Is there a book that changed your life? Or your life view?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Erik Bern, Games People Play and then the one about life scenarios

Forgot to add, first read it when I was 18 and it changed my views on why people act in certain ways. It still holds true for me at 46. Sometimes I see so clearly the framework of someone’s scenario but of course I can’t tell them because they haven’t read the book and if they did they would probably dismiss it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am going to add a book that doesn't necessarily fit in with the heavy recommendations here - What Alice forgot by Liane Moriarty. It is a fluff fiction book but the I found the premise fascinating and still think about it years later. A fall leaves a woman with amnesia for the past 10 years of her life. Instead of thinking about being separated from her husband after an alleged affair, she is transported back to her blissful, newlywed days and can't understand why her husband is acting so strange and estranged. For anyone who has been married for a long time, it really makes you think about how your relationship changes over time. The disparity from the newlywed days to 10 years later because of normal life events is mind-blowing. Although silly fiction, this book made me think about how things would be if I was in this situation and it made me appreciate my husband so much more.

Funny. I had the same experience reading this book. It was soon after marrying DH, and I feel very lucky about that timing. I felt like a secret preview of one way things can go wrong (slowly and non-dramatically), and the story has always stuck with me in a helpful way. (Meanwhile, it was the first of her books that I had read. After that, the others were disappointing. None affected me like What Alice Forgot.)

[Anonymous]

Dr. Becky Kennedy's Good Inside has changed me as a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am going to add a book that doesn't necessarily fit in with the heavy recommendations here - What Alice forgot by Liane Moriarty. It is a fluff fiction book but the I found the premise fascinating and still think about it years later. A fall leaves a woman with amnesia for the past 10 years of her life. Instead of thinking about being separated from her husband after an alleged affair, she is transported back to her blissful, newlywed days and can't understand why her husband is acting so strange and estranged. For anyone who has been married for a long time, it really makes you think about how your relationship changes over time. The disparity from the newlywed days to 10 years later because of normal life events is mind-blowing. Although silly fiction, this book made me think about how things would be if I was in this situation and it made me appreciate my husband so much more.

I am OP and I think amnesia stories can be fascinating. I've not read this one, but Nicole Krauss' Man Walks Into a Room (2002) is amazing and starts on the same premise.

Thank you! I’m adding this to my list. Have you read her other books?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am going to add a book that doesn't necessarily fit in with the heavy recommendations here - What Alice forgot by Liane Moriarty. It is a fluff fiction book but the I found the premise fascinating and still think about it years later. A fall leaves a woman with amnesia for the past 10 years of her life. Instead of thinking about being separated from her husband after an alleged affair, she is transported back to her blissful, newlywed days and can't understand why her husband is acting so strange and estranged. For anyone who has been married for a long time, it really makes you think about how your relationship changes over time. The disparity from the newlywed days to 10 years later because of normal life events is mind-blowing. Although silly fiction, this book made me think about how things would be if I was in this situation and it made me appreciate my husband so much more.

I am OP and I think amnesia stories can be fascinating. I've not read this one, but Nicole Krauss' Man Walks Into a Room (2002) is amazing and starts on the same premise.

Thank you! I’m adding this to my list. Have you read her other books?

Yes, but I was disappointed by all of them and gave up before finishing.

[Anonymous]

I just finished "Things Fall Apart" by China Achebe, and came away thinking that it will really affect the way I think about, and relate to, other people.
The story unfolds in pre-colonial Nigeria (late 1800s), and it's renowned for being a novel that brought this culture to a global audience. But what I took away was somewhat different. The tribe in the story has certain beliefs, customs, superstitions that may seem quite different from our own, but they make sense to the members of the tribe, and often serve a wider purpose. When the story involved some interaction with white culture, it gave me another chance for to think about the belief systems of the white culture in the story, and compare/contrast.
So it made me really think about the belief systems of our current society and how they interact with each other..and one main theme is that things aren't all 'black and white', so we must try to understand the other perspectives.
I haven't been this impacted by a book for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished "Things Fall Apart" by China Achebe, and came away thinking that it will really affect the way I think about, and relate to, other people.
The story unfolds in pre-colonial Nigeria (late 1800s), and it's renowned for being a novel that brought this culture to a global audience. But what I took away was somewhat different. The tribe in the story has certain beliefs, customs, superstitions that may seem quite different from our own, but they make sense to the members of the tribe, and often serve a wider purpose. When the story involved some interaction with white culture, it gave me another chance for to think about the belief systems of the white culture in the story, and compare/contrast.
So it made me really think about the belief systems of our current society and how they interact with each other..and one main theme is that things aren't all 'black and white', so we must try to understand the other perspectives.
I haven't been this impacted by a book for a long time.

I read this in high school. It is a good book

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished "Things Fall Apart" by China Achebe, and came away thinking that it will really affect the way I think about, and relate to, other people.
The story unfolds in pre-colonial Nigeria (late 1800s), and it's renowned for being a novel that brought this culture to a global audience. But what I took away was somewhat different. The tribe in the story has certain beliefs, customs, superstitions that may seem quite different from our own, but they make sense to the members of the tribe, and often serve a wider purpose. When the story involved some interaction with white culture, it gave me another chance for to think about the belief systems of the white culture in the story, and compare/contrast.
So it made me really think about the belief systems of our current society and how they interact with each other..and one main theme is that things aren't all 'black and white', so we must try to understand the other perspectives.
I haven't been this impacted by a book for a long time.

If you enjoyed Things Fall Apart, may I recommend Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am going to add a book that doesn't necessarily fit in with the heavy recommendations here - What Alice forgot by Liane Moriarty. It is a fluff fiction book but the I found the premise fascinating and still think about it years later. A fall leaves a woman with amnesia for the past 10 years of her life. Instead of thinking about being separated from her husband after an alleged affair, she is transported back to her blissful, newlywed days and can't understand why her husband is acting so strange and estranged. For anyone who has been married for a long time, it really makes you think about how your relationship changes over time. The disparity from the newlywed days to 10 years later because of normal life events is mind-blowing. Although silly fiction, this book made me think about how things would be if I was in this situation and it made me appreciate my husband so much more.

I am OP and I think amnesia stories can be fascinating. I've not read this one, but Nicole Krauss' Man Walks Into a Room (2002) is amazing and starts on the same premise.

Thank you! I’m adding this to my list. Have you read her other books?

I like amnesia stories and dementia stories. You might like What Rose Forgot, by Nevada Barr and Still Alice, by Lisa Genova.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nurture Shock. It put into words all my gut instincts and explained why I'd felt these ways but didn't know why.

This is so kind- the co-author, Ashley Merryman is a friend of mine. I told her about your comment here, and she says it really meant a lot of her. She answers emails directly from her website, www.ashleymerryman.com if you ever have questions about the book!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nurture Shock. It put into words all my gut instincts and explained why I'd felt these ways but didn't know why.

This is so kind- the co-author, Ashley Merryman is a friend of mine. I told her about your comment here, and she says it really meant a lot of her. She answers emails directly from her website, www.ashleymerryman.com if you ever have questions about the book!

Well that's awesome. I am a different poster, and after I finished Nuture Shock, I went looking for and read everything Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman wrote and was disappointed there wasn't even more!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read White Fragility on a saturday morning and stared into space thinking the entire weekend. Life changing.

HAHAAHAHAHAAHA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read White Fragility on a saturday morning and stared into space thinking the entire weekend. Life changing.

HAHAAHAHAHAAHA

WTH? Someone bumps a two year old post just to say hahaha? How rude. How juvenile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nurture Shock. It put into words all my gut instincts and explained why I'd felt these ways but didn't know why.

This is so kind- the co-author, Ashley Merryman is a friend of mine. I told her about your comment here, and she says it really meant a lot of her. She answers emails directly from her website, www.ashleymerryman.com if you ever have questions about the book!

Third poster. Me too! Friend of Ashley, please tell her we hope she writes more books.

Well that's awesome. I am a different poster, and after I finished Nuture Shock, I went looking for and read everything Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman wrote and was disappointed there wasn't even more!

[Anonymous]

The Bible

Everything makes sense.