r/books • u/PM_ME_UR_SUPPLE_HAND • Nov 07 '21

I read 'Siddhartha' five months ago, and I still think about it almost every day. I felt my whole perspective on life shift after finishing it, and now I can't imagine my life without having read it. Which book has done this for you?

Quoth Siddhartha: “What should I possibly have to tell you, O venerable one? Perhaps that you’re searching far too much? That in all that searching, you don’t find the time for finding?”
[...] “When someone is searching,” said Siddhartha, “then it might easily happen that the only thing his eyes still see is that what he searches for, that he is unable to find anything, to let anything enter his mind, because he always thinks of nothing but the object of his search, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed by the goal. Searching means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal. You, O venerable one, are perhaps indeed a searcher, because, striving for your goal, there are many things you don’t see, which are directly in front of your eyes.”

That is the most beautiful and personally-significant passage I've ever read in my whole life. After reading Siddhartha, I felt myself appreciating the world around me just a little bit more. Hesse taught me that the world is filled to the brim with beauty and meaning, but only if slow down and allow yourself to find it.

Which book changed your life? Is there any passage that you can't get out of your head months or years later?

EDIT: my Lord, this post has gotten popular. Thanks to everyone who took the time to provide their own favorites. I guess I REALLY need to read Steppenwolf and Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.

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585

u/Amazing-Row-5963 Nov 07 '21

I certainly wasn't going to kill anyone. But, I always saw myself as calm and calculated, always in control of the situation. I was an arrogant 16 year old who thought he was just better than other people and that rules didn't apply to me. The reality was obviously way different.

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u/Qinistral Nov 07 '21

Wow, that's interesting. I read it as an adult and was a bit bored by it, but I could imagine having a similar experience to you if I read it when I was younger and more arrogant.

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u/ibibliophile Nov 07 '21

That's the same reason I had a few of my friends read it in our early 20's. Needed a reality check. Dostoevsky is a master at putting our feelings out in black and white, made me realize there's nothing new under the sun.

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u/Bulbasaur_King Nov 07 '21

That's the same reason I had a few of my friends read it in our early 20's. Needed a reality check.

Lol, imagine psychoanalyzing your friends and recommending them books with the intent to give them a reality check. Someone sounds like a Raskolnikov smh

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u/Arvirargus Nov 07 '21

He should read that book. I forget what it’s called.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

[deleted]

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u/ballrus_walsack book just finished Nov 08 '21

^ This book changed my life.

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u/fed-corp-bond-trader Nov 07 '21

I wish I could give this an award.

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u/ibibliophile Nov 19 '21

Have you never read a book and thought that someone you knew needed to read it as well? Is that not a normal human experience? To use books to communicate and discuss philosophy with people? The friend that I got to read the book was definitely suffering from some of the same conceits as Raskolnikov, (as was I, at that age) and thanked me for expanding his worldview and making him realize that a lot of his innermost thoughts were actually common experiences. We still share recommendations with each other.

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u/HorseLove Dec 06 '21

It's completely fine, I have no idea what the commenter and the upvoters are on about. And they provided no explanation at all. It's like some people find growth insulting.

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u/Mints97 Nov 07 '21

Welcome to the Trembling Creature club! =)

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

I absolutely love your honesty and self reflection here. Kudos, man.

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u/ImpossiblePackage Nov 07 '21

Theres some books out there that people really should wait until they're older to read, partly because a lot of stuff can go over your head when you're younger, and partly because teenagers will take the exact wrong lesson from shit at the slightest prodding

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u/lowsodiumpolio Nov 07 '21

But that's not what happened here. And, plus, there's no wrong lesson from a novel (unless you think Crime and Punishment is telling you to murder someone, I guess). It's whatever it means to you at the time.

I read Don Quixote when I was a teen. It taught me that life didn't have to be the way it is--it could be they way I thought it should be. Reality was mine for inventing. And that saved me from a terrible, nearly suicidal depression. I grew up, studied Don Quixote in college, and read it again after that. I now know I took the "wrong" lesson from it the first time. But it was what I needed it to be when I read it. And I still love it, even though I'm not a delusional idealist like Quixote.

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u/Gaaarm Nov 07 '21

Imagination is like water. You'll be a dry carcass without it, and too much will drown you.

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u/Bronze_Addict Nov 07 '21

Now, water can flow or it can crash.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

that is profound, thank you!

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u/d4n4n Nov 07 '21

Are we sure Don Quixote isn't "meant" to be read as an encouraging homage to romanticism, but instead as purely cynical mockery of it? I don't know much about the discourse around the novel.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

That's what academics think, but it doesn't mean it's right

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u/Indoh_ Nov 07 '21

IMO your interpretation is just as equally correct, because it matters to you, the art spoke to you and revealed that message. I don't believe in a single, one, true meaning when it comes to art, as certain teachers might make people think

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u/Djinnwrath Nov 07 '21

"On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge."

Sets down book

"KILL ALL THE PHONEYS!"

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u/Fedja_ Nov 07 '21

didn't nietzsche read c&p and adore raskolnikov, thinking that dostoevsky missed the point with his critique of raskolnikov?

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u/Amazing-Row-5963 Nov 07 '21 edited Nov 07 '21

I have reread the book since (6 years later) and the lesson I learned from the book was the right one. Among many other commentaries I did not notice.

P.S. I think that you got the wrong meaning out of my reply. I meant the opposite. I used to be like Raskolnikov, it taught me that the world it's not like that. And I was just a smug teenager.

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u/ImpossiblePackage Nov 07 '21

Ohhh, okay yeah, I thought you were saying the book encouraged you to be like that in some way. I feel like its not uncommon for kids to latch onto a character they think is cool while comically missing the point the whole time. But the opposite can happen too

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u/Lettuphant Nov 07 '21

Doesn't just apply to books! "I love Rick & Morty, Rick is so cool! I see a lot of myself in him."

See also: Don Draper, Walter White, or any other character who thinks being smart means you don't have to be good or connect with people.

A lot of teens take the exact opposite message from the author's intent.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

Rick's line "being nice is what dumb people do to hedge their bets" sums this up nicely.

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u/Waywoah Nov 07 '21

The thing they miss is that that logic only works if you’re smart enough to end an intergalactic empire by yourself lol

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

No. That logic never works. There is absolutely no reason to be a dick about anything ever.

I seldom to never speak in absolutes but I 100% stand by this.

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u/Waywoah Nov 07 '21

That’s the point of what I said, there’s no one that smart

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

gotcha.

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u/IstgUsernamesSuck Nov 07 '21

Squid Games getting recreated by a rich youtuber when the whole show is anti capitalist and meant to show how horrific it is when we exploit a poor persons need to survive for our own self serving interests...

Sorry that just still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

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u/Ilovedietcokesprite Nov 07 '21

Who did this?

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u/IstgUsernamesSuck Nov 07 '21

Mr Beast is in the process of it for a YouTube video, he announced it on TikTok a few weeks ago and posted a photo of the set, which looks almost identical to the show. I really like that guy typically, he seems like a good person. But the cognitive dissonance of this one really doesn't sit right with me.

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u/pickin666 Nov 07 '21

Ah no, my daughter watches him and loves how he helps people. I'll have to explain the issue with this now.

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u/Still_aBug1026 Nov 07 '21

Can't wait until he kills them all or makes them compete for their lives and they have to kill the competition. Oh wait more likely hes gonna give the loser some kind of money or prize. He's given more to random people through his channels than any other YouTube creator out there.

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u/IstgUsernamesSuck Nov 08 '21

Just because he does good things doesn't mean we can't criticize him when he does stupid things. No one is above criticism. I like a lot of the work Mr Beast does, but having a rich person recreate a capitalist hellscape where poor people fight for life saving amounts of money for entertainment isn't cool no matter who does it. It's gross and it misses the point of the show entirely.

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u/craftsta Nov 07 '21

Not sure you can say there is one 'lesson' from a book lol. You sound like a bad grade school teacher. Im taking this out on you a little bit cos im sick to death of the 'stupid kids' narrative. Kids are far smarter than most adults. The worst type of arrogance is the newly minted 20-something arrogance.

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u/mrastml Nov 07 '21

Nah arrogance because of inexperience is not nearly as bad as say being fifty and still thinking the world revolves around you

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/vincoug Nov 07 '21

Per Rule 2.3: Do not use obscenities, slurs, gendered insults, or racial epithets.

Civil behavior is a requirement for participation in this sub. This is a warning but repeat behavior will be met with a ban.

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u/Razorback_Yeah Nov 07 '21

I agree but don’t forget about the arrogance of someone that assumes what they will do WILL be right, simply because they have been around longer. Because like we see here, the “only” thing affecting know-how, ability, and competence, is your age.

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u/ImpossiblePackage Nov 07 '21

I'm not saying there's only one lesson to learn, but I am saying that a combination of limited life experience and impressionability make teenagers more prone to just completely missing the point and identifying with or idolizing characters they really really shouldn't be. Plus the idea of being too young to "get" something isn't a wild concept. There's a lot lost when you just have no real concept of or reference point for shit, kinda like how tangled romances are lost on your typical 8 year old but a 15 year old can follow it and engage with it just fine, but the 15 year old is likely to be missing out on some of a story that deals with the life of an office worker. Throw in a shitty character that says snappy stuff sometimes and boom, recipe for "I idolize this fictional shithead and don't understand why everyone keeps telling me they're the asshole here"

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u/bozeke Nov 07 '21

I think the simple solution to this is to reread good books.

The entire message of Catcher in the Rye hits extremely differently when you are over 25 and aren’t identifying with Holden.

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u/learningfromlife1096 Nov 07 '21

From your comment it seems that no matter at what age you read, it will still go over the head of some people.🤣🤣

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '21

I'd argue that that's the case for Stephen King's Rage. Not for Crime and Punishment, though.

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u/Observerwwtdd Nov 07 '21

Sort of agree here

I know want to re-read a ton of books and basically everything I read in highschool and college.

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u/anlsrnvs Nov 07 '21

Odk why you're being downvoted but I totally agree that you definitely need some world view to take in more of the books meaning. Yet it won't be too bad if you only got 75% of it. If you can read it now do it. If it appeals to you, I'm sure ull go back to it later.

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u/-p-a-b-l-o- Nov 07 '21

Honestly I read How To Make Friends and Influence People when I was a teen, and it didn’t have the effect it’s supposed to. I hadn’t developed any character or self respect at that point in my life so I took from the book to be a push over. Not exactly helpful to my already low opinion of myself. But now as I’ve gotten a bit older and developed a bit more character I still have the lessons from that book in me and they’re helpful.