What is the best life changing book that you have ever read?

[Princeofsword]

What is the best life changing book that you have ever read? How much impact this book had in your life?

[mollusk83]

None. Sorry to sound cynical and all, but after nearly ten years of reading various  books by different authors, I, personally have come to the conclusion that, for me, they're mostly worthless. Nearly all of those books will say the same thing. SO if you read one, you've read them all. No offense, and I say this only because I have been through this before; but I think looking for a book to change your life is going about it the wrong way, because there will always be THE book to change your life once and for all, and a person basically becomes a 'motivational junkie', bouncing around reading book after book after book, getting their next 'hit'.  I know because I was one. I mean, if you can read them for free at your library, by all means do so, but, I dunno,  I never really understood how a book, mere words on paper, could make THAT much of an improvement.

[lafar]

Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz...the plastic surgeon who noticed that people changed their lives after changing their appearances--they believed they were different.

  It taught me the practicalities of my subconscious mind.

[upgradereality]

The Alchemist & Psycho Cybernetics.

The power of now is pretty good too.

But you know what, I have just spent the last 3 months creating a book about overcoming fears, limiting beliefs and personal obstacles to get the life you dream of living.

Try it out, it might just become you favorite book:)

http://www.upgradereality.net

Cheers
Diggy

[Alpha Influence]

The thing about books is that there is no end to them...

There's always something more to learn, but at the core of everything,
there are consistent lessons and insights that apply to all walks of life.

Have a look at http://www.alphainfluence.com

It is a combination of thousands of self-development theories and trainings
all into a single, dense, and applicable guide...

Best,
Jackob

[Mind Recipes]

There has been no one best book I have read.

I prefer to read autobiographies about people's real life changes.

[jmiguelx44]

What is the best life changing book that you have ever read? How much impact this book had in your life?

The book of Napoleon Hill think and grow rich. It opens your mind to the fact that everyone can be successful if you desire to become one of them.

[AjaTrinidad]

No one book changed my life. But I reacted very strongly to Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now"

[Sueblue]

I had read goodness knows how many self-help books, and it did seem to me that they said much the same things, or there were recurrent themes running through each of them that most of the other authors had also written about.

Namely, stuff like, "If you believe it, you can achieve it". Try telling that to a kid in India who has had to go out to work at the age of 8 just so that the family can eat, and is unlikely to ever go to school, let alone fulfil her ambition to be a teacher.

Or how about, "If it happened to you, it's because you chose it to." So tell me why I contracted a terrible illness at the age of four months, and barely survived.

This kind of talk is as impractical and inapplicable as it is insulting.

One day, I saw a leaflet with a picture of Einstein on it. "We only use 10% of our mental ability", it said. (A neuroscientist will tell you this has no basis in science, but as an advertising piece, it certainly caught my interest at the time.) The flyer was advertising a book called "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health", and since it wasn't very expensive, I sent off for it straight away.

For a start, all the usual platitudes were missing. This was no rah-rah or pep talk, it was a practical guide to how the mind really works, explained in practical language. It took you through the entire procedure of how, using the technique on another person or them using it on you, it was possible to confront and erase the emotional charge from incidents in the past that were causing you stress, upset etc. and stopping you from using your abilities.

I have delivered many hours of Dianetics, and trained as a course supervisor. Although I have read and listened to hundreds of other books, lectures etc. since the early 1990s when I read this book, I suppose I have held it up as a benchmark of what I expect of a self-help book or product. That is, it should be:

1. Non-preachy and free of platitudes;
2. Entirely practical in its application;
3. Be based in sound research, not nebulous fluff that could have been made up.

[Mind Recipes]

No matter what I read or which courses I attend, I always look at the person who is teaching and the results they have in their life. You can have all the rah-rah and pep talks to get everyone geared up, but if the presenter or author doesn't have those results in their own life - how can anyone else believe them?

I agree with you Sueblue when it comes to a child in India or a person who developed an illness at birth, but I believe that it is taking the opportunities available to you. Living in a western culture, we do have far more opportunities for wealth, health and advancement, but why do so few take those opportunities?

[Sueblue]

It's because of their level of awareness in life. Very few people are up to the point of "Need of Change" or "Demand for Improvement" as illustrated on the diagram below. Most are below those levels. For those of us who are at least at the level of Need of Change, it can be difficult to put ourselves in their shoes. (The reverse is also true.)

21 SOURCE
             20 EXISTENCE
             19 CONDITIONS
     ^       18 REALIZATION
   / | \     17 CLEARING
     |       16 PURPOSE
     |       15 ABILITY
     |       14 CORRECTION
     |       13 RESULT
     |       12 PRODUCTION
     |       11 ACTIVITY
     |       10 PREDICTION
     |        9 BODY
     |        8 ADJUSTMENT
     |        7 ENERGY
     |        6 ENLIGHTENMENT
     |        5 UNDERSTANDING
     |        4 ORIENTATION
     |        3 PERCEPTION
     |        2 COMMUNICATION
     |        1 RECOGNITION
     |
     |       -1 HELP
     |       -2 HOPE
     |       -3 DEMAND FOR IMPROVEMENT
     |       -4 NEED OF CHANGE
     |       -5 FEAR OF WORSENING
     |       -6 EFFECT
     |       -7 RUIN
     |       -8 DESPAIR
     |       -9 SUFFERING
     |      -10 NUMBNESS
     |      -11 INTROVERSION
     |      -12 DISASTER
     |      -13 INACTUALITY
     |      -14 DELUSION
     |      -15 HYSTERIA
     |      -16 SHOCK
     |      -17 CATATONIA
     |      -18 OBLIVION
     |      -19 DETACHMENT
     |      -20 DUALITY
     |      -21 SECRECY
     |      -22 HALLUCINATION
     |      -23 SADISM
     |      -24 MASOCHISM
     |      -25 ELATION
     |      -26 GLEE
     |      -27 FIXIDITY
     |      -28 EROSION
     |      -29 DISPERSAL
     |      -30 DISASSOCIATION
     |      -31 CRIMINALITY
     |      -32 UNCAUSING
     |      -33 DISCONNECTION
            -34 UNEXISTENCE
--------------
   LEVELS OF AWARENESS SCALE

[talker]

All it takes to start moving forward is the right 'shove/push'.  Might even say the right 'keywords' needed to open the door of good life adventures. Yes, many books are very similar in nature, but the authors present the story from what may have worked for them. We are all unique 'Beings', and what keywords turn you onto a specific path, can be a senseless reading for another.

(a quote from my blog post 'Dark Night Revisited')
"I was led some how into getting a copy of ‘Secret of The Ages’, a book that started me on the long road of rattling my existing belief factors. Wasn't easy, believe me, stirring the pot of beliefs, with what was, at that time, considered sacrilegious to even read books like this one. But read it I did, and the battle was on. Some of those battles are covered in my blog posts."

Even on a unique and specific path, there will be waxing and waning of all sorts.
Happy today, sad tomorrow, bills paid last month, bills unpaid this month, ill today but fine last month, rent /mortgage due, win lottery, never win lottery, all part of the never ending story, called life experiences.

The so called 'Law of Attraction' works. Maybe not as fast as you planned, but it does work. Many, myself included at one time, fail to apply the required effort on a consistent basis. Some even change the 'dream plan' in motion, and expect it to happen. Uh Uh, don't work like that, you change the plan in motion, it must restart all over again from the beginning. Some think a one time application will do the job. Nope, sorry, it requires certain, specific and constant effort up to a certain point before release to the Universe. Ah, though, here is part of the conundrum, 'how to know that 'point'!  Is a learning process, of actually 'knowing' it is 'done' and time to move onto another project.
So it may actually take many book reads, meditation or prayer, while in that learning process. That perfect, for you, 'keyword, phrase or feeling', will become known to you, if you listen for that 'inner' voice.  Of course all your desired needs and wants are bumped against your inner beliefs and ALL prior experiences, before any meaningful 'realization into the physical' can take place.

So while some authors make it sound easy, to obtain life changes for the betterment of life experiences, it all depends on what one needs to overcome first, regards experiences to date.

So yes, even that child in India as mentioned in a post above, once made aware, through certain words, can indeed, become better off, to some extent.

Idle wishing just doesn't cut the mustard, it takes much more then that.
Ones own built-in inhibitions and fears, and even mind laziness, are formidable obstacles to discover and release, before any progress is made, toward the better things in life.

Life is beautiful given half a chance.
Need not be pit of total nightmares and lack, but it takes a certain 'keyword, phrase or feeling' to get the ball rolling.

Is of value to learn from a successful teacher/presenter. but don't let that be the sole criterion. I had only very modest goals and desires, and did finally achieve the bulk of them. Yes, admittedly, I'm mentally lazy, and still made things happen. Thousandaire or millionaire, ha, give me a break, yet that which I passed on to a number of others, made welcome differences in their life experiences.

Now back to more reading and learning for me.

http://www.thetalker.org/archives/371/39-dark-night-revisited/
http://www.thetalker.org/archives/452/51-talkers-psychic-learning-curve-1/
http://www.thetalker.org/

[Lou_1973]

"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand is reported to have changed more lives than The Bible -- by "changed more lives" it is meant to change one's actual behaviour, and not remain mere intellectual knowledge.  

Even though it's a fiction novel, it gives a deep understanding of modern politics & economy, the ripple effect / chain reaction / butterfly effect that people's thoughts and actions have on the entire economy and on other peoples lives.

When I read it, it flicked the switch in me to change from being a consumer to being a producer (with the corresponding increase in financial wealth!)

It's a real Pandora's Box, and it should come with a padlock and a warning -- after you've read it there's no turning back, you just cannot read this and still remain the same person.

I highly recommend it -- IF you desire RAPID personal growth, especially in understanding the dynamics of capitalism vs. communism / economy vs. politics, and how it affects all of our lives.

Would somebody please make a TV-series of this, thanks!  (The content just wouldn't fit into a 2-hour movie.)  

Lou...

[talker]

Agree. Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, is a powerful read.
Sad part of it all, is that the same scenario is being taking place again.

I've voiced my thoughts regards what is currently happening in our world.
Unless voting people take action, only the tip of the iceberg, of problems,
is being manifested.

There is no free lunch folks. Printing unbacked money is not the full answer.

Still question, just 'who' is steering the ship!
When 'razzle dazzle' is elected, you get 'flim flam' governace.

http://www.thetalker.org/?s=atlas+&submit.x=21&submit.y=16

http://www.thetalker.org/archives/422/140-talker-on-america-and-the-power-of-broken-promises/

[Amy Twain]

Everybody loves Think and Grow Rich Action Pack. It gives you great insights on how to be successful.