Books that most influenced your life

[TEG]

What are your favourite books that had the most impact on your life?

My list is:

(1) How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World - Harry Browne
(2) Riches Within Your Reach - Robert Collier
(3) Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein
(4) Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
(5) Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki
(6) Ordinary Millionaires - Jim McKnight
(7) The Origin of Consciousness in the Break Down of the Bicameral Mind - Julian Jaynes
(8) Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle - Tom Venuto
(9) Power Versus Force - David Hawkins
(10) The Mature Mind - H.A Overstreet.

..looking forward to seeing other people's list..

 

[Jamie M]

Jan Somers book.

Finished reading - googled her name, find this forum, met some amazing people, started a business - life's good.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[bigdealbaby]

Jan Somers book.

Finished reading - googled her name, find this forum, met some amazing people, started a business - life's good.

Cheers

Jamie

Which book sir?

I have building wealth in changing times but am just about through my current book (rich dad poor dad) and then I'll be into it.

 

[Terry_w]

Similar to Jamie, Jan Somers "Building Wealth through investment property" gave me hope that working would be optional one day.

 

[Rixter]

Similar to Jamie, Jan Somers "Building Wealth through investment property" gave me hope that working would be optional one day.

Ditto...Building Wealth through Residential Property Investment.

Saw Jan Somers being interviewed on a morning TV show, so I went out and bought the book. That was in 1992.

The following year I purchased my first property.

 

[property_girl]

I don't think that a book has ever influenced my life, but some have left an impression:

As a child:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Water Babies
Little House on the Prairie
The Happy Prince and any fairytale by Oscar Wilde

As an adult:
100 Years of Solitude
Biography of Oscar Wilde
Wild Swans
The Brain that Changes Itself

 

[Terry_w]

(8) Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle - Tom Venuto

Just noticed this one - best health related book out there! I read it years ago but slowly slipped back into bad habits, will have to do a reread.

 

[Rixter]

Just noticed this one - best health related book out there! I read it years ago but slowly slipped back into bad habits, will have to do a reread.

So you're now feeding the fat and burning the muscle?

 

[Terry_w]

So you're now feeding the fat and burning the muscle?

Exactly! doing the opposite.

 

[Angel]

In no particular order

Money / More Money (Whittaker)
Rich Dad Poor Dad
0-130 Properties in 3.5 years
Jan's first book, cant recall which name
Wild Swans about three generations of awesome Chinese women
Chasing the Dragon about a missionary to Hong Kong and her work with drug gangs
Different Kids / Fed Up by Sue Dengate
Alive: the Story of the Andes Survivors
Cathy Freeman's first biography
Miracle on the River Kwai


PG< I just noticed you loved Wild Swans too

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

Everything that Charles Bukowski has ever written (that I've read so far)
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
The Way of Men - Jack Donovan

 

[property_girl]

PG< I just noticed you loved Wild Swans too

Angel, yes I read it about 20 years ago. I still remember parts of it quite vividly--her grandmother, the concubine, running away and then having a nervous breakdown; her poor father and what he went through with the communists. It gave me an insight into a time and place I had little idea of.

I notice you read the story of the Andes survivors (soccer team in a plane crash). I saw the movie. Don't think I could bear to read the book.

 

[Jaggannath]

If you prefer a similar story without the cannibalism, have a look at a couple of stories regarding the disasters on Everest and K2. Compelling (and frustrating) reading.

For me:
- Great Expectations
- The Hobbit
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Anything by John Steinbeck, the man was a genius

I'm sure there's a heap I've missed

 

[datto]

Of mice and men

Brer Rabbit

Macbeth (Macbeth Macbeth beware McDuff!)

Romeo Romeo where art thou Romeo?

Romans country men, lend me your ears!

 

[WattleIdo]

True History of the Kelly Gang and pretty much most Peter Carey stuff
Housekeeping
Jitterbug Perfume
The Razor's Edge
The Wind in The Willows
All Quiet On The Western Front
The Crucible
Stop Acting Rich and Start Living Like a Millionaire
How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt and Start Living Prosperously
Your Money or Your Life

 

[Teshy]

For me it was Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

 

[Ausprop]

when I was really young I had a Charlie brown book and in it snoopie converted his place to a really cool apartment - planted the seed for creating your own environment

then there were the classics like the body language one from the 80's, think and grow rich, the kiyosaki ones, steve McKnight etc. Most of these messages are picked up in a 2 minute google search these days, life use to be so much more innocent!

in fact I had a friend in real estate in the early 90's that use to get the lists of all the houses for sale, including where the access keys were etc... I thought it was the most amazing book I had ever seen

 

[china]

The four hour working week.

 

[joeExpat]

About 50 lonely planet guides, & non-fiction by Jon Krakauer and Joe Simpson.

Other than those mostly kids books had a greater impact. At that age more imaginative, older more cynical. "Inspirational" books I rarely get to the end.

 

[Angel]

Alive was a book we studied for English in year 11. I felt very grown up due to the subject matter. I actually preferred it to some other book that I had to read in year 12. That was about a priest who was arrested and executed by the Regime. It was set in a jungle in South America somewhere. You can tell how not rememberable it was for me, I don't even know its name. I don't mind the snow but I really cant handle jungles - snakes, leeches, other biting creatures and all that heat. I never read the book and didn't even watch the movie when we had to view it. But I did copy down all the teacher's notes off the board and got an A for the essay I wrote about it.

I also loved Catcher in the Rye, year 11, but to this day I cant say what I liked about it. I read it in one sitting. Ah Wuthering Heights - was Heathcliffe autistic, I wonder.