I’m looking for books that challenge the way we see the world—whether it’s through a character’s journey, a philosophical concept, or a deep dive into human nature. I’d love to hear about the stories or ideas that shifted your worldview or made you reflect on life in a different way. It could be fiction, non-fiction, or even a book that just hit you at the right time. What book left you thinking long after you finished it?"
by Old_Inflation_6432
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The stranger by Albert Camus
In short, it pertains to the natural absurdity of life.
***Never Let Me Go*** **(Kazuo Ishiguro)** shifted my perspective on art and the value of it, the cruelty of internalizing ideological conditioning/the learned helplessness of society in general, and the simultaneous pettiness and necessity of our little everyday dramas and overreactions. It’s a story that lingers, in the worst/best way.
(on that note, everything I’ve read by Ishiguro reminded me of the limitedness of our individual perspectives and how blind we are to ourselves because self-delusion is the only way to not be unhappy in a ~~cool~~ ~~tragic~~ way)
**Cat’s Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)** It didn’t necessarily change my perspective on religion, but it took the random fragments of amateur philosophizing I had done on it at that point and *ran* with them in the best way. 10/10. Also touched on ever-more-relevant idea that human stupidity (my own included, I’m not being snobby) is the true evil. And science. Science/technology are too powerful for the reins to be handed to us.
On a MUCH lighter note (i.e. changed my perspective but not in a way that feels lodged in my soul):
***I Who Have Never Known Men (*****Jacqueline Harpman)** lowkey made me realize that I’m not the kind of person that would be happy living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere (which in turn made me wonder if I should stop hating on capitalism and the Constant Grind that we face under it, because wtf else would I do?)
***Vita Nostra*** **(Marina and Sergey Dyachenko)** made me see the idea of omniscience (in the sense of >!lGod!<) and magic (in the manner we see in fantasy books, mostly) differently.
A New Earth by Ekhart Tolle
Becoming Supernatural by Dr Joe Dispenza
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (and to a lesser extent, His Master’s Voice by Stanislaw Lem).
It reconceptualised for me the idea of what is truly ‘alien’. Not a humanoid extraterrestrial, not a xenomorph, not a mere foreigner of any kind, but something that is so unfamiliar to and incompatible with the human experience that it is by definition incomprehensible. It made me realise that, as biological machines, humans have a cognitive ceiling and that no matter how hard we try or how clever we think we are, we will simply never be able to completely understand our universe and all the things that inhabit it, in the same way that a chimpanzee will never understand the breadth and complexities of human society.
**The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg**
Beyond Good and Evil
*Before the Coffee Gets Cold* by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. The story revolves around time travel, but with a twist: no matter what, the past or future can’t change. I soon realized it’s not about altering outcomes but about appreciating moments for what they are.
This book made me realize that life’s most valuable parts are often the small, fleeting moments we tend to overlook. It shifted my focus—reminding me that instead of wishing for things to be different, I should treasure what’s in front of me. Those everyday interactions and connections with people I love are what truly matter :))