What book influenced you greatly that you may not have talked about on Fluther yet?
I read Eros, the Bittersweet many years ago, and then reread it a few years ago. In the book, Anne Carson, the author, wrote about love especially from the ancient Greek viewpoint. The essays are superb. I have run into a handful of people over the years who have the same thoughts about it. I’ve never met anyone who did not think highly of it. Honestly, I believe everyone who wants to write must read it.
What book influenced you a great deal that you don’t have opportunity to talk about often?
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Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.
I read it in Junior High, I lived in Los Angeles at the time. The book mentions places on the coast of California.
Dana started in Boston where ancestors of mine built and sailed large ships in the 1840’s to 1860’s.
@Tropical_Willie I read that book within the last 5 years. It is excellent. It started a national debate at the time of its publication that saw laws change regarding the treatment of sailors. Dana later came here to Hawaii during the Civil War, and his accounts are quite good.
It was written before Moby Dick and like you said @Hawaii_Jake it changed the merchant shipman’s lives.
Remembering Denny By Calvin Trillin
I picked up this book at a low point in my life, after losing a longtime girlfriend and the social life we enjoyed. I was depressed. Medically depressed, not merely feeling sad. I was ill.
Trillin was a favorite writer of mine. He is known as a very smart funny guy who writes about life’s little pleasures.
But this book was about depression and suicide. Denny was a shiny most-likely-to-succeed star of Trillin’s Yale class. Decades later, his obituary led Calvin Trillin to investigate Denny’s decline and fall.
Anyway, for some reason, reading about another guy’s depression and the sadness of his suicide gave me a huge appreciation for what little I have. For some reason, reading that book has staved off depression for me. Maybe I want to help Denny withstand life’s setbacks a little better.
A Course in Miracles a guide on obtaining inner-peace.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hanna House
An account of the design and construction of Wright’s honeycomb grid based house. A client’s account told from the point of view of the Hanna’s themselves.
Introduced me to not just Wright, but to the concept of Design. Blew my mind.
I was ten when it came out and my mother worked at the MIT Press. She often brought home free copies of their books. This book began my love of Design.
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