OK, here's a new book meme by me. List the 20-odd books you have personally read that have been most influential in your life. By personally read, I mean that we aren't talking about indirect effects of famous books you haven't read. By influential, I mean intellectually, spiritually, politically, aesthetically, or any other way you might be influenced (e.g., books that have shaped habits or hobbies of yours). I'm not referring to your favorite stories
qua stories -- plenty of mine are omitted from the list below. The question here is lasting effect.
* * *
bonobo23's most influential books (alphabetically by author's name)
David Arora,
Mushrooms DemystifiedT. Coraghessan Boyle,
The Tortilla CurtainSusie Bright,
Susie Bright's Sexual Reality,
SexWise, and
The Sexual State of the UnionEdward Espe Brown,
The Tassajara CookbookPat Califia,
Public SexErnest Callenbach,
Ecotopia and
Ecotopia EmergingEdward De Grazia,
Girls Lean Back EverywhereNancy Friday,
My Secret Garden,
Forbidden Flowers,
Men in Love, and
Women on TopJoel Garreau,
The Nine Nations of North AmericaStephen Gaskin,
Amazing Dope TalesRobert Heinlein,
Stranger in a Strange LandRobert Heinlein,
Time Enough for LoveRobert Heinlein,
FridayUrsula LeGuin,
Always Coming Home (probably my favorite single book)
Markos Moulitsas ZĂșniga and Jerome Armstrong,
Crashing the GatesGeorge Orwell,
1984Alexei Panshin,
Rite of PassageMichael Pollan,
The Omnivore's DilemmaRam Dass,
Be Here NowTom Robbins,
Jitterbug PerfumeKim Stanley Robinson,
Red Mars,
Blue Mars, and
Green Mars (definitely my favorite series)
Kim Stanley Robinson,
Forty Signs of Rain,
Fifty Degrees Below Zero, and
Sixty Days and CountingSpider Robinson,
Mindkiller and
Time PressureIrma S. Rombauer, Marion Romauer Becker, and Ethan Becker, et al.,
The Joy of CookingSasha Shulgin and Ann Shulgin,
PIHKAL and
TIHKALGary Snyder,
No NatureStarhawk,
The Spiral DanceMarco Vassi,
The Stoned ApocalypseRobert Anton Wilson,
Cosmic TriggerRobert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea,
Illuminatus!Howard Zinn,
A People's History of the United States