What books and other written works have had major impact on this world?

[mrmitchell]

Ironikinit--True, 1984 scared the effin **** out of me after I finished it. Thank God we still have a few decades left before we are bowing down to a Big Brother.

The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells
(this book and author launched sci-fi into being you could say, I'm a little rusty on scifi from the time period tho)

[Aro]

Originally posted by Ironikinit
I may be a philistine (hey, a Bible reference), but very few of the books mentioned have made my reading list. I couldn't find a good article to support Robert A. Heinlein as an influential author, but a google search for the words "heinlein influential" got 2840 hits. "Stranger in a Strange Land" definitely, IMO, had an effect on 60s counter-culture. Not to mention his huge influence over the field of science fiction. I feel that reading RAH led me to become an atheist, an optimist (particularly in regards to the effects of technology and the basic goodness of mankind), and a pragmatist. I couldn't begin to guess how many young people decided to major in engineering or astronomy due to RAH's writings.

Man, you said all.

The books and authors already mentioned, of course (well, almost all of them )

Oh, and two more:
Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes, and... Hamlet, by the Bard himself!!!

[molly bloom]

The 1612 King James Bible, Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and the collected works of William Shakespeare all helped to make English a world language. The use of the Bible and the prayer book by missionaries helped to change societies as far apart as Arctic Canada and Western Australia.

In pure literary terms, there are many candidates: Samuel Richardson's 'Pamela' set a vogue for epistolary novels Europe wide; Goethe's 'Sorrows of Young Werther' helped shape the consciousness of his time. In poetry, Wordsworth's 'Prelude and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'Lyrical Ballads' kick-started life into Romanticism and reinvigorated nature poetry, both of which in various forms, are still present today.

Moses Maimonides's 'Guide for the Perplexed' influenced Christian, Muslim and Hebrew thought. Euclid's 'Elements' has vexed many a school child whilst still being a fundamental part of Western science and mathematics.
Chairman Mao's 'Red Book' is the only the latest in a line of written works from China influencing how China operates- the 'Tao Te Ching' and the 'Analects' being two others.
Plato's 'Symposium', Clausewitz's 'On War', the Mahabharata, the Rule of St. Benedict- they've all had a part in bringing about the world as we know it.

[Goingonit]

"Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson (started environmentalism to a large extent)

[Timexwatch]

Paradise Lost - John Milton






DanS'ed

[JohnT]

Paradise Lost... John Milton, perhaps?

[Timexwatch]

My bad. I'm confusing my English Literature. I'm going to pull a DanS...

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Timexwatch
Paradise Lost - Thomas More

Err, shurely shome mishtake?

Thomas More is better known as the author of 'Utopia'- John Milton is the author of 'Paradise Lost', 'Paradise Regained' 'Samson Agonistes' and 'Lycidas'- and that seminal work in defence of free speech and literature, 'Areopagitica'.

http://www.d-holliday.com/tmore/life2.htm

.

[alva]

Brave New World - Huxley

[Dis]

my autobiography

[Grrr]

'The Oxford Consise English Dictionary'. <- has got to be the book that most people have read excerpts from, but never read in it's entirity .

[gunkulator]

Slaughterhouse 5 - Vonnegut

Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury

1984 - Orwell


Apparently. I'm only influenced by books with numbers in the titles.

[mrmitchell]

BTW, I know of the most important series of books to modern American teenagers and young adults.

Cliffs Notes.

[DuncanK]

The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money - John Maynard Keynes

[DuncanK]

The Federalist Papers - Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

Common Sense - Thomas Paine