I saw a blog post that reviewed the 5 books that changed the author’s worldview. At the end, he posed the question to his readers. I liked the idea so I thought I would list the 5 books that have had the most influence on me. I’m not sure how these books have affected my joggling, but they certainly have affected how I think.
1. Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman
I was given this book in college by my favorite professor Dr. Meyer. He was the same instructor who once called me a “wonderful human being but a horse shit student”. I guess I agreed with him. Anyway, I loved this book. The stories are inspiring and Feynman is the type of scientist I always wanted to be. I’ve gone on to read everything Feynman has written never tiring of his perspective.
2. How To Win Friends and Influence People
This was one I had heard about in my younger years, but had dismissed as being too silly to read. The thought of needing a book to tell you how to make friends seemed absurd. However, at some point in my early 30s I became dissatisfied with my relationships at work. People seemed to like me well enough but I didn’t feel important to anyone. I listened to the audio version and immediately identified things I did to sabotage relationships (e.g. talking about myself, insulting people in jest, etc.) I embraced the 20 or so rules in an effort to become more likable. This book completely changed how I relate to people.
3. Letter to a Christian Nation
Religion has always been a topic of interest. I grew up in a Catholic household and literally went to church every week. I even read the Bible a couple of times. My mother frequently conducted morning prayer circles and I bought into the whole thing. However, I was always inquisitive. When I learned about other religions in college I started questioning whether Catholics really had it right. My science courses also fueled my religious skepticism. I steadily lost my belief in religion, then eventually God. When religious zealots flew a couple planes into the World Trade Center I didn’t understand why people turned to God. Weren’t these people just doing what they thought God wanted them to do? That’s when I stumbled on Letter to a Christian Nation. Sam Harris unified my disparate feelings about God and religion. The book helped me realize that I was an atheist.
4. Fooled by Randomness
I heard an interview with Nassim Taleb about his book the Black Swan and immediately put it on my wish list. After reading it, I was inspired to read his earlier book Fooled by Randomness which was the foundation of all his ideas. This one resonated with me. It made me realize that random chance is much more important than we want to admit. People who are successful are not necessarily doing anything different from people who aren’t. They are probably just luckier. This helped me stop questioning what I was doing wrong that was preventing me from becoming independently wealthy. This made me happy.
5. How We Decide
This book I read recently so I’m not certain if the ideas will stick however, it has made an impression. The basic premise is that our brains have these two ways of making decisions including a logical system and an emotional system. This was all science-based written by a neuroscientist so it isn’t the typical woo woo stuff from pop psychology books. The conclusion was that sometimes you should make decisions using your emotions and others you should think about. The surprising thing was that big, life altering decisions should be made via emotion and little decisions should be made by thinking. Exactly the opposite of what I thought. We’ll see how it works for me.
There are other books that have impacted me such as The Fountainhead, Quirkology, The Demon Haunted World, The Selfish Gene, and some other Feynman books. However, the 5 I listed did the most to change how I think.
So, how about you? What books have you read that have changed the way you view the world?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Walden, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, Wherever You Go, There You Are.
I haven’t read Walden or Wherever You Go, There You Are. I’ll have to put them on my list.
I did read ZAMM, Catcher in the Rye and On the Road.
Funny, I was thinking about fiction books that affected my life and I would have included ZAMM and Catcher in the Rye. I would also include The Fountainhead & Life of Pi.
Yeah, I you listed non-fiction books. Most of the ones I’ve read that have impacted me have been fiction. Walden is considered non-fiction I think. I want to read more science classics and recent scientific/economic books. I’ve read Darwin’s classic and some others from the past.
You gotta read Walden sometime. It really had a large impact on my life. I first read it in High School. I feel like joggling is my outlet for expressing and living ideals espoused in Walden, ZAMM, and On the Road, and Wherever you Go, There You Are. Thoreau would have loved joggling probably. Same with Kerouac. Wherever You Go, There You Are is by Jon Kabat-Zinn who is a well-respected mindfulness teacher and author.
“*Yeah, I see you listed….”
Carl Sagan’s Demon Haunted World had a big impact on me when I was transitioning from Christianity to Agnosticism.