I’m always curious to hear how books impact people on a deeper level, beyond entertainment or education. Sometimes a single book can shift how we see the world or understand ourselves. Whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, or philosophy, certain works have a way of offering fresh perspectives or challenging long-held beliefs.
Which book did that for you, and why?
by youngAlaska
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This goes back decades, but Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance changed _everything_ for me. The concepts in the book are not really unusual these days but I read the book about a year after it was first published and it opened up a way of looking at the world that was not really mainstream back then.
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Prior to this I read books for plot, noticed the usual literary elements and devices and coasted along in a fairly simple understanding of story and text.
This thing forced me to look at the relationship between text and story, to consider the functional act of reading. Not being simply entertained or instructed but the interaction with how the text requires an understanding of reference to signs as well as thought.
So now the laconic narrative of Hemingway comes alive with possibilities because of purposeful ambiguity. Euripdes’ Medea launches a tour of myth to get into Athenian “current events” and the deeper myths of Jason and Medea’ family trees.
I can’t read now without doing deep dives into possibilities and I love every second of the journey.
Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law transformed how I post online. I always include alt text for images and transcripts for podcasts/videos.
Feminist Queer Crip by Alison Kafer was also something that revolutionized my thinking, even if I didn’t always agree, especially in considering who is telling stories/sending messages and why. It was an illustration in thinking in, out, and around issues from multiple perspectives and distances, really analyzing each facet in order to come to a fuller understanding. This has improved my own scholarship
It’s generally more difficult for me to internalize fiction, as I’m more interested in practical takeaways and scholarly analyses.
Bio of a Space Tyrant series completely changed how I looked at immigration and race relations.
I feel obligated to say that there are serious triggers throughout the series, and if there was a taboo left unmentioned, I’m not sure what it was. Highly recommended though.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
I just picked it up today, but I feel like it’s going to result is significant paradigm shift…
The Knowing by Tanya Talaga
Tuesdays with Morrie