Storytelling is one of the most advanced technologies human beings have. For centuries we have been sharing these stories with each other. We have created whole worlds and people that exist solely in our creative brains.
Those stories have the power to teach us lessons. We can carry those lessons with us throughout our entire lives.
u/VAMPCLAW asked:
What is that one book, that absolutely changed your life?
Here were those answers.
Just One Book To Start
I remember when I read Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel. I was about 10 years old and I had seen the movie a dozen times before I found out it was a book.
I devoured it in 2 days. I was hooked on the whole series for decades and it started my obsession with books. I will read anything but historical fiction is my favorite and it started with the Earth's Children series.
A 4th Grade Standard
My side of the mountain. I was young and have always camped and loved the outdoors (still do) but this book had such an exciting story!
Its about a boy who runs away from home and plans to live in the wild on his own. He goes to a library and checks out a bunch of books on survival and lives in the forest. He even burns the base of a large tree and hollows it out and makes a living space inside. its a super easy read but I loved every page.
A Mystic Power
The Easy way to stop smoking by Allen Carr.
I had zero intention to stop smoking when I started reading that book. To say I was skeptical about it would be an understatement. I was a heavy chain smoker. Smoked more than anyone I knew.
But I went cold turkey after I read it. 3 years strong. I have not had a single puff since finishing that book.
If you smoke. You want to read this book now. I wish I read it earlier.
It's not just fiction that has the power to change people: non-fiction and self help does too.
Lil Grover
There is a Monster at the End of this Book. It really led me on a journey to overcome my fears and deeply examine what it means to be a monster.
Also, pulling really hard against Grover to turn the pages helped me get buff. Really I was helping Grover face fears he was not ready to face. But we faced them together.
An Unconventional Method Of Change
The End of Mr Y.
My ex partner threw it at my face during an argument and knocked down and burst my forehead. So I left her and totally changed my ambitions in life.
Kinda funny. Sometimes I see that book and scowl, and wonder what people think is going on.
Parables
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler; an incredible sci-fi book that was written in the 80s and is a mix of apocalypse fiction, socio-political critique & resilience.
Completely changed my world view & put me on the path to sustainable off-grid living, which I'm really grateful for.
Travel Far, Pay No Fare
When I was 13 years old I had a long school bus ride home from school almost an hour long, and would pass the time by reading. One day I was in the library frantic for something because I had no book and picked out an astronomy one that was called From the Big Bang to Planet X by Terrence Dickinson, and had a fetching picture of the Andromeda Galaxy on its cover.
That book, wow. I was completely enchanted about outer space, and by the time I was done reading it I knew I wanted to be an astronomer. I remember thinking at the time how fantastical it was that people could have that job, but anyone who was an astronomer was 13 once and this was a thing you could do, even if you lived in Pittsburgh.
Anyway, that was over 20 years ago, and there were many twists and turns along the way, but I'm now two years into working as a professional astronomer at Harvard.
I just submitted a paper last week on a black hole that ripped apart a star, which was super fun to work on and I couldn't help but think a lot about how excited 13 year old me would be to see how it's going! I don't know if she would have believed it. :)
It is because of our superpower of empathy as humans that we are able to vibe so heavily with books.
Truly effective metaphor
Maus; the first and only graphic novel to win a pulitzer prize
It is a book about a second generation survivor of the Holocaust retelling his father memoirs of the event. This semi-biographic book puts into perspective the whole feeling of absolute terror and give us an insight on the before-after situation.
The jews are portrayed as mice and the nazis as cats, elaborating on the whole cat and mouse chase premise which demonstrates the horrors the jewish felt. Although it is a graphic novel, its images do really say more than words.
It is to this day, the only book which has made me cry and feel hurt; it makes the whole subject feel very personal.
It Ain't No Jack Kerouac
The Road. I read it before and after becoming a father. Drastically different experiences.
And the world according to garp. I read it when I was a kid and it was the first novel that made me laugh outloud and come close to crying in the same book.
When Your Brain Becomes A Movie
Terry Pratchett's I Shall Wear Midnight. It's a book from his famous Discworld series. I had no intention to read anything before I started a summer job with hell of a lot of free time, had a sh*tty phone back then so the Internet was out of the question.
I couldn't possibly BELIEVE a book can be so entertaining. The mixture of fantasy, light text with a great plot and story, one of the best humoristic dialogues I have never seen even in a movie and simply enticing environment got me soooo into his writing style.
And the best moment was when I realized he had at least thirty books from the Discworld. Highly recommending for... like... everyone who loves fantasy and a good laugh.
What are the books that absolutely changed your life?