Books that changed your Worldview

[Deleted User]zerogone40 (deleted user)
in General

I had a look back through the forum and there were a couple of book related threads, but here I wanted to do something a tad different. Thinking back on past reads, there are a few that spring to mind as outstanding on the basis they changed my entire worldview. Books that taught me how the world works, or explained a complicated political, economic or historical episode. ‘The Shock Doctrine’ by Naomi Klein is top of this list for me. Also on the list is ‘Fools Gold’ by Gillian Tett, ‘Fiasco’ by Thomas E. Ricks and ‘David Copperfield’ by Charles Dickens. ‘Mary Barton’ by Elizabeth Gaskell rides high, as well as ‘Atlas Shrugged’ by Ayn Rand, political arguments aside.

My question is this; what books completely changed your worldview?

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Comments

  • SweetPeaJenSweetPeaJen

    'Night' by Eli Weisel. It's about a Holocaust survivor's time in a concentration camp during WWII. I read it in high school, and it was the first "first person" account of what it was like living that nightmare that I ever read. I've never forgotten how it made me feel. Changed my world view forever. How could people do that to one another?? To this day, the Holocaust is still a "favorite" time period to learn about, as odd as that may sound.

  • [Deleted User]zerogone40 (deleted user)
    edited May 2024

    @SweetPeaJen That’s interesting. Haven’t read that one. I’ve read about that time though. The lengths humans can go to always baffles me.

  • CuddlesByGracieCuddlesByGracie

    Great topic ☺️

    For me it was 'Writings on an Ethical Life' by Peter Singer. I read it when I was 16 and it was probably the first time I really dissected and analysed the rationale behind lots of my own ethical and political opinions , and I never stopped since!

  • Will564Will564

    For me, I don't really think any individual book as a whole has ever changed my worldview. My mind usually shifts based on so many different small snippets from different articles I read, videos I watch, people I talk to, or different religious/spiritual/philosophical new ideas that I come across. They all kind of come together to form my current way of viewing the world.

    A lot of times things are more inward for me, in terms of focusing how I view myself and my experience in life to make my life the most fulfilling, which is why I tend to go more for philosophical types of lessons.

    But one that really shifted the way I view myself I did get from a book, even though it was from a silly personality type book. But it was a statement that was aimed at people of my personality type directly. It has since been backed up by a number of philosophy sources that I've seen, but it still as always spoken to me.

    "Remember that there is no one right way to live. What counts is that you're satisfied."

    I think it has served to remind me that each one of us is so unique and can have plenty of different reasons and ways to find fulfillment and meaning in our lives. I don't need to try to live up to someone else's vision of what life means because they aren't me.

    There are a few other big philosophical tenants that I've kind of settled on, but I think the other one that I really feel is universal to almost every human being is valuing time. The one thing that's true for all of us is that we have limited time, and we never know when our time will be up. I think so often all of us don't use the time in our lives to live our lives in the way that is the most satisfying to us, and the more we train our minds to do so, the better our life experience is for both us and those around us.

    Sorry if that didn't directly answer your question, but the thread made me think of those things.

  • [Deleted User]zerogone40 (deleted user)

    @CuddlesByGracie Another one I haven't read, I'm going to come back later and start to add them all to a list. Thank you!

    @Will564 You're quite right to say that we can get little snippets and life lessons from a wealth of other places too. That's a great point because a lot of what I've learned and other viewpoints have come from documentary films for example. I would agree that nobody has a 'right way' to live. You'll forgive me for my simple understanding of the philosophical ideas of objective right and wrong, I think it might be possible to look at something and say: that is the wrong way to live. Whether anyone has the right to make that judgement is another matter.

  • RadiantHugsRadiantHugs Mod

    I’ll name one on my list: Animal Farm by George Orwell

  • UREverythingUREverything

    At 12 the bible
    At 16 the autobiography of Malcom X
    At 25 the art of war
    At 28 the Giver
    At 33 the 48 laws of power
    I have read since then 😂 just not for guidance per say

  • waynewvwaynewv

    Project Blue Book

  • [Deleted User]1_teddybear (deleted user)

    Consciousness Explained, by Daniel Dennett

  • [Deleted User]zerogone40 (deleted user)

    Definitely some new ones on me...

    I've read Orwell's 'The Road to Wigan Pier' and 'Down and out in Paris and London'...

  • Vintage_EmbraceVintage_Embrace

    The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Read it in 2nd grade for the honors assignments.
    Next book was Alive, the story about survival.
    A Little Life.
    Know My Name
    A Thousand Splendid Suns
    Sapiens
    When Breath Comes
    Currently reading Trick Mirror

    I have a love affair with tangible books 📚 and value other insights and experiences.

  • SoosonSooson
    edited May 2024

    One time a really heavy book fell on my head from the top shelf. I have no idea what it was about, but it definitely changed my mind.

  • TxTomTxTom

    My worldview has been formed by cumulative exposure to information, people, experiences, and lots of introspection.

  • [Deleted User]GentleCuddlz (deleted user)

    The God Delusion

  • [Deleted User]GentleCuddlz (deleted user)

    It's Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People

  • PeopleLikeUsPeopleLikeUs

    The Will to Change - bell hooks
    The China Study - T. Colin Campbell
    The American Way of Eating - Tracie McMillan
    Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramahansa Yogananda

  • HazelEyes68HazelEyes68

    Celestine Prophecy
    James Redfield

  • Platypus0110Platypus0110

    None Dare Call It Conspiracy
    The Creature From Jekyll Island.

  • Will564Will564
    edited May 2024

    @zerolight40

    Not to derail your thread too much, but I think it makes it clearer when I give a little more context.

    The quotation was given to people of my personality type of in particular. The idea is that people of my type particularly struggle with caring too much about what others think about us and we tend to live too much by other people's standards. It's kind of like the idea in the masculinity thread about how other people's definitions of masculinity shouldn't define your own.

    So it's moreso the idea that just because I like something "weird" or different that no one else likes, as long as theirs nothing inherently wrong with it, then it's completely fine for me to like it. I used to struggle way more with this idea, especially since it felt so lonely, and I used to have a hard time just being myself and liking what I liked even though it was different.

    For someone who doesn't struggle with that, then that bit of advice doesn't mean much. But for me at the time, hearing that, and knowing that it was supposedly aimed at people who were more like me, meant a lot.

    As far as the general philosophy side of it for everyone, I think this video examines it in a more philosophical and intellectual way, applying it more to the overall meaning of life and finding purpose and things like that. I've always really liked this video for that reason:

    The more philosophical part starts around 3 minutes in.

  • [Deleted User]zerogone40 (deleted user)
    edited May 2024

    @Will564 Thanks for explaining that. Interesting video too.👌There were times in my life when I have acted on the desire to jump into the unknown. I would say though, it's almost always better to read the full book, if the time is there, to get every argument inside, rather than a digest.

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    @TxTom Me too. I had not realized (until your post) that my worldview is shaped quite a bit by introspection also.

  • JohnR1972JohnR1972

    @zerolight40
    I have a long list but near the top would be
    1) Whatever Happened to the American Dream
    2) Atlas Shrugged
    3) Mind Over Medicine
    4) Move Your DNA

  • [Deleted User]natickben (deleted user)
    edited May 2024

    "In an antique land" -Amitav Ghosh
    "Bangkok Wakes to Rain" -Pitchaya Sudbanthad
    "Lovecraft Country" - Matt Ruff
    "Society of Shame" - Jane Roper
    "How to be a Woman Online" -Nina Jankowicz
    "Neverwhere" -Neil Gaiman
    "Lamb" -Christopher Moore
    "Survival in Auschwitz" - Primo Levi
    "Still Alive" -Ruth Kluger

  • [Deleted User]natickben (deleted user)

    @PeopleLikeUs I just had Tracie McMillan on the podcast I cohost to discuss her new book "The White Bonus." She's really smart!

  • TD1964RGKTD1964RGK

    FEAR AND TREMBLING BY SOREN KIERKEGAARD. My take away: Ultimately, to give our lives any sense of meaning, or psychological stability, we must choose to believe certain things matter more than ourselves. This choice requires what Kierkegaard famously calls a “leap of faith.” But, this does not have to be a religion, it can be your family, a relationship, or a career mission. He argues we all must choose, at some point, to give our lives over to something. Of course, the terrifying thing is that we must do this without really knowing if it’s the right thing or not. This is where “faith” comes in. I think this book showed me that nothing is really secular, and all commitments are ultimately “religious” to some degree or another. Whatever that may mean. Still sorting through that. 🙂

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    @RadiantHugs I second that on Animal Farm

  • Platypus0110Platypus0110

    I find it telling how many people don't consider the Bible to change their view.

  • TxTomTxTom

    @Platypus0110 You might like "Why The Universe Is The Way It Is" by Hugh Ross.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    Darkness Visible—William Styron (Anyone with depression should read this as this work made depression mainstream and culturally accepted at a time when it was still stigmatized)

    Sophie’s Choice—William Styron

    The Necessity of Atheism—Percy Bysshe Shelley

    Madame Bovary—Gustave Flaubert

    The Lover—Marguerite Duras

    The Road—Cormac McCarthy

  • CuddleHugs01234CuddleHugs01234

    @Platypus0110 Possibly because they were raised with it, so it didn’t change their worldview but helped form it. It would be top on my list of shaping me. I also like to read a lot of recovery literature. Recovery covers many different things people are recovering from, but it has helped form my views and how I deal with stuff.

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