I love to read, in fact I think reading is the reason I love writing too and keep looking up jobs in the writing business ever since I left one (money reasons).
Currently I'm reading New Moon from the Twilight series, my girlfriend got me to read the first book because of the movie coming out and it's a seriously great read, hence why I'm reading the second book about 2 years before she forces me to because of the 2nd movie.
I'm also reading 'What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character', it's the sequel to 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'. It's based on transcripts from Richard Feynman's conversations and is a funny but thought-provoking read (both should be read). It's probably the only book illustrating how a true genius was shaped through his life. He developed a serious lack of respect to authority, which is why he became such a monumental figure in science and probably the reason he was the only one on the Rogers Commission into the Challenge disaster that didn't trust NASA's engineers.
I'll explain his key point in the Rogers Commission. NASA engineers figured a rubber O-ring in the SRB's had a less than 1/50 chance of failing. So to avoid this they installed three O-rings, assuming that 1/50 x 1/50 x 1/50 = 1/125,000 chance of failure, or something equally ridiculous. In reality the rocket still had a 1/50 chance of failing because 1 O-ring failing would mean all would fail. He then showed that under the conditions of the Challenger launch the O-ring had a 1/1 failure rate; the NASA engineers ignored the fact that material strengths change below freezing, the O-rings shrank and allowed hot gases on ignition to burn through all 3 O-rings well below the temperature they were rated for.
I also have Jared Diamonds 'Collapse' on the go. Ender's Game and probably whatever else is on my bookshelf when it grabs my attention.
The most important book I've read was The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin. I was around 15 when I first read it. The story starts near the end of his life when the woman who's been trying to date him for years finally gives up and leaves. He progresses to the point where he's suicidal, but then he crosses a magicians house who he knows and goes in. The magician tells him, you can relive your life and try to make changes or you can work for me and actually change it. The rest of the book follows his life as a relives it with the knowledge of what's going to happen, but as he lives it (as the magician warns him) he gets so engrossed again that he makes the exact same mistakes and only realizes he knew what he did wrong moments later when he remembers. In the end he finds himself back at the Magician who basically says 'I told you so' and says if he keeps going back in time to try to fix things the universe will eventually overwrite him with someone who'll act. The magician then tells him he can either serve him for a hundred years (in a very devil-esque scene) or he can relive his life again and he won't intervene. He takes the deal with the devil and then the story ends.
This book made me realize that there were no second chances, and that just doing nothing wasn't an option. That summer (at 16) I got a job as a reviewer, I decided that I wanted to move to Canada and that I didn't have time to waste with the 'friends' I had. Now at 20, I've worked as a reviewer for 2 years, I've had a couple of short stories published and I'm currently writing my first novel while I can't work because I'm immigrating to Canada.
So for the last part of your question, I definitely think my life would be a lot worse if I didn't read. In fact, I don't think I'd ever have got the motivation to actually -DO- something. I'd probably be in university getting into debt and would have got stuck in the town where I grew up in England.