ITT: Books that literally changed your life

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see and pee
Steppenwolf
As I Lay Dying
How Much Land Does a Man Need?

I felt underwhelmed upon finishing Siddhartha. Had read so many times what such a great read it is, think I went I too high. Some parts were good, but 3/5 at best from me.

In regards to the topic... I'ma have to go with Brave New World or Brother's Karamazov. Read quite a few years apart, but BNW felt life changing during my younger teens, BK late teens/early twenties.

The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm

Not so much about changing it, but rather expanding my views about such simple concept.

I second OP, this book is fantastic. My bibles for life are:

>the bible
>thinking fast and slow
>richest man in babylon
>principles of biochemistry

Also just for fun

>facial aesthetics by farhad
Yes, I fucking bought this expensive book and spent a lot of time reading and thinking about this stupid topic of facial aesthetics after browsing sluthate.
It is very weird to see what is considered ideal beauty, how some people have bad taste (like me), how media shapes the taste of plebs and how some ugly people believe they are 10/10. I got uncountable hours of joy with farhad, for some reason I find the autists at sluthate very funny.

Lehninger's biochemistry? I fucking hated biochemistry, but that book made it easier.

>started a company off of this knowledge
>i am now ascended

I found Siddhartha kind of annoying, the main character is both attractive and capable of anything? He hypnotizes the guru he studied under, for instance, and is magically great at making money; those are fairly irrelevant to the overall point. But the whole stages of life/moving towards enlightenment seemed pretty arbitrary to me, oh he's a boatman eating bananas and living simply, now he is magically enlightened!

But anything by Knut Hamsun really touches me, all in different ways. Hunger was the first book I finished reading and thought it over for several hours afterwards

Should I read that if I'm doomed to be a permavirgin and will never ever get a girlfriend?

The book isn't about tips and tricks to find love, it's more of an essay about love in modern times. Keep in mind that Fromm is a humanist, so he makes it clear that the answer to human existence is the presence of love, so if your not into that kind of stuff, it will drive you away instantly.

I find it interesting, especially after growing up reading works of existentialism, absurdism and nihilism.

For some reason since forever I liked biochemistry. You can get a pdf and always read a section when you have nothing to do.
>magically great at making money
Maybe I get wrong but it takes a lot of time. You can make a lot of money if you take your time and spend less than you get.
All you need is a friend in common to a girl, supposing you are an average person you imply to this friend you has interest in the girl, then he (better if she) will reference you. In this situation you have 90% of success if personalities matches. Forget tinder or any other bullshit, this works because it is the natural way of mating that has been around since man is man.

>maybe I got it wrong

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not other user but my only 3 friends are sore losers like me so that's out of the question

>implying I have any friends
>implying I'm not universally disgusting, both looks- and personality-wise, to all women
well meme'd my friend

>The Bible
>Meditations
>Mrs. Dalloway

If you're not fat or deformed I'll take you.

In terms of literary style, or at least the style I wish to cultivate, it's this.
This book never gets discussed here, so I recommend everyone read it.

I'm not fat, I have a minor deformation though. It's only visible if you're looking at my right hand though! If that's not a deal breaker, what's your location? (or contact, if you're that straightforward)
Sebald is great, but I must say I liked The Emigrants so much that I felt almost underwhelmed by The Rings of Saturn. I still think The Rings of Saturn is a great piece of literature, but felt that The Emigrants portrayed the feelings it was trying to portray much better; maybe just because it was much less subtle.

Is that Death in the alley?

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You get friends the old, prehistoric way too. Cooperation creates friendship that creates more cooperation. Get a hobby or volunteer to something but don't go just for socialization. Remember that you are there to do something and the socialization is a bonus.

>The Bible
>Plato's Republic
>The Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Stephen K. Scott

>Lehninger's Principles of Biochemistry
Great book my man.

As for me:
>Heretics of Dune
Changed my view on spirituality and made me study biochemistry.
>Genetics by Hartwell

I always see this mentioned but nobody ever explains how and why it changed him.

>anything by Knut Hamsun really touches me, all in different ways.
Honestly this. The man conveys a deep connection to nature and love in such a lyrical way that it's impossible not to be moved after reading his works.

Steppenwolf, herman hesse

tao lin - taipei changed my life
after i read it enrolled in community college and finally stopped feeling sad over my gf dumping me. currently looking for a job.

Get tae fuck, Tao

I wish mentioning this book was a bannable offense

not tao. just being honest bros

Siddhartha and, even more so, Steppenwolf

Hesse was the man

Nice digits is right. Steppenwolf is 10/10. Even better than Siddartha.

>all these basic normals

Myth of Sisyphus by camus

Beyond Good and Evil
Lolita (reading it convinced me to give up writing)

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Nah books don' t change my life. I change my life.

Have you seen Patience (After Sebald)? It has a great soundtrack too.

So. Fucking. Deep.

I wish a book would change my life.

The only book that can change your life is your own diary desu

- anonymous

I know I'll sound like a pleb for this, but Halo: First Strike made me realize the cost of utilitarianism and ultimately is what caused me to reject it.
I know it's wierd that a novel set in a video game's universe would do this, but I guess that's just how things play out.

Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil

Walden by H.D. Thoreau

Together they made me both less and more afraid of life, but I'm okay with that.

Crime and punishment, hesse

There's nothing wrong with you, and you'll find what you're looking for one day. Maybe just change where you're looking.

Don't settle for that loser and take me instead.

"I Love You Madly" by Robert M. Gordon.
"What The Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula.

Either ones were not necessarily great reads, but their contents helped me immensely at the time maturing as a person and in aiding personal growth. The first made me understand romantic relationships and led to a phase of introspection for me, in which I worked through a tons of issues, the second one introduced me to general Buddhist philosophy which in turn possibly saved my life.

Bible
A Confession by Tolstoy
Either/Or or The Concept of Anxiety or really anything by Kierkegaard

>supposing you are an average person
Heh

The giving tree.

St. Augustine's Confessions, Spinoza's Ethics and Critique of Pure Reason for me.
They have all had a great impact on my thought in different ways (obviously).
And then came Hegel.

Jon Kabat Zinn's Full catastrophe living made me start meditating, changed me from a dawkins atheist to a much chiller person

Alan Watts' the way of Zen got me into the Dharma, even if I am not a huge fan of him now, I am very thankful I found this

Those two books, as well as Buddhist scriptures in general, probably influenced who I am today more than anything else.

Rules of attraction in college was my catcher in the rye

To Aru Majutsu no Index.

The Magic system literally built up my metaphysical comprehension of how the world flows, disregarding both holism and redutionism.

Other than that the Recognitions was breddy gud I almost cried when Sinisterra handed Wyatt the passport.

Serious question here - When I read Steppenwolf I thought it was a lot of pseudo-deep nonsense, like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Is there some truth to that, or am I just too stupid to grasp how profound it is?

Seriously looking for good answers, not a troll.

Lol i really enjoyed first strike way back when i read it as a teenager. Care to remind me of the plot and how it led you to that conclusion? Must be more than "we took kids and made 'em badasses" because that's in most of the halo media

The message of Steppenwolf was pretty straightforward. I don't think you could miss it, you probably just thought it was stupid so you dismissed it.

siddhartha was a novel about fags. that's it. it was a gay romance without a climax. that's why everyone got blueballs. also why the critics who've hailed it loved it so much "oh it changed muh life", pushed you out of the internal closet morelike.

I think there are certain prequisites to really appreciate the book. For example, I spend a lot of time reading about philosophy of the self. Kierkegaard and such. So it really opened my eyes.

I didn't think there was anything pseud about it, it makes a lot of sense desu.

So my answer is idk, maybe.

>Mrs. Dalloway

how?