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Books that have changed your life and why

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Hello,

What a wonderful topic.. The first book that I really read was "This is it" Alan Watts, the Zen master of the 60's - 70's. I never saw the world the same after that book.

At the moment im listening to "Cosmic memory" by the genius, Rudolph Steiner Its really quite something ive never heard before.

xxx

mezzie

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The Entheological Paradigm - Martin W. Ball

It changed the way I thought about drugs and myself forever. Great definition to the ego and understanding the self. All in relation to the neurotransmitter 5-MeO-DMT and basically how to create an ego death so that you can truly release the true person within. Has absolutely nothing 'spiritual' in it. Although i haven't exactly achieved 100% what he describes in the book, I came very extremely painfully close. The worlds best Changa will only get you so far. Short read, great book! I recommend it to anyone, especially those who enjoy reading about mysticism like the Tibetan Book of the dead. It offers are logical yet still 'non-physical' understanding to human existence and self reflective understanding. Its also somewhat a self help book but involves the fun of DMT! :D

EDIT: He is a little bit famous for his "bash" on Terence McKenna. Terence's fans were very upset, however I think Terence himself, were he still alive, would have been delighted to hear his M. Ball's ideas on the DMT experience.

Edited by 3rdI
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The Dice Man [ Luke Rhinehart ? ]

Undecided ? What to do ? etc

List some options and roll a dice , and let the dice decide ....

[ loved that book ]

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Phihkal awesome book , why it changed my life i got a five year all expenses paid holiday

crap destination ok food

hahahaha! i actually laughed when i read this

books .. at certain dark times I've thought all my true friends were made of paper, books can definitely change your life .. so just a few, with a quote from each:

The Varieties of Religious Experience - William James

"The lunatic's visions of horror are all drawn from the material of daily fact. Our civilization is founded on shambles, and every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony."

The Birth of Tragedy - Nietzsche

But what changes come upon the weary desert of our culture, so darkly described, when it is touched by the magic of Dionysus! A storm seizes everything decrepit, rotten, broken, stunted; shrouds it in a whirling red cloud of dust and carries it into the air like a vulture. In vain confusion we seek for all that has vanished; for what we see has risen as if from beneath he earth into the gold light, so full and green, so luxuriantly alive, immeasurable and filled with yearning. Tragedy sits in sublime rapture amidst this abundance of life, suffering and delight, listening to a far-off, melancholy song which tells of the Mothers of Being, whose names are Delusion, Will, Woe.

Moby Dick - Herman Melville - (if i have any advice to impart to any of you it's that to die without having read Moby Dick is to do oneself a great disservice)

Long exile from Christendom and civilization inevitably restores a man to that condition in which God placed him, i. e. what is called savagery. Your true whale-hunter is as much a savage as an Iroquois. I myself am a savage; owning no allegiance but to the King of the Cannibals; and ready at any moment to rebel against him.

Gargoyles - Thomas Bernhard

"I often dream extravagantly of those cities in which I can disappear, and so die away". "Thought", the prince said, "is always represented as a building inhabitable for shorter or longer periods. It is often pictured as an edifice in which everybody, the philosophers and their followers, can go in or out with more or less excitement. But thought cannot be represented. To me my thought is: velocities that I cannot see".

Madness and Civilisation - Michel Foucault (the whole of the book could be quoted ..)

Madness forms the constitutive moment of dissolution ... It paints the exterior horizon, the line of dissolution, the contour against the void .. Words hurled against the absence of language, the space of physical suffering and terror which surrounds and coincides with the void - that is the work of art itself: the sheer cliff over the abyss of the work's absence.

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There are so many wonderful books! :)

Gotta add a fair few to my list to read.

Awesome thread!

White Fang - Into the wild

Walden - H. D. Thoreau

The Blind Spot in the Mind - Manly P Hall

The Psychadelic Experience - Timothy Leary

The Tibetian book of Living and Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche

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My dad said that this book he read as a teenager really changed him for a while.. like a couple of months. I want to read it when i have developed my mind and concentration more because it is a rather large book.

Its called Stranger in a strange land by Robert A. Heinlein. Anyone read this book?

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Hah well in all honesty the only book which I have been excited by enough that I actually finished it in the last couple years is a sci fi novel called 'Bone Song' by John Meany.

(I tend to start a book, read a third or so, then I get bored, start another book, read a third or so, start another book, read a third or so etc etc etc.. :scratchhead:)

Meany builds a very cool, creepy, clever and rich multilayered world full of amazing technologies, a range of non-human and sub-human living organisms to ponder and enough of a fast paced story line to keep me interested.

It changed my life in the sense that it made me realise how fucking rad sci fi can be as a genre, and prompted a new desire to explore this field of literature further - and it actually made me feel more at peace with the bizarre nature of my own imagination to read a book full of intricate and bizarre life-forms, systems, technologies and ethereal/occult devices which are deeply reminiscent of my dreams.

- any sci fi book recommendations at any stage would be excellent btw!!

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- any sci fi book recommendations at any stage would be excellent btw!!

Check out Stranger in a strange land (the unedited version that is). It was probably the most controversial novel of its time. Its a big book (especially the unedited version, which is much better) but i doubt you will get bored of it. If you can absorb yourself in a story im sure this would satisfy your sci fi interest. Its an interesting idea/story to say the least.

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Ceres, I haven't read Meaney, but based on the reviews I'd say maybe check out Neil Gaiman and China Mieville - the latter especially, I just can't recommend him highly enough. Dark and novel fantasy - start with Perdido Street Station, The Scar, or his short stories (some of the later books aren't quite as good, and I'd avoid his kids books too) - one review described it well "comparisons with Gormenghast are, for once, justified" - he writes an amazingly complex and creative fantasy world that I'm totally failing to praise adequately, so I'm gonna stop trying.

Also very-readable, but in a totally different direction (i.e. "hard" sci-fi, instead of fantasy) is Alastair Reynolds, who writes some very nice dark space-opera. Far-future stuff, humans vs. cyborgs vs. aliens vs. machines vs. other aliens, etc, etc. If you like "cool, creepy, clever and rich multilayered worlds full of amazing technologies", then yeah, I think this'll fit.

Stranger in a Strange Land definitely changed my life (see post #20), but some of my friends have found Heinlein difficult to read simply because some of his characters' attitudes haven't aged well and their modern-day-politically-correct minds rebel against what appear to be sexist, fascist, etc views. I believe they're totally missing the satire, not to mention the points of the books if these are the ideas they're taking away, but from reading criticisms on the internet, it seems a lot of people have the same problem. Personally he's one of my favourite writers.

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Another book that changed my life was "One River" by Wade Davis.

I was amazed earlier this year while in Peru how many people around my age were reading it as they travelled through the country.

A beautiful book about four peoples beautiful lives while travelling in that amazing part of the world, even thinking about makes me miss it so much ....

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In his latest book, Dennis McKenna mentions meeting Wade Davis while seeking ayahausca in the amazon. his description is of a swash buckling explorer, in contrast to the travelling freaks they considered themselves to be. I'll have to check out One River.

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Can anyone recommend a good field guide to using drugs? Something of a pocket sized book to pull out and have a read of while you might be under the influence and any questions pop up. I'm thinking things like drugs interactions, dosage, duration, effect. Something of an Erowid in book form if you will. Yes I've heard of the internet but my phone doesn't support tech to surf the net, and a lot of the time when these questions pop up I'm out of range anyway. So any help would be highly appreciated.

Thhaaank yooouuu.

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I'm reading Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain and find it a very powerful engaging read that is just up my alley. I've taken a great liking to 19th and 20th century German novelist. Such an odd mix of German romantic and intellectual traditions. Odd that it was the reading of late 20th century Japanese authors that lead me there. If you haven't read Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood then you are missing such an incredible book.

~Michael~

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Can anyone recommend a good field guide to using drugs? Something of a pocket sized book to pull out and have a read of while you might be under the influence and any questions pop up. I'm thinking things like drugs interactions, dosage, duration, effect. Something of an Erowid in book form if you will. Yes I've heard of the internet but my phone doesn't support tech to surf the net, and a lot of the time when these questions pop up I'm out of range anyway. So any help would be highly appreciated.

Thhaaank yooouuu.

A Golden Guide - Hallucinogenic Plants

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Culture & Horticulture by Wolf D. Storl is a pearler for anyone keen to get into biodynamic gardening, although it does have a couple of chapters that are Oregon USA specific.

Edited by Responsible Choice

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The Lorax -Dr seuss

A Sand County Almanac -Aldo Leopold

Silent Spring -Rachel Carson

In that order. I'd like to say they've inspired me to try to change the world, but mostly they left me with an overwhelming sense of doom and hopelessness. They probably didn't change things for the better.

Also Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, because they make me happy.

Edited by Mime

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"When the wind blows" by Raymond Briggs cartoon/graphic novel thing..... made me think about a lot of stuff growing up....

trust in government, nuclear war,death....the stuff a kid should be thinking about...lol....my survivalist bent started very early on...

they also made an animated movie someone may have seen

cover.jpg?iact=rc&uact=3&dur=842&page=2&

Edited by waterboy
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When i was 19 a friend insisted i read The Little Prince, no words can explain what i took from this story. The most precious gift ive ever recieved :wub:

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When I first read Steppenwolf (which I stumbled upon in a book shop in Delhi, and which simply called out for me) it really changed my attitude towards life and my mindset towards the outside world. I was at this time only reading existentialism, and even though I could identify with (and loved) most of the books of this genre, they always ended without giving any answer; only statements of misery & melancholy basically. Steppenwolf, however, I could identify with more than any book and in the end, whilst not giving any straight answers (maybe naive to expect) perhaps, it offered an alternate mindset if it makes sense.

Since then I've read lots of books that have helped push me in new, more beautiful mindsets etc, but there was a period of about two months last year when I was travelling in India once again (and to Kathmandu to renew my visa) and basically stumbled upon a bunch of books, which somehow seemed to be "sent" in a perfect order. The messages of them all (whether it was my mindset at the time that made me interpret them in a way I leave unsaid since I don't know. Doesn't really matter after all :)) seemed as tailored for my minds/spiritual growth. Man, that was an awesome period! I had just recently begun to practice meditation and did a vipassana during this period as well, so it was as if the books I read, the places I visited (Bodh Gaya, Kolkata and living in a monastary outside of Kathmandu), the meditation I practiced and the people I met all were there in a perfect order for a purpose as if to send my newborn mind into lightspeed. Anyway, some of the books I read were:

Tao of Pooh (absolutely awesome, recommend each and everyone this book)

Age of Reason

Demian

Siddharta

Into the Wild

Bhagavadgita

Reading that list now makes me think that my mindstate probably was playing the biggest part at that time :D

Also I just finished The Book (on the taboo against knowing who you are) by Alan Watts which with some of his lectures has pushed me forward quite a bit.

Woah, spaced out there for a bit, sorry bout that.

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Graphic novels!

Asterios-polyp-bookcover.jpg

I+Kill+Giants+woaba.blogspot.com.jpg

+ Jimmy Corrigan. F yeah.

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I think sometimes books become important as they signify a culmination, a climax, of a long thought process and reading cycle.

for me in this regard, "A thousand Plateaus" by deleuze and guattari was one of these.

I could quite easily list heaps of books that have changed my life, each in their own small part, but some are more meaningful of others because they help join the dots. even after twenty years books have the ability to compliment others.

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One of the most important reading experiences was reading "The great and secret show" of CLive Barker, in the army.

It triggered so much content from within that I had a strange and uneasy feeling trip-flashback parted with some portion of psychedelia.

I also remember bery boldly when I was reading Barkers Weaveworld, many years earlier, simply amazing book.

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"Remember Who You Are" by David Icke.

This book has changed my life more than any other book because it has given me an understanding of wtf is going on 'here' and 'now' and where 'we' are 'going'.

"Food of the Gods" by Terrence McKenna

This book didnt change my life so much as it has confirmed to me than I am, to some extent, on the right track. :shroomer:

I stopped reading fiction after high school because it seems a waste of time to me when there are so many great non-fiction books to read. Who needs fiction when you have the fantasy of reality? :lol:

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Just books by Dawkins really head fuck me like a ten dollar whore in bangkok

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One of the most important reading experiences was reading "The great and secret show" of CLive Barker, in the army.

It triggered so much content from within that I had a strange and uneasy feeling trip-flashback parted with some portion of psychedelia.

I also remember bery boldly when I was reading Barkers Weaveworld, many years earlier, simply amazing book.

I'm a big fan of Cabal by Clive Barker, and NightBreed which is a horror movie based on the book as well :wink:

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