We asked our regular contributors through e-mail What book have you read that has forever changed the way you view or live life? We got many interesting responses. Here are some of them. We have just copied and pasted their responses, not editing them in any way.
1. Introduction to Linear Algebra.
After the first chapter, I decided I was going to law school.
– callyjohnwell
2. The Count of Monte Cristo. I have no idea what it did to me but after I finished it I knew I was no longer the same person.
– Courbet1Shakes0
3. Man’s Search for Meaning.
“…everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” -Viktor E. Frankl
In my opinion, it is a must-read.
– EverGreatestxX
4. I read The Phantom Tollbooth at a young age & it changed the way I viewed the world.
One of my favorite quotes from the book: “So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible.”
– KitsuneGao
5. 1984.
– InterstellarPancakes
6. Ender’s game. Summed up, it’s not about winning, it’s the way we win.
– KarrostheDecapitator
7. Dune. The pragmatism is real. It cuts through politics and religion like a hot knife through butter. It’s like reading The Prince but applied to a very cool and original sci-fi world.
– SatanTheTranquil
8. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. Jeez, it’s such a weird-but-in-a-good-way book that really makes you reflect on morality.
– oteudeuss
9. Of Mice and Men… seriously scarring but effective.
– cloutiaaa
10. The Giver
I remember reading that book in 6th or 7th grade and just being blown away. I had never experienced a book like that before and it really had a huge impact on me. I’d add I Am The Cheese along with it.
– eDgAR-
I would add Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan. It poetically puts a different perspective on the universe.
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”