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Books that dramatically changed the way you think

Isaac Asimov's "Guide to the Bible".

Asimov put a whole bunch of inexplicable text into a context that made more sense.

I think that's where I first heard the possibility that Jesus was an anti-Roman terrorist/freedom fighter. After that, the New Testament made a lot more sense.
Tom
 
TomC said:
I think that's where I first heard the possibility that Jesus was an anti-Roman terrorist/freedom fighter. After that, the New Testament made a lot more sense.
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romani-ite-domum.jpg
 
TomC said:
Isaac Asimov's "Guide to the Bible".

Asimov put a whole bunch of inexplicable text into a context that made more sense.

I think that's where I first heard the possibility that Jesus was an anti-Roman terrorist/freedom fighter. After that, the New Testament made a lot more sense.
Tom
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But he wasn't though. We get all the information we need from the epistles. Jesus (or rather the Jesus movement) was a movement within Judaism that wanted to reform it. Not fight the Romans. Confusingly enough the elites (sadducees) were religiously liberal and heavily Helenised. They wanted the Jews to be obedient vassals. The poorest (Pharisees) were extremely conservative and anti-Roman. With unsustainably heavy taxation the entire population had become impoverished, which had led to the rise of the Pharisees. Add to that the extreme political mess that had been ongoing for generations. The Jesus movement is a, middle-of-the-road, attempt to compromise between these extreme positions, and wanted Judea to be less antagonistic towards Rome. Jesus lost (as well as the Sadducees), and the Pharisees took power, which led to an uprising in AD 66 which didn't end well for Judea.

If Jesus would have been a freedom fighter he would have been a Pharisee.

BTW, allowing gentiles to convert to Judaism (ie non-Jewish Christians) was something that Paul came up with on his own (after Jesus had died) and wasn't anything Jesus would have been for.
 
DrZoidberg said:
But he wasn't though. We get all the information we need from the epistles. Jesus (or rather the Jesus movement) was a movement within Judaism that wanted to reform it. Not fight the Romans.
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I sincerely doubt that.

The term "Messiah" was reasonably well understood in Jesus's day. Paul couldn't have known anything about Jesus directly. Paul was known as a persecutor of groups like the various Christian cults. Revering a violent anti-Roman activist was still a capital crime and remained so for a century after Jesus's crucifixion. Of course his followers, and their followers, wouldn't have told Paul about that aspect of Jesus's Ministry.

Then those followers died off, as generally happens to anti-government guerillas.

But this is rather a derail of the thread. Better discussed in the "Historical Jesus" thread.
Tom
 
The Phantom Tollbooth
Taught me at an early age to examine the constructs behind words, and not mistake them for obligate realities.
 
Here's another book I found deeply thought provoking.
"The Liars Gospel", by Naomi Alderman.

Alderman is a fiction writer, but her real passion is ancient Jewish culture and traditions. She's highly educated in that.

Her novel is set in Jesus's day. But it's not about Jesus. He's barely mentioned, and not in a flattering way. He's more the spoilt child of an overindulgent mother whose self destructive behavior causes heart break and grief for a bunch of people.

The book is in four sections, slightly interconnected. The first is about Mary, then Judas, then Caiaphas, then Barabbas. It's obviously fiction. But it's also a good look into the culture and events in the world Jesus lived in. Helps put Jesus into a realistic context. Based on what a highly educated scholar studying the period knows about it.
Tom
 
Elixir said:
The Phantom Tollbooth
Taught me at an early age to examine the constructs behind words, and not mistake them for obligate realities.
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In primary school I sometimes went on long trips with my family. I read that book on a trip and it was quite a long book. I found it to be very interesting and liked how a regular kid visited a fantasy world - I liked to daydream about things like that. In primary school I also saw a bit of the movie about the story:
 
Weirdly, I suppose but I think the first book that I read that dramatically changed my life was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It sparked my interest in languages and mathematics, and the possibility or at least the dream of learning all of the languages in the world, and a firm appreciation for just how cultures develop use words reveals and shapes how the culture views life and the world.
 
Toni said:
Weirdly, I suppose but I think the first book that I read that dramatically changed my life was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It sparked my interest in languages and mathematics, and the possibility or at least the dream of learning all of the languages in the world, and a firm appreciation for just how cultures develop use words reveals and shapes how the culture views life and the world.
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I truly loved that book when I was a kid, as well as one of its many sequels, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Must have read the latter title dozens of times. I probably should have included it on my list, as I think about it very often. It more or less taught me astral projection, albeit by example rather than through instruction, as I started goingbon my own "journeys" at the time, which I called tessering back then as I had no other word to describe what was happening.
 
Politesse said:
Toni said:
Weirdly, I suppose but I think the first book that I read that dramatically changed my life was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It sparked my interest in languages and mathematics, and the possibility or at least the dream of learning all of the languages in the world, and a firm appreciation for just how cultures develop use words reveals and shapes how the culture views life and the world.
Click to expand...
I truly loved that book when I was a kid, as well as one of its many sequels, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Must have read the latter title dozens of times. I probably should have included it on my list, as I think about it very often. It more or less taught me astral projection, albeit by example rather than through instruction, as I started goingbon my own "journeys" at the time, which I called tessering back then as I had no other word to describe what was happening.
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Yes! The idea of seeing the world/worlds through very different points of view, astral projection! Aunt Beast trying to find the correct name for Meg to call her, and the mathematics! Or rather the idea of mathematics rather than just arithmetic! I sometimes wish I had several lifetimes simply to have the time and opportunity to devote more time learning things I left to the side, while I pursued science. It was a really, really, really difficult decision for me, to choose between pursuing language and art or pursuing science. I chose science because I reasoned it would be easier to pick up the languages and to teach myself more art, when I retired than to teach myself science. I did not account for small things such as ....life intervening and making so many demands on my time. All of her books opened such worlds to me--especially Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed but how could I forget The Lathe of Heaven or the Earthsea Trilogy! Or her short story, The Rule of Names.

When I was about 10 years old, shortly after or perhaps reading A Wrinkle in Time, I conceived the notion of heaven as being a place where you could learn and understand everything, rather like an infinite library. The idea still holds a deal of sway in my brain...
 
Toni said:
Politesse said:
Toni said:
Weirdly, I suppose but I think the first book that I read that dramatically changed my life was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It sparked my interest in languages and mathematics, and the possibility or at least the dream of learning all of the languages in the world, and a firm appreciation for just how cultures develop use words reveals and shapes how the culture views life and the world.
Click to expand...
I truly loved that book when I was a kid, as well as one of its many sequels, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Must have read the latter title dozens of times. I probably should have included it on my list, as I think about it very often. It more or less taught me astral projection, albeit by example rather than through instruction, as I started goingbon my own "journeys" at the time, which I called tessering back then as I had no other word to describe what was happening.
Click to expand...
When I was about 10 years old, shortly after or perhaps reading A Wrinkle in Time, I conceived the notion of heaven as being a place where you could learn and understand everything, rather like an infinite library. The idea still holds a deal of sway in my brain...
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That's like the life I was living between 2012 and 2020. A number of great bookstores and a university library I had easy access to. No kids, and plenty of spare time. Unfortunately, the 'infinite' part doesn't turn out to be as infinite as you originally imagine. These days I'm more likely to re-visit old books than find new ones that I consider relevant.

I've found that once engaging books start drying up, it's harder to stay engaged in general. But maybe that's also due to the lack of freedom I'm experiencing lately.
 
There are many but they are mostly religious texts.

Reading the Bible made me realize how terrible Christianity is.

Reading books on Eastern religions (ex Tao Te Ching) made me see the world in a completely different and positive way
 
Toni said:
Yes! The idea of seeing the world/worlds through very different points of view, astral projection! Aunt Beast trying to find the correct name for Meg to call her, and the mathematics! ,,, All of her books opened such worlds to me--especially Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed but how could I forget The Lathe of Heaven or the Earthsea Trilogy! Or her short story, The Rule of Names.
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Those aren't by Madeleine L'Engle; they're by Ursula Le Guin. And Earthsea isn't a trilogy any more. If you haven't read Tehanu yet you're in for a treat -- I think it's the most beautiful thing she ever wrote.
 
AdamWho said:
There are many but they are mostly religious texts.

Reading the Bible made me realize how terrible Christianity is.

Reading books on Eastern religions (ex Tao Te Ching) made me see the world in a completely different and positive way
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I read up on Buddhism, Taoism, and Advaita Vedanta with some depth. I don't know if I see the world more positively now, but I'm absolutely more effective at dealing with issues in my life.
 
Just finishing up Observer by Lanza and Kress. It definitely changes the way you think about just about everything.
I've read many SF stories where dealing with reality, but this one is written by a physicist who believes reality is literally produced by the observer. It's like the double slit experiment taken to an extreme conclusion.
 
Tristan Scott said:
Just finishing up Observer by Lanza and Kress. It definitely changes the way you think about just about everything.
I've read many SF stories where dealing with reality, but this one is written by a physicist who believes reality is literally produced by the observer. It's like the double slit experiment taken to an extreme conclusion.
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Have you read Distress by Greg Egan?

It has a similar premise.

Egan is very good at very hard science fiction; A lot of his stuff is quite mind-bending.

He likes to set his stories in universes that are like ours, but with one topological or dimensional difference; However Distress is set on the regular universe (and indeed all takes place on Earth) in the near future.
 
Bomb#20 said:
Toni said:
Yes! The idea of seeing the world/worlds through very different points of view, astral projection! Aunt Beast trying to find the correct name for Meg to call her, and the mathematics! ,,, All of her books opened such worlds to me--especially Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed but how could I forget The Lathe of Heaven or the Earthsea Trilogy! Or her short story, The Rule of Names.
Click to expand...
Those aren't by Madeleine L'Engle; they're by Ursula Le Guin. And Earthsea isn't a trilogy any more. If you haven't read Tehanu yet you're in for a treat -- I think it's the most beautiful thing she ever wrote.
Click to expand...
Madeleine L'Engle did write A Wrinkle in Time. The others, of course, were written by LeGuin. Brain fart of an old fart--I forgot to change authors. Earthsea as a trilogy is how it will always be for me. Tehanu is on my rather enormous list of reads...
 
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