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Just the books that touched you or changed the ideas in your mind?
It'd better have well-worded language.
Don't have to be very classic.
Thanks.

"On Death and Dying" Decades later I still have a deep admiration for Elizabeth Kubler Ross. I know that my mother's death at home with her family & friends around her was possible because this woman chose to face the hardest part of life with wisdom and kindness.
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had."
Not a bad idea to live by.

thank you,Donna.the thought is great.

Leviathan

I like the Ismael series and Sophie's World

Sophie's World is great. If you like novels, you might try Elegance of the Hedgehog, a French book highly influenced by philosophical history. The main characters read Kant and discuss everything from absurdism through phenomenology. Great fun.

How about a book by a philosopher -- one who was named as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in 2005?

Peter Singer's "The Life You Can Save" was extremely inspirational to me -- and also, a recent read.

It's about how people should give more aid to charities and poses some very interesting questions.

The Alchemist is a worth a read. It's pretty short too, so if you don't like it then it won't be much time wasted or anything.

I don't know if you are looking for philosophical novels or factual books. I just added Irrational Man by Barrett (I can't remember his first name but you can look at my post) It gives an over view of existential philosophy and goes int four of the philosophers that follow this line of thinking. It isn't an overwhelming read like some philosophical stuff is.

Infinite Jest definitely changed my life although it isn't for everyone.

Kelley wrote: "I don't know if you are looking for philosophical novels or factual books. I just added Irrational Man by Barrett (I can't remember his first name but you can look at my post) It gives an over view..."

Great choice, Kelley! A bit challenging, but very accessible, for a "serious" philosophy book. Not that I'm any expert, mind you.

A Treatise of Human Nature
Meditations

Both good places to dig in your heels and think for an afternoon.

I always liked philosophy, but I don't feel like any kind of authority on the subject. But here's a couple of suggestions anyway.



1. I echo Kelley's recommendation of William Barrett's Irrational Man, which is a great introduction to existentialism.

2. Jumping the track by a couple of millennium, try A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, by William Braxton Irvine. It introduces you to an noble belief system which has some useful applications today.

3. If you have access to them at your library, try Recorded Books' Modern Scholar series, Odyssey of the West: A Classic Education Through the Great Books. There are six titles in the series with 14 thirty-minute lectures each. The series takes you from the ancient Hebrews and Greeks up to the modern era. There are a variety of excellent professors for each part of the series, but my favorite regarding philosophy is Joel F. Richeimer, who has some excellent lectures about Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and others.