I think this is one book that will require the least amount of explanation.  I first read this book as a young child.  For me, it explained what unconditional love really meant.  Even as a child, it helped me realize that there could be some meaning to life.

As with many children’s books I enjoyed so much as a child, I re-read this as a young adult and it gave me quite a different perspective.  There are people who have seen this book as a “lifelong abusive relationship.“  To me, it still meant unconditional love – but with a twist.  From my second reading, I learned that the motives behind the actions that you take are important as well.

I was introduced to Borges in college while picking up a few classes on Experimental Literature.  While there have been tons of critics/authors who can support the greatness of Borges’ works, for me, Labyrinths was the book that brought me back into reading.  As a child I read quite a bit, but as soon as I sat in front of a computer, all of that changed.  Part of my departure from reading was also that I was forced to read for school and soon equated reading with boring chores.  Borges reintroduced me to the feeling of wanting to turn the page more than close the book.

When I think of economics or business books that people will say changed their lives, it’s often The 4 Hour Workweek or The Art of War. While books such as those give some interesting guidelines and methodologies for being successful in business (many of which I try to implement), I wouldn’t consider them life-changing.  Well, not the type of life changing that puts them on a list of the most influential books in my life.  So why these two books?  Simply for the fact that they make me question the knowledge I have and its validity.

Wars are fought, lives are lost, people starve, innovations are passed up, and people miss out on happiness because of “facts” that they refuse to question.  People used to fear traveling too far east or west for fear of falling off the earth.  I could come up with more examples, but I think that hits the point pretty well.  When all is said and done, the firmer we stand that what we know is correct, I feel the worse off we are.  Being human, the longer I go without proof that I’m wrong, I start to believe that I’m right – and that is a bad thing.

Both of these books provide some very interesting arguments and some very interesting observations.  To me, they got me to think differently about a few isolated situations.  Because a different perspective lead me to different conclusions, it inspired me to look at other situations differently.  While you may not need a book to learn to look at things from a different perspectives, the worst type of book to tell you to look at things differently is a how-to book.  Neither of these are how-to books, they are simply books that paint a fun picture while explaining the traps of knowledge.

I first read this book in French.  Better put, I first stared at the pictures and phonetically sounded out the words on the page while the words were written in French.  I think the amount of this book that I grasped after my first read through was: Baobab Trees are big, there is a guy who likes crunching numbers, elephants are also big, and if roses could speak, they would be divas.  Not exactly a book you’d consider life-changing or even worth a re-read.  But, as my education of the French language grew, my teacher assigned us the re-reading of Le Petite Prince.  This second time around, I caught quite a bit more and was inspired to read it in English so I could fully grasp what was being said.  The Little Prince reminded me that it’s OK to be a kid, and that being an adult isn’t always good (or fun).

I must admit, I don’t believe I can tell you what happens in this book.  Odd way to start describing a book that changed my life, but let me explain.  This was the first book I read twice.  It was the first real book that I read and it’s the book that made me want to read more.  It’s the book that made me pick up Ray Bradbury books.  It’s the book that taught me that while there was a moving pictures box (TV), black text on white paper can be much more exciting.  A Wrinkle in Time is on my to-read list and I will be re-reading it at some point so that I will remember the storyline, but for now, that list is huge and it’s hard to pass up books I’ve yet to read.