The Facebook Challenge - Books

The Facebook Challenge – you’ve seen them. You get named as someone to say three things that you are grateful for, or name major influences in your life. I ‘received’ my first one the other day. An unusual one I hadn’t seen before. Name 10 books that have stayed with me throughout the years.

That certainly provoked some thought in me. What books have stayed with me? I stretched my memory back to high school and couldn’t remember what I’d read. How could I find 10 books that have stayed with me that long if I can’t even remember what I read?

So maybe I don’t have to go back that far. What did I read in my 20s that have stayed with me? As I scanned my bookshelves, there is very little that goes back that far. I have a number of cook books, books on training for athletics, and a few others.

I even remember about 10 years ago doing a major purge of my books. Ones that I had read, but no longer held an interest for me. Most of the books on my bookshelf are ones from the last decade.

The only way for me to come close was to morph the question. What are the ten most influential books on my bookshelf now (including my iPad bookshelf :)?

As I started the process, I wrote down a few books. Then I came to authors and speakers. Authors whose compendium of work is brilliant. Speakers who rarely write. So it’s a mixed bag.

After browsing through my bookshelf, I had over twenty. I tried narrowing it down, but only a few exited the list. Looking over the list what I discovered is that every one of these books changed my world. Through reading them I had new insights. Through reading them I discovered a whole new world. Through reading them my ideas of the world shifted in a big way.

The result is the list of the books that have changed my world, mostly in the past decade. So here’s my list:

• Blackfoot Physics
• If the Buddha Dated
• David Whyte (author)
• Running the Spiritual Path
• Adyashanti (author)
• Yoga Beyond Belief
• Douglas Brooks (speaker)
• Ender’s Saga
• Let My People Go Surfing
• Alan Watts (author, speaker)
• The Tao of Pooh/The Te of Piglet
• Forgive for Good
• Effortless Mastery
• Healers on Healing
• Life in Motion or CranioSacral Biodynamics
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull
• The Hidden Messages in Water
• Quantum Healing, Molecules of Emotion, Energy Medicine, The Body Remembers
• Explorers of the Infinite
• Robert Fulghum (author)
• Bhagavad Gita

 

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

Xenocide is the third novel in the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card. The first two books are Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. I just finished reading these three books again, I think for the third time. I'm reminded each time why these are some of my favorite books, especially Xenocide.

First is the cast of characters, and there are many of them. There are at least a dozen characters that get developed with a full personality within Xenocide. Each character is so unique, with brilliance and quirks. What's even better is how Card preserves and enhances each one with all the interactions in the book. It's also a great look at family, community, and relationship dynamics and their intricacies.

I also love the plot and storylines of which there are many. The book goes back and forth between storylines and yet each one is completely related to the others. It makes it a book that's hard to put down.

Mostly though I think it's the philosophical discussions that arise from the book. Dialogue that is directly presented by Card, inner dialogue that various characters have in their mind, and the conversations that we can start with ourselves (or others) on what's happening in the book. So many topics are covered from what makes a species sentient to alternative universes to faster than light travel to what it means to be human. It even includes some religious doctrine and ideas about what God(s) are or aren't plus dilemnas of what's right and what's wrong.

If you're looking for some great reading material for the winter, this would be at the top of my list for recommendations. You don't have to read the first two, but they do provide good context for the third and are a much quicker read.

Enjoy.