Some Books That Have Influenced My Life

Should people who are not rich write about the books that influenced our lives? Does that amount to telling many readers, who want to become rich, what to avoid?

Whatever. Ten books that come to mind as having influenced my life may repeat with other lists I've posted  this year...

1. Good News for Modern Man

This was the collective name for early editions, first just of the Gospels, then of the whole New Testament, of what became Today's English Version of the Bible. As an adult I don't like "copyright" Bibles, but I will say that TEV makes it easy for children to follow the story.

2. Victory over Arthritis by Rasmus Alsaker

There must have been an epidemic of viral arthritis as a complication of flu in the late 1960s. Thousands of people read this book, marvelled at their quick, complete, long-lasting cures of arthritis (at least the post-infection kind), and went on to read some or all of the other "health food" books and buy "special," less popular products at "health food stores." My mother was one of those people. Within ten years after reading Victory over Arthritis she was one of the early readers for new books from the Rodale Press. 

3. The Waste Makers by Vance Packard

Not new when I read it, but there's a timeless quality to this writer's snarky skewering of Waste Age foolishness. Read this book and say farewell to fashion.

4. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

It's Laura's story, but she had considerable help from her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, in writing and publishing her "Little House books." Most of these books are simple stories, written to be read aloud to four-year-olds by twelve-year-olds, about what children did and how they did it in the late nineteenth century. The character Laura enjoyed flowers and fashion and old songs, but she was not much of a philosopher. In Little Town on the Prairie there's a scene that's not unusual or out of character, but is unlike anything else in the books. Laura reflects on the Declaration of Independence, which used traditionally to be read aloud at Independence Day events, and thinks that being free means "governing" herself--taking moral responsibility for her actions. It's a short, simple reflection, suitable for children. It sank in and stayed with me after I read it. People have wondered, however, and have found evidence that it was written in by Rose rather than Laura. 

5. The Girl Scout Handbook (and The Boy Scout Manual for that matter)

A certain amount of political and philosophical twaddle was written into these books, but the general idea of "Scouting" was that children could be best amused by learning skills that might be useful. One can learn a lot of life skills by following the suggestions "for fun" in the Scout manuals. When we were at the right ages, I was a Girl Scout who usually wore the uniform and seldom missed a meeting, though the meetings weren't as much fun as learning the skills and crafts at home. My brother thought the Boy Scouts were just a lot of town kids who sat around fantasizing about doing the sort of thing we did at home. But we both got ideas for having fun at home from the manuals.

6. The Serenity Book by Marylou McKenna

Badly produced such that first editions didn't last long, it's not been reprinted and has become hard to find. It's a handbook of Sensory Awareness meditation, which is very useful for things like adjusting to temperatures, lowering blood pressure, and working out muscle tension that causes lingering pain after an injury. 

7. Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

At a time when many churches were discarding traditional rules, especially the ones about frugality, Foster reconsidered the spiritual meaning these disciplines had had for people who chose to follow them. 

8. The Last Word: On the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense by Suzette Haden Elgin

Applies principles of English grammar, not so much to avoiding specific kinds of sneaky verbal abuse (which were discussed at length in earlier books) but to presenting ideas in ways that minimize disagreement from the beginning. Because so many variables are present these principles of grammar won't guarantee that your first words on a topic will be "the last word," but they will increase its chances.

9. Men Are Just Desserts by Sonya Friedman

This is a longish psychological self-help book full of 1980s ideas--good and bad--but what stayed with me has been the title, in both of its senses. The men we attract are our "just desserts" in the sense that we build the relationships we get, and having men in our lives at all is "just dessert" in the sense that it may be a source of pleasure but we can get on very well without it. 

10. The Gift of Good Land by Wendell Berry

Explores humans' relationship with our environment and the value of ancestral roots.