Discussion: Which books have changed how you see the world?
The power of perspective
Part of the magic of books is that they can fundamentally alter the way we see the world, cracking open our brain and/or soul and leaving us forever changed. Maybe it was a novel that made you see a slice of history in a new light, a memoir that reshaped your understanding of another person’s experience, or a piece of philosophy that rewired your thinking entirely.
Here are some from my adult reading life that come to mind for me:
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
An Immense World by Ed Yong
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Your turn! Which books have shifted your perspective, made you rethink an assumption, or changed the way you move through the world?
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I was planning to major in psychology and minor in philosophy and religious studies. I was in conflict with the head of the psych dept. He was a raging behaviorist and had a picture of B.F. Skinner in his office. My heroes were Wilhelm Reich and Carl Jung, whom he poo-pooed. I was talking to one of the student counselors one day when I was having some issues, and she told me about a book by James Hillman and Michael Ventura: "We've Had 100 Years of Psychotherapy and the World is Getting Worse." Under the influence of this book I dropped out of college right at the turn of the millennium, went back home, got a job at the library, got on the radio, played in bands, hung out poetry readings, got married, have a family, haven't looked back. I'm re-reading it now and it is still spot on. Working at the library has given me an education I don't know I would have gotten if I had stayed in college and gotten sucked into the academic trap.
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande and Beloved by Toni Morrison.