What books influenced you heavily?

[Dr Mordrid]

Atlas Shrugged; Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead; Ayn Rand

A Tale of Two Cities; Dickens

State of Fear; Michael Crichton (recent)

Andromeda Strain; Michael Crichton

Illustrated Man; Michael Crichton

The Time Machine; H. G. Wells

In the Days of the Comet; H. G. Wells

Journey to the Center of the Earth; Jules Verne

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Jules Verne

Foundation Trilogy; Isaac Asimov

Most anything by Ray Bradbury but in particular; The Martian Chronicles, Dandelion Wine, Fahrenheit 451 and a short story called "I Sing the Body Electric" which was made into a Twilight Zone episode and later remade in longer format as The Electric Grandmother.

Dr. Mordrid

[DGhost]

mmm, Ray Bradbury.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was good too.

[Sasq]

Time enough for Love, Heinlein
in particular the quotes section.

http://www.musespace.com/musings/quotes/lazaruslong.html

[Claymonkey]

hrm.. looks like I'll being reading Atlas Shrugged soon. To many votes for it to ignore. As for Asimov I've lost track on how many of his books I've read

[DGhost]

Time enough for Love, Heinlein
in particular the quotes section.
http://www.musespace.com/musings/quo...zaruslong.html

one of my favorites. also one of the few books that i cannot bear to read anymore.

[Mehen]

the one where george swallows the puzzle piece and the man in the yellow hat has to take him to the doctor

[Claymonkey]

the one where george swallows the puzzle piece and the man in the yellow hat has to take him to the doctor

FINALLY some serious discussion!!!

[Dr Mordrid]

hrm.. looks like I'll being reading Atlas Shrugged soon. To many votes for it to ignore. As for Asimov I've lost track on how many of his books I've read

It's equivalent of "What is The Matrix?" is;

Who is John Galt?

"He said he would stop the motor of the world... and he did. But who is John Galt? A destroyer or a liberator? Why does he fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves?"

A small part of the answer is as follows;

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

John Galt, Atlas Shrugged

Dr. Mordrid

[Umfriend]

Without having read what's been posted here already (dang job, way to busy) (aside from Schmo's A Man In Full, did not like it except for a really brilliant ending that made up for it all, sortof like the movie Pret-a-Porter, shit movie, great ending making up for it all.) I would say at least these:
1. Der Untertan - Heinrich Mann
2. Oblomow - I.A. (?) Gontsjarov
3. The Wonderfull Wealth Machine - Phil Grant
4. Zen or the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
5. Structured Analysis - Yourdon
6. Principles of Corporate Finance - Brealey & Meyers
7. Satan in Goray - I.B. Singer
8. The Dark Room of Damocles - W.F. Hermans
9. Journey to the end of the Night - L.F. Celine
10. The Theory of the Leisure Class
11. History of Western Philosophy - B. Russell
12. The Silmarillion - uhm, what's his name again?

I'm sure more will follow.

[KvHagedorn]

If anyone dared to say "the Bible" on this board, they would be flamed into submission.

I wonder if that's why no one has said it? Or maybe just the peer pressure of wanting to fit in..

Anyhow, I can't think of any books that have really influenced me heavily.. I'm too cynical to accept any wisdom that's not my own.

[Umfriend]

Yep, that's why I did not mention it.....

[KvHagedorn]

I suppose there are books that have influenced me, and they would include the Bible, but I don't really accept anything at face value.. and a big red flag goes up especially where the writer is obviously getting a bit full of himself and trying to appear glib.

[Jessterw]

Actually KvH, I'd had a discussion with the monkey about why I didn't include the Bible on my list. None of the reasoning for its absence was rooted in peer pressure, but rather, I did feel it would be a source of possibly heated debate that could overshadow the rest of the thread.

[Claymonkey]

Actually KvH, I'd had a discussion with the monkey about why I didn't include the Bible on my list. None of the reasoning for its absence was rooted in peer pressure, but rather, I did feel it would be a source of possibly heated debate that could overshadow the rest of the thread.

agreed, and honestly if you want to mention it please do. Heck ANY religious book is more than welcome. Just please follow the same rules as the other books. Give a why and a link to amazon.

HOWEVER, if anyone has the urge to turn it into a flame war... take it to another thread. I'd like this one to stay open please.

[GuchiGuh]

Mechanical Vibrations, 4th Edition
Signiresu Rao
Highly detailed book on mechanical vibrations. With illustraions, examples, real life examples and comprehensive history on important figures in the area of vibration. Covers basically everything about mechanical vibrations.


Mechanics of Materials. Gere and Timoshenko
Timoshenko himself wrote parts of this book. Includes the accurate Timoshenko beam theory. Basically the whole of structural civil engineering is in this over 1000 page book.


James Steward: Calculus
The way advanced topics in Mathematics are described in this are just GREAT and simple to follow. Includes examples, answers to odd numbered questions


But if you want a good mathematics book, I cannot recommend Steward enough! It is VERY good~!

other than engineering books...

Betty Mahmoody - Nicht ohne meine Tochter
Sorry I dont know the english title for this book. Its real story! Very gripping.


Hiroshi Fujimoto - Any Doraemon Comic
I grew up with these. Still can't get enough of them.
(Note: i dont know know japanese, I purchase all mine from Taiwan in Traditional Chinese, which I can read)



yes....I am not much of a reader