5 books that change one's way of thinking

reply to post by ofhumandescent


I've almost finished the Lucifer Principal based on your recommendation and I have to say that it is a really life changing book. Thank you.

I don't know if any one else has mentioned it but I'd like to add Paolo Coelho - The Alchemist to the mix.

1. The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky
2. Spiritual Exercises: Saviors of God - Nikos K
3. Harlot's Ghost - Mailer
4. The Plague - Camus
5. Journey to the East - Hesse

reply to post by ATLien

In The Knee of Listening and The Method of the Siddhas, Adi Da
explains reality in two words.
Danger,cliking this link will change your consciousness

5) Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch
4) A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
3) The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard
2) The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot
1) A Course in Miracles by The Foundation for Inner Peace

Here is my favourite books list. With books 2 and 3, they help give an understanding to book 1 as I have been continually reading book 1 for the past 5 years as I am always learning new things from it everyday.

reply to post by ATLien



I list more than 5. These are my favorite form the hundreds I have on my iPad.

The Bible - Foundation for all else.

As A Man Thinketh by James Allen LINK

Dhammapada - LINK

Discourses of Rumi - Link

The Kybalion LINK

It would be hard to beat this one:

The Path to Knowledge James Marga LINK

In approximate order of first reading:

Plato's The Republic
Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward
Erich Von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods?
I'm OK, You're OK by Thomas A Harris, and
L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics

The Nature of Personal Reality by Seth/Jane Roberts

Journey[/Destiny] of the Soul by Michael Newton

Journeys out of Body by Robert Monroe

Anastasia [series] by Vladimer Megre

Living the Law of One;101 by Carla Reuckert

1) Amusing Ourselves to Death- Neil Postman
2) Virus of the Mind- Richard Brodie
3) Think and Grow Rich- Napoleon Hill
4) Bhagavad Gita
5) The Big Short- Michael Lewis

Cool thread, I'll participate

1. Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy
2. Bhagavad Gita
3. Upanishads
4. Autobiography of a Yogi
5. Plotinus, the Enneads

I probably have enough books in my house to open my own bookstore - I've read the majority of them, except for a couple boxes of Fiction I've set aside for when I'm in that mindset.

Books that have changed my outlook, I could name quite a few off the top of my head. Instantly,

- The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

came to mind and I'm glad to see it mentioned in the thread already. That book I picked up when I was about 16 for 1.75 for the face on the cover, read it in the park after getting kicked out of school and was too afraid to go home and face my Mom and in that moment everything changed for me. Amazing book.

- Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda
- Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan, though many of his books I find refreshing and mind-opening
- End of Faith by Sam Harris
- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
- '___' The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
This book allows you to see and think in the eyes and mind of a serial killer.

Creating Affluence: The A-to-Z Steps to a Richer Life - Deepak Chopra
This book tells you how to think and act in order to gain more wealth. For example, you need to spend money to make money. You need to give in order to receive. And you need to ask for the best.

The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
This book teaches you how your ego tries to control you with fear. And basically how to make any worry in your life go away by focusing on your body and the present.

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
This book is kind of the opposite of the last two. How you need to be selfish and work for your own benefit in order to achieve the most benefit for the world.

Revelations Tarot - Zach Wong
The book in this tarot deck really helped me in deciphering the cards. It's a great way to find and solve your problems or just improve your life in general.

Originally posted by Xaberz
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
This book allows you to see and think in the eyes and mind of a serial killer.

The main character isn't a serial killer. He kills an evil person, and two other people accidentally.
It's a very deep, deep book. Seriously, Dostoevsky had all of the answers, ALL of them(most aren't in C&P, but later works). It's too bad 90% of people are too dumb to understand him.

I was going to add a short story by Dostoevsky to this list, before I got distracted by a butchering of his work.
The short story is "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man."

For me, just one...

A brief history of everything by Ken Wilber

*Island - by Aldous Huxley (a direct opposite of his more widely known work - "Brave New World").
Conversations with Ogotemmeli - Marcel Graiule
Shanon Dorey's "Nummo/Dogon" works inspired and based off the above by Marcel Graiule.
Eckhart Tolle's works (as mentioned).
Clif High's attempts at future forecasting hehe.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Black like me by John Howard Griffin
Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul by Deepak Chopra
Timescape by Gregory Benford
The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Robert Thurman


The Jungle was the second book that got me thinking about mans pathetic plight in an environment of greed and ignorance and disrespect for each other. The first was the Lord of the Flies. They both left me feeling depressed and a little hopeless and empty. Black like me was great but sad as well showing mans inhumanity to man based on the color of ones skin. Anything by Deepak Chopra is good. It's really hard to pick out the best one, I have several. Timescape - sad and depressing. Finally, The Tibetan Book of Dead is downright freaky, I'm still reading it. I'm not so sure I want to die or not, not that I have any choice.

I guess I like these types of books but it helps me keep things in perspective. Life on this earth is frustrating and often downright sucky. It makes me appreciate the gems of decency and love.