What is one book that positively shaped who you are as a person and how did it influence you?

[urlyman@mastodon.social]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon @falcennial

I can’t remember the title or the author but I remember reading a non-fiction book in 1984 about rainforest depletion and it made a major contribution to me becoming vegetarian

[falcennial@mastodon.social]

@urlyman @ShaulaEvans @bookstodon makes sense there are wonderful books on the wonderful journey of a wonderful man.

literally Textbook Schofield! 🤌

[kgjengedal@snabelen.no]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Anne of Green Gables. It showed me that it's ok to be ambitious in school, and that wanting to write stories is, if not perfectly normal, at least not unheard of either. I read it at about 7-8 (for the first time, but I've of course read it countless times since).

[uc@mastodon.scot]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, turned me on to travel, philosophy. I was about 14 when it came out.

[satsuma@dice.camp]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon @alicemcalicepants Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter convinced me to start an Open University degree in my 40s which led to me switching jobs and being a lot happier!

[alicemcalicepants@ohai.social]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Thicker Than Water by Leonore Davidoff, which I read ahead of a colloquium with the author at the beginning of my Master's in 2012, when I was 23.

It's a monograph about siblings in history that's super engaging because it's such an interesting, human topic and she wrote it in such an accessible way. Not only did it open my eyes to the fact historians are 'allowed' to write like that, but it made me think 'what about only children?' – giving me a topic for my PhD!

[satsuma@dice.camp]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon @alicemcalicepants also an honourable mention for Lord of the Rings which gave me a lifelong appreciation for tabletop role playing games and also started me on the path to studying historical swordsmanship which I now teach

[troodon@weirder.earth]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Watership Down, which I tried to read for the first time in around 4th grade (on my own, not assigned for school or anything). about halfway through I made the conscious decision that I was missing a lot, that I would probably understand it more fully when I was older, and put it aside. read it again all the way through... not sure exactly when but definitely before or in high school, because that was when I started compiling a Lapine (rabbit language) dictionary. over the years I read multiple copies often enough that the paperback would fall apart, and I'd get another copy and do it again. I have no idea how many times I've re-read it, but I have large chunks of it basically memorized.

it was possibly the first book that showed me what a written masterpiece was, and the fact that it was about rabbits, *from the perspective of rabbits*, made it deeply precious to me. (cont)

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@feonixrift That sounds absolutely fascinating!

[mamalake@beige.party]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon spell of the Sensuous by David Abrams. Most of the book is about the origination of language and how our environments shape our sounds. It helped me open to the possibilities found in relating to my environment, to keep me open to hearing new forms of language, to keep me listening for song lines from the Earth.

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@mouseless How did you first come across the book?

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@gemsmoke You are *definitely* on the right path with your work. xo

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@falcennial I'm with you. I deeply love this books. And I came across them at exactly the right moment for me.

[troodon@weirder.earth]

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon it's always been very difficult for me to "see myself" in media, for whatever reason--I just don't identify with protagonists very easily, most of the time--and Watership Down's non-human focus showed me that it was possible to write something beautiful, that could be taken seriously by the general population, that didn't center a "normal" human perspective.

over the years, I've come to appreciate it like an exquisitely well-made piece of furniture. I know the grand arcs and the fine details like the smooth sweep of polished woodgrain under my fingertips. I've examined its construction, seen how the parts are fitted together, the craftsmanship that connects each piece to the others. I don't know if I will ever be able to make something so beautiful or enduring in my life, but it's the high mark I will always aspire to.

[gemsmoke@eldritch.cafe]

@chestas I propose a toast 🥂 to all the Alephs and the Bottlemen out there! to the Bennys and the Annabelles and the Kenjis!!

and, of course, the Books! (which Books...? ALL the Books!!)
@ShaulaEvans

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@chestas What a beautiful and circuitous route to a good place!

I read a lot of Heller and Vonnegut (and other men traumatized by war) around the same age. Heller stayed with me, too. (Most of them did.)

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@urlyman @falcennial 💚

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@kgjengedal @bookstodon I believe that earns you an honorary Canadian passport!

(I can say that: I'm Canadian.) 🍁

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@uc @bookstodon It was one of my dad's favourite books! I read his old copy when I was in high school. I loved it then but I'm sure would read it different now (not worse, just very differently).

[shaulaevans@zirk.us]

@satsuma @alicemcalicepants That is amazing, Neil. Bravo!