WHYNWOPIULD THEY DO I5T, WHJAT THYE BONUS FOR THIS. IT MEANS NOTHING TO ME AND THE MTRSS.. AU3467

Like a lot of other posters I was heavily influenced by Castenada's books in my rather wayward youth. And by the way I'm not convinced he was a fraud - a pure BS merchant couldn't have come up with some of that stuff.

The most influential book I have read is Zen and the Art of Archery by Eugene Herigel. It's a short book, it can easily be read in a day and I'm a slow reader. The trick is to read it without reading it so to speak. I'm still working on that but I might get there one day.

I only went out for lunch

5 bottles of white wine between two of us and then a total blank..

Your nickname suddenly seems a lot more apt, Torn...

adventure of tom sawyer - twain

the science of getting rich - wallace wattle

the rise and fall of alan bond -

pride and prejudice - jane austen

crime and corroption - sam vaknin

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interesting - care to share what impact it had on your life ?

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Bangkok 8 by John Burdett.

Synopsis

SURREAL BANGKOK ...City of temples and brothels, where Buddhist monks in saffron robes walk the same streets as world-class gangsters, where bodies and souls are for sale or rent, and where the way you die may be more important than the way you live. Inside a locked Mercedes, an African-American Marine sergeant is killed by a maddened python and a swarm of cobras. Two cops - the only two in the city not on the take - arrive too late. Minutes later, only one is alive. Sworn to avenge the death of his partner and soul brother, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a fair-skinned Thai and a devout Buddhist, works his way through District 8. His tools are the forensic techniques of the modern police department; no less vital is his profound understanding of the mystical workings of the spirit world. Soon he is in a realm he has never before encountered: the moneyed underbelly of Bangkok, where desire rules and the human body is as custom-designable as a raw hunk of jade - and where Sonchai eventually tracks the killer, a predator of an even more sinister variety.

Certainly changed the way I look at BKK.

When I was about 10 I read Kon Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl and that was the beginnings of my love of the sea. even tried to emulate him, built a raft out of drums and bloody near drowned myself.

'Cold Mountain', the book is a must. The descriptions, evocations of life and use of language current in America at the time of the civil war envelope you as the writer immerses the reader in the 3 main characters. You really feel you are there, a sign of a good book.

I read a lot, but can't honestly say that many books have had a profound effect on my life rather than being simply entertaining. However, some that may have done so include, in no particular order:

Candide - Voltaire

1984 - George Orwell

The Alchemist - Paul Coelho

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

The Bible - Assorted Greeks, Jews, Romans, etdc etc etc

The entire series of 'Lensman' novels - E E 'Doc' Smith

Just about anything by Charles Dickens

And NOTHING WHATSOEVER by D H Lawrence.

I read a lot, but can't honestly say that many books have had a profound effect on my life rather than being simply entertaining.

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Ah.... I'm not alone....

totster

Oh yeah, then there was PLAYBOY ! (not a book, but wow ! The "articles" were stimulating !  )

This was my choice of books from my formative "adolescent" years!

In recent years, Private Dancer by Stephen Leather springs to mind. Read the download version from the website when I was a relative newbie in LOS. It definitely opened my eyes and probably saved me from ending up in a similar situation!

I read a lot, but can't honestly say that many books have had a profound effect on my life rather than being simply entertaining. However, some that may have done so include, in no particular order:

...

And NOTHING WHATSOEVER by D H Lawrence.

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Why?

  I only went out for lunch 

5 bottles of white wine between two of us and then a total blank.. 

It was probably blank before the 5 bottles of wine...

but what did you read that changed your thinking... your life?

What made you really think... about what you are now... and where you could be... and what or who you want to be?

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1. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Andrew Carnegie

2. Living Philosophies:A Series of Intimate Credos, by Albert Einstein et.al.

The former is fairly well known.

The second was a compilation of chapters, each written by prominent scientists, philosophers, writers, etc., of the 1920's and 1930's. Among them are Einstein, Sir James Jeans, Theodore Dreiser, etc.

They each wrote a chapter on their feelings, beliefs and thoughts about life, religion, politics, and so on.

It was a very enlightening read. It is one reason why I'm so fond of quoting Einstein, "The more I learn, the less I know."

"The Godfather"; man what a career.

Now still trying to understand what Kostolany says.

DUNE, I was in highschool. The idea of anticipating the future and looking to see that choices led to alternate futures is nothing significant really, but for me at that age it was a light bulb switched on. It help me to organize my life and to visualize my path. I began to recognize certain events as significant (or crossroads) as well as identifying events as tricks or traps. And it helped me to understand intrigue in real life, the book refered to it as "feints within feints".

The first memorable influences: Manchild in a Promised Land by Claude Brown, Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; made me want to become a writer.

Later:

Twain

Dickens

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Pablo Neruda

Slyvia Plath

Lousie Erdrich

Jean Genet

Gramsci

Manning Marable

Howard Zinn

Reading this thread, with so many of you in an "alien" culture, trying to figure out what's going on, I'd like to recommend "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night".  A story, a little bit of a mystery, from the point of view of an autistic boy.  Another perspective on the world around you - from a vantage other than yours.

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Agreed... read it last year and thought it was brilliant... Of course I´d just come of a stint teaching Mathematics to Matyiom 1 -3...

I am reading right now a book by Preston, R. called the Hot Zone.

Just thought I´d mention that.

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love quoting myself...

Just finished his factual The Hot Zone.... READ IT!

am now reading his first fictional novel, called the cobra event.... There is nothing like it out on the market. This may be considered a tip for the future, I have no doubt there will be threads about these books coming soon.

I read a lot, but can't honestly say that many books have had a profound effect on my life rather than being simply entertaining. However, some that may have done so include, in no particular order:

...

And NOTHING WHATSOEVER by D H Lawrence.

Why?

Maybe it's just me, but I find Lawrence heavily-worked and, frankly, turgid. He's not as bad as James Joyce, but I just can't get into anything he's written, no matter how hard I try. I have given 'The Rainbow' another crack recently, but still feel the same. Give me Thomas Hardy any day!

The first memorable influences:  Manchild in a Promised Land by Claude Brown, Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; made me want to become a writer.

Later:

Twain

Dickens

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Pablo Neruda

Slyvia Plath

Lousie Erdrich

Jean Genet

Gramsci

Manning Marable

Howard Zinn

Louise Erdrich writes incredible prose; she is my second favourite living writer when it comes to English prose, right after Arundhati Roy. Strangely enough she is not very well known.

MEDICINES.

By Parragon

why? because it explain more than 300 drugs, what they are and how they work. Drugs prescribed by your doctor. Over the counter medicined. Possibile side effects clearly explained.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank -- read in very early 60's when nuclear war was an ever-present possibility. Perhaps scared me enough to shape my permanent opposition to nuclear weapons.

Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein -- following the centuries-long life of Lazurus Long, with enough wisdom and quotes to guide anyone's life. Actually, just about any read by Heinlein is worth the time invested.

The Deadline by Tom DeMarco -- all about software projects and what to expect/anticipate. Set as a piece of fiction which makes it all the more interesting. Surprising how many vignettes of great management skills pop out of this piece.

Anything by Michael Chrichton, including his latest State of Fear.

Herman Hesse:

Steppenwolf - unavoidable human misery

Siddharta - the Prince's realization of himself and others from a boatman

both of these books have increased my awareness of humanity

Mr Nice by Howard Marks

Didnt have a big impact on my life but it is the only book of about 450 pages that i have read in one day!!!

Was working at a ski resort called 'Whistler' many moons ago- but the snow came 2 months late. Friend gave me 'Lord of the rings' all in one volume, from the Hobbit to the end. The time flew by and Tolkien started my interest in reading again from that day forward (up till then, hadn't picked up a book since Uni) . Nowadays, mostly like biographies or books based around historical fact from any country.

Mr Nice by Howard Marks

Didnt have a big impact on my life but it is the only book of about 450 pages that i have read in one day!!!

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Now that is an excellent book....!

totster

I do love a good book to escape into sometimes. My favourites have been:

Shogun

The Cat From Hue

Chickenhawk

Animal Farm

Marabou Stalk Nightmares

High Society

Once a Warrior King

Porno

Filth

The Things They Carried

Papillion

King Rat

"How To Talk To A Liberal, If You Must" - Ann Coulter