How good do we have to be - Harold S Kushner, this book helped me let go of alot of guilt at a very dark time in my life
Toxic Parents - Susan Forward
To kill a mocking bird - Harper Lee - this book reaffirms my faith in the goodness of man
Allen Carr's Easy Way to stop Smoking - Saved my life
Name the Books That Impacted You The Most.
by XJW4EVR 68 Replies latest jw friends
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Satans little helper
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LittleToe
While there are many books that have affected me deeply, there are none that reached as far as reading the Gospel of John in isolation.
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restrangled
The Arms of Krupp
The 900 days
The Day on Fire
The Women's Room
r.
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loli
"How to Know God" Deepak Chopra, "Gospel of Thomas Commentary" Jean-Yves Leloup, "Tomorrow's God" Neale Donald Walsch, any title from Wayne Dyer
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Why Georgia
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - it explained depression to me in a story format and I was able to understand what was going on in my family. I was 14 when I read it...and it touched me so deeply.
The Diary of Anne Frank and Hiroshima - both helped me see the world as a bigger place and that bad things happen to people for no reason or because of really stupid reasons. I still think about both of those books.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith - I was having such a bad day because of my husband and his JW family, and I read that book and just laughed in places, it made me realize I just need to lighten up sometimes, that there can be humor in even the wierdest of situations.
And every book by Tom Robbins - because not everything you read has to be to teach you something...some can just be for fun and silliness!
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thecarpenter
I have read many books that have influenced me one way or another but if I had to narrow it down to four books that made a significant impact for the positive in my life, it would be the following books:
the bible - I still believe in it although I recognize that there are many more accounts that have to viewed as allegorical. It still has powerful personal messages for me.
Seven habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey - Helped me to make enormous personal growth (This book prepared me to leave the borg and to start to see that there was serious problems with the religion and not me)
Feeling Good Handbook by Dr David Burns - Helped me to overcome common negative thinking errors (wish I had this book growing up)
Crisis of Conscience by Raymond Franz - I had so many doubts about the religion and was starting to record doctrinal errors on my own. After finally getting enough nerve to pick up the book, it put the final nail in the jdub coffin. I stopped going to the meeting after finishing reading this book in two days.
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slimboyfat
The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins
Misquoting Jesus - Bart Ehrman
The Jehovah's Witnesses - Doug Harris
Slim
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PrimateDave
As a child/youth:
The pink Paradise Lost book that my mother studied with me before I could even read.
Lord of the Flies when I was 12.
Watership Down by Richard Adams. A must read!
Anything and everything to do with astronomy: books about stars, planets, galaxies. I can't remember anything specific.
Fatu Hiva by Thor Heyerdahl. Thor and his first wife try to escape civilization in the Marquesas Islands.
In more recent years:
The Joy of Uncircumcising!: Exploring Circumcision : History, Myths, Psychology, Restoration, Sexual Pleasure, and Human Rights by Jim Bigelow.
The Final Empire by William H. Kotke. Rise and fall of empire cultures based on agriculture and their effects on earth's ecology.
The Long Emergency by James Kunstler. What could happen in the 21st century.
What Uncle Sam Really Wants by Noam Chomsky. America's record on terrorism speaks for itself.
In the past few months:
Crisis of Conscience helped me to see how the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses really works.
Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Friedmann helped me to understand Documentary Hypothesis.
Is It God's Word? by Joseph Wheless helped me to see beyond a doubt in my mind that the Bible is NOT the word of god.
Dave -
blondie
Swiss Family Robinson (read long before the movie)
Anything by Robert Heinlein
Anything by Isaac Asimov
Anything about Greek mythology
All the Oz books
I started reading early (those other books came later)