Native Son by Richard Wright really hit me hard in high school. I'd love to hear what had a big impact on you.
Siddhartha – I highly recommend doing some background reading to get the most out of it. Everything in the book is a metaphor. For example, the question of whether to take the "Big Boat or Small Boat?" down the river is actually a deeper reflection on personal choices in the pursuit of nirvana or enlightenment.
When You Hear Hoofbeats, Think of a Zebra
Slaughterhouse-Five – Honestly, just read some Kurt Vonnegut. He’s probably the greatest American writer of all time.
The explaining theory is a little out of the box (ideas are seeds, your memory is soil, your attention is super powerful fertilizer) but if you aborb the basic concept, you will be forever changed.
- The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Machado de Assis)
- Cousin Bazilio (Eça de Queirós)
- Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Paulo Freire)
All these as a teen. I don't think my moral compass had much plasticity after that.
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- and also somehow The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
The Myth of the Machine, by Lewis Mumford
Cloud Hidden, by Alan Watts
Computer Lib/Dream Machines, by Ted Nelson (Technology purpose and arrow)
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer
Small is Beautiful, by E. F. Schumacher
But I'd also be careful reading Walden. I don't think it's a literal instruction manual as some have taken it.
Even wrote a post about it: https://www.rasulkireev.com/naruto-influence
The Heart of the Buddhas Teaching - Thich Nhat Hanh, useful prayers, concepts for understanding and dealing with life and a moral compass for going through it.
The Way of Zen - Alan Watts, opened my eyes to different forms of religious experience
Also a lot of psychology and philosophy books in undergrad were foundational to my thinking. The Moral Animal, the Moral Landscape, The Blank Slate, The Republic and Plato’s writings on Socrates, Tao te Ching, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the Tanakh and parts of the Talmud, but many of these were more academic, still holistically they have shaped my thinking and moral compass.
It showed me different ways to interact with other humans. Influenced me by giving me tools, confidence, and making me want to step out of my confort zone.
1984, by Orwell
Walden, by Thoreau
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
But really, the one that had most direct impact in my life was Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. Not in my vision of the world but in my lifestyle.
> the world doesn't belong to man, man belongs to the world.
and
The Little Book of Humanism
https://www.amazon.com/Can-Animals-Moral-Mark-Rowlands/dp/01...
Also Analysis of the Self by Kohut
https://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Self-Psychoanalytic-Narcissi...
which is difficult going but helps draw a circle around the concept of "self-centeredness"
Permanent Record, Edward Snowden
My Early Life, Winston S. Churchill
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
Edit: To some extent probably also:
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Don Quijote, Miguel de Cervantes
maybe also Yukio Mishima's tetralogy
- The Cost of Rights (1999) by Stephen Holmes and Cass Sunstein
- A Theory of Justice (1971) by John Rawls
* Foundation and Empire
* On Liberty
* Good to Great
Those books shaped how I interact with other people, which is:
* I will move forward. I am not waiting for you to make a decision. If you need time then it’s on your own time and can catch up at your liability, otherwise it’s absolute empathy and self-sacrifice in all things.
* As for other people I want to avoid people that state firm conclusions lacking evidence or measures. I consider that stupidity but it could just be bias or autism. Either way it’s a problem. If people do that and can’t help but talk about themselves then they are definitely either autistic or a sociopath. If those people are charming then they are definitely sociopaths.