Life enhancing books

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Mon, 2003-10-06 21:20

I just wanted to point this out. Sometimes there are books that can help to change your life, or change the way you think, or see the world. That, I think, is one of the great things about books, the fact that that can be possible. Some years ago, when, like most people do I guess, I was going through a very difficult time, this book made a great deal of sense to me:

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki

At the time I'd never considered Zen, or anything like it, but I found this book absorbing. It is so simply written, so full of wisdom, and so clear in its understanding.

It strikes me, looking at some of the content on the general discussion, that there is a need for many of us to let go of things, unbind ourselves, liberate ourselves from the negative. Maybe books like this can help.

Mon, 2003-10-06 22:18

d.beswetherick

Books that had a life-changing effect on me: Steppenwolf. Herman Hesse. Dharma Bums. Jack Kerouac. The Age of Reason. Jean-Paul Sartre. d.beswetherick. [%sig%]

Tue, 2003-10-07 10:11

andrew pack

I have fears of Paul Coelho turning up here... I would put down Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck, which Karl put me onto. Captures the spirit and vitality of ordinary people and shows how everyone has a story. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, which is an account by someone who was there of Scott's fateful mission to the Antarctic. Unbelievably uplifting, though bleak.

Tue, 2003-10-07 14:58

Rachel

Not a great classic but a few years ago my dad and my best mate died within a week of each other. Shortly afterwards I read Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver and it made me look at death in a very different way and, although I only read it once and never felt the need to go back to it, it helped immensely.

Tue, 2003-10-07 20:38

Tollam

A very simple little book but life changing nonetheless, Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now by Maya Angelou. Not as showy or well known as the 'Caged Bird... but full of truths and anecdotes which, though on the surface seem far removed from our own lives, actually have a quiet and powerful resonance and relevance on how we live and the paths we choose to take. Thought provoking stuff. [%sig%]

Wed, 2003-10-15 15:54

d.beswetherick

How did the A-Z of London change your life? I'm just interested. d.beswetherick.

Thu, 2003-10-16 17:45

Tony Cook

Steppenwolf as a 15 year old most definitely - I gave it to all my children on their 15th birthdays. It teaches you that all is not in black and white. In the Shadow Of A Saint by Ken Wiwa when my Dad died. Not that my Dad was a saint - anything but - but he was very absent from my life and this book helped me enormously.

Thu, 2003-10-16 19:47

d.beswetherick

Yes, I was about seventeen when I read Steppenwolf. I thought, with adolescent self-centredness, that I was reading about me. d.beswetherick.

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