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| But for goodness sake, don't take the entire thing literally. | |
There, I said it. Regardless of how any individual readers out there feel about it, the Bible has influenced all of us in some way. It is literally the cornerstone of Western civilization. And while I cannot justify the countless atrocities that have been committed in the name of religion, and I would argue that the Bible has had an equally positive influence on many reformers, artists, statesmen, and everyday people across the world.
Having read the whole thing several times, I can give you the following advice- It's okay to skip Numbers, Leviticus... really, pretty much 75% of the Old Testament. Also, most biblical scholars agree that only about 2/3rds of the writings attributed to the Apostle Paul were actually written by him, so take the letters of Paul with a grain of salt. Now, what I would definitely pay attention to, and even try to adopt in my day to day life? The teachings and example of Jesus, as recorded in the four Gospels. Oh, and the Book of Revelation. Revelation is like an acid trip. It's amazing.
9. Atlas Shrugged.
Because I immediately follow the Bible with a book by Ayn Rand. (I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea about me). A very well done bio comic of Ayn Rand can be found here, for those of you who like and need pictures.
Often times, Rand's writings are dismissed as a mere justification of greed and her own self-exaltation of being a self-made woman. Her characters are remarkably strong, determined, and incredibly self-reliant. Yes, she does seem to equate charity to communism, and yes, the far-right Republican types LOVE her, but that isn't to say that there aren't certain virtues that can be found in her writings. The book centers mostly around the character of Dagny Taggart, an heiress to a railroad empire, set in a failing sort of alternate-America (think parallel world, even though it isn't really stated as such in the book). Dagny's constantly at odds with her brother, who is the president of Taggart Transcontinental, and the ever-increasing government regulations. Atlas Shrugged also centers around a mysterious figure named John Galt, and the disappearances of numerous good-guy CEOs and prominent businessmen. The book mixes philosophy, alternate-history, drama, mystery and a little bit of sci-fi. Very controversial too.
8. Dandelion Wine
Very few grown men have made me cry. Ray Bradbury is one. Dandelion Wine is speculative fiction set in a small Illinois town. It's about growing up. It centers mostly around a boy, his family, various adventures around town, and life in general. I think it touches me on a nostalgic level (even though I didn't grow up in the 1920's). Green Town, Illinois becomes Every Town, USA. Douglas Spaulding, his brother, and their friends become your own childhood friends. The characters are vibrant and teeming with life and possibilities. The seemingly unrelated stories weave together beautifully, and the book itself is almost more poetry than descriptive or narrative writing.
I was hesitant to include this one at risk of looking like a pervert. But it's SCIENCE! Actually, I'm not going to go into great detail about this one, but I will say that it changed the way I view sexuality and relationships. Basically, this book portrays a scientific deconstruction of the classic "boy meets girl, marries, has children, lives happily ever after" narrative. Turns out that nature and human evolution still affect us in ways we don't realize, and often times, it's at odds with current social norms. Basically, a couple million years of evolution are raging against the past few thousand years of social programming.
Imagine every character, ship, race, gadget, and planet from the Star Trek universe at your fingertips. Now, imagine you're a lonely, socially awkward, twelve year-old nerd who is obsessed with Star Trek. Yeah... that about sums up my childhood. But really, this book was pretty cool. I used to spend hours flipping through it's pages, reading about random characters or episodes. The full-color version had some impressive diagrams and artwork in it as well. The timeline was also very handy. Nowadays, we have the internet and websites like Memory Alpha, and of course, the Trek universe has grown considerably since this book was published. Still, it stands proudly on my shelf, next to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual and Worlds of the Federation.
One of C.S. Lewis's best know works, the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia is often thought of as a Christian allegory, although Lewis himself once stated to the contrary once stating,
"I did not say to myself ‘Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a Lion in Narnia’; I said, ‘Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as he became a Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would happen.'"Think of it less as an allegory and more of a "what if?" story. It opens up with four children who are refugees from London during the London bombing during World War II. They are taken in by an eccentric and reclusive professor. Inside one room of his mansion in the countryside, they find a magical wardrobe that transports them to the land of Narnia. It's a fairly short read, and definitely for picking up.
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| NOT the book cover. Still bad-ass though. |
This one's pretty well known. Written by Aldous Huxley in 1931, this terrifying dystopia predicts a world that runs like clockwork, so long as none of it's cogs come out of place. Huxley envisions a terrifying future where all of mankind is homogenized into several classes and not only assigned, but brainwashed into fulfilling their predetermined role in society. Born in test tubes and gestated in bottles, no human, save for an occasional anomaly, thinks outside the box. Society runs smoothly enough, until one of these anomalies visits a reservation- an area of land outside of "civilization." And they bring back a "savage" who turn society as they know it on it's head.
Like Brave New World, this book is fairly popular. Another dystopian nightmare, but 1984 differs from Brave New World in that, rather than being controlled by comfort and complacency, it's citizens are controlled by fear. Centered in London, in the future nation of Oceana, everything is controlled by government, and at the heart of that government, Big Brother. This book has no resolution or happy ending and will thoroughly depress you. On the other hand, it was the inspiration for the famous Picard torture scene in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode "Chain of Command."
2. Stranger in a Strange Land
This one's been called many things by many people. It's a bit controversial, but it's also sometimes elevated to the status of a sacred text amongst some polyamorist communities. In short, it's about a man from Mars, the son of two members of an expedition team, who is brought back to Earth years later by a second team. It's soon learned that, in addition to some strange customs, the Man from Mars has picked up a few "abilities." He goes on the run, eventually resurfaces, then establishes a sort of "church" based around Martian ideals, then is martyred for "blasphemy" by the established, dominant church.
Another interesting piece by Heinlein. This one makes my list because it was a sort of gateway drug to a whole different way of thinking in terms of human relationships and the first Heinlein book I'd ever picked up. It centers around the moon, and it's inhabitants, the descendants of Earth's prison colonists, and their fight for independence from Earth rule. They are aided by "Mike," an intelligence that has somehow evolved from the moon's supercomputer. There's also a certain pulp-fiction quality to it that's a lot of fun.
So, there you have it. Once again, no particular order. Any life-changing books you'd recommend? I feel like Fahrenheit 451 would be on the list, except, rather than reading it, I saw the movie adaptation. That seems almost fitting though.
