Ask HN: What book changed your life?

I've been a follower of Eastern Philosophy for 20+ years and have also read most major religious and philosophical works, but during my reading of this book I experienced Satori, Englightenment, Awakening, Nirvana, 'Receiving The Gospel', whatever you want to call it.

Oddly enough, it happened to a friend after their reading it, too.

I haven't been the same, in the best way possible, ever since.

Anthony was well-read and traveled and his background as an Indian, Jesuit Priest and practicing psychologist put him at the perfect intersection of experience to deliver such a life-changing work that encompasses religion, science, relationships, your psyche, career, money, philosophy, spirituality, etc.

It's telling and (to me) validating of his mastery of life that, after his death, he was excommunicated from the church due to his 'blasphemous' works.

The ebook and audiobook are available for free here: https://archive.org/details/Awareness-AnthonyDeMello

Among lot of books i've read this was the one that pushed me towards questioning my beliefs. Although i can't say this book made me irreligious it certainly was a gateway to a whole new world.

* Calvin and Hobbes.

this is one of those things that completely changed my perspective on creativity, oh and not to mention all the things about life and philosophy in there, its in good spirit.

* Animal Farm

This is arguably the best piece of satire I've read that is also fun and easy on the brain. It flows like water.

* The Little Schemer.

I hold this book dear. I've tried reading SICP twice and given up. And thought LISP was not for me. The environment was horrible, all those parens it was just confusing. This book changed that, what it encouraged me to do is grab a pen and paper and try to work everything out myself[1]. It was such a fun read and i owe most of my understanding of functional programming to this book. Few days after finishing this book, i introduced this book to my friend and we spent all our days discussing life listening to sufjan stevens and working through this book, it was a sweet time.

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[1] I wrote my actual scheme programs on computer long after i had worked through the book(i don't recall exactly but it was after 5th or 6th chapter). An online friend of mine recommended that i try DrRacket as i could execute scheme there. It was a much friendlier environment.

1) As gp said, the historical grammatical hermeneutic is the way to go for interpretation.

And

2) the book of Ecclesiastes is definitely a beautiful way to stay grounded. Just the mere fact that Solomon, the author, had access to everything his age could offer and still ended up writing Ecclesiastes Ch 11 is mind blowing. Everything passes away. This world, your legacy, your wealth, memories of you, things you care for, everything. The only thing that doesn’t is God, his word, and your spirit. It puts this world and it’s fleeting pleasures in perspective.

Of course, the natural reaction to this is “so what? Nihilism then?”. The Bible unabashedly says “yes, if you don’t have God”

People search for the meaning of life in a variety of ways. The Bible answers this clearly:

“To love God and worship him forever.”

What do Christian’s do in this world? Ecclesiastes would say “to enjoy your lot with the one you love, to worship God and to accept what comes your way.”

Austin, who at the time he wrote this was an executive with Ford Motors Europe, was working on his Ph.D. in Organizational Research at (I dimly recall) Carnegie Mellon. He writes about "measurement dysfunction", when human resources etc. policies drive organizations sideways, based on his application of Agency Theory (an offshoot of Game Theory) to incentive programs. This book is based on his dissertation. Very short. Extremely readable. Completely changed my worldview.