A List To Pass The Time by Dave and Joe

We like to make lists.  It can be a sickness, really.

This one is about books that made an impact on us. It started as "books that changes our lives" and became more like "books that changed how we feel about books." I'll just call it "books that made an impact."  Although there will be some overlap for top-books-ever lists we've made, these lists include some surprising entries.

We each picked 10 independently.  Our lists are below and include only two overlaps (one of them being The Watchmen, which gives me a reason to post this trailer!).

Joe's List (in no particular order)

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley.  I loved the idea to include "Soma" as a concept and was inspired by it to learn a language and turn off television.  It changed how I read books because it left a mark in a way that had nothing to do with the plot.

Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin.  This has been covered by me many times, so I'll just say it changed everything about my outlook on life and what I could learn from books.  The most impacting book for my day-to-day life.

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell.  This book really raised my expectations for how I entertaining it can be  to learn new information.  It says much about Gladwell that this book has made so many other "behavior science" books seem incomplete, scattered or otherwise unfocused by comparison.  It was fascinating, clear, fun to read, and just packed with useful information.

Old Man and The Sea, by Earnest Hemingway.  I read this book young.  I asked my dad for a book that would be intelligent and challenging, but good.  He gave this to me and I loved it.  It taught me that great effort, even when it goes for naught, can be a reward of its own and that life isn't always about results.  It also taught me by example how to remain cool, calm, and collected in the face of anything (dad's favorite line of advice).  The Old Man thought of everything positive while the fruits of his labor were eaten away.  And he remained whole and unbroken in the end.  Just a total impact.




The Reason for God, by Timothy Keller.  I realize this isn't going to be a popular entry.  But, this author (with a clear and unhidden preference) applied logic to religion in a completely even-handed way. Because his logic was applied fairly, Keller succeeded.  I believe that logic applies evenly on all sides of any topic and religion is often made an exception.  I respect this author deeply for seeking to prove merely that logic makes specific beliefs "as likely as" any other belief and nothing more.  He does make the factual case for Christianity, but he does so without straying from sound logical principals.  Agree or disagree, this is how we must embrace argumentation.  I was impacted by his ability to remain fair when his heart calls for a clear answer.  This also applies to any assertion of an answer that equals "zero."  It must be all about consistency.

 Moonwalking with Einstein, by Josh Foer.  I learned how to use memory palaces reading this book.  I have given hour-long presentations without notes thanks to this book.  Foer puts images, sounds, and even smells into your imagination to teach this ancient memory technique clearly.  It was also informative about the brain.  This book left a mark because of its effective teaching and the clarity.

The Watchmen, by Alan Moore.  I learned to respect the graphic-novel genre because of this book.  I loved Maus, but I thought it was a serious venture into a not-serious world.  The Watchmen was political, intelligent, and deep despite being a superhero comic book.  I loved it and the movie was awesome, too.

WARNING: THE NEXT TWO BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO CENSORSHIP AND SHOULD BE READ ONLY IF THE READER CAN TOLERATE BANNED BOOKS . BEWARE THE WHEELCHAIR-BOUND ASSASSINS FOR SCOTTISH AUTONOMY (A BANNED REFERENCE).

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, by David Foster Wallace.  There is a story here.  This book scrambled my eggs.  It absolutely messed me up.  I don't mean for a few hours, either (more like a few months). This book hurt me. It scarred me to discomfort.  Much like a scar, I remember how it felt to read it (not good) and I now flinch at the memory.  I have had to add a callous to my reading because of this book.  That said, I loved the writing. I learned that I want nothing to do with depression.  I had read Consider the Lobster and enjoyed every page.  I picked up this collection expecting much of the same.  Instead, I was viciously and terrifyingly attacked (I "heard the squeak") after being lured in with DFW's usual amazing writing.  It was like feeling sore, but finding out it was internal bleeding.  Had I not read this book, I could not enjoy or even finish Infinite Jest.  I mean that.  Proceed with caution. 

Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace.  I am nearing the end of this one, but if I were struck blind and deaf tomorrow and could never finish it, Infinite Jest will remain uniquely impacting for me.  It is a postmodern work that challenges me in ways I never dreamed to expect.  This book asks more of its reader than any book I am aware exists (it's structure is inspired by the Sierpinski Gasket and fractals, so the pattern emerges slowly and grudgingly, but once you see evidence of it, it makes a weird sense).  It establishes the highest bar an author could dare set for readers while telling a story about our culture's momentum away from anything difficult... and does so while being difficult to read as if DFW purposely filters out those who indulge in simplicity.  Wallace requires effort, thought, and deep commitment and patience.  He makes other authors seems like enablers to laziness of thought by comparison.  This is the gold standard for me now and I can't even recommend it for complicated reasons.  THAT is an impact.



Infinite Jest's  structure as a "literary Sierpinski Gasket," (or triangle) is cool.  The following weird video illustrates that particular fractal below.



Catcher In the Rye, by J.D. Salinger.  This book made me want to write a book.  It excited me to read books in ways no previous book had.  Where Hemingway got me intrigued to read for fun, Salinger gave me enthusiasm to make it a habit and create something of my own.

Dave's List-

(Seven Days Ago)
/picks up phone

"Hello?...Hi Joe. No, I am little busy right now. I just got American Psycho on Netflix and I have to spend the next two hours watching it and yelling about how terrible Bret Easton Ellis is."
......
"What!?!??!  You want to do yet another book list?"
......
"FUCK AND YES...I'll get started right now....."

Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway - I believe that this, when we started the 25-a-year challenge (long before the blog), was Joe's first assignment to me. Joe was right about everything he said earlier about Old Man, and I will add that this book opened a new (old) generation of writers to me, and I became more interested in reading books from the Early 1900's. The irony of that is, as many good authors as I've found and books that I've enjoyed, this is the only Hemingway book that I like.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - This was not a book I read as much as it was an event; a multi-meeting book club party that included many people and was a fantastic read. And War and Peace not only helped me to see that "the human condition" knows no time or country, but also, and more importantly, how enjoyable it can be to share and discuss a great read with other people.

The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons - I was not one of those kids who read or collected comics, I was way more interested in Football and Baseball cards. Hitting adulthood, I just kinda assumed that most comics were written for kids, and would be hopelessly beneath me. And I read this, and Moore and Gibbons effectively took any bias I had and blew it up in the middle of Manhattan. And blamed it on ALIENS. (Screw you, Zack Snyder) There is no age limit on Watchmen, no kids-meal moment where you digest it and still feel hungry for more. It is made for adults. I now collect a few different comics, and would never have started had it not been for Doctor Manhattan, Night Owl, Silk Spectre 2, Ozymandias, The Comedian, and Rorshach.

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov -To put it bluntly: Just because something makes you uncomfortable (and Lolita, while not a dirty book, is pretty damn uncomfortable), that does not mean it has no value, or isn't worth reading and thinking about.

Fortress of Solitude, by Jonathan Lethem- I don't know that I can even explain what this book did to me. I cannot relate to most of it, the themes of racial identification and tension, and a healthy love of music, go right over my head. And while there is a strong Father/Son dynamic with the two young protagonists, it fails to hit me in a personal way. There is just something in the way Lethem writes, and specifically in this book (I've read two other books of his, and they are great, and they are not on the level of Fortress.), that just pulled me into the page (or E-ink, if you will) and set me there, in Brooklyn, in the 70's. I'm speaking like this is a religious experience, and it's not, but after I read it (and as I've said before, it was 7 or 8 hours. I finished it unbelievably quickly), it was like my head had been wrung out, useless. I do not usually do this, but at some point, I will need to read it again, almost to see how I feel, if anything has changed.

Guns, Germs, and Steel/Collapse, by Jared Diamond - So, I'm counting these as one book. I figured that this would go over better because Joe would combine all the Game of Thrones books as one entry in his list, but no, he was all "I'm picking books that changed how I am", and I guess I'm the asshole now. Fine. Look, these are, on a purely intellectual and educational level, the smartest books I've ever read. They do not say great things about humans, but they say some important things, namely that whatever people were at the forefront of civilization is thanks to luck, specifically the luck of where they called home, and the communities that disappeared (not conquered, but disappeared), did so out of their own destruction of the environment, not because they were inferior in any particular way. And to look at life through a prism of "Everything that goes right is random and everything that goes wrong is your fault" is not healthy, but it fits me like a glove. Regardless, these books changed how I view life in general, and why some people are where they are.

John Adams, by David McCullough - John Adams, due 100% to reading this book, was my first great Historical Admiration. Nothing I have read since then as changed that one iota, even though ever other historian loathes Adams and is eager to point out his mistakes. Adams was inflexible, easily held a grudge, and was quick to wrathfully force his opinion and belittle his peers. So was my grandfather, and, though I have my issues, I still love him to this day. Adams was a great person, a loving husband, and as responsible for the birth of this county as anybody. Also, he was so good with antagonistic insults. Say John, what do you think of Alexander Hamilton?

“That bastard brat of a Scottish peddler! His ambition, his restlessness and all his grandiose schemes come, I'm convinced, from a superabundance of secretions, which he couldn't find enough whores to absorb!”

/waves stars-and-stripes
/sheds single tear

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James - This book didn't really change me, so much as the fact that, when I read it, Shades of Grey and it's various singles occupied the top 4 spots on the NYT bestseller list did. And change isn't really even the right word, more that it reinforced that much of what the world puts out for art and entertainment is not meant for me at all, a stab I also can feel whenever I watch any reality show, or check out the DVD section at most stores, or even try to find something to listen to on the radio. I attempt not to hold everybody to the same tastes I hold myself (uncomfortable shaming of trivia members who somehow like Gone With The Wind aside), because nobody would talk to me otherwise. (I'm not sure why that trivia member still does).

The Master Butcher's Singing Club, by Louise Erdrich - I read this as part of the Book Club of which I am no longer a member. Originally, I joined the club because I wanted to experience different books that, under normal circumstances, I would walk right past in a bookstore to get to the genres where I felt at ease. When MBSC was chosen, I had already read a handful of books that were good, that I mostly enjoyed, but nothing that had blown me away. Which this book did immediately. I fell enraptured by the characters, and the drawing of small-town Midwest life, and the struggles of people who found a home where they didn't necessarily fit in. This story convinced me that the book club was a worthwhile idea, and, though I do not go to the club anymore, I won't forget the acquaintances, friendships, and discussions that filled many Saturdays over the last few years.

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller - Because, quite simply, this is the deepest "funny" book that I've ever read, and it taught me that, sometimes, to truly examine something, you have to stop taking it seriously. And I struggle with that all the time.