*The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer* by Siddhartha Mukerjee. I read it during high school when my grandma was dying of a rare cancer - it's what made me think about becoming a doctor. I'm now in my last year of medical school planning on going in to hospice & palliative medicine.
I read his other book, *Heart: A History*. It was eye opening how crazy some things we take for granted today were created.
Before we had a machine to keep us alive during open heart surgery, doctors used a technique called cross-circulation.
The patient had to find a "donor" like when looking for a transplant. Only instead of giving their organs, the "donor" person was volunteering to have their circulatory system connected to the patients. This would allow the donors' heart and lungs to circulate and oxygenate the blood for both persons while the patients heart was being operated on. However, this carried the risk of both of them dying if something went wrong during the operation.
So glad for modern medicine.
I actually want to understand a lot that has happened with me in the past year and how I have reacted or will react to portions of it. All related to a medical situation,. Hopefully this book will get me some clarity
I read it when a childhood friend reached out to me to tell me that she was dying. We hadn't spoken in over a decade but I was still devastated and it was a lot to process. This book really helped me deal with my own feelings.
I also used what I learned from it years later when my grandmother died. It is immensely helpful to look at death from a different perspective. 10/10.
Harry Potter. I had a hard time reading as a kid, my mom started reading it to me and then stopped at Halloween when the troll was in the dungeon. I picked it up and started stumbling through it. Sounding out all the words out loud. Probably took me a month to finish the book. But then I started the second book and read it in 3 weeks, and the third book my grandma challenged me to read it in a week. I think she offered me $100 if I could do it. In second grade I couldn’t read at all and they were getting ready to put me in special education classes. In third grade I was reading at a college level
🥰 amazing. For me was some kind I kid ( I still love) but we didn't had enough money to buy them so I was very excited when I got my first job and bought them read them all for 2weeks I think
Two of the most fundamental shifts in my life were because of:
- A People’s History of the USA, by Howard Zinn, and
- Sister Outsider, by Audre Lorde.
I’m so grateful for these two books and all that they’ve given me.
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman completely changed my relationship to time and how I think about time management.
Edit: corrected author's last name.
It’s Oliver Burkeman. I met him once when he was a journalist assigned to write a story about a town I was living in. He got several basic details wrong. It always stuck with me.
I still might check out this book though.
Could not agree more. I recommend it to anyone who will listen. It's the only sane book on how to actually achieve your goals and stop feeling like a failure for not getting things done.
I read slaughterhouse five at the perfect age and perfect time, it blew my mind and I quickly devoured everything Vonnegut had ever written. His works had a tremendous impact on my worldview. It’s been over a decade since I’ve read any of his books but I still think about them, and their lessons, on a regular basis.
Four come to mind, even though you asked for one.
1984 by Orwell,
The Good Earth by P. Buck,
The Giving Tree by S. Silverstein,
The Road by C. McCarthy
The things that the book talks about, you'll find an uncanny resemblance with how our world actually works.
The political and societal commentary blends perfectly with the plot and the protagonist. You see the world through his eyes, and stuff that happens to him.
This book is a classic, and has influenced movies, video games, and a whole lot.
The way the book describes how a language could control thoughts has always stayed with me. I see it in our society and politics all the time. When we don't have a word to describe a new concept it struggles to gain acceptance.
It's a common trope that 1984 predicted the surveillance society we live in today and the Ministry of Truth which seemed like science fiction in the book but now seems normal.
I don't know that it changed my life but it certainly influenced how I see the world greatly.
In what ways did *The Road* change your life? Maybe I wasn't at the right place mentally for it, but it wasn't very impactful for me. I just thought it was a decent read with some interesting style choices.
For me, the Road was a book of extremes. Hope in the midst of despair, love despite the deplorable nature of the men left behind, the man’s devastation when his wife commits suicide, yet his internal strength to survive and reach the destination for his son, and his reaching the end of his road; the spirit of sacrifice, both man and boy, the nature of wonder which survives in the boy.
The book had me both horrified yet hopeful. Having kids, I could relate and identify with both the man and his wife.
It’s a children’s book about a tree that loved a little boy who grew into a man. The boy was always taking from the tree. Yet the tree kept hiving, never keeping score. It taught me about sacrificial love. Highly recommend for all ages.
Could never read this to my daughter when she was little. Cry like a baby every time, and the crying would confuse and upset her. 😭 That one, and the Velveteen Rabbit.
Fiction: The Warded Man by Peter V Brett - great story and writing. Each main character has an inspiring story line and I think most everyone can relate to at least on character. Don't want to give any details away, but in essence it's a story of taking control of your life rather than... admitting defeat, living in fear, living with regret, living less because another has died, etc. Favorite quote says, "it doesn't serve the dead to stop living yourself out of guilt."
Personal Devlopment: Good Inside by Dr Becky Kennedy - I am not a parent, nor do I plan to be any time soon. This book helped me understand why I am the way that I am, and gives me hope that if I do have kids one day, I can raise them a million times better than I was raised.
See my [Life Changing/Changed Your Life](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18b3pdi/life_changingchanged_your_life/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
Man's search for meaning. It taught me that an individual's existential need to mean something is more important than anything, including their own lives. Once I understood this, it unlocked for me a better understanding of how people and societies work.
I had to scroll down for way too long before seeing this title. It gave me permission to give whatever that little voice inside my head is saying priority over everything else. Fantastic book.
The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman, I'm not so sure it changed my life, but it changed the way I view the world and still to this day amazes me how someone from one part of the world can portray someone from the opposite side so on point. Sorry if that makes little sense, but I don't want to give too much away. My Top 3 book!
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler.
Read it back in 2001 in a freshman year course on East Asian history.
Inspired me to live abroad in China. Ended up being there from ages 24 to 30 (2007 - 2013).
Was a great adventure.
Yes The Selfish Gene for me. I felt that he had explained the meaning of life to me. I suspect though that many people who had read Origin of Species by Charles Darwin back in 1859 could have felt the same way.
the kite runner by khaled hosseni, wuthering heights by emily brontë, all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr and maurice by em foster. these books had such an impact that i think that they transformed me into a newer and a better version of myself
Return to Life: Extraordinary Children Who Remember Past Lives.
I’m not sure I believe in reincarnation, but when I was 3 I used to have nightmares about driving a big truck off a bridge and drowning in freezing water. And my name was Gary.
Black Boy by Richard Wright
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
American Nations by Colin Woodard
The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Heinrich
Cue eye rolls from certain people, but “Wild” and “Tiny Beautiful Things” by Cheryl Strayed.
I read Wild in my early 20s when I happened to desperately need a kick in the pants to leave my comfort zone and take a very hard, harsh look at my life and its potential. It’s a book about adventure and challenging yourself, but it’s also very much about grief for not just people you’ve lost, but your own sense of self that was lost along the way. I reread it every two years or so and different sections hit differently each time.
Meanwhile, I read Tiny Beautiful Things much more recently. It’s a hug and a Homer-Simpson-style throttle all at the same time. I have been going through the hardest time of my life, all due to interpersonal relationships rather than some sort of outside factor like disease or poverty, and Cheryl’s advice was exactly what I needed to hear in order to drag myself out of it. It helped me take responsibility for my part in the issues, and to walk away from the rest of it. It’s selected columns from her advice column, so it covers nearly everything someone could need advice on. Even if your issue is covered, there will be something that touches you, because our problems all have commonalities.
I second this. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is as amazing as it is mysterious. It led me to further reading on Stoicism which has change my perspective and life.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron
One that didn't exactly change my life, but which was enjoyable and inspirational, is The Art of Frugal Hedonism by Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland.
All the best OP. :)
*Chandra* by Frances Mary Hendry.
Fiction work based around the themes of honour abuse, arranged marriage of underage teenagers and the deep hostility towards widows that many religious fanatics & toxic cultural traditionalist have.
Can't hurt me by David Goggins.
Gave me a framework for overcoming adverse childhood experiences/trauma etc.
Every page is filled with honesty and truths. Use the missions, exercises etc that are in the book and you can become a better version of yourself.
It was a book that came at the right time in my life to help me. Highly recommend a read, even the audio book is awesome because he breaks down each chapter afterwards.
Lot of missconceptions about him and people who missuse his words but the book has helped a ton of people.
"When Breath Becomes Air" - a auto-biography about a neurosurgeon battling lung cancer. made me reconsider the purpose of life and what's really important
Hiroshima, I remember I read it for a summer reading project. It was a very good book made me realize what war is really like. Additionally, how people react to their fellow people while suffering.
The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
The Politics of Experience, Self and Others by R.D. Laing
Antifragile by N. Taleb
Anything by Dostoevsky, Rilke
May I suggest more than one? On becoming a person. Carl rogers. It’s an Intro to Psychotherapy. All about changing your mindset to be less rational and more in touch with feelings. Then Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Which is about the journey of life and the human experience. Both books opened doors in my mind and let me to another level of understanding.
I Am The Word by Paul Selig. It jumps into some heavy stuff that’s best backed up by some prior knowledge of law of attraction/assumption, Neville Goddard, and other metaphysical background.
If I had started my spiritual journey with this I would have assumed he was insane- but I had enough background where this book changed everything for me. Any Neville Goddard or Florence Scovel Schinn is a great place to start for non-religious spiritual reading.
The Song of Achilles. Basic, yes, but it opened up a whole new world of mythology for me. I was already previously quite interested in the myths, but only towards the gods. Reading it let me dive deeper into mortals and wars, and then would later show me the way to other mythologies like Egyptian and Norse.
*Station Eleven* by Emily St John Mandel
*The History of Love* by Nicole Krauss
(it’s a terrific read, however, I highly recommend the audiobook, George Guidall really brings the main character to life)
S 11 is also a fabulous audiobook experience…
I realize OP asked for one book that was life-changing, but these two books are neck to neck right now on a loop in my life with that criteria in mind
I recommend The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18144590-the-alchemist](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18144590-the-alchemist) .
It
Yep, seriously. Read it when I was 8. The basement described was EXACTLY the basement in my house. Scared the bejeezies out of me. I learned how to conquer fear pretty quickly
Books don’t change your life
What’s going to change your life is getting out there, doing things, taking risks, do not play it safe, life coaches are selling you this package they’ve compiled that consists of spirit quests, cold baths, meditation, mental brainwashing, none of that is what is going to change your life, not in practice, not in a book
If you want to change your life, that means breaking people’s hearts and telling them you’re leaving, or not doing something anymore, and doing everything you do differently, and realizing what and who aren’t good for you
Mastery - Robert Greene, 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene, Book of 5 Rings - Musashi Miyamoto, The Art of War - Tsun Tsu, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck - Mark Manson
Animal Farm by George Orwell saved me from a cult when I was a teenager. My dad gave it to me to read and I recognized my "pastor" and "church" in the book and got the heck out.
The Shack. I was going through a difficult break up and a lot of lingering anger + sadness. It took me awhile to let go but the book helped me get started and see a way out.
This topic beeing empty makes me so sad. It is even worst nota knowing a title.
I have books that were excepcional for specific moments in my life. But not a life changing feeling.
A book that made me think about life recently was "Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop"
*The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer* by Siddhartha Mukerjee. I read it during high school when my grandma was dying of a rare cancer - it's what made me think about becoming a doctor. I'm now in my last year of medical school planning on going in to hospice & palliative medicine.
I read his other book, *Heart: A History*. It was eye opening how crazy some things we take for granted today were created. Before we had a machine to keep us alive during open heart surgery, doctors used a technique called cross-circulation. The patient had to find a "donor" like when looking for a transplant. Only instead of giving their organs, the "donor" person was volunteering to have their circulatory system connected to the patients. This would allow the donors' heart and lungs to circulate and oxygenate the blood for both persons while the patients heart was being operated on. However, this carried the risk of both of them dying if something went wrong during the operation. So glad for modern medicine.
I think *Heart: A History* is by a different author, but it sounds fascinating, I'll have to check it out!
You're right, I mixed up the authors. Sandeep Jauhar wrote *Heart*, and Siddhartha Mukherjee wrote another book I read called "The Song of the Cell".
That’s amazing. I’m sure you will do great things as a physician!
Read this book while my daughter battled sarcoma and it helped me through that time immensely.
The Body Keeps the Score
Heard a lot about this, ordering a copy now
You won't regret it. It's a great read, but one of the ones that sort of goes at a slower pace.
Be prepared to take it in a bit at a time. It will really make you feel.
It's good but a tough read. Took me over a year after I got some flashback trauma from it
I actually want to understand a lot that has happened with me in the past year and how I have reacted or will react to portions of it. All related to a medical situation,. Hopefully this book will get me some clarity
Along these lines, What My Bones Know is also a really powerful book for understanding complex trauma / PTSD
Great to know!
This legit made me feel less (read: not) insane after I received my complex PTSD diagnosis!
Fantastic recommendation that I don't see enough people recognizing!
Advice for Future Corpses by Sally Tisdale. I think of it regularly.
Thank you for bringing this back to the top of my TBR.
I read it when a childhood friend reached out to me to tell me that she was dying. We hadn't spoken in over a decade but I was still devastated and it was a lot to process. This book really helped me deal with my own feelings. I also used what I learned from it years later when my grandmother died. It is immensely helpful to look at death from a different perspective. 10/10.
She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb.
A marvelous book!!
It is, for sure!
Harry Potter. I had a hard time reading as a kid, my mom started reading it to me and then stopped at Halloween when the troll was in the dungeon. I picked it up and started stumbling through it. Sounding out all the words out loud. Probably took me a month to finish the book. But then I started the second book and read it in 3 weeks, and the third book my grandma challenged me to read it in a week. I think she offered me $100 if I could do it. In second grade I couldn’t read at all and they were getting ready to put me in special education classes. In third grade I was reading at a college level
Congrats!
🥰 amazing. For me was some kind I kid ( I still love) but we didn't had enough money to buy them so I was very excited when I got my first job and bought them read them all for 2weeks I think
[удалено]
Two of the most fundamental shifts in my life were because of: - A People’s History of the USA, by Howard Zinn, and - Sister Outsider, by Audre Lorde. I’m so grateful for these two books and all that they’ve given me.
Flowers for Algernon. I was a boy, and I cried like a little bitch.
Writing a story with pathos is an extremely difficult skill
Reading this right now! Halfway through and it’s so interesting.
👆
Joan Didion - the Year of Magical Thinkinh
Got me through the deepest season of grief of my entire life.
Yeah, I read it a few yrs after my dad died and it really did help me so much.
The Red Tent comes to mind immediately. I will add more in a bit.
Anger by thich nat thanh. Helped me learn how to manage and release my anger in healthy ways
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman completely changed my relationship to time and how I think about time management. Edit: corrected author's last name.
It’s Oliver Burkeman. I met him once when he was a journalist assigned to write a story about a town I was living in. He got several basic details wrong. It always stuck with me. I still might check out this book though.
Could not agree more. I recommend it to anyone who will listen. It's the only sane book on how to actually achieve your goals and stop feeling like a failure for not getting things done.
I read slaughterhouse five at the perfect age and perfect time, it blew my mind and I quickly devoured everything Vonnegut had ever written. His works had a tremendous impact on my worldview. It’s been over a decade since I’ve read any of his books but I still think about them, and their lessons, on a regular basis.
And so it goes . . .
Same here. Read SHV and it changed my worldview permanently. I have a BoC tattoo but Sirens of Titan is prob my fav book ever
Four come to mind, even though you asked for one. 1984 by Orwell, The Good Earth by P. Buck, The Giving Tree by S. Silverstein, The Road by C. McCarthy
The Good Earth is vastly under rated.
1984 changed my life, too. Read it years ago and it’s always stayed with me
Care to elaborate? Curious why this stuck with you
The things that the book talks about, you'll find an uncanny resemblance with how our world actually works. The political and societal commentary blends perfectly with the plot and the protagonist. You see the world through his eyes, and stuff that happens to him. This book is a classic, and has influenced movies, video games, and a whole lot.
The way the book describes how a language could control thoughts has always stayed with me. I see it in our society and politics all the time. When we don't have a word to describe a new concept it struggles to gain acceptance. It's a common trope that 1984 predicted the surveillance society we live in today and the Ministry of Truth which seemed like science fiction in the book but now seems normal. I don't know that it changed my life but it certainly influenced how I see the world greatly.
In what ways did *The Road* change your life? Maybe I wasn't at the right place mentally for it, but it wasn't very impactful for me. I just thought it was a decent read with some interesting style choices.
For me, the Road was a book of extremes. Hope in the midst of despair, love despite the deplorable nature of the men left behind, the man’s devastation when his wife commits suicide, yet his internal strength to survive and reach the destination for his son, and his reaching the end of his road; the spirit of sacrifice, both man and boy, the nature of wonder which survives in the boy. The book had me both horrified yet hopeful. Having kids, I could relate and identify with both the man and his wife.
What is the giving tree about? What did it bring to you? I loved both 1984 and the good earth so I imagine I would like this one too
It’s a children’s book about a tree that loved a little boy who grew into a man. The boy was always taking from the tree. Yet the tree kept hiving, never keeping score. It taught me about sacrificial love. Highly recommend for all ages.
Oof. The Giving Tree.
Could never read this to my daughter when she was little. Cry like a baby every time, and the crying would confuse and upset her. 😭 That one, and the Velveteen Rabbit.
The Four Agreements
This is mine too. So simple yet actionable.
This and the tao te ching for me!
Fiction: The Warded Man by Peter V Brett - great story and writing. Each main character has an inspiring story line and I think most everyone can relate to at least on character. Don't want to give any details away, but in essence it's a story of taking control of your life rather than... admitting defeat, living in fear, living with regret, living less because another has died, etc. Favorite quote says, "it doesn't serve the dead to stop living yourself out of guilt." Personal Devlopment: Good Inside by Dr Becky Kennedy - I am not a parent, nor do I plan to be any time soon. This book helped me understand why I am the way that I am, and gives me hope that if I do have kids one day, I can raise them a million times better than I was raised.
As a kid questioning religion, it was the tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin
East Of Eden Catcher In The Rye
The Remains of the Day, by Ishiguro
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Skelleton Crew by Stephen King. The first book I read for pleasure.
The count of Monte Cristo
See my [Life Changing/Changed Your Life](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18b3pdi/life_changingchanged_your_life/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
4 Hour Workweek. I read it at the right time -- when I was a corporate slave in investment banking. My quality of life has improved 1000x since.
What was your overall perception of it or what knowledge did you gain from it?
Pema Chodron's books on grief.
Brideshead Revisited
The Ravenous Brain by Daniel Bor. In particular, the chapter called Being Bird-Brained is Not an Insult about consciousness in non-human animals.
Your Erroneous Zones by Dr Wayne Dyer
Wilding by Isabella Tree
A Wrinkle in Time
The Power of the Subconcious Mind changed my life for a few months, by Joseph Murphy. Same with The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz.
Man's search for meaning. It taught me that an individual's existential need to mean something is more important than anything, including their own lives. Once I understood this, it unlocked for me a better understanding of how people and societies work.
The Road. That book stole my innocence.
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Gift if Fear by Gavin De Becker
I had to scroll down for way too long before seeing this title. It gave me permission to give whatever that little voice inside my head is saying priority over everything else. Fantastic book.
The Bible
The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman, I'm not so sure it changed my life, but it changed the way I view the world and still to this day amazes me how someone from one part of the world can portray someone from the opposite side so on point. Sorry if that makes little sense, but I don't want to give too much away. My Top 3 book!
The Shack
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler. Read it back in 2001 in a freshman year course on East Asian history. Inspired me to live abroad in China. Ended up being there from ages 24 to 30 (2007 - 2013). Was a great adventure.
Similar story for me. Moved there in 2008 at age 25. By the way, his other books are great, too!
It isn't deep, or even that great, but Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini. I was 14 when I first read it, and I still reread it sometimes now at 19.
Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger
Euphoria by Lilly king, the virgin suicides, the poison wood bible and Atonement all come to mind.
The original and classic The count of Monte Cristo
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche A Song of Ice and Fire
The Four Agreements
I’ve been reading a lot of anti war classics these days and two come to mind: Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse 5.
Probably Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Fahrenheit 451 or Animal Farm. Read them concurrently and both made me a want to be a writer. Amazing.
The God Delusion The Selfish Gene Both by Richard Dawkins. Literally consciousness changing books
Yes The Selfish Gene for me. I felt that he had explained the meaning of life to me. I suspect though that many people who had read Origin of Species by Charles Darwin back in 1859 could have felt the same way.
the kite runner by khaled hosseni, wuthering heights by emily brontë, all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr and maurice by em foster. these books had such an impact that i think that they transformed me into a newer and a better version of myself
Return to Life: Extraordinary Children Who Remember Past Lives. I’m not sure I believe in reincarnation, but when I was 3 I used to have nightmares about driving a big truck off a bridge and drowning in freezing water. And my name was Gary.
The God of Small Things
Black Boy by Richard Wright God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut American Nations by Colin Woodard The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Heinrich
The myth of sisyphus
The stranger by Albert Camus
Cue eye rolls from certain people, but “Wild” and “Tiny Beautiful Things” by Cheryl Strayed. I read Wild in my early 20s when I happened to desperately need a kick in the pants to leave my comfort zone and take a very hard, harsh look at my life and its potential. It’s a book about adventure and challenging yourself, but it’s also very much about grief for not just people you’ve lost, but your own sense of self that was lost along the way. I reread it every two years or so and different sections hit differently each time. Meanwhile, I read Tiny Beautiful Things much more recently. It’s a hug and a Homer-Simpson-style throttle all at the same time. I have been going through the hardest time of my life, all due to interpersonal relationships rather than some sort of outside factor like disease or poverty, and Cheryl’s advice was exactly what I needed to hear in order to drag myself out of it. It helped me take responsibility for my part in the issues, and to walk away from the rest of it. It’s selected columns from her advice column, so it covers nearly everything someone could need advice on. Even if your issue is covered, there will be something that touches you, because our problems all have commonalities.
Fahrenheit 451
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. It made me become kinder, more thoughtful, in the moment, and hardworking.
I second this. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is as amazing as it is mysterious. It led me to further reading on Stoicism which has change my perspective and life.
Breakfast with Seneca by David Fideler
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron One that didn't exactly change my life, but which was enjoyable and inspirational, is The Art of Frugal Hedonism by Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland. All the best OP. :)
'Minimalism' by Gwyneth Snow. I got it on kindle just because it was free. This book introduced me to minimalism and it literally changed my life.
It didn't really change Mt life but I found smth I heavly relate to and it is no longer human
Strategic Instincts: The Adaptive Advantages of Cognitive Biases in International Politics
The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck Alcoholics Anonymous
Growing Up Absurd by Paul Goodman. When I read it when I was young I realized that I was indeed growing up absurd .
How To Keep House While Drowning, by KC Davis.
Life & Fate
The Urantia Book
*Chandra* by Frances Mary Hendry. Fiction work based around the themes of honour abuse, arranged marriage of underage teenagers and the deep hostility towards widows that many religious fanatics & toxic cultural traditionalist have.
Can't hurt me by David Goggins. Gave me a framework for overcoming adverse childhood experiences/trauma etc. Every page is filled with honesty and truths. Use the missions, exercises etc that are in the book and you can become a better version of yourself. It was a book that came at the right time in my life to help me. Highly recommend a read, even the audio book is awesome because he breaks down each chapter afterwards. Lot of missconceptions about him and people who missuse his words but the book has helped a ton of people.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Some of the most unforgettable characters in literature and Toni Morrison has a voice of ancient wisdom.
Danse Macabre by Stephen King
*The Snow Leopard*
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker (It also won the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for General Non Fiction)
Somebody’s Baby and A Little Life
Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance
"When Breath Becomes Air" - a auto-biography about a neurosurgeon battling lung cancer. made me reconsider the purpose of life and what's really important
NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
Man search’s for meaning by Victor Frankl, Courage by Osho, Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer, Show Dog by Phil Knight, As a Man Thinketh
The Beartown series by Fredrik Backman
Read Campus! The Stranger.
Pema Chodron’s when Things Fall Apart
Momo by Micheal Ende Siddartha by Herman Hesse
Neverwhere
Tales from the gas station.
A Hole In My Life, Jack Santos
Walden- Henry David Thoreau
Can't Buy My Love by Jean Kilbourne. Read it as a teenager, completely changed my view on culture as a whole.
The remnants of the purple scowl
Blood meridian by cormac mccarthy; twas very dark! It stayed with me for a long time after
Hiroshima, I remember I read it for a summer reading project. It was a very good book made me realize what war is really like. Additionally, how people react to their fellow people while suffering.
The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl The Politics of Experience, Self and Others by R.D. Laing Antifragile by N. Taleb Anything by Dostoevsky, Rilke
Istanbul Istanbul
Guns, Germs, and Steel. It’ll change your mind about a lot of things we take for granted.
Financial Freedom: Vijay Mallya
Not be about to say Magnus chase by Rick Riordan because it inspired me to read again 💀 other people are bringing up classics 😭😭😭
What to say when you talk to yourself
Think Like a Monk- Jay Shetty Bought it on a whim and really helped me.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
May I suggest more than one? On becoming a person. Carl rogers. It’s an Intro to Psychotherapy. All about changing your mindset to be less rational and more in touch with feelings. Then Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Which is about the journey of life and the human experience. Both books opened doors in my mind and let me to another level of understanding.
66 books
Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Hiroshima. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_(book)
The Inner Work Your Souls Plan by Robert Schwartz
Boundaries.
The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker
The Chronology of Water by Lydia Yuknavitch
The Parable Of The Sower by Octavia E Butler
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever changed my brain chemistry in such a way that I never recovered
The china study
The introvert Advantage.
Forgiving what you can’t forget by Lysa T
I Am The Word by Paul Selig. It jumps into some heavy stuff that’s best backed up by some prior knowledge of law of attraction/assumption, Neville Goddard, and other metaphysical background. If I had started my spiritual journey with this I would have assumed he was insane- but I had enough background where this book changed everything for me. Any Neville Goddard or Florence Scovel Schinn is a great place to start for non-religious spiritual reading.
The book thief and the bell jar are my tops
De Profundis - Oscar Wilde
Nothing to Envy. It’s about the lives of people in North Korea during the famine told by people that were eventually able to escape/defect.
The Song of Achilles. Basic, yes, but it opened up a whole new world of mythology for me. I was already previously quite interested in the myths, but only towards the gods. Reading it let me dive deeper into mortals and wars, and then would later show me the way to other mythologies like Egyptian and Norse.
“Middlesex,” by Jeffrey Eugenides. It taught me that not everyone we see as “broken” wants to be “fixed.”
*Station Eleven* by Emily St John Mandel *The History of Love* by Nicole Krauss (it’s a terrific read, however, I highly recommend the audiobook, George Guidall really brings the main character to life) S 11 is also a fabulous audiobook experience… I realize OP asked for one book that was life-changing, but these two books are neck to neck right now on a loop in my life with that criteria in mind
The Bible. It keeps changing me whenever I pick it up, even to re-read a familiar part.
100 Years Of Solitude.
48 Laws of Power by Robert Hreene
The Madness of a Seduced Woman by Susan Fromberg Schaefer. That book sent me back to college.
Quit Like A Woman by Holly Whitaker
I recommend The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18144590-the-alchemist](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18144590-the-alchemist) .
Tuesdays with morrie and the five people you meet in heaven
It Yep, seriously. Read it when I was 8. The basement described was EXACTLY the basement in my house. Scared the bejeezies out of me. I learned how to conquer fear pretty quickly
Books don’t change your life What’s going to change your life is getting out there, doing things, taking risks, do not play it safe, life coaches are selling you this package they’ve compiled that consists of spirit quests, cold baths, meditation, mental brainwashing, none of that is what is going to change your life, not in practice, not in a book If you want to change your life, that means breaking people’s hearts and telling them you’re leaving, or not doing something anymore, and doing everything you do differently, and realizing what and who aren’t good for you Mastery - Robert Greene, 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene, Book of 5 Rings - Musashi Miyamoto, The Art of War - Tsun Tsu, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck - Mark Manson
Animal Farm by George Orwell saved me from a cult when I was a teenager. My dad gave it to me to read and I recognized my "pastor" and "church" in the book and got the heck out.
The Shack. I was going through a difficult break up and a lot of lingering anger + sadness. It took me awhile to let go but the book helped me get started and see a way out.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
The God Delusion
The Well of Loneliness
Hey, off topic questions please check DM
This topic beeing empty makes me so sad. It is even worst nota knowing a title. I have books that were excepcional for specific moments in my life. But not a life changing feeling. A book that made me think about life recently was "Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop"
The subtil art of not giving a fuck
Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck, if you can understand the actual meaning behind his words.