Doubter's Companion as a supplement to that.
Edit to add that after reading through all the comments, it's pleasing what a well-read community we have here.
1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell.
I loved 1984, but when I was younger, I always found Orwell's treatise on language that takes up a big chunk in the middle to be dull and far-fetched.
Boy was I wrong...
When I was young and exposed to these stories, they had a different meaning
but as I have gotten older, wow those books sure do hit a bullseye but not always for what meaning popular culture puts on them
1984 to me is not about the government as much as it is about political ideas and opinions. Big Brother only punished the Winston because he broke the rules while being an insider. If he ran away to the proles, he would have been free but nope, he was theirs and they were going to punish him for his deviancy. They prepared for it even.
An in my opinion, those MAGA dupes are Winston of our age.
Animal Farm is similar but even more on point of our nature allowing these pigs to rule us with "all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others"
Its good we call cops PIGS, because they are.
Add Brave New World by Aldous Huxley to the list. I think he actually managed to get closer to where we were heading before Trump. Things took a right turn though.
Manufacturing Consent. Chomsky.
When I saw that book in the elementary school library it was a revelation: There are books explaining the cool mysterious stuff like that! And written for kids to understand!
I think that one book is a big part of what sent me on the path to geekdom.
It wasn't technically my first nonfiction science book, which would be "Our Friend the Atom" but I wasn't old enough to actually read that when I had it (probably got destroyed before I could). I liked the pictures though.
Hatchet.
It taight me that you never have to give up. Even when all looks completely lost, keeping your head on a swivel and keeping yourself goal oriented, you can get yourself through almost anything.
Is that the one where the boy just up and decides to go live in a tree up in the Caskills and ends up with a pet falcon, or is that the one where the kid is stranded in the woods in a plane crash? I read those two books around the same time in later middle school and I think they ran together in my brain.
Plane crash
I read that book when I was younger and couldn’t remember the name until a few years ago. It resonated with me in a profound way. Having to be resourceful and not just make do, but survive, with what you have around you is something I’ve ingrained into my life. And not just in emergency situations but all the time. Seeing other uses for things, coming up with novel solutions, and yes, not giving up. My boss really appreciates my outlook at work for this reason.
I really liked the movie cast away for the same reasons.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
The Selfish Gene.
As soon as the concept clicked halfway through the book my days as an evangelical were over.
It was interesting to me to hear years later that Wall Street types found it influential, because the thing I found most compelling was the explanation of why altruism and social generosity were rational traits.
Anna Karenina. There's no better pshychological character study of upper class Russian culture (but at the same time, about people in general).
Witness.
(Not the book name, but if you've read the book, good on you).
Time enough for love - Heinlein
Nor crystal tears - Foster
A world out of time - Niven
Ringworld - Niven
Sassinak - McCaffrey
The Martian - Weir
Time Enough for Love was my favourite book as a young man. Tried re-reading it recently and really struggled. I feel like the last 20 years of social progress has really dated Heinlein's language especially (less so his ideas). Was a shame.
1984 and Brave New World
The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog.
The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guinn
Flowers for Algernon
Blackshirts and Reds - Parenti
She's Come Undone and The Hour I First Believed both by Wally Lamb have made a immersion on me. They are both wonderful and hesrtwreathing novels. Also The Long Walk by Stephen King is frightening book that makes me wonder, what would happen if we allowed that in American.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The first book I read was "Guards, Guards" and it's still one of my favourites. I own the series and every few years I read through it again.
Definitely not the bible. That shit is unreadable.
Also kind of annoying how God keeps doing awful things but is never cast as the bad guy.
Survivor by Chuck "Fight Club" Palahniuk.
After Fight Club I went on a spree of reading this guys work. Survivor was the last of his written before the Fight Club movie made it big. It was also released a couple of years before 9/11 which killed its chance of being made into a movie.
I think it highlights how being passive in the world isn't enough to avoid doing bad things. You have to make your own choices to avoid a bad result. Interesting story structure and has some dark comedic moments too.
Such a good book, I too went on a tear through his work after Fight Club and I think this and Choke are fighting for my top spot.
I don't think Choke is as good myself. Still a good read but Survivor has stayed with with more in the years since.
Welp, I know what I'm reading next. Thanks!
Consider Phlebas
I had been reading, mainly fantasy up until that point because of 2 less understandable sci-fi books. The feel of realism and cynisism, mixed with optimistic philosophy. I'm not a very visual reader, but that book made some awe-inspiring scenes in my head. It's just the very peak of 80s sci-fi
Still one of my favourites that I have read several times. The pace is relentless.
The Player of Games is my second favourite Culture novel.
Played bloody knuckles with hard copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire once in grade school, and still have a lil mark from it.
The technological society by Jacques Ellul. This book introduces a new way of looking at the world.
These two changed my whole perspective on American history and the public school system, as I learned a lot of information that had been deliberately withheld from me.
As for fiction:
in no particular order:
in no particular order
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Not sure if intentional but made me chuckle.
It's worth a read.
I think it's often frowned upon for being somewhat of a naive juvenile pocket philosophical rambling, or the dairy of a madman, but I'd say that it introduces some valid points about the concept of quality that you can then think about yourself.
It's definitely on my top 10 list of books. Not because it's great, but because I can often relate to it in miscellaneous situations even 30 years after reading it.
House of Leaves. I don't know if I want to read it again, but that book was a cool experience.
Yes! You may want to write in this one, it's kind of made for this.
John Darnielle's Devil House is a GREAT novel. All of his books are but it's particularly great
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson.
The main character’s reflection on his past and continuation of growth really resonates with me.
I flew through all the Mistborn novels recently, and I started The Stormlight Archive a little while back. I'm on the second book now and loving it. Really looking forward to all the rest!
Highly recommend sneaking in Warbreaker before you finish Words of Radiance if possible.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
Everybody Poops
His Dark Materials
Singularity Sky (and its sequel, Iron Sunrise)
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (a fanfiction novel that is far better than the original series)
What If (and What If 2, by Randall Munroe)
The Planiverse
The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Society After an Apocalypse
Sophie's World
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy
If you liked Stross's general style, I would also recomend the Merchant Princes (universe hopping smugglers/spies/couriers) and the Laundry Files (co.puter scientists and mathematicians as civil servants fighting against the occult)
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm and Sam Hughes.
Neat, looks like the author got a publishing deal and has a new version of it coming out later this year:
Here's the author's blurb about it, if it piques anyone else's interest that hasn't read it yet:
An antimeme is an idea with self-censoring properties; an idea which, by its intrinsic nature, discourages or prevents people from spreading it.
Antimemes are real. Think of any piece of information which you wouldn't share with anybody, like passwords, taboos and dirty secrets. Or any piece of information which would be difficult to share even if you tried: complex equations, very boring passages of text, large blocks of random numbers, and dreams...
But anomalous antimemes are another matter entirely. How do you contain something you can't record or remember? How do you fight a war against an enemy with effortless, perfect camouflage, when you can never even know that you're at war?
Welcome to the Antimemetics Division.
No, this is not your first day.
Thank you for putting the blurb. I was in a waiting room and I got called as I posted. I hope someone enjoys this book as much as I do.
Whale Done by Ken Blanchard
Atomic Habits.
As someone who is likely on the spectrum, it was like someone gifted me a user guide for life where other self-help books have either leaned a lot on the emotions of things or tried to cram all sorts of philosophy down my throat.
Lot's of common sense ideas around how to turn what, where, and who you want to be into actually achievable goals and genuinely helped me figure out who I want to be for myself and not for other people.
I wouldn't say it has any groundbreaking or radical ideas in it, but the structure and presentation of the simple ideas really helped me work out some life things for myself.
Two books that made me cry at the end and helped me shape my idea of war and what really is for the common men are "Il sergente nella neve" (the sargent in the snow) by Mario Rigoni Stern, which is about the retreat of the Armir (italian army in Russia) after the second Don offensive by the Red Army from the point of view of Stern, as they started the endless march back to Italy on foot, with the Red Army biting their asses. Almost 80.000 between dead and missing. Amazing piece of literature and yet another reason to despise fascism; and All quiet on the western front, which doesnt need many explanations.
Absolute chills everytime i think about those books and the images of tragedy and hopelessness they shaped so vividly in my mind.
"The Arsonist in the Office" by Pete Havel
Helped me recognize that the incredibly toxic job I was in was not sustainable.
"It's Your Ship" by D. Michael Abrashoff
Excellent book on leadership. Should be required reading for anyone who manages people.
"Psychopath Free" by Jackson MacKenzie
Most people probably have no idea what it's like to be in a relationship with someone who has a personality disorder. It can be absolute hell. It certainly was for me. This book provided some good insights but also helped me feel less alone.
There are other books but those are three big ones for me.
Something Happened, the other, far lesser-known work by Catch-22 author Joseph Heller. It's too apples-to-oranges to throw around "better", but I already love Catch-22 and still prefer Something Happened. It's considerably longer, but in my opinion, it's criminally overlooked.
"Entering Space: Creating a Spacefairing Civilization" by Robert Zubrin. My mother's work when I was growing up had a "free book shelf" that someone had put it on and she'd brought it home because I liked sciency stuff, and I've been extremely interested in space development and futurism ever since.
As a kid I read Paulo Coelho's 'Veronika decides to die' and it kinda reframed some of my thinking. From what I recall, it's a very wholesome and light read!
It's more of a short story in a book filled with time traveling short stories.
I'm trying to find what it's called, but I still have the book. After reading it, I had a brief period of time where I was questioning my own freewill and choices.
Basically it starts with a time machine being in a warehouse and scientists all around. The person inside is doing everything backwards and they are attempting to communicate with paper, often getting answers before there is a question. It's a good read and I won't spoil the end.
Shantaram. It was very much booth, a captivating pleasure to read and the utmost inspiration of willing to live life to its fullest and be a compassionate human being.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Ender's Game is the first book that I ever read and then immediately re-read. And told people about how awesome it was. My librarian in middle school actually bought the book for me at a book fair. She saw that I was reading fantasy books to "fit in" but noticed that I seemed way more interested in Sci-Fi.
And Fight Club.
Crime and Punishment.
... "does the gentleman want his head smashed?"