Can books change your life, and which ones?

[Adele Ward]

I know some books changed my life although I'm not sure many I read nowadays can. Although I don't like D H Lawrence now, I know his nonconformist female characters who ran off on their own to Italy led to me doing the same thing years later. Some authors were really inspirational and life changing like that. Some change my life in more specific ways. Lisa Genova's more recent book Still Alice completely changed my view of Alzheimers and how I will feel if I get it, or if somebody close to me does. Have books changed your life or your views, and do you believe books can have this effect?

[Todd Trumpet]

There was a (non-fiction) book that "changed my life", in that it changed the way I viewed the world:



"AIN'T NOBODY'S BUSINESS IF YOU DO" by Peter McWilliams.

While a fairly thick book, with many different examples, it all boils down to just one principle:

(to paraphrase)  You should have the right to do anything you want as long as it doesn't hurt the person or property of another.

This one simple principle became the only yardstick I needed to measure what had before been seemingly complex and contradictory issues.

I use it to this day.

Todd

[AnitaBartholomew]

I can't begin to list the books that have changed my perspective--which, I guess, means they changed my life. But, despite my reading more fiction than non, the life-changing books, in my life, have been mostly non-fiction.

The one exception that comes to mind is The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. I was young and naive at the time I read it, and what hadn't dawned on me prior to that was that religious fundamentalism could radically change the future of western society.

(Like I said, young and naive).

Anita

[Adele Ward]

I really must read The Handmaid's Tale. It's such a pity it's not available on Kindle in the UK. I'm so enjoying decluttering my home and only buying books for Kindle. I hadn't thought about nonfiction, so that's interesting too. I'm suddenly reminded I loved Siddharta by Hermann Hesse and want to read it again. I know it's on Project Gutenberg, although I don't mind buying books to get what I want. Another book I keep meaning to read is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. A quote from it has been enough to make a difference in my life. Many years ago somebody quoted part of it where the author says little things in our lives can be irritating us and just fixing them makes a huge difference - the example quoted was a dripping tap and how we can put up with being irritated by it, whereas fixing it is easy and makes us so much happier. I keep remembering that when I'm putting up with irritations and have the belief things can be improved a tiny step at a time, even when problems seem overwhelming.

[Adele Ward]

The funny thing, now that people have mentioned nonfiction, is that I can't remember a self help book every helping me with my life in any way. I used to be tempted to buy so many of them in my early twenties, thinking I'd find the secret to how I was and how I could improve my life in various ways. None of them ever gave me a clue as to how I could do that. They were all a massive disappointment and they all promised so much. I suppose there's an upsurge of these as ebooks now too.

[Fantasm08]

I think a book can definitely change your life. A book like Everything Bad is Good for You seriously changed how I view concepts such as intelligence and the cause/effect relationship between people and their media.

[Kimberly Llewellyn]

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale has stuck with me for decades. It is haunting, poetic, and truly terrifying...especially if our world ever turned out the way she portrayed when she asked the question, What if? in that story. I met her once and was awestruck. That book really changes you.

[Nancy Beck]

Hmm...I think I just recently bought one.

I've been on a self-help ebook kick lately, and altho one that (I think) is self pubbed was in the running (it still has some good ideas and exercises), the one that is already beginning to help me is called Reality Creation 101:



I can't say enough good things about this ebook. Nicely formatted, and the author is very down to earth about his chequered past and how he turned it around using this reality creation stuff. Lots of ideas and exercises to put what he says into practice.

Let's just say the reason why I think this particular one is going to change my life in a huge way is because of something that I (unexpectedly) found out about this morning; plus, I'm on track to take care of something hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles (finally!).

I'm purposefully being mysterious about this because I want to pay attention to what I do want as opposed to what I don't want (one of the many tenets he espouses).

[Adele Ward]

Perhaps these self help books are getting better....

I really must read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I keep having it recommended and it sounds like just my thing. I'm so annoyed it's not available for the Kindle in the UK. I'm going to click the button to say I want one!

[flipside]

Yep. It depends on the right time and the right book.

As a teen, I was swayed by Terry Brook's Shanarra series, especially the concept of the Sword of Truth. Lots of self-deception going around.

[Bethany B.]

Hummm. Can't say that I've had that happen. When I was a teen I read a number of books that shaped me but I still wouldn't say they changed my life. I mean, if you really mean a changed life then that means the way you conduct yourself and your life was altered in some physical way right? You're not just talking about how we view things right? This isn't meant to be taken as a smart remark. Just trying to clarify.

[Adele Ward]

I think all the small ways books change us probably do change our lives too because they help us become who we are. I read so much as a little girl that I think I was far more influenced by authors than by my family and friends. But this could be an accumulation of things rather than one big life-changing event caused by a book. People here who are writers might also feel more influenced by authors they admire rather than by their family. So books can really shape us. But sometimes it's little things that stick - just single ideas. The dripping tap in the Zen book that always reminds me how big a difference it would make to my life to get up and fix things rather than putting up with them nagging away. Sometimes it's the tiny things that change our lives.

[rubymatthewserotica]

Autobiography of a Yogi changed my life.  But then again, it's a spiritual book, so I hoped it would.

[liafairchild]

What a coincidence to see this posting. I had the same question and decided to make a feature for readers to talk about. The first one posted a few days ago on Quickie Book Reviews (www.quickiebookreviews.com) Thomas Amo talks about how Don't Fear the Reaper changed his life.

If you scroll to the bottom there is a link to sign up for your own "This Book Changed My Life" feature.

Lia

[Beatriz]

I know some books changed my life although I'm not sure many I read nowadays can. Although I don't like D H Lawrence now, I know his nonconformist female characters who ran off on their own to Italy led to me doing the same thing years later. Some authors were really inspirational and life changing like that. Some change my life in more specific ways. Lisa Genova's more recent book Still Alice completely changed my view of Alzheimers and how I will feel if I get it, or if somebody close to me does. Have books changed your life or your views, and do you believe books can have this effect?

Books can definitely change your life.  "Angela's Ashes" by the great Frank McCourt changed mine.

[Adele Ward]

Oh yes, Frank McCourt is great. I love Irish authors. I also agree about the spiritual books. I do read books about Buddhism, Zen and Meditation. I have one on my To Be Read shelf (from my pre-kindle days).

[Jon Olson]

The funny thing, now that people have mentioned nonfiction, is that I can't remember a self help book every helping me with my life in any way. I used to be tempted to buy so many of them in my early twenties, thinking I'd find the secret to how I was and how I could improve my life in various ways. None of them ever gave me a clue as to how I could do that. They were all a massive disappointment and they all promised so much. I suppose there's an upsurge of these as ebooks now too.

Yeah, I agree with this. "Instruction" turns me off. But a voice or a worldview, such as fiction delivers, can change me.

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

So many books...

Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot:  Convinced me I wanted to be a writer
Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Shook me out of a depression while I was in college and changed my outlook on life.
William Lutz's Doublespeak:  taught me how to read between the lines and see what is really being said, instead of what people want me to think is being said
Joseph Campbell's...well...just about everything he ever wrote:  sparked my interest in comparative mythology and religion

[Adele Ward]

Wow, Bards and Sages. It's so interesting which books you chose and how they each had such a dramatic effect. I hadn't thought about the books that make us want to be writers. I know some make me envious, some some really well written passages in some Martin Amis books like The Information. But it's a good sort of envy. I wish I'd thought of some of the descriptions and even the jokes. It's great if a book could shake you out of depression.

And to the comment about fiction being better than the self-help books. Yes, I suppose it can be although it sounds like there are some good ones. I do also like nonfiction though, just not usually he self-help books any more.

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

It's great if a book could shake you out of depression.

With Incidents, it was the right book at the right time.  It was my first year of college.  I was working full time, going to school full time, and dealing with parents who thought the reason why I was going to college was to find a husband (they have since evolved in their thought processes).  I had hit the proverbial wall and was ready to drop out.  I was in counseling and the counselor wanted to prescribe anti-depressants.  I read the book during a class on African American literature.  It was like someone hit me with a lightning bolt.  You get a certain perspective after reading about how a woman spent seven years living in a crawlspace to escape slavery.  You realize what others have survived and look at your own condition differently. 

I have always been a believer that we meet the people we need to meet when we need to meet them.  At that time, I needed to meet Harriet I suppose you could say.

[E. S. Lark]

Most of the books I've read have changed my perspective in one way or another. But the ones that I feel did it best were:

Lucky by Alice Sebold (memoir)
The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey (fantasy)
Wild Ink by Victoria Hanley (writing how-to book)
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card (how-to)

In fact, the piece by Orson Scott Card was my first real writing book, and even though I have multiple tomes on the subject, I always seem to go back to it. There are many more, but these are what I feel have changed me the most as a person, a reader and a writer.

[Adele Ward]

That's quite a story, Bards and Sages. It's quite different reading that book rather than having people say 'Think of people worse off than you'. They say this is why people liked the miserable stories in Victorian realism - they made you realise your life wasn't so bad! It sounds like a powerful book.

You made me smile with your story about your parents too. Whatever I said I was going to do, either at university or as a career, my parents felt men wouldn't marry women who were intellectuals or had a career. They even used to say each career I named meant the women who did well in it were lesbians or I would become lesbian. It didn't stop me, but how funny their generation was and how things have (hopefully) changed.

The final selection also shows the varied selection that can change our perspective.

I hadn't thought about books about writing, and that's interesting.

[Ann Herrick]

I found Miss Manners book on Excruiatingly Correct Behavior (or whatever the exact title) to be empowering. To realize that being polite does not mean you have to be "nice" or passive or a wimp or doormat, it just means you have to be polite!  The book is very funny and has tons of topics and examples, and I really feel I can easily handle most any situation ever since I read that book. 

[wdeen]

2001: A Space Odyssey Read it in 6th grade and been a scifi fan ever since.

[QuantumIguana]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy