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What is a book that has been important in the development of your worldview?

I know that many of us are on here because we don't like a book telling us how to think, but books are still important ways to share ideas and spark conversations. I think that the paths to thinking a certain way are many, and I'm curious to know what that journey has been like for you.

Wombat1624 4 Aug 30
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53 comments

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Letter To A Christian Nation by Sam Harris is one of my go-to books when talking to religious people.

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Wow, ill try to narrow it down to just a few.

Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. If you have not read this, please please do so.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirzig

The Demon Haunted World, by Carl Sagan

Tao of Jeet Kune Do, by Bruce Lee

Universe, Earth and Atom, by Alan Nourse

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“The Science of Discworld” V1-4 by Sir Terry Pratchett (STP). Covered human history, science, literature, and religion better than any other text I know of. With the possible exception of “Systemantics” by Gall. It explains systems somewhat more succinctly than TSOD, But not by much.

This looks like an awesome book series. Sounds funny deep and informative I'm going to have to read it thank you for the listing.

0

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Book by Mary Roach
Made me realize our expensive religious rituals are stupid and inpired me to donate entire body to science when the time comes.

1

there have been so many, so VERY many. i don't think one book changed my WHOLE world view, but many books changed many parts of it. a spaniard in the works and in his own write changed my view of writing itself, which is important as i am a writer. stranger in a strange land was seminal. if i listed them all the computer would explode.

g

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"A Generation of Vipers" by Philip Wylie, and "Invitation to Philosophy: Issues and Options" by (if I remember correctly (Honer and Hunt).

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Atlas Shrugged

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The Revolt of The Angels by Anatole France

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The two books that did it for me; WHERE EVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE
by Jon Kabot-Zinn,

                                                                                                            THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF SUCCESS
                                                                                                            by Deepak Chopra            

I would enjoy healthy discussions with all who relate. I am also a GEORGE CARLIN deciple.
If I ever had a god it would have to be George.

Remember, the gods all died laughing!!!!!

RE Coyote

0

The Female Eunoch by Germaine Greer
and Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein

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Philip Slater~ "The Pursuit of Loneliness"

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Robert Heinlein ...Stranger in a Strange Land

2

The Grapes of Wrath.

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Most of the ones I've read. Though learning about the Kardashev Scale via Michio Kaku has influenced me. Also Kahlil Gibrans many books. And the sensitive dependence on initial conditions thought process from Chaos is a big one that helps. Though I am fond of Alyosha The Pot too.

2

Wow, this is like asking me about my favorite glass of water. I cannot narrow it down well but I will say that "On the Origin of Species" by Darwin was great AND it sparked a revolution of countless other great books.

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I would say the first proper book I read had the most effect. Not because of it's content or story, it was The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but because it opened up the idea of reading. I never read anything in my own time and only read what I had to at school to get me by. John Wyndham opened up a universe of wonder.

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Waaaay too many to enumerate. i know my writing style was more influenced by john lennon's books than by books i consider better written than those; i can't help it. they influenced me. but my worldview, apart from my writing style? hmm. maybe... oh gosh, i could list hundreds. before my eyes went bad i used to read an awful lot. i wish i still could. be that as it may, here are a few... or a few dozen... let's see how far i get before i have to stop myself. in no particular order: cancer ward and pretty much anything else by aleksandr solzhenitsyn, edith hamilton's greek mythology, cry the beloved country by alan paton, the danny kaye around the world story book, stranger in a strange land and pretty much anything else by robert a heinlein, the manchurian candidate, gentleman's agreement, the works of harlan ellison but in particular the glass teat and the other glass teat, all the books i could get my hands on by elie wiesel, elizabeth foreman lewis, chaim potok, stephen becker, charles dickens, thomas hardy, fyodr dostoevsky, primo levi, joanna russ (omg everyone go read all of her nonfiction, not that her fiction isn't wonderful, but her nonfiction is amazing), antoine de saint-exupéry (and pardon me if i have misspelled him), louisa may alcott, robert louis stevenson, mark twain, j d salinger, even albert payson terhune, though thankfully i did not adopt his racism, nevil shute, laurens van der post, desmond morris, robert graves, edward eager, maya angelou, ogden nash, robert lowell, john berryman, i am leaving out a boatload of important influences for sure but these came off the top of my head. oh, lewis carroll and edward lear. nonsense influenced me an awful lot, which is why lennon made such an impression, and that reminds me i should add s j perelman and h h munro to that mix. okay i'll stop but there are so many more....

g

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Atheism the case against god

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Probably have to say Anarchist Morality by Peter Kropotkin. I rarely quote it anymore but it lead me down a long path and many of the others that influenced me greatly I may never have read if it wasn't for this book.

Fredy Perlman's Against His-Story - Against Leviathan, a Jaques Ellul's The Technological Society are both in my top 3 as well.

2

At the risk of dating myself a good place for me to start would be 1984, heart of darkness,catch 22. Books like that.

1

Marcus Aurelius Meditations

@maturin1919 That would be me

1

The God Delusion
Cosmos
God Is Not Great
The Brothers Karamazov

1

Book: Fahrenheit 451

Comic book: V For Vendetta

I've always been fascinated about stories of totalitarian regimes and the societal effects brought with. The wondering how people could allow it, how even with so much history we can easily forget and repeat.

1

Dune. Confirmed, not developed.

Very high on my list, too.

1

The Immense Journey, by Loren Eiseley, for its natural history.

The Golden Ass, by Apulius, for its irreverence.

The Rievers, by William Faulkner, for its young protagonist who stole a car, jockeyed a race horse, and got cut up in a knife fight in a whore house all before his tenth birthday. And for his genuine remorse and the compassion he was shown by his grandfather, the owner of the car.

Siddhartha, by Herman Hess, for its commentary in the world of the possible.

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, for its look at greed and obsession.

The Golden Shore, by Patrick O'brien, for its tale of perseverance and resourcefulness in the face of extreme privation and suffering.

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