One book that changed you forever

[Erock]

Originally Posted by justfiverules

There are many, but a current favourite is:

The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey.

He was so far ahead of his time, not just in sports coaching but in helping people get the very best out of themselves.

I wish I had this knowledge 25 years ago when I set out on a teaching career.
But now that I'm older, possibly wiser, and also a coach, I better understand what he was getting at. Highly recommended for self-coaching / personal development.

Amazon.com: The Inner Game of Tennis: Books: W. Timothy Gallwey

Yup Yup Yup. I don't know if you play tennis, but my first glimpses of higher spiritual states were when I would get in the "zone" and start playing phenomenally.

My spiritual journey began when one day I said to myself:
"Wow, I play so good when I'm in the zone and my mind is completely silent, what if I lived my whole life that way?"

I can still remember the shiver that ran down my spine as I realized what that would entail (no more mental chatter or ego of any kind).

Erock

[Peleke4]

The book that REALLY hit home with me was Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. Cool to see that this book has already been mentioned several times. The notion of "self-image" changed my world. Chapter after chapter blew me away. If you're every going to read just one self-help book in your life, this is it.

[beautyscientist]

I would like to say The Origin of Species - and if I had read it when it was suggested by my school biology teacher it probably would have been. As it was I read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins first, which basically has the same information. If you want to really appreciate just how wonderful the Universe and we really are, then you can't get a better summary.

One interesting aside - how many books on this thread are so well known that you don't need to say the author's name?

[HowlingDao]

Just a few that I would recommend to anyone looking for answers

1) Ask & It is Given - Esther & Jerry Hicks - Abraham
This book is a great easy read and covers all of Abrahams teachings

2) Crack in the Cosmic Egg- Joseph Chilton Pearce
This is the most amazing book I have ever read. I have read it mulitple times and it brings something fresh to the table each time.

3) Psycho-Cybernetics- Maxwell Maltz-
This book will help u to understand what u r and awaken that within u

Good Luck

[HowlingDao]

Just a few that I would recommend to anyone looking for answers

1) Ask & It is Given - Esther & Jerry Hicks - Abraham
This book is a great easy read and covers all of Abrahams teachings

2) Crack in the Cosmic Egg- Joseph Chilton Pearce
This is the most amazing book I have ever read. I have read it mulitple times and it brings something fresh to the table each time.

3) Psycho-Cybernetics- Maxwell Maltz-
This book will help u to understand what u r and awaken that within u

Good Luck

[lotusbaba]

"Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda.

[m18pak]

"Mind Power" by John Kehoe

[4Mind4Life]

"Feel The Fear...And Do It Anyways" By Susan Jeffers. This book kept me alive, got my life on the right track, helped me build courage and come out of a lower state of consciousness. I recommend it to everyone, whether they are fearful or courageous. It pushes you to reach your highest potential and get your life on the right track!

[Fullcrum]

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

This is like the magic pill you evil stimulation-junkie westerners seek. It's totally awesome and skyrocketed the quality of my entire experience of life. My "average" day is better than before. My social results skyrocked. Important decisions flow more easily.

Read some of it everyday for best effect.

[Aurora]

"conversations with God"

After that I haven't felt alone nor a a victim (whih I atually tended to) and it led me on to the LoA.. Now, im soo much happier with my life

[emilee]

"Way of the Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman was the beginning for me. I haven't thought about it for years, but saw a trailer for the new movie last week. The remembering had me in tears.

[cdn2wheeler]

Not even remotely "self-help" or anything of the sort: Ghost Rider by Neil Peart.

I'm too sleepy today to write a brief synopsis, but if you're interested further you can find some stuff here and here.

[Jim11]

penthouse?

[coollikeme]

Cashflow Quadrant Taught me what I was never taught.

[NotesMaeve]

Not a PD book, but definitely The Dark Tower. I grew up with Roland, Susannah, Eddie, Jake, and Oy. I remember reading the last book when it came out. Halfway through, my heart just shattered into a million pieces. I stayed up all night crying. It signified a turning point in my life in understanding love and loss and suffering and finding meaning. I won't spoil it, but if Roland taught me nothing else, it's that we own our choices, and the things we own return to us. More than any PD book could ever say.

[Marvinq]

For me it was, Johnathan Livingston Seagull.

[mlc82]

Originally Posted by NotesMaeve

Not a PD book, but definitely The Dark Tower. I grew up with Roland, Susannah, Eddie, Jake, and Oy. I remember reading the last book when it came out. Halfway through, my heart just shattered into a million pieces. I stayed up all night crying. It signified a turning point in my life in understanding love and loss and suffering and finding meaning. I won't spoil it, but if Roland taught me nothing else, it's that we own our choices, and the things we own return to us. More than any PD book could ever say.

I wouldn't claim any particular one as a book that changed me forever, but looking back I can tell that many of David Gemmell's (deceased British fantasy author) novels have heavily influened my thinking/views. Interesting how your realize that after years of re-reading someone's work.

[Sam988]

"The Intelligent Investor" by ben graham

[Angela]

I just finished a couple of books that I guess I would say have changed my life. They have moved and inspired and encouraged me; I want to be able to do for others what this author has done for me.

Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (about the craft and art of writing) and Travelling Mercies (about faith, of all things.) I resisted the faith one, you know how I am, but it's incredible -- so wry and clear and honest and brutal and loving and funny. I was afraid it was going to be all Family Circle on my ass, you know, pictures of clouds and stories about miracles and cute children. No, no, no.... none of that (thank god!)

I highly recommend these books.

[somiab1]

The book that really changed me forever and is still my bible, sitting beside my bed and has gone everywhere with me for the past 3 years, is called "Coversations with Kafaka" written by Gustav Janush, who was the closest person to Franz Kafaka during the last 3 years of his life. Janush at the time when he met Kafka was only 17 and was facinated by the author so much that he noted down their conversation everytime they met and after Kafka's dead he turned it into a book.

Amzing person Kafka has been! His words in this book are words for a life time.

[The Cloud]

"Thus Spoke Zarathustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche showed me how my happiness is not dependent on others, as well as showing me how to truly use critical thinking to analyze myself and the world I live in.

"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand showed me what the life of a man without regard for social norms or anything but his vision of the world might be like.

These books showed me thoughts it was possible that I could think, and in doing so taught me how to expand my thinking to include that which I had not considered before.

[Ilya]

The one book that changed my life is obviously Pinocchio (the Russian rip off by Alexey Tolstoy). Why? It it the first book, I've read myself at the age of 3. And when reading that first book I've experienced the joy of reading, when the text disappears and only unfolding images are left. Life was never the same after that.

If talking about personal development... I'll have to name authors not books.
I'm used to read several books from the same author to absorb his view of life.

Dale Carnegie - it was the first PD author published in USSR.
Richard Bach, obviously - this is the author of the simplest manuals on IM.
Robert Kiyosaki - he opened the way to financial freedom for me.
Peter Senge - "The fifth discipline" - the best book on systemic thinking.
Christopher Alexander - the man who introduced the idea of patterns into the world and gave the hope of living in a truly beautiful, living house.
Grinder and Bandler - NLP.
Mantak Chia - The use of sexual energy.
Betty Edwards - I've learned to draw in 10 drawings and taught other people to draw in 15 minutes thanks to her books. Really sets the high standard of effective learning.

[Lola]

I've pondered this thread for a while now, wondering how on earth I would ever choose ONE book that changed me forever. Would it be one that first hooked me on reading as a child? One that radically altered my world-view as a teenager? One that opened my eyes to previously unconsidered aspects of my Self and spirituality as an adult? What a monumental assignment...

So I traced the thread of books in my life all the way back to the beginning. To one that was a favorite bedtime story before I could read and I still love today.

Mostly for passages like this:

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams

[Fullcrum]

That's an absolutely beautiful passage from The Velveteen Rabbit.

Whoa.

[Rose of Cairo]

Dialogische Logik, by Lorenz & Lorenzen.

But the books I highly recommend to everyone are:
Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
Esther & Jerry Hicks, Ask and it is Given (or A New Beginning)
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

[Ninja]

"Rich dad, Poor Dad". It's not very practical as a guide, but it changed my way of thinking etirely. I used to believe that being rich meant living in my very own Playgirl Mansion and owning a different color Mercedes for everyday of the week. Now I know wealth is defined by the money/money generating assets you have, divided by the time you can live off those without getting into trouble. First making a milion dollars (well, Euros in my case ) seemed "OMG!!! Impossible!!1!!one!!", now it seemes almost easy... I just have to find a way to do it yet. No biggie.

[BlueCrane]

The one book that changed my life forever was a German book :

"Schicksal als Chance" by Thorwald Dethlefsen, subtitled 'Das Urwissen zur Vollkommenheit des Menschen'.

Thorwald Dethlefsen is not all that well-known in the English-speaking world but his books have also been translated. You can see some of his titles here.

[Pagan Goddess]

I read so many great books especially in the personal development section.
But one book that has had a really big effect on me in recent times was

The Holy Well by Colin MacPherson

It made me cry, think and I was in shock as Colin managed to combine all that is and will ever be into this book. The book touched me deep inside and made me realize that the connection to the land is at my innermost core.

Now I will just have to find a way to explore this newfound knowledge.

Monika

[Lisa McGregor]

Living,Loving and Learning by Leo Buscaglia.

[qiflow]

So many books to choose from.

No Ordinary Moments, by Dan Millman
-One of the most complete self help books I have ever seen. I wasn't expecting that - I was just drawn to it one day at the book store. It definitely changed my life, and I wish it was more well-known.

The Path of Life, by Ou, Wen Wei
-Changed my entire view of life and the universe. This book spawned a whole healing art, and has healing value itself. Highly recommended.

Three Minute Therapy, by Michael R Edelstein.
-Helped me to finally understand cognitive behavioral therapy, more than any other book on the subject has. Free excerpts on his website.

Happiness, by Matthieu Ricard
-Gave me a vision of what I was looking for. Written by a Tibetan Buddhist monk who was tested as off the charts in "Happiness" brain scans by neuroscientists. Free excerpt at the publisher's website.