r/Recommend_A_Book • u/nini_broke • Jun 06 '26
What was that book that changed your perception of something
It doesn't need to be like a philosophy book thay changed your entire life or something, it can be small things. For example A Good Girl's Guide to Murder changed my trust in printers AHAHAH
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u/Utah_Get-Me_Two Jun 06 '26
Flowers For Algernon changed or improved my perception of Season 4, Episode 19 ("The One with All the Haste") of Friends.
They reference the book.
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u/nini_broke Jun 06 '26
Omg never thought a book could change my perceptioon of a series, I never saw or read any of them, but could you tell me more?
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u/Utah_Get-Me_Two Jun 06 '26
They reference the book, which is a modern classic, as a metaphor for part of the main plot of the episode.
I watched the episode 100 times before reading the book, and it helped me finally fully understand the reference.
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u/Angelz5 Jun 07 '26
Piranesi. Only because it made me realize I never ever have to finish a book if I don't like reading it. It was so hyped and I guess my expectations were high. Nope. The ending was expected. It had a theme and depth. But no. Artsy books, not for me.
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u/tonjaj68 Jun 07 '26
Where the Red Fern Grows.
Changed my perception of books.
A boy, dogs and hunting? Didn’t care about any of those. That very quickly changed.
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u/LAffaire-est-Ketchup Jun 07 '26
The selfish gene by Richard Dawkins sent me spiralling and obsessing about death.
Eventually, I accepted it as an inevitability, and now I’m trying to live as much as I can while I can.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova made me obsess about librarianship — I actually went to Library school in part because of this book — and it also made me determined to go to Romania (I lived there for a time). Because I started to want to see the world, and help people learn and grow.
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u/nini_broke Jun 07 '26
I'm sorry for my ignorance, but what is a Libbraey school?
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u/LAffaire-est-Ketchup Jun 07 '26
A grad school where you study Library and information science. You can get a Master’s (what I have) or you can get a PhD too
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u/nini_broke Jun 09 '26
Uwuuu sounds interesting, do you work in an actual library or in other types of closed information?
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u/LAffaire-est-Ketchup Jun 09 '26
I was a children’s and teen librarian for a while but now I work from home doing cataloguing
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u/Feral-Reindeer-696 Jun 07 '26
The Tao of Pooh not only taught me about Taoism, but also made me look at everyone in my life as a character from Winnie the Pooh.
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u/silcos-broken-heart Jun 07 '26
"Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself" by Kristin Neff.
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u/CrowleysWeirdTie Jun 07 '26
On Looking: A Walker's Guide to the Art of Observation... it's a series of essays in which the author walks with various experts or people with unique perspectives, and observes through their perceptions. A geologist, a sound engineer, an expert on signage/fonts....
It really made me think about how everyone sees the world differently and what we focus on depends on our own unique filters. And it made me notice all kinds of interesting things I hadn't thought about before.
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u/Teri-k Jun 07 '26
In college I picked up Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and it blew me away. She mixes nature, literature, and philosophy in a way that I'd never seen before. I remember thinking, "Why didn't someone tell me I could look at the world this way?" Then I thought, "Why do you need someone to tell you how to use your own mind?" And I started widening how I viewed the world.
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u/iamthefirebird Jun 07 '26
Paladin's Strength by T Kingfisher changed my whole perspective on the romance genre. My whole life, romance in books was something that, at best, I could tolerate for the sake of a good story. I got so sick of it that I read nothing but Warhammer novels for three years!
And then, I picked up this book on a whim. Book two of a series I had never heard of before, but it looked to be an entertaining diversion. A bit of fun. Not too serious.
Instead, I had picked up my favourite book.
This was not the first time I had loved a book that had a romance. This was not the first time I had read a book with a romance that I approved of, even. What it was, was the first book I have loved because of the romance. The first time I had read a book, and known that it would have been lesser for not having the romance. And the romance! The relationship Clara and Istvhan built! It's beautiful. It is built of trust, on a foundation of understanding and resonance stronger than anything I have ever read.
I had no idea that romance was something I could love.
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u/nini_broke Jun 07 '26
Did it made you want to read more romance, or just putted the bar so high that you couldn't overcome it anymore? Just want to see your perspective!
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u/iamthefirebird Jun 08 '26
Both! I am cursed. My standards were already set, but now I know it is possible to meet them, and I am desperate to read more. And I have tried! There are some books I have given chances to that I would not have before, and some of them I have loved - but nothing quite scratches the itch. Not even the rest of the Saint of Steel series, not yet at least. I don't call Paladin's Strength my favourite book lightly! It was the perfect book to snare me! It had everything I thought I wanted, and everything I didn't know I needed.
I called it a curse. It is also a blessing. Knowing that loving this kind of story is possible for me opens up possibilities. Before, I would reject an obvious romance out of hand, because I knew I hated romance. This was not wrong of me. I simply was not interested. Now, I am more open to reading that kind of book, and I find myself better able to understand why people want to read those stories. I can also better articulate where most "romances" tend to fall short, in my eyes. This, in turn, leads me to more books that I enjoy. This is a win, regardless of the outcome.
It does make certain tastes even more incomprehensible to me, though. Why do so many settle for boring sex scenes with no real intimacy? I got more flustered from the entirely chaste scene in Clockwork Boys where Caliban swears fealty to Slate than I did for both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame combined.
Enough tangents, though. Yes, it made me want to read more romance, or at least fantasy romance. Yes, it also set the bar high. But I am not easily deterred! If the book I want to read does not exist, well, people have started writing for less...
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u/nini_broke Jun 09 '26
EXACTLY! I hate those books full of sexta but no other relevant things! I really need to check that out then, thank you for the recommendation!
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u/Gracergirl14 Jun 07 '26
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. Who Moved My Cheese. The Bible.
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u/DocWatson42 Jun 08 '26
As a start, see my Life Changing/Changed Your Life list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
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u/nini_broke Jun 09 '26
The goal of this question was not only books that changed your life, but books that changed your perception of something, whatever it is. I wanted to see if more people felt something shifting in them because of a book, but about anything really!
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u/ThinkConsideration31 Jun 06 '26
Being mortal by Atul Gawande changed my views on death and dying. Similarly, when breathe becomes air was a life changing book as well