Books that Really Changed/Helped You/Your Perspective and Why?

[yankees60]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

That was a powerful book with compelling arguments.

[yankees60]

Zone Diet - Dr. Sears

The book provided a good framework for how I should eat. Easy to understand and follow. He educated me on the benefits of Omega 3s which I continue to take.

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration - Weston Price

It was an interesting read but more importantly, put me on the path to adding Cod liver oil into my diet.

Regarding the first book. When did you read it / implement it? You are still following its principles?

[cheesepep]

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I found out that, after reading it, it used to be mandatory reading for some high schools in my neighborhood, but had since been replaced by lesser quality materials when I went to high school. The book shows the low and high tides in the poor and rich in opium-China.

[Tyler Aspect]

The role of repurposed drugs and metabolic interventions in treating cancer, written by Paul Marik

My take-away is that we need to take medical care into our own hands and prepare ahead of time, because turbo cancer can strike any year or any month.

[Tycoon]

Candide by Voltaire

[AzWDC]

The Last Word: The New York Times Book of Obituaries and Farewells : A Celebration of Unusual Lives. Marvin Siegel.

This is composed of obituaries - of many marvelous individuals who made unusual choices, discovered or invented, or who decided to be compassionate. It is easy to read just one or two a day. It helped keep me firm in my decisions on how to live my life.

I bought several copies of the book and gave away to various friends. They got fixated on the word "obituary" and never saw the marvelous "life story."

[xb7]

...
A random walk down wall street - Malkiel read this when I was 22, and it led me to become a boglehead before that term was even coined….
...

I don't recall my age, but this was exactly my experience too.

My wife and I are aggressively downsizing in preparation to move, so I've severely culled the set of books that I retain, tending to favor digital books today.

A few that I kept --- acknowledging that this is a somewhat haphazard collection:

"The Storm Before the Storm" by Mike Duncan. This is about the Roman Republic about a generation before the events that led to the end of republic and the start of empire. It's very hard to read this and not see many parallels with our own country today. It's also just interesting to read, for me at least.

"A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper" by John Allen Paulos. This is dated now, but the underlying ideas still completely valid. A very easy read, very short bits to read one at a time where, as the title suggests, a mathematician reads a newspaper headline/article from the perspective of logic and simple math. Refreshing stuff. I read some of these little stories to my children as they were growing up.

"The Gifts of the Crow" by John Marzluff. I've read multiple books about the intelligence of corvids, sparked by attending a talk on the topic at a regional TEDx. Since then I've read about the intelligence of cephalopods (octopus) and in general find the topic of "most intelligent other animals" to be one that's pretty fascinating. It helps put our planetary dominance into context, I guess, as we find out more and more how capable and (sometimes differently) intelligent that various non-hominid species are.

"Gorgias" by Plato. I used to have a pretty complete set of the dialogues of Socrates, but picked just this one as my favorite to keep. Gorgias is a sophist who trains other speakers to sway the masses and has no sense of responsibility for what a sophist convinces audiences to believe, Socrates takes him to task that there should be some sort of moral compass involved. A fairly short read, recommended for someone who hasn't read the "socratic method" directly.

"Enlightenment Now" by Stephen Pinker. This was published in 2018, so not totally new, but not so very far in the past either. Pinker is one of those few scientists who can really write --- would that there were more so we could have a more rationality-based set of great books to select among. I like this book in particular because in it Pinker sets out to make the case for optimism. If you just watch the evening news and read the newspaper, a typical aging/retired person might well have a tendency to see the world going to hell, "Apres moi, le Deluge" sort of thing. I find this attitude typical of our demographic, and found Pinker's book quite a tonic. It's worth keeping in mind all of the slower moving quiet improvements that occur.
A sort of cognitive dissonance thing, I guess, where one can simultaneously think that things are currently terrible, and yet also that I wouldn't want to be living in any other time in the past.
Is it optimism or pessimism to say that we're currently living in a golden age? Perhaps some of both.

[Dusn]

Sapiens - Yuval Harari
The power of now - Ekhart tolle

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande is also good. If you’ve worked in a hospital it won’t tell you anything you haven’t already seen. But I’d strongly recommend it to anyone not in healthcare.

[CedarWaxWing]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

Do you have any pets?

I've been vegetarian since 1978 but my cats are all meat eaters. An inconsistency I've not resolved.

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments ... iomyopathy

Cats who are on a vegetarian diet can have severe health problems from not having enough taurine in their diet. Animal proteins are a good source of taurine. Deficiencies of taurine can manifest as dilated cardiomyopathy, which is progressive .. .meaning often fatal if a cause is not found and corrected. Taurine can also result in retinal atrophy and blindness.

[FeralCat]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

Do you have any pets?

I've been vegetarian since 1978 but my cats are all meat eaters. An inconsistency I've not resolved.

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments ... iomyopathy

Cats who are on a vegetarian diet can have severe health problems from not having enough taurine in their diet. Animal proteins are a good source of taurine. Deficiencies of taurine can manifest as dilated cardiomyopathy, which is progressive .. .meaning often fatal if a cause is not found and corrected. Taurine can also result in retinal atrophy and blindness.

Cats are carnivores. Many of us cat owners don't feed any grains either. Purrr...

[Nicolas]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

Do you have any pets?

I've been vegetarian since 1978 but my cats are all meat eaters. An inconsistency I've not resolved.

We are the same: vegetarian cat lovers. (Actually “pescatarian”, we eat fish). Think of it this way, if your cats were feral they’d still be eating animals so you aren’t really increasing the animal death toll by feeding your cats what they need. And I hope you don’t let your cats run free outdoors — it greatly shortens their lifespans.

[AlohaBill]

Fun with Dick and Jane. A great way to continue my beginning to reading.

[yankees60]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

Do you have any pets?

I've been vegetarian since 1978 but my cats are all meat eaters. An inconsistency I've not resolved.

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments ... iomyopathy

Cats who are on a vegetarian diet can have severe health problems from not having enough taurine in their diet. Animal proteins are a good source of taurine. Deficiencies of taurine can manifest as dilated cardiomyopathy, which is progressive .. .meaning often fatal if a cause is not found and corrected. Taurine can also result in retinal atrophy and blindness.

Their diet is exclusively meat: beef, turkey, chicken.

[yankees60]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

Do you have any pets?

I've been vegetarian since 1978 but my cats are all meat eaters. An inconsistency I've not resolved.

We are the same: vegetarian cat lovers. (Actually “pescatarian”, we eat fish). Think of it this way, if your cats were feral they’d still be eating animals so you aren’t really increasing the animal death toll by feeding your cats what they need. And I hope you don’t let your cats run free outdoors — it greatly shortens their lifespans.

None of my cats have been allowed outdoors for 40 years - 1984. That was the year my all-time favorite cat at the time had the culmination of four serious injuries over the two years she was at my house and allowed to go outside. It was her death getting hit by a car in front of my house. I declared to the next door neighbor kid that my cats were never going to be allowed outside again.

I do presently have one escape artist cat which requires much diligence to not let her get outside.

If I go out the front door and let the screen door semi-slowly close behind me she'd make a running start in the living room so she can get outside before it fully closes. Right now as I type this she is touching my right elbow with her body. That's a sign that it's time to put more food in their food dish!

[Nicolas]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

Do you have any pets?

I've been vegetarian since 1978 but my cats are all meat eaters. An inconsistency I've not resolved.

We are the same: vegetarian cat lovers. (Actually “pescatarian”, we eat fish). Think of it this way, if your cats were feral they’d still be eating animals so you aren’t really increasing the animal death toll by feeding your cats what they need. And I hope you don’t let your cats run free outdoors — it greatly shortens their lifespans.

None of my cats have been allowed outdoors for 40 years - 1984. That was the year my all-time favorite cat at the time had the culmination of four serious injuries over the two years she was at my house and allowed to go outside. It was her death getting hit by a car in front of my house. I declared to the next door neighbor kid that my cats were never going to be allowed outside again.

I do presently have one escape artist cat which requires much diligence to not let her get outside.

If I go out the front door and let the screen door semi-slowly close behind me she'd make a running start in the living room so she can get outside before it fully closes. Right now as I type this she is touching my right elbow with her body. That's a sign that it's time to put more food in their food dish!

A man after my own heart. Sorry to hear about that favorite cat. If your cat escapes semi-regularly you might want to put a collar with an embedded AirTag on it. My daughter’s escape-artist cat was gone for fifteen hours recently and after that incident that’s what she did. He can turn door knobs, the lever kind, and get out. So they have to lock the doors. He hasn’t figured out locks yet.

[yankees60]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

Do you have any pets?

I've been vegetarian since 1978 but my cats are all meat eaters. An inconsistency I've not resolved.

We are the same: vegetarian cat lovers. (Actually “pescatarian”, we eat fish). Think of it this way, if your cats were feral they’d still be eating animals so you aren’t really increasing the animal death toll by feeding your cats what they need. And I hope you don’t let your cats run free outdoors — it greatly shortens their lifespans.

None of my cats have been allowed outdoors for 40 years - 1984. That was the year my all-time favorite cat at the time had the culmination of four serious injuries over the two years she was at my house and allowed to go outside. It was her death getting hit by a car in front of my house. I declared to the next door neighbor kid that my cats were never going to be allowed outside again.

I do presently have one escape artist cat which requires much diligence to not let her get outside.

If I go out the front door and let the screen door semi-slowly close behind me she'd make a running start in the living room so she can get outside before it fully closes. Right now as I type this she is touching my right elbow with her body. That's a sign that it's time to put more food in their food dish!

A man after my own heart. Sorry to hear about that favorite cat. If your cat escapes semi-regularly you might want to put a collar with an embedded AirTag on it. My daughter’s escape-artist cat was gone for fifteen hours recently and after that incident that’s what she did. He can turn door knobs, the lever kind, and get out. So they have to lock the doors. He hasn’t figured out locks yet.

Her escapes ohavenow become far less frequent Now that I'm wise to all the things she can do. She will pull open the heavy kitchen door if it's not clicked shut. Push open screen doors if they're not clicked shut. Now make sure that kitchen door is always click shut and when I go out the front screen door I look behind me to make sure she's not dashed out with me And that the door has clicked shut.

[yankees60]

So not half hour from when I wrote my last post while I'm outside sitting in a chair, participating here ... I see this black cat rapidly approaching!

I'm not wearing contact lens or glasses so I cannot clearly make out all its features. I'm at first thinking that it is not my Mink. But as it gets a few feet from me I realize that it IS my Mink!

I pick her up and she is happy to be held. But then I quickly bring him back inside the house as anything can happen while we are outside.

I put her inside the front door and go back to my door, thinking that is how she got out.

But I say I need to make sure that WAS the way.

I go inside and verify that that WAS how she got out.

I had not done my job of turning around and watching the door shut without her slipping through!

How does one train oneself to be 100% fail-safe on such a simple task??!!!

She could have been outside for 1/2 hour until she comes running to me?

Whenever I DO see her get out the door she always stops at the bush next to the steps before I scoop her up and put her back in the house. I assume that was her first move. In between her coming to run up to me?

????????????????

[CedarWaxWing]

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

We became vegetarians after reading this book. Not instantly, but reduced meat consumption over time and learned there are so many fabulous vegetarian options. It was relatively easy to give up meat. Going on about 15 yrs now.

Do you have any pets?

I've been vegetarian since 1978 but my cats are all meat eaters. An inconsistency I've not resolved.

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments ... iomyopathy

Cats who are on a vegetarian diet can have severe health problems from not having enough taurine in their diet. Animal proteins are a good source of taurine. Deficiencies of taurine can manifest as dilated cardiomyopathy, which is progressive .. .meaning often fatal if a cause is not found and corrected. Taurine can also result in retinal atrophy and blindness.

Their diet is exclusively meat: beef, turkey, chicken.

PM Sent

[Nicolas]

When my cat gets outside he heads for the first tall grass to munch on, then I grab him. Bad mistake on his part. He could be free! But he never stops to consider.

[5outof10]

Atlas Shrugged. Read for fun. Although fiction, I see it's lessons everywhere all the time in the real world. One of those things that you can't unsee. I studied various economic systems and this put the nail in the coffin for my already fading interest in understanding the potential positives of socialist and Marxist concepts.

The Richest Man in Babylon. Read in undergrad, for fun not for schoolwork. Instilled pay yourself first and valuing one's self.

Dave Ramsey stuff. Read with wife during engagement time. Helped us get on the same page financially and has become a common language for us when prioritizing values and living below our means.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street. After undergrad but before Masters. For fun and of interest. Led me to here, shaped my investment belief.

Count of Monte Cristo. Fun.

Dante's Inferno. Fun.

Writings by Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. Interesting and valuable for life.

[yankees60]

Atlas Shrugged. Read for fun. Although fiction, I see it's lessons everywhere all the time in the real world. One of those things that you can't unsee. I studied various economic systems and this put the nail in the coffin for my already fading interest in understanding the potential positives of socialist and Marxist concepts.

The Richest Man in Babylon. Read in undergrad, for fun not for schoolwork. Instilled pay yourself first and valuing one's self.

Dave Ramsey stuff. Read with wife during engagement time. Helped us get on the same page financially and has become a common language for us when prioritizing values and living below our means.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street. After undergrad but before Masters. For fun and of interest. Led me to here, shaped my investment belief.

Count of Monte Cristo. Fun.

Dante's Inferno. Fun.

Writings by Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. Interesting and valuable for life.

Read the first five financially oriented ones. Read about five different versions of the fifth one.

[yankees60]

When my cat gets outside he heads for the first tall grass to munch on, then I grab him. Bad mistake on his part. He could be free! But he never stops to consider.

My street is 40 MPH which means everyone goes faster so I'm quite alarmed to have her outside on her own when that is not her norm. That is why as soon as I had her in my arms yesterday within a minute I was on my way to bringing her back in the house.

[Finridge]

The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health & Happinesss, by Douglas J. Lisle and Alan Goldhamer (This is a book I first became acquainted with via Bogleheads.org. And if there was just ONE book I wish everyone read, it is this one. Easy to read, but sort of short on science. For scientific support, you'd want to turn to the books by Robert Lustig, M.D. and Daniel Lieberman, listed below.)

How to Make Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie (Some people do not need the advice given in this book, they know it all intuitively. But for the rest of us, this books is invaluable. And we all know people who could use this information...)

A Random Walk Down Wall Street, by Burton G. Malkiel (There are other good books out there on investing, but this is the one that set me on the pathway.

Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Emil Frankl (This book needs no introduction. In times of adversity, I think of this book and it helps me persevere.)

The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins. (Completely changed my worldview. By the way, in one of the more recent editions, Richard Dawkins more or less admits that a better title for this book would have been "The Cooperative Gene" and he could have used this title without changing a word of the book... I agree. It to often gets a bad rap due to its title.)

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan (More important than investing success and financial security is keeping and maintaining good health. Reaching financial success is easy by following a few simple rules and once we were on the right track, as a general rule, the older we get the the wealthier we become. Unfortunately, the opposite is generally true of health--and so "The Pleasure Trap" up on the top of my list, this book and the rest of the books on my list are mostly focused on health and mental well-being. It's beyond the scope of this forum, I know, to get into any extended discussion of the content matter, so I won't go there--but these are books that have helped me change my life for the better. This book changed the way I think about food.)

Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease, by Robert H. Lustig, M.D.

The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains, by Robert H. Lustig, M.D. (I don't like the title, but if you get past that, there is a lot to learn. This isn't a conspiracy screed, it's a serious work by a respected physician who is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.

The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease, by Daniel Lieberman (Dr. Daniel E. Lieberman is a Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. You can think of this as a manual to the human body. Long and detailed, and really worth reading.)

Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry, by Randolph M. Nesse, M.D. (This book is by a psychiatrist who also considered to be a founder of the field of evolutionary medicine. For me, it provided more "actionable" insight and knowledge into the workings of the human mind and our emotions than any other book.)

[yankees60]

Many thanks for this! Tremendous list plus accompanying summaries.

[Syner01]

The lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant: a summary of periods and trends throughout history. it is a summary of their earlier work. worth reading imo if you are into history.

[RANkiDEr]

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
by Sogyal Rinpoche

I initially bought the book to get an insight into caring for someone who was dying, but I learned so much more than that.
This book has profoundly changed my views on death.

In his foreword to the book, the 14th Dalai Lama says:

In this timely book, Sogyal Rinpoche focuses on how to understand the true meaning of life, how to accept death, and how to help the dying, and the dead ... Death and dying provide a meeting point between the Tibetan Buddhist and modern scientific traditions. I believe both have a great deal to contribute to each other on the level of understanding and practical benefit. Sogyal Rinpoche is particularly well placed to facilitate this meeting; having been born and brought up in the Tibetan tradition, he has received instructions from some of our greatest Lamas. Having also benefited from a modern education and lived and worked in the West, he has become well acquainted with Western ways of thought.

[yankees60]

The lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant: a summary of periods and trends throughout history. it is a summary of their earlier work. worth reading imo if you are into history.

Thanks!

Added to Amazon wishlist.

[bendix]

On the Shortness of Life by Seneca helped me a lot to put expectations and asks from other people towards my time (or variations of my time, e.g. money) into a better perspective and be more at ease to say no.

[yankees60]

On the Shortness of Life by Seneca helped me a lot to put expectations and asks from other people towards my time (or variations of my time, e.g. money) into a better perspective and be more at ease to say no.

Thanks! Yet another one added to Amazon wishlist.