Books that influenced you the most

[Guyintheback]

Hi everyone!

Since christmas is approaching, and I like to read a lot, I thought I'd ask you what books influenced you the most (or you just enjoyed the most), in the hope to find something for my wishlist.

For me it would be:

"Double your dating" by David DeAngelo. The first pick up book I ever read, and the first contact I had with pick up stuff at all. After having pondered for two years why my first girlfriend dumped me, this was like taking the red pill in the matrix.

"Die Architektur der Mathmatik" ("Architecture of mathematics") by Pierre Basieux. This was the book that convinced me to start studying physics, since it showed me how beautiful theoretic thinking can be.

"No more Mr. Nice Guy" by Dr. Rober Glover. I'm working my way through it again, and this is one self help book that really does help.

"Models" by Mark, since it taught me (contrary to most other pick up advice) that being rejected is not something to be avoided, and not a sign that there's something wrong with me, or that I'm not good enough.

"The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson, because of it's warmth and hilarity.

[NDO]

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
The Gambler - Dostojewski
Economics - Mankiw
The 4 Elements of Game - Rob Judge & Zack Bauer
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Still a lot to read and to learn for me though

[IdEngager]

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley: the book that taught me to it was OK to be proud of and embrace who you are and that it's OK to fight. I certainly don't agree with everything in there word for word but the message of transformation has always stuck with me.

Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut - I love that Vonnegut manages to be nerdy, hilarious, brutal, and cutting at the same time. He expresses the brutal realities of the world while bringing the levity to get us through it.

Story of the Eye by Georges Battaille - it's pretty much sexual French surrealist pulp fiction, and thrilling the whole way. Definitely not for everyone.

[Mike]

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy - Irvine - This book is practical for practicing some ideas in Stoic philosophy.

Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity - Gilmore - This is more of an academic book, but it uses Anthropology to show how masculinity and femininity are cross-culturally defined.

Self-Directed Behavior - Watson - Had this for a business class, but is one of the best self-help books I've ever read on how to change behavior.

The Pursuit of Attention: Power and Ego in Everyday Life - Derber - I became a better listener after reading this book.

[Mark]

A lot of books have influenced me quite a bit, but I would call these the "life changers" for me when I read them:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber
The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey (when I was a teenager)
The Game by Neil Strauss (obviously)

Books I would call "highly influential" on me as a person:

No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
This is Water by David Foster Wallace
The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

[Tim]

The Game-Neil Strauss. For better or worse, I wouldn't be here without it.

Personal Development for Smart People-Steve Pavlina. I get the objections that people have against him, and I've got a few myself, but this book has a lot of very solid advice.

Models-Mark Manson. I've been following Mark since the beginning, but I think reading this was where he finally gave exactly what I had been looking for from the community and dating advice. I felt like until the book Mark had been getting closer and closer over time, but this was the realization of a number of things. After reading it I felt like almost all the incongruencies I had with dating/game/the community were gone, and that now it was just about sorting out the incongruencies within myself.

Infinite Jest-David Foster Wallace. I think this book has it all. Incredibly brilliant writing, emotionally powerful, full of wordly knowledge, and real heart too. DFW said that reading good fiction should make you feel less alone, and I think he does that by writing in a style that matches the way the neurotic side of our brain thinks; intelligent but prejudiced, overly analytical yet emotionally driven.

This Is Water-David Foster Wallace. There's two funny things about this; he didn't write it, he spoke it, and in contrast to most of his work, this is incredibly direct (save for the fish allegory). I remember the first time reading this on Future (from Love Systems) blog, and him saying how it made him doubt his own work as a writer, which I totally understood.

Although You End Up Becoming Yourself-David Lipsky. An interview with DFW (yes, I'm a huge fan) that made me relate even more to the struggles he went through with pressure, both external and internal, and doubt, despite all his success. Apparently he had a huge collection of self-help books, and despite being publicly pretty atheist, quietly went to church for most of his life (this wasn't in this book). I related to this so much because I think even atheists, including myself, should admit that we struggle with our beliefs, and that even the most well-grounded people feel insecurity about being good people.

Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand. Empowerment, working for what you believe in and no-one else, not feeling guilty about working for yourself, all that jazz. Even her views on money are pretty thought provoking if you can get past the usual left-wing kneejerk reactions. Plus the plot doesn't make for a bad read.

Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen. This seems a little out of place, but I've read this book a dozen times, and always enjoy coming back to it. I think it reflects how I'm really a romantic in my heart of hearts, and I love the thrill of the chase more than anything.

Mark... Admit that you copied my list.

[Mark]

lol... well, I'm not too surprised to see so many similarities. But I absolutely hated Pride and Prejudice. So, there ya go.

[Edmond Dantès]

Here is my List of the Books that influenced me the most

Non Fictional

1. No More Mr. Nice Guy by Dr. Robert Glover (In my opinion is this book a must read for every man who has entered the community)
2. The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Dr. Nathaniel Branden
3. How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie
4. Man's search for meaning by Viktor Frankl
5. My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday (an eye opener)
6. The China Study by Campbell & Campbell
7. Marc Aurel - Meditations

[Tim]

Edmond Dantès Wrote:Here is my List of the Books that influenced me the most

Non Fictional

1. No More Mr. Nice Guy by Dr. Robert Glover (In my opinion is this book a must read for every man who has entered the community)
2. The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Dr. Nathaniel Branden
3. How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie
4. Man's search for meaning by Viktor Frankl
5. My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday (an eye opener)
6. The China Study by Campbell & Campbell
7. Marc Aurel - Meditations

But not The Count of Monte Cristo?

[Edmond Dantès]

Tim Wrote:But not The Count of Monte Cristo?

Sure But first I posted the non fictional books, because I'm really convinced that they can help everyone here in the forum and I was still thinking about the fictional ones, because I'm not at home right now and I have to go mentally through my bookshelf

Fictional:

1. The Three Musceteers by Alexandre Dumas
2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
3. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
4. Iliad/Odyssey by Homer
5. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Oh and the list neither this one nor the non-fictional one have a specific ranking They are all great.

[Guyintheback]

Edmond Dantès Wrote:4. Man's search for meaning by Viktor Frankl

I forgot to mention this one. I read it after last christmas, and it was really inspiring. Also his approach to therapy (find a meaning in life, and you will be able to cope with almost anything) resonates strongly with me. The times of my life I felt worse always were the times I had nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to take care of.

[Tim]

Guyintheback Wrote:I forgot to mention this one. I read it after last christmas, and it was really inspiring. Also his approach to therapy (find a meaning in life, and you will be able to cope with almost anything) resonates strongly with me. The times of my life I felt worse always were the times I had nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to take care of.

+1.

I just read this too, so I didn't feel I should include it on that list, but it was a pretty powerful book. I have been thinking about it occasionally since I read it, and it's helped me in my thinking about suffering, and about how to live life at any moment.

I think the concept of the 'will to meaning' is very empowering too, as it removes any external responsibility for finding meaning in your life. As long as you are willing to try to find a reason for your life to have meaning, no matter how bad things are, it will.

[Mark]

I've been meaning to read that one forever.

"The Road Less Traveled" by Scott Peck is another self help classic that seems to get passed over a lot these days. I read it this year and was blown away. It's excellent.

[Jon]

1) The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
2) A History of Western Philosophy - Bertrand Russell
3) The Charterhouse of Parma - Stendhal

[Gill]

Here's a few I really liked :

- "conversation demolition" from Mark, saw it on a friend's CPU, and after reading it, made my huge shift and cut bullshit in PU.
- Any Bukowski book.
- Any Moravia book.
- Passion paradox by Dean C Deli, probably the only book you'll need concerning LTR. Read it, loved it. Offered to my friends, who told me this book also changed their lives.
- never eat alone from keith ferrazzi, pretty "marketing oriented" writing style like Tim Ferris, but still remain a great read.

[Mark]

Oh, I guess I should put "4 Hour Work Week" on here. Totally forgot.

[master0rolando]

The Irony of Democracy: An Uncommon Introduction to American Politics
This was a textbook for a poli-sci class I took last summer. It mostly discusses the idea of elite theory and promotes the concepts of democracy while going into depth detail on our current representative system in America.

Models
Mark's book is phenomenal, but I'm certain you all know that by now.

Tonal Harmony
This is my music theory text-book and I still re-read some chapters from time to time.

[Brian]

Books:
Dating
-Mystery method
-60 years of challenge
-Models
-No more Mr Nice Guy.

Spirituality:
-Light on the Path -Mabel Collins
-Shinzen Young(audio books) - The Science of Enlightment
-Inner Life -Charles Leadbeater

[NakedAndFamous]

I Can't Accept Not trying by Michael Jordan

There's just so many practical advice in a nutshell. I read it a lot when i need the motivation to do something. Some Quotes:

Quote:I have the goal of being the best, but I approach everything step by step usingshort-term goals.

Any fear isan illusion. You think something is standing in your way, but nothing is there — only anopportunity to do your best and gain some success.

Fear sometimes comes from a lack of focus or concentration. If you know you aredoing the right things, just relax and perform. Forget about the outcome. You can’tcontrol anything anyway.

[FirstAidKit]

The best book I've read recently is 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay", it's non fiction, loosely set around the boom of comics in America and it made me laugh and cry my eyes out.

Other ones I love are 'Phantoms in the Brain' by Ramachandran - cool shit your brain does and what happens when it doesn't work, also all of the Oliver Sacks case studies are worth reading.

Kurt Vonnegut, Marquez, Neil Gaiman are others I like.

[The Notorious PhD]

Ahh, how could I have missed this thread? I absolutely love sharing book recommendations.

I don't have a rank-ordered list of most influential books. There's stuff that turned on a mental light-bulb and enriched my perspective, and then there's stuff I barely remember having read.

Having said that, off the top off my head, I'd recommend the following without hesitation:

On Human Nature - E.O. Wilson
The Black Swan - Nassim Taleb
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Thomas Kuhn
Mismeasure of Man - Stephen Jay Gould
The Autobiography of Ben Franklin
The Logic of Scientific Discovery - Karl Popper

Popper, Kuhn, and Gould are not as accessible as the others. But they're important in that they attempted to challenge long-held notions in their respective disciplines, and do so with such rigor and clarity, you'd think it's worthy of scripture.

[Warped Mindless]

Dating related:

"Complete Game System" - 60 Years Of Challenge
"4 EG of Game" - Rob Judge
"Models" - Mark Manson
"Sleazy Stories" - Aaron Sleazy
"Sex God method" - Daniel Rose (changed my sex life forever)

Other:

"The Primal Blueprint" - Mark Sission
"The Gift of Fear" - Gavin De Baker
"Millionaire Fast Lane" - MJ DeMarco
"My Secret Garden" - Nancy Friday
"4 Hour Work Week" - Tim Ferris
"Freedom Twenty-Five: The 21st-Century Man's Guide To Life" - Frost
"The Art of Deception" - Kevin Mitnick
"Influence: The Science of persuasion" Robert Caldini

[Nick]

Life Nomadic by Tynan. Probably the most influential book I've read in my life. The book is tiny, about 100 pages and maybe a 2-3 hour read. I recommend it.

No More Mr Nice Guy.

The Game. I really wish I never found this and instead found my way into pickup some other way like practical pickup or r/seduction.

I've thought of adding more but to be honest, blog posts by Mark and some other stuff I've found on reddit has been more influential than any other books I've read.

[juggernaut92]

Mastery by George Leonard (Taught me that mastering any skill takes time and there will be many obstacles as well)
Codependent No More by Melody Beattle (helped remove excess baggage)
Changing for Good (A very good system that helped me implement and keep new habits)
50th Law by Robert Greene and 50 Cent ( taught me that you must adapt to your current environment and always keep working and moving up)
How To Want What You Have by Timothy Miller ( knowing when enough is enough and how to be happy with it)
What I think About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami ( Extreme change is possible, you just have to put the work in)
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max ( You can have a lot of fun making fun of women lol)
The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield ( Everyday there is going to be resistance to change and everyday you will have to fight it)

[roark]

The Paleo Diet (I wouldn't recommend this now, it was simply the first book on the topic when I began the diet 7 years ago. Now I'd probably read The Paleolithic Solution by Robb Wolf).

Four Hour Workweek

Early Retirement Extreme by Jacon Lund Fisker

How to be Invisible, Invisible Money, and Skip College by JJ Luna

Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff

Human Action by Ludwig von Mises (available free as a pdf, audiobook, epub, Google it)

Capitalism by George Reisman (hosted free on his site as a pdf)

Life Nomadic by Tynan (He is "Herbal" in The Game)

Crash Proof 2.0 by Peter Schiff

Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin

I can think of a lot of websites that have arguably had more impact on me than books. For example, I have nothing on bodybuilding or training combat sports here and I've done them for years. Lyle McDonald's book are definitely great for bodybuilders though.