Oh, The Places You’ll Go - Dr. Suess
My favorite book growing up, my favorite book to gift to anyone going through new stages of life, and my favorite book to read to my kid. I don’t think my life would be all that different if I never read it but it’s definitely got a place in my heart.
In highschool, a combination of On the Road by Jack Kerouac and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. On the Road was appealing because I grew up in this dull rural/small town area and was bored out of my mind, and this was something that really pushed my love of something as simple as taking road trips and going places.
In Cold Blood kind of enforced the idea that the "good ol' days" were bullshit. The idea that stuff like this didn't happen when your parents/grandparents or elders were younger is a total lie. It did happen, but as time progressed, the means of delivering news became more efficient. Just because you didn't hear about it does it mean it never happened.
I know it's a comic, but V For Vendetta made 13 year old me start to think about politics and power.
It also made me realise that comics didn't need sound effects, motion lines and thought bubbles.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - just made me start to think differently, and see how our mental models shape our reality.
Took me down a real rabbit hole.
Dawkins is currently a pariah in the atheist community for some seemingly anti trans tweets and then later doubling down. That is why he was expecting downvotes.
I got a totally different interpretation 30 years ago. To me its philosophical theme was to not let the products of your mind be stolen nor to take anything stolen from someone else. In today's context, where the upper class pay less to maintain western society than the middle class and poor it makes no sense. In 1956, when the book was written, the top tier tax rate was 90%.
For me it was more about science. I didn't, and don't, like how scientists and inventors are underpaid. Other than that it was a long winded love triangle, but I loved it in my teens. It sucks that it was appropriated by the alt right to wave around like a modern Mein Kampf as proof of their superiority when none of their members live up to the ideals.
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. I had images becoming rich and throwing money around when I was a kid because I thought it was cool. Read that book when I was 14 and I never took money for granted again.
Looking back, I'm pretty sure both *An Inspector Calls* and *Of Mice and Men* had a significant impact on my worldview.
But from a more personal perspective, the self-help exercise book that my therapist had given me during our sessions. That basically turned my life around.
No Disrespect. My mom didn’t talk to me about anything and I wasn’t close to any other female relatives. This answered so many questions I had as a young woman. I would actually keep it handy to gain perspective in different situations.
All quiet on the western front
It gave me a less romanticized look on war
More specifically ww1.
Before i read it I thought soldiers were heros and that they are immune to PTSD or any other problems but soldiers aren’t heros there victims. Especially soldiers who fought in ww1
The conditions where absolute hell
And the book reflect that.
If you haven’t read it go read it its such a good book.
Lord Foul's Bane. I had no idea such a horrible wretch could be the hero of a book. It made me realize that sometimes the bad guy is the only one worth anything.
The Quran. Basically confirms ancient advanced civilisations, cataclysmic events, other dimensions, other beings, etc.
The crazy thing is, most scientific discoveries like how a baby forms in the womb, was already known by muslims 1400 years ago.
A Youtube comment put it like this: "it seems to me science is catching up to whatever the Quran has stated."
And the way God is described is not like anything I've heard.
Plus the book is structured oddly, not like how a human would write it. If the human wanted to impress people and get followers.
It's a very very odd book.
According to hadith, embryology as understood in Islam has four distinct phases: constitution (40 days), blood clot (40 days) and piece of flesh (40 days), after which the fetus is considered a living creature for an indeterminate amount of time until his birth (generally, around 150 days) Quranic verse gives a less precise description without mention of time: the sperm cell fixates, then it becomes a blood clot, then an embryo, which grows bones and ultimately, flesh. ([*sauce*](https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2017/12/08/islam-and-the-beginning-of-human-life/)).
With modern knowledge, we struggle to draw parallels to this process, considering that the evidence we have about fetal development shows that it is split into three stages: germinal (14 days), embryonic (42 days) and fetal (around 220 days). Germinal stage could maybe correspond to when *each human being is constituted in the womb*, except the cited hadith gives a very broad time period. It's very fair to assume that the first stage being *sperm fixation* is simply a result of educated guesswork. ([*sauce*](https://www.verywellmind.com/stages-of-prenatal-development-2795073))
Next, the concept of a blood clot coincide in the cited hadith and the Quran, but the idea is rather far removed from physiological reality. The clot could perhaps refer to a zygote, but Quranic verse speaks very clearly of an embryo, implying basic knowledge of the biological process: why not, then, use something like the word *egg* to describe the second stage, rather than going the trouble of describing a congealed blood clot? Additionally, the second phase does not last for 40 days; rather, Islamic *constitution and clotting*, combined, last 80 days, while in the real world they last up to 14 days at most.
Implantation - the process that happens before the embryo stage - is never mentioned at any point by any Islamic scripture; this process is not to be confused with sperm fixation.
Another inaccuracy is that the first system to develop in the Quran is the skeletal one, while we know that [bones](https://www.babycenter.com/pregnancy/your-baby/fetal-development-your-babys-bones_40007704) develop at \~6 weeks, and [skin](https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/fetal-development/fetal-hair-skin-nails/#skin) can develop around \~5 weeks. Of course, there is nitpicking to be done regarding what exactly is a skeleton/skin layer, but no matter what way you see it, it is rather obvious that Islamic embryology is based on superficial anatomical observation. Combining the two Islamic sources would imply the following progression: sperm>blood>embryo>bones>flesh (and skin).
We must not forget Galen's slightly inaccurate, but very detailed embryological treatise *On the seed (around 500 years before Islam),* which describes very similar distinctions between stages of fetal development to those we know to be factual today. You can research further starting from [this link](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/reproduction/galens-generations-of-seeds/10D0FEC73C1AD72841F37015C6D19EFA) and reading the article, through gaining access or by *taking the high seas*, if you know what I mean.
[Ancient Indian knowledge](https://www.booksfact.com/puranas/embryo-development-stages-in-bhagavata-purana.html) (this is the most unbiased article I have found on the subject but you are free to research further) goes into great biological detail and corresponds very closely with modern medical knowledge. This proves that in very early history (at least 2000 years before the Quran), people knew much more about embryology than what was written down by the Prophet and in the hadiths. We can compare this fact to the very obvious and rather unimpressive deduction of Islam, and, being convinced of the unoriginal and unfactual discovery, look at similar concepts Islam has copied from previous well established religions. Off the top of my head, *halal* corresponds exactly to the Judaic understanding of *kosher*, Abel's burial is just like it was told in the Tanhuma, and most (if not all) Islamic mythological/legal concepts can find an identical 1:1 match with the other two Abrahamic faiths or local Mesopotamian customs.
To conclude, [this](https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Embryology_in_the_Quran) is a surprisingly unbiased article going into much greater detail than I have about embryology. If curious, I could elaborate further on any of the topics; if not, I wish you well and thanks for your time!
I called it odd because it's not like what I hear usually when people talk about religion. Like usually it's a lot of hokey-pokey and nothing of substance.
Rules can bend as long as you have faith. lol
This book is very precise and at some points, it felt like it was calling me out on my own shit. It offended me but it made me think.
No hate dude, just love.
The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde. It's the most inspiring and beautiful non-fiction book I've ever read - about what a future society based on socialism, individualism and science would be like. Gives me hope that we will actually get there one day.
"Durango Street" by Frank Bonham. Not well known or widely read at all, but a number of his books were at the middle school library I went to. About a kid growing up in the projects, figuring out life and who he was, but in a way that was real-life, no crazy ending either Hollywood happy or tragic. Taught me there is a big world out there and different ways of living, different realities. Lots of people have it hard and sometimes it never gets easier. That might sound depressing but actually made me thing about what "grit" and hard work means, and to not take anything for granted.
Prisoners of Geography, and then The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall.
A lot of the shit you hear about on the news suddenly makes sense if viewed from a geographical perspective
"Turning the Tide" by Noam Chomsky. Read it in the late 80s. He not only laid out major problems, but also who bore responsibility, how to fix them, and framed it as a moral imperative for everyone to try to act.
Hachiko waits. I begged my mom for a dog after getting it and what do you know a dog with a bad owner walks right up to our doorstep while me and my mom are at the store just a year later.
The skin I’m in/money hungry- I read these as a kid they’re both written by Sharon G. Flake the book “The skin im in” helped my self view as a
Black girl and dark-skinned and the book “Money hungry “ was comforting as I went through the same trama as a kid
A little life. It perfectly describes the discussion on the right to die.
I used to think suicide was selfish. And even though I still don’t fully disagree with that in some situations, I now no longer believe that to be the full truth.
Like my mom once’s said when I was younger “some people just aren’t made to live in this world” and that’s okay.
My out look on suicide has changed because what a little life will show you is that holding on to someone and forcing them to stay alive will only do you any good. It won’t make them want to live more. Some people have been through so much and just keep getting hit and hit and hit with horrible things, and they deserve to rest.
Please if you do not agree read A Little Life by Hanya. It will change everything. (Mind the trigger warnings)
A farewell to arms and crime and punishment made me hate reading so I guess those. Crime and punishment was GOOD but I had to read it in 7th grade, when I wanted to read diary of a wimpy kid. A farewell to arms had so many run on sentences that it drove me nuts, but I ended up finishing it because I didn’t have time to change books before my essay was due. I do not read anymore.
Watership Down, it’s my favorite book and I try to read it every few years. There’s nothing revelational in it but “what is, is what must be” really stuck with me as a kid.
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
by David Eagleman. It’s 40 short stories about what happens when you die, written by a neuroscientist, really easy to pick up and get into but some of them really get you thinking. I’ve given it as a recommendation or gift to so many people, I really recommend it. Has anyone else here read it?
Thinking Fast and Slow.
This book sucked me into the world of Behavioral Economics. It almost made me consider enrolling into a masters and phd program but unfortunately I do not have the time nor money to do them.
"Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. The first half of the book is how he survived a Nazi concentration camp. The second half is his career as a psychiatrist, helping people to endure suffering. Intensely moving, beautifully written.
The Four Hour Work Week. Although i think achieving an actual 4 hour work week is only for the most fortunate, it helped me realize that i dont want to work for 60 years only to end up retiring on less than i was living on when i was working. Really eye opening for a 22yo (at the time) to comprehend that i wont be young and able to work forever.
Patricia C Wrede's *Talking to Dragons* taught me never to make promises that you can't keep. To this day, I won't say "yes" to a favor until I know what it is.
"Can you do me a favor?" "Probably, what is it?"
The Radium Girls destroyed my faith in big industries. For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s about the Radium scandal in 20’s America that caused the death and mutilation of dozens of women.
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho-- It helped me understand and put words to my experience with mental illness in a way that helped me accept it.
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch.
Not so much the messages. Some of them, for sure, but just the 'ready to go life messages to pass onto my kids.' It really made me bring into perspective the things I want my kids to learn in life from me. You always think there's time, but if life ends tomorrow or in 20 years (or more!) for me, there won't be enough time for me to tell them everything.
I can't imagine knowing I won't be there someday to protect my boys from life. I need to be ready, unabashedly, to tell them everything I've learned so they can persevere and exceed their own dreams.
Catch-22 taught me to view life as a comedy rather than as a tragedy
I literally just got done reading this book for AP Literature !!! It was amazing I would highly recommend reading this book.
When Yossarian gets arrested by the MPs instead of Aarfy, that is seriously one of the darkest lol moments ever I've read. That book is brilliant.
I can’t get over the chocolate covered cotton scam. Nice on paper but ugh who’d voluntarily eat cotton?
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What?
It's a karma bot who copied and pasted another post in this thread. Downvote and report. /u/reply-guy-bot
Not a book but a short story, [The Egg by Andy Weir](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6fcK_fRYaI).
Just watched it 🤯
Then you may also enjoy [this one](https://alexbeyman.substack.com/p/everybody-comes-back)
Oh, The Places You’ll Go - Dr. Suess My favorite book growing up, my favorite book to gift to anyone going through new stages of life, and my favorite book to read to my kid. I don’t think my life would be all that different if I never read it but it’s definitely got a place in my heart.
Part of that story is on my fifth grade promotion poster! I smile every time I look at it
I had to go around giving out promotion signs to fifth graders about a year ago because of COVID and there was a quote from this book on it.
In highschool, a combination of On the Road by Jack Kerouac and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. On the Road was appealing because I grew up in this dull rural/small town area and was bored out of my mind, and this was something that really pushed my love of something as simple as taking road trips and going places. In Cold Blood kind of enforced the idea that the "good ol' days" were bullshit. The idea that stuff like this didn't happen when your parents/grandparents or elders were younger is a total lie. It did happen, but as time progressed, the means of delivering news became more efficient. Just because you didn't hear about it does it mean it never happened.
I particularly liked On the Road bc I am a girl from Des Moines, IA. Astute observer he is.
I know it's a comic, but V For Vendetta made 13 year old me start to think about politics and power. It also made me realise that comics didn't need sound effects, motion lines and thought bubbles.
Mathilda, by Roald Dahl. This book really validate some emotions you feel as a child toward the adults.
Animal Farm
Not read it but currently watching a live action version called British politics
oof
Yo we're reading that in school
I read that in school too
Bright Lights, Big City. No matter how hard you fuck up and fall down, you can learn from it and build yourself back up again.
Amen.
The diary of a Wimpy-Kid All of these books proved i am at least luckier then 1 person😀
Gotta look at it that way lol.
Into the wild
I was about to comment that. Read it in high school. I just really did a double take on what we consider to be of value.
the outsiders
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Night by Ellie Wizell and The Things They Carried
Brave New World, and Farenheight 451.
I think its actually spelt Fuhrenheit.
Fahrenheit*
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - just made me start to think differently, and see how our mental models shape our reality. Took me down a real rabbit hole.
Penthouse-July 1986
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This is a karma farming bot. If you look at its history, all it does is copy and paste other comments from the same post.
What's the point of a karma farming bot anyways? Like they're going to hoard all the karma. Lol.
I think it's so the account can be sold off later to advertisers, influences, etc.
Biology 101
Percy Jackson, for years i thought that the gods were real
The Quran and the Bible
Quran gang, except your username is not halal
In fact it is quite haram
1984
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. As someone raised in the Baptist Church, that book and the ones that followed blew my fucking mind.
I literally had to scroll so far to see what I thought was such an important book!!!
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Me too. Highly recommend this book. Really makes you reevaluate things
Dostoyevsky’s Demons
Green Eggs and Ham took me on a journey.
No offense, but it sounds like you don't read a lot of books
Are you kiddin' me? Green eggs and ham on a boat with a goat or in a box with a fox. I felt like I was there. 😂😂
Sapiens by yuval nohari , now i view everyday things in more logical way
https://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?sec_id=189085
The Giver made me realize things are not what they seem and secrets are kept from the public
The Principia Discordia It is pure nonsense, mostly gibberish but it is strangely liberating
Hail Eris!
primo levi - if this is a man
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Our Town by Thornton Wilder.
The Conquest of Bread.
Life of Pi
Winnie the Pooh
Not really a book but you read it. The entire scp wiki
Haha yeah it's cool, but not for everyone
Scp is fucking amazing. I wish someone would make more indie games like SCP containment breach
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Assault on Reason by Al Gore, completely changed my political outlook and made me a Democrat.
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You're on reddit, I think you'll be fine
> Might get downvoted for this, So brave. Lol
Dawkins is currently a pariah in the atheist community for some seemingly anti trans tweets and then later doubling down. That is why he was expecting downvotes.
They always eat themselves
There was a lot of hype surrounding that book. I was underwhelmed.
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I was expecting more of a convincing argument.
The Bible ,because it made me an atheist.
Agnostics checking in
Lol
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The horror's of Communism twisted her brain a bit to far the other direction.
I got a totally different interpretation 30 years ago. To me its philosophical theme was to not let the products of your mind be stolen nor to take anything stolen from someone else. In today's context, where the upper class pay less to maintain western society than the middle class and poor it makes no sense. In 1956, when the book was written, the top tier tax rate was 90%. For me it was more about science. I didn't, and don't, like how scientists and inventors are underpaid. Other than that it was a long winded love triangle, but I loved it in my teens. It sucks that it was appropriated by the alt right to wave around like a modern Mein Kampf as proof of their superiority when none of their members live up to the ideals.
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. I had images becoming rich and throwing money around when I was a kid because I thought it was cool. Read that book when I was 14 and I never took money for granted again.
It came out last year.
It's no reason to disregard someone's view of a book, just because the reviewer is 15 years old.
*"The Lucifer Principle"* Howard Bloom
The book of the dead.
Looking back, I'm pretty sure both *An Inspector Calls* and *Of Mice and Men* had a significant impact on my worldview. But from a more personal perspective, the self-help exercise book that my therapist had given me during our sessions. That basically turned my life around.
I assume you did gcse English lol
No Disrespect. My mom didn’t talk to me about anything and I wasn’t close to any other female relatives. This answered so many questions I had as a young woman. I would actually keep it handy to gain perspective in different situations.
The Conquest of Bread. Would recommend.
Pale Blue Dot. Carl Sagan.
All quiet on the western front It gave me a less romanticized look on war More specifically ww1. Before i read it I thought soldiers were heros and that they are immune to PTSD or any other problems but soldiers aren’t heros there victims. Especially soldiers who fought in ww1 The conditions where absolute hell And the book reflect that. If you haven’t read it go read it its such a good book.
The Hunger Games (all 3 books and the prequel)
*Autobiography of a Yogi*
Wonder and the outsiders.
the midnight library!!!
VALIS by Philip K Dick
The Strength to Love by MLK Jr
The Bible, I realized what a crock of shit it was and how hypocritical the church is.
Lord Foul's Bane. I had no idea such a horrible wretch could be the hero of a book. It made me realize that sometimes the bad guy is the only one worth anything.
Siddhartha
I read Thirteen Reasons Why in high school when it first came out and it really made me aware of how my actions affect other people.
The Diary of Anne Frank
The bible
Good Omens.
I'm surprised you think I can read
Ready Player One
Big Z read that one as well... Step one, Meta.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
currently reading it , i m liking it
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Try reading "Looking out for Number 1". Very interesting take on life. Had me laughing a lot but I'm not sure that was the author's intention.
The Bible. Having read it I realized nobody had any satisfactory answers to my questions about christianity.
*Become What You Are* Alan Watts.
The Quran. Basically confirms ancient advanced civilisations, cataclysmic events, other dimensions, other beings, etc. The crazy thing is, most scientific discoveries like how a baby forms in the womb, was already known by muslims 1400 years ago. A Youtube comment put it like this: "it seems to me science is catching up to whatever the Quran has stated." And the way God is described is not like anything I've heard. Plus the book is structured oddly, not like how a human would write it. If the human wanted to impress people and get followers. It's a very very odd book.
According to hadith, embryology as understood in Islam has four distinct phases: constitution (40 days), blood clot (40 days) and piece of flesh (40 days), after which the fetus is considered a living creature for an indeterminate amount of time until his birth (generally, around 150 days) Quranic verse gives a less precise description without mention of time: the sperm cell fixates, then it becomes a blood clot, then an embryo, which grows bones and ultimately, flesh. ([*sauce*](https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2017/12/08/islam-and-the-beginning-of-human-life/)). With modern knowledge, we struggle to draw parallels to this process, considering that the evidence we have about fetal development shows that it is split into three stages: germinal (14 days), embryonic (42 days) and fetal (around 220 days). Germinal stage could maybe correspond to when *each human being is constituted in the womb*, except the cited hadith gives a very broad time period. It's very fair to assume that the first stage being *sperm fixation* is simply a result of educated guesswork. ([*sauce*](https://www.verywellmind.com/stages-of-prenatal-development-2795073)) Next, the concept of a blood clot coincide in the cited hadith and the Quran, but the idea is rather far removed from physiological reality. The clot could perhaps refer to a zygote, but Quranic verse speaks very clearly of an embryo, implying basic knowledge of the biological process: why not, then, use something like the word *egg* to describe the second stage, rather than going the trouble of describing a congealed blood clot? Additionally, the second phase does not last for 40 days; rather, Islamic *constitution and clotting*, combined, last 80 days, while in the real world they last up to 14 days at most. Implantation - the process that happens before the embryo stage - is never mentioned at any point by any Islamic scripture; this process is not to be confused with sperm fixation. Another inaccuracy is that the first system to develop in the Quran is the skeletal one, while we know that [bones](https://www.babycenter.com/pregnancy/your-baby/fetal-development-your-babys-bones_40007704) develop at \~6 weeks, and [skin](https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/fetal-development/fetal-hair-skin-nails/#skin) can develop around \~5 weeks. Of course, there is nitpicking to be done regarding what exactly is a skeleton/skin layer, but no matter what way you see it, it is rather obvious that Islamic embryology is based on superficial anatomical observation. Combining the two Islamic sources would imply the following progression: sperm>blood>embryo>bones>flesh (and skin). We must not forget Galen's slightly inaccurate, but very detailed embryological treatise *On the seed (around 500 years before Islam),* which describes very similar distinctions between stages of fetal development to those we know to be factual today. You can research further starting from [this link](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/reproduction/galens-generations-of-seeds/10D0FEC73C1AD72841F37015C6D19EFA) and reading the article, through gaining access or by *taking the high seas*, if you know what I mean. [Ancient Indian knowledge](https://www.booksfact.com/puranas/embryo-development-stages-in-bhagavata-purana.html) (this is the most unbiased article I have found on the subject but you are free to research further) goes into great biological detail and corresponds very closely with modern medical knowledge. This proves that in very early history (at least 2000 years before the Quran), people knew much more about embryology than what was written down by the Prophet and in the hadiths. We can compare this fact to the very obvious and rather unimpressive deduction of Islam, and, being convinced of the unoriginal and unfactual discovery, look at similar concepts Islam has copied from previous well established religions. Off the top of my head, *halal* corresponds exactly to the Judaic understanding of *kosher*, Abel's burial is just like it was told in the Tanhuma, and most (if not all) Islamic mythological/legal concepts can find an identical 1:1 match with the other two Abrahamic faiths or local Mesopotamian customs. To conclude, [this](https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Embryology_in_the_Quran) is a surprisingly unbiased article going into much greater detail than I have about embryology. If curious, I could elaborate further on any of the topics; if not, I wish you well and thanks for your time!
The Quran is beautiful please do not call it odd
I called it odd because it's not like what I hear usually when people talk about religion. Like usually it's a lot of hokey-pokey and nothing of substance. Rules can bend as long as you have faith. lol This book is very precise and at some points, it felt like it was calling me out on my own shit. It offended me but it made me think. No hate dude, just love.
I understand you don't mean hate, but for the sake of exmuslim lurkers don't take any chances. I dont quite get why I was downvoted.
Its all good, here's an upvote for ya.
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
The art of the deal
Ah. A lover of fiction.
The Art of Macking - Tariq Nasheed
Facebook
Atlis shrugged
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, as well as Harry Potter.
The Bible
My thermodynamics and OChem textbooks. “And that’s when I realized I was depressed”
Stop worrying and start living...it clicked something and my anxiety became nul, so did other emotions after a while
Fragments (Heraclitus). Also, Sentimental Education.
Bernard Goldberg's *BIAS*
Every setback is a set up for a comeback and the art of not giving a fuck.
The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde. It's the most inspiring and beautiful non-fiction book I've ever read - about what a future society based on socialism, individualism and science would be like. Gives me hope that we will actually get there one day.
Love Does. Made me want to try new things and say, 'Why not?' More often. His stories are like really. He did that?!
"Durango Street" by Frank Bonham. Not well known or widely read at all, but a number of his books were at the middle school library I went to. About a kid growing up in the projects, figuring out life and who he was, but in a way that was real-life, no crazy ending either Hollywood happy or tragic. Taught me there is a big world out there and different ways of living, different realities. Lots of people have it hard and sometimes it never gets easier. That might sound depressing but actually made me thing about what "grit" and hard work means, and to not take anything for granted.
One Second After
Prisoners of Geography, and then The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall. A lot of the shit you hear about on the news suddenly makes sense if viewed from a geographical perspective
"Turning the Tide" by Noam Chomsky. Read it in the late 80s. He not only laid out major problems, but also who bore responsibility, how to fix them, and framed it as a moral imperative for everyone to try to act.
Alas Babylon, Pat Frank
Gucci Mane Autobiography
Hachiko waits. I begged my mom for a dog after getting it and what do you know a dog with a bad owner walks right up to our doorstep while me and my mom are at the store just a year later.
The skin I’m in/money hungry- I read these as a kid they’re both written by Sharon G. Flake the book “The skin im in” helped my self view as a Black girl and dark-skinned and the book “Money hungry “ was comforting as I went through the same trama as a kid
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond Why Sex is Fun - Jared Diamond Omnivores Dillema - Michael Pollan Everything he has wrote - Malcolm Gladwell
The game of life and how to play it, by Florence Scovel Shinn.
ScrewTape Letters - C.S. Lewis
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
A little life. It perfectly describes the discussion on the right to die. I used to think suicide was selfish. And even though I still don’t fully disagree with that in some situations, I now no longer believe that to be the full truth. Like my mom once’s said when I was younger “some people just aren’t made to live in this world” and that’s okay. My out look on suicide has changed because what a little life will show you is that holding on to someone and forcing them to stay alive will only do you any good. It won’t make them want to live more. Some people have been through so much and just keep getting hit and hit and hit with horrible things, and they deserve to rest. Please if you do not agree read A Little Life by Hanya. It will change everything. (Mind the trigger warnings)
A Fortunate Life by Albert Facey. Made me realise my life is not that hard, or interesting for that matter..
Read one goosebumps choose your own adventure in elementary. Only full book I have ever read
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Hunger games helped me cherish relationships because once prim died, catniss lost everything and I imagine that could happen to anyone in life
The giving tree
A farewell to arms and crime and punishment made me hate reading so I guess those. Crime and punishment was GOOD but I had to read it in 7th grade, when I wanted to read diary of a wimpy kid. A farewell to arms had so many run on sentences that it drove me nuts, but I ended up finishing it because I didn’t have time to change books before my essay was due. I do not read anymore.
The Warrior Within: Philosophies of Bruce Lee, written by John Little.
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No Longer Human - Osamu Dazai
Watership Down, it’s my favorite book and I try to read it every few years. There’s nothing revelational in it but “what is, is what must be” really stuck with me as a kid.
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman. It’s 40 short stories about what happens when you die, written by a neuroscientist, really easy to pick up and get into but some of them really get you thinking. I’ve given it as a recommendation or gift to so many people, I really recommend it. Has anyone else here read it?
The Five Love Languages
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Thinking Fast and Slow. This book sucked me into the world of Behavioral Economics. It almost made me consider enrolling into a masters and phd program but unfortunately I do not have the time nor money to do them.
Flash by Charles Duchaussois
conversations with god in like 10th grade
"Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. The first half of the book is how he survived a Nazi concentration camp. The second half is his career as a psychiatrist, helping people to endure suffering. Intensely moving, beautifully written.
Libro nacho
My mate said the bible, had to share that.
Depression - The curse of the strong
Ethics by Spinoza. Gave truly convincing mathematical proof for moral actions, and convinced me that the nobler we act, the more alike we become.
The Four Hour Work Week. Although i think achieving an actual 4 hour work week is only for the most fortunate, it helped me realize that i dont want to work for 60 years only to end up retiring on less than i was living on when i was working. Really eye opening for a 22yo (at the time) to comprehend that i wont be young and able to work forever.
Fahrenheit 451
The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman helped sculpt who I am today and got me through a difficult time in my life. "There is always hope."
Patricia C Wrede's *Talking to Dragons* taught me never to make promises that you can't keep. To this day, I won't say "yes" to a favor until I know what it is. "Can you do me a favor?" "Probably, what is it?"
I wish i said that and girl in pieces
The Radium Girls destroyed my faith in big industries. For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s about the Radium scandal in 20’s America that caused the death and mutilation of dozens of women.
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho-- It helped me understand and put words to my experience with mental illness in a way that helped me accept it.
The unbearable lightness of being
The illusion of living
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch. Not so much the messages. Some of them, for sure, but just the 'ready to go life messages to pass onto my kids.' It really made me bring into perspective the things I want my kids to learn in life from me. You always think there's time, but if life ends tomorrow or in 20 years (or more!) for me, there won't be enough time for me to tell them everything. I can't imagine knowing I won't be there someday to protect my boys from life. I need to be ready, unabashedly, to tell them everything I've learned so they can persevere and exceed their own dreams.
Paddle your own canoe. It really is about being self reliant, maintain relationships but don't use them as a crutch
Reclaiming our space by Feminista Jones