As listeners nominate their favorite local libraries for the NYC Neighborhood Library Awards, we're asking about their writers about some of the books that changed the way you think about our lives, our neighbors, our history, and our policies. Here are some of the books listeners tell us have changed their lives. Add yours below.
The 50th Law of Power by Robert Greene
Deerland: America’s Hunt for Ecological Balance and the Essence of Wildness by Al Cambrone
- Tiarella writes, “I was not in favor of hunting until I read this and realized the damage these beautiful animals are causing in the environment.”
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- Simon writes, “I had a new appreciation for people who build things, stick to their principles, and exhibit all the best traits of American individualism”
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
- Christine writes, “[Moody’s] description of working in a filthy, stifling chicken processing plant in Mississippi changed my mind about eating not only chicken, but all meat. I just couldn't do it any more.”
The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould
The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
Black Swan by Nassim Taleb
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
- Wilma writes, “which got me to ditch my long held agnosticism & to accept my lack of faith.”
The Inner Look by Silo
My Soul Is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered by Howell Raines
No Logo by Naomi Klein
And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg
Caucasia by Danny Senza
Naderia by Julian Gallo
JFK and the Unspeakable by James W. Douglass
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality by John Boswell
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant
- Nora writes, “It reminded me that we were once a country led by warriors and statesmen, rather than by the opportunistic lapdogs of the rich.”
Crashing The Party by Ralph Nader
The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine by Miko Peled
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee *2
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Night by Elie Weisel
- Diana writes, “When I'm down and out I'll think of Elie and his father struggling to survive the unthinkable, and then I'm grateful and I can see what really matters.”
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Art of Seeing by Aldous Huxley
Orientalism by Edward Said
The Book On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Really Are by Alan Watts
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Secret History of the World by Mark Booth
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Younger Next Year for Women by Chris Crowley
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Marion writes, “as a teenager in the late 60's in New Orleans, this opened my eyes into a black experience.”
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Shiff
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Empire of Trauma: An inquiry into the condition of victimhood by Didier Fassin and Richard Rechtman
No More Mr. Nice guy by Robert A. Glover
The Worrywart's Prayer Book by Allia Zobel Nolan
- Allia submitted this herself. Allia writes, “by me. It helped me trust God more and worry less.”
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber
In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
Time and Narrative by Paul Ricoeur
Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
Are Prisons Obsolete by Angela Davis
Among the Lowest of the Dead: The Culture on Death Row by Dr. David Von Ehl
- Simone writes that it, "completely changed her mind about capital punishment."
The Troubled Dream of Life: In Search of a Peaceful Death by Daniel Callahan
Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation by Ian Stevenson
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country by Andrew Bacevich
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
- Mary writes that it, "changed her mind about spiders."
Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating by Jane Goodall