Also looking back to my youth, I think that reading The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder was one thing that influenced me to pursue computing as a career.

Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four also helped shape my worldview in many ways.

Movies? Hmm... good question. There's no question that The Matrix has been a big influence on me on some level, but I'm not sure it reaches the level of "transformed my life".

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