Ask HN: What is the most mind blowing book you've ever read?

Raintree County by Ross Lockridge Jr. Man the ending destroyed me...

Hobbit. I was young then. No book after that came close.

Dan Simmonds' Hyperion/The Fall of Hyperion. Astonishingly good SF.

The Nature of Paleolithic Art by R. Dale Guthrie.[1] I accidentally chanced upon this book in a library catalog search while looking for something else. The author is a biologist based at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who specializes in late Pleistocene megafauna (including Homo sapiens) and who is a very skilled visual artist himself. He analyzes most of the surviving rock art from the earlist period of human art around the world and along the way discusses hunting, ancient art technique, sex, and the nature of human nature. The book is full of interesting illustrations and lots of food for thought.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Nature-Paleolithic-Dale-Guthrie/dp...

Upanishads.