Michael Karnjanaprakorn

Omnivore's Dilemma was a nudge in getting me to think about my diet and my health, and inspired me to read a dozen or so books on the subject from widely varying points of view (Dean Ornish to Weston Price to Gary Taubes). The books that changed my actual behavior are:

_Eat To Live_ by Joel Fuhrman
_Spark_ by John J. Ratey

The former completely changed the way I eat. The latter got me to think of exercise the way I think of brushing my teeth — not something I should try to make time for, but something essential to my physical/mental/emotional health.

There are many books I've loved more, but none have had so profound an impact on my day to day life. I'm unwilling to part with my copies (I refer to both of them too often), but I will donate multiple copies of both books to a book swap.

Ok, here goes:

Against the Grain, by Richard Manning (brilliant revisionist history of agriculture, and a wonderful complement to Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma)

A Problem from Hell, by Samantha Powers (on the history of genocide in the 20th century, and how we could have prevented it; Powers is in the Obama administration these days; not exactly an uplifting read, but important)

Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond (on how Western civilization became the dominant power in the world—also a revisionist history of agriculture, it pairs nicely with Manning's book)

The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein (a cogent history of Chicago-style economics and its horrific effects on South America, plus how these ideas spread to Iraq and Afghanistan. Again, not uplifting, but worthwhile.)

Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges (the most extraordinary short stories ever written)

Bewulf, translated by Seamas Heaney (the origins of the English language, in one outrageously beautiful poem)

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
Post War, Tony Judt
Brush with the Law, Robert Byrnes & Jaime Marquart

Omnivore’s Dilemma was a nudge in getting me to think about my diet and my health, and inspired me to read a dozen or so books on the subject from widely varying points of view (Dean Ornish to Weston Price to Gary Taubes). The books that changed my actual behavior are:

_Eat To Live_ by Joel Fuhrman
_Spark_ by John J. Ratey

The former completely changed the way I eat. The latter got me to think of exercise the way I think of brushing my teeth — not something I should try to make time for, but something essential to my physical/mental/emotional health.

There are many books I’ve loved more, but none have had so profound an impact on my day to day life. I’m unwilling to part with my copies (I refer to both of them too often), but I will donate multiple copies of both books to a book swap.

What an awesome idea!

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (it's so beautifully written, it will change the way you look at the English language)

Paradise Lost by Milton (an epic in every sense of the word — if you read closely, there are some pretty modern points about religion)

In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore (just finished this one up, and it made me completely revisit my thoughts on work, food, and time in general — we need to swap!!)

The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People by Carol Eikleberry.

Gave me the direction I needed to figure out what I was good at, what I was passionate about and helped me start my career.

Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama

Self-Reliance by Emerson has the most amount of highlighting of any book I own (I like the version edited by Richard Whelan)

An Eames Primer by Eames Demetrios made me want to be a more gracious, caring designer and human being.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig was the first book I immediately started reading again after I finished it.

Lolita's been on my to-read list for the longest time… I'm going to just go ahead and order it now. Thanks!

I've been looking to for a way into Borges… is Ficciones a good place to start? Or would you recommend something else of his first?

The Shape of a Pocket, by John Berger
http://readernaut.com/books/0375718885/
I've read it 10 times and will read it 10 more. Almost any Berger can go on this list for me, but if you read just one, make it this one.

The Essential Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks
http://readernaut.com/books/0061792098/
My upbringing was religious (Christian) and this was the first spiritual text other than the Bible that I read, which opened me up to learning from and being influenced by other belief systems.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie
http://readernaut.com/books/0140366504/
Stay young. It's like The Lorax (Dr. Seuss) for big kids.

A Field Guide to Getting Lost, by Rebecca Solnit
http://readernaut.com/books/0143037242/
A different twist on exploration, discovery and risk-taking.

Built to Last, by Jim Collins
http://readernaut.com/books/preview/0060566108/
A little ashamed to include this to be honest, as it sits pretty firmly in the canon of business cliché. However, I read it just as I was starting my web consulting business, and it inspired me to build the business as my long-term, full-time priority, as opposed to a side gig which was how I had been treating it previously.

And my last one isn't a book, but a speech…

Come September, by Arundhati Roy
PDF – http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~hartleyg/docs/comeSe…
Video – http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9454054…

The Fountainhead should be top three – easily one of my favorite books.

Others that will change your life: The Dip (Seth Godin), Good to Great (Jim Collins), Ignore Everybody (Hugh MacLeod), The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell), Fortress of Solitude (Jonathan Lethem), Team of Rivals (Doris Kearns Goodwin)

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
About Paul Farmer – Dr, founder of Partners in Health, all round good guy. Quite inspirational. Also topical as a lot of his work is in Haiti.

Enders Game. It was the first to demonstrate to me that by changing your perspective, you can entirely change the nature of the game. I literally kid then (7th grade?), but it really opened my mind to many of the possibilities that I would learn later in life. To this day I am still embracing new ways to understand challenges.

http://www.amazon.com/Everymans-Library-classic… Lolita. Nabokov.

http://www.amazon.com/Corrections-Novel-Jonatha… The Corrections.

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-River-Kate-Grenvil… The Secret River

It's may absolute favorite. Interested to hear what you think…

You've got such a great list here already. I have one book to add to this list.

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
One of the best books I've read on happiness, psychology and creativity.

Ficciones is the collection of all of Borges fictions—there are smaller books you could start with, Labyrinths most notably, but worth getting the complete collection. The poetry and nonfiction collections are only interesting to serious Borges scholars.

I nearly forgot one other book you should read: The Life and Times of Michael K, by J.M. Coetzee. Not only because it shares your namesake, but because it's a lovely tale of an outsider in a time of crisis.

The Starfish and the Spider
Wild Swans

Here's my list:

http://emergentfool.com/rafes-bookshelf/

Great list Rafe! Adding Happiness Hypothesis to my list.

Love The Starfish and the Spider!

Perfume by Suskind
Spoon River Anthology EL. Masters
If on a winters night a traveler by calvino
Invisible Man Ellison (you probably already read this)
Best of by Roald Dahl
extremely close and incredibly loud j.s.f.
Gordy Howe by GH
blood meridian mccarthy
anything by anton chekov
anything by Dostoevsky
anything by tom stoppard (mostly plays)
anything by tom robbins

Either/Or: A Fragment of Life by Søren Kierkegaard
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman
Distinction by Pierre Bourdieu
Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme
Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje
Samuel Johnson Is Indignant: Stories by Lydia Davis
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Design As Art by Bruno Munari

I'm a huge fan of Michael Pollan as well. This is such a great idea…thanks for sharing.

My List:
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Rich Dad Poor Dad (all of this series of books) by Robert Kiyosaki

I’m a huge fan of Michael Pollan as well. This is such a great idea…thanks for sharing.rnrnMy List:rnThe Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak ChoprarnThe Power of Now by Eckhart TollernRich Dad Poor Dad (all of this series of books) by Robert Kiyosakirnrnrn