What books have you red that have opened your mind to a new way of thinking? I mean really groundbreaking. Or at least motivations or some clarity.

My first example The Count of Monte Cristo - but it was more of a journey to get me into books and not philosophy at my rebel years (Forever thankful to my mother who pushed me to do it). I've spent a lot of time reading fantasy books but i'd rather concentrate on something more meaninful.


Looking more in the lines of Nietzsche, Machiavelli etc.And your input. Also on the two previous authors.

This post was edited by SnoopieIX on Apr 14 2015 11:43pm

lies my teacher told me
the power of habit
Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills
Naked Economics

there are also a few technical books, but i doubt you're interested in things like dependency injection or the stable marriage problem.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Apr 15 2015 02:56pm

No philosophy titles have been mentioned yet! I've been trying to get into graduate school for two years to study philosophy.

I would say Augustine's Confession has been really formative for me and got me thinking a lot more about faith and religious philosophy. (Augustine was a Christian thinker, so the book is heavy in this area.)

I have enjoyed the philosophy of the Stoics as well. If you want to be challenged to live better, try Epictetus' Handbook and Discourses.

So many to name, so little space!

+1 for Epictetus and Stoics in general.
For me the #1 is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. It's a strengthening book to say the least. Obviously I cannot agree with all he has to say, but even if you don't agree with him at all, you can consider it an interesting journey to the mind of an emperor struggling to find some constants in his thoughts, something to guide him when all is going wrong in every frontier (sometimes literally).

Food of Gods by Terence McKenna
Awareness Anthony de Mello
The Buddha Said...: Meeting the Challenge of Life's Difficulties by Osho

Thus Spoke Zarathustra