Why don't more non-fiction books make the 'best of' and 'changed my life' lists? I've got several that fit the bill in terms of life-changing (even 'Joy of Cooking,' LOL). Just curious as to why, when someone says "Tell me about the books that changed your life," so many automatically answer w/fiction. I'm not arguing some of these great choices, but I'm curious.

So, what non-fiction books changed your life? Which ones had the most influence?

amazon.com/Turning-Point-Science-Societ ... amp;sr=1-1

A book that delves into a new way of viewing the world called "Systems Theory."

How to Win Friends and Influence People, and Pyscho-Cybernetics, two of the greatest self-helf books of all time.

Randy

I loved this book, "HALF THE SKY; Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide" by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

It didn't open my eyes to atrocities because I already knew of the topics discussed. It did inspire me to do something to create a more peaceful accepting world. The first part is about sex slavery and I had to stop reading that section and read other parts of the book first. It was so sad and so difficult to read that part and not know what I could do to stop it.

There are great success stories in the book that show how well humans can act towards each other and the power we each have to make a positive difference.

In the end I suppose it taught me that change is possible, but it really has to start on a local and individual level. We can create billions of laws to stop atrocities, but the truth is if people don't change it won't stop them from hurting others. So all those beauty queens wishing for world peace isn't going to change the world.

There are other books, but this one is always stuck in my head when people ask about good non-fiction. I would recommend it for anyone over the age of 15.

whew, deep breath:

just shaking my head for some memories:

the Bible, soul on ice, the autobiography of malcolm x, I know why the caged bird sings, warrior woman,
west with the night, lincoln's gettsburg address, the constitution, the diaries of virginia woolf, congressional record of watergate hearings, the second world war (churchill), letters of jane austen, road to coorain, the guns of august, and no birds sang, let us now praise famous men, the white album, out of africa/shadows on the grass, i'm ok, you're okay, all the president's men, the rise and the fall of the third reich, working, james baldwin essays, black like me,
On the road, the diary of anne frank, in cold blook, working, silent spring, the late great state of california, the path to power (caro), the power broker (caro).. the march of folly (tuchman)...two years before the mast...

This are some of my favorites,

Human Action - Ludwig von Mises, Thank Your for Arguing - Jay Heinrichs, The Road to Serfdom - F. A. Hayek, Liberty and Tyranny - Mark R. Levin, Visions of the Annoited - Thomas Sowell,
Liberal Fascism -Jonah Goldberg, Homage to Catolonia - George Orwell, The real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots who Idolize him - Humberto Fontova, The Federalist Papers - Hamilton,Madison and Jay
The Anti Federalist - George Mason, Lenin, Stalin and Hitler - Robert Gellanty, In the Garden of the Beast - Eric Larson, The Crowd (the study of the popular mind) -Gustave Le Bon, Two Treatises of Government - John Locke, Bonhoeffer Pastor Martyr Prophet Spy - Eric Mataxas, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler The Age of Social Catastrophe - Robert Gellately, Black Listed by History - M. Staton Evans, How the Scots Invented the Modern World - Arthur Herman, History of the American People - Paul Johnson, Men In Black - Mark R. Levin, White Liberals and Black Rednecks - Thomas Sowell, On Liberty - John Stuart Mill,
A Bright Shinning Lie - Neil Sheehan, Vietnam A History - Stanley Karnow, Radical For Captalism - Brian Doherty, We Were Soldiers - Harold Moore, Guns of August -Barbara Tuchman, Gulag Archipelago - Alexandr I. Solzhenitsyn, Because They Hate - Bridgette Gabriel, Guadacanal Diary - Richard Tregaskis

I would recommend any and all of them.

I consider spiritual books leaving deep impact in me. Some of the books that I loved are The Power of Now, Kriya Yoga (by Paramahansa Hariharananda) and Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi.

I consider practice more important than reading in bringing spiritual transformation. Generally the masters say that the reading and the practice should go together.