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/lit/ - Literature

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19336740 No.19336740 [Reply] [Original]

has any book actually improved your life?

>> No.19336743

>>19336740
Seneca's letters have

>> No.19336747

>>19336740
yes every book

>> No.19337050

>>19336740
Mere Christianity
The Imitation of Christ
The Great Divorce

>> No.19337236

>>19336740
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The Bible
The Myth of Sisyphus
Art as Experience
Lazarillo de Tormez
Phenomenology of Spirit
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Moonwalking with Einstein
The Sunflower

>> No.19337248

>>19336740
Literature and philosophy has complicated my life

I find myself unable to overcome nihilism and pessimism

>> No.19337250

>>19336743
Good taste

>> No.19337263

>>19336740
When I was 16 the catcher in the rye put a lot of my angst into perspective. Recently though I would say Seneca, a biography I read on St. Moses the black, and Book of the New Sun.

>> No.19337275

>>19336740
What a disgusting cover
Also LMAO WEED XDDDD

>> No.19337314

>>19336740
The second sex got me 3x more pussy

>> No.19337323

Richest Man in Babylon

>> No.19337329

Plenty of books improved my mood, made my days less boring, or made me sadder yet wiser at the same time.
I can't recall a single time I finished a book and thought to myself
>damn, this experience made my life worse, what a terrible mistake

>> No.19337331

>>19337248
Lol how old are you?

>> No.19337368

>>19337331
21

I managed to escape my existential despair for some time at 19 but it is coming back

I believe this is specifically the fault of reading Zapffe.

>> No.19337385

>>19337368
Read William James and Jordan Peterson
Work out
Don't drink alcohol or smoke
Stick to a sleep schedule
You will be fine

>> No.19337392

>>19337385
Appreciate it, anon

>> No.19337393

>>19337248
>Baby's First Existential Crisis

>> No.19337403

>>19337393
It's not my first

This time it started with the loss of a close relative

>> No.19337404 [DELETED] 

>>19336740
Nah, not in any practical sense, except when I'm enjoying the depth and the beauty of it. Maybe I should have read more non-fiction, instruction manual type stuff.

>> No.19337408

>>19337385
>William James
Can you suggest introductory work of his to me?

>> No.19337418

>>19337385
sticking to a sleep schedule is often overlooked advice I think.

>> No.19337457

>>19337418
For sure

>> No.19337511

>>19337418
It's great advice if/when you can actually fall asleep at the same time. Where it falls apart for me is when I'm in bed at 10:30 but awake for two hours.

>> No.19337515

The Bible

>> No.19338049

>>19337368
>21
Yikes
All I can say is time is still on your side. Yet again, youth is wasted on the young. You'll see more joyful days fren, I guarantee :^)

>> No.19338054

>>19336740
Call of the Crocodile.

>> No.19338067

>>19336740
The Knox Version of the Holy Bible and The Imitation of Christ.

>> No.19338161

>>19337368
Hey, I used to be nihilistic and was into absurdism a lot back in high school. I’m 23 at the moment and what helped me out of that rut was reading stoicism and some existentialism. Currently, I would say Marcus Aurelius meditations to me is what the Bible is to a Christian. Keep on rocking and growing!

>> No.19338504
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19338504

>>19337368
>>19338161
28 here, was in the same boat as you guys. Marcus Aurelius (and funilly enough Camus) pulled me out the first time, 22/23. Now Seneca is doing it again.

Haven't met anyone whose life has been a straight line yet. So be prepared to have some good periods and some that are straight up not a good time.

>> No.19338732

Brave New World.

>> No.19338812

physiology textbooks and understanding how humans create energy was the most useful, but was not a single book.
self help was no more mr nice guy, and senecas advice to stay in the religion of your forefather when i had a mental breakdown, i was reading it in the waiting room (small booklet with some of senecas gems) and then the doc told me i am fine, have no trauma from abuse, went full panta rhei and told me i will fully comprehend the greatness of the logos, then i read heraclitus and it all made sense.

>> No.19338949

What book will help me cope with having to spend the majority of my life centered around working?

>> No.19338966

>>19336740
The Bible
Picture of Dorian Gray
Moll Flanders
Moby Dick

>> No.19339018

>>19337050
I second The Great Divorce. Mere Christianity didn't do it for me, but I may have to give it another chance.

>> No.19339030

>>19337314
Just by referencing the ideas, or does it teach you about how women think?

>> No.19339278
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19339278

The Pale King
Early Retirement Extreme
The Holy Bible

>> No.19339711

>>19336740
The Kingdom of God is Within You - Leo Tolstoy. Shit is introspective as hell. No book has made me more skeptical/cynic and I'm not even religious.

>> No.19339900

>>19337236
>>19337050
>>19337323
>>19338732
>>19338966
>>19339278
LARPers... larpers everywhere...
They didn't, and you can't even point to any specific choices or changes in behaviour that are directly attributable to those books to prove otherwise. Which is why you haven't bothered to explain why.

>> No.19340116

>>19336740
Tomberg's Meditations on the Tarot made me reconsider the mundane outlook I had towards Christianity, and got me studying the nuances/spectacular nature of Christ that gets washed out being raised in a Baptist household
Mosley/Codreanu, even if not directly relevant, got me into lifting and taking better care of my physical fitness

>> No.19341741

>>19339900
Keep crying, you clearly just want someone to give you the sparknotes version so you can get life changing advice without actually reading the books. READ MORE BOOKS, LAZY BONES

>> No.19341772

>>19339018
I think Mere Christianity's primary value is in persuading unbelievers, so it's use is limited for those who already have faith. However, I read it after becoming a Christian and the main thing I got out of it was when I read the chapter about pride I realized how extremely proud I was, I genuinely had never realized it but the more he described it the more undeniable it became. i.e. when he said pride is worse than vanity because vanity still values others to a certain degree, but a truly proud person can't be vain as he completely devalues others and their opinions. I realized I had been thinking of pride as vanity and not only that, I was actually proud of how "not vain" I was.

I liked the Great Divorce for a completely different reason, mainly that it helped me visualize possible solutions to some of the apparently contradictory aspects of the afterlife, even though it is by no means doctrinal.

>> No.19341777

>>19336740
Phone book.

t. older than the internet

>> No.19342326

>>19336740
Shitposting as an anon did improve my damn life !

>> No.19342342

>>19337368
Read the gay science, Emerson’s Self-reliance, possibly Zarathustra. Schopenhauer’s 4th book is perfectly true if one hangs a negation sign - in front of it.

>> No.19342350

>>19342342
Because Schopenhauer got Will-to-life wrong?

>> No.19342364

>>19337418
>tfw 1 week 7-3, 1week 3-11
>eternally flip-flopping until I retire
it's circadian hell bros

>> No.19343640

>>19337331
>>19337393
>tfw had pretty solid philosophical background as kid, had existential crisis from 16-17, was solid again from 18-19, and am in another crisis
>this all started with my parents abusing each other
>also I read Tolstoy's refutation of free will at the end of W&P
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

>> No.19343694

>>19342364
>tfw as soon as my semester as school ends I become nocturnal during break
>at school constantly exhausted
>get told that being nocturnal isn't a thing by my family
>they say only losers work night shift.

>> No.19344252

>>19337408
>>19337392
I'd say start with The Will to Believe. It's in the Writings of William James: Comprehensive Edition which is less than 10$ on Thrift Books. Additionally there will be other writings you would have for later.
The Varieties of Religious Experience would be another good one, I'd say my second favorite after the Will to Believe

>> No.19344264

>>19339900
If you read the books, then you would be able to find out why.
But that would mean you'd have to read books and stop shitposting on /lit/

>> No.19344280

>>19344264
How would reading a book tell him why and how it changed someone elses life? All it would allow is speculation.

>> No.19345119

Gravity's Rainbow taught me calculus

>> No.19345148

>>19336740
The Enneads.

>> No.19345260

>>19341741
I didn't ask for the sparknotes, I asked for an example of how it meaningfully effected your life, which you failed to provide because it hasn't. And you're afraid of this realization
>>19344264
To what end? Again, you're avoiding the fundamental point - how did it help? In what manner?
I know it didn't help you, you just can't accept that it hasn't.

>> No.19345271

>>19337511
wake up earlier, it'll reset your sleep schedule if you keep a habit of waking up early.

>> No.19345304
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19345304

This

>> No.19345398

>>19345119
its funny when people think these authors (pynchon, wallace, etc.) having mathematical discussions in novels are smart when its just a intro college course

>> No.19345465
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19345465

yes anything by Mark Rippetoe

>> No.19345474

>>19338067
Why the Knox version?
Is it your preferred translation?

>> No.19345475

>>19336740
Daodejing

>> No.19345731

>>19336740
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Made me realise should stop being so cold to people

>> No.19346468

>>19345271
How do you do that? The only way i can is by using alarm that's disabled by shaking my phone 65 times. I keep on sleeping otherwise or regardless of that sometimes.

>> No.19346770

>>19346468
personally I just go to sleep at least 10 hours before I want to wake up. Insures I have at least a couple hours to enjoy the morning before heading out for the day and I never need an alarm clock.

>> No.19346812

>>19336747
>>19337329
based
>>19336740
many, but the alchemist recently convinced me to leave my gf of 6+ years

>> No.19347159

>>19345260
>has any book actually improved your life?
You didn't ask for examples. I have already gone above and beyond by listing the books, as based on your question I could have simply said "Yes."

>> No.19347166

>>19339900
Maybe if you didn't mass reply like a faggot and instead asked people like a normal human being how such and such helped them they would be more willing to tell you.

>> No.19347167

>>19337329
>damn, this experience made my life worse, what a terrible mistake
This is exactly how I felt after reading Infinite Jest and Gravity's Rainbow. And House of Leaves for that matter.

>> No.19347205

Slaughterhouse-Five really put life in perspective for me

>> No.19347208

>>19336740
First was Bible, and its not ironic or anything, after reading it i've learned what the all fuss was about for the whole time and now i can aprecciate those who believe in god etc. in a better way than before. I was reading it more as a fantasy novel but it still is an interesting book.

Second one would be "Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None" it made me realize that basic thing i can actually change for the better in my life is myself.

>> No.19347260

>>19347205
bruh

>> No.19347277 [DELETED] 

>>19345304
How anon? We got some pseudoscience in the thread that can't possibly imagine how books can change lives. They can't see what the book is, what the message in it means, and they need a step by step on how it helps.
>they haven't nor will they read the book though

>> No.19347285

>>19345304
How anon? We got some pseuds in the thread that can't possibly imagine how books can change lives. They can't see what the book is, what the message in it means, and they need a step by step on how it helps.
>they haven't nor will they read the book though