Exercise: Influentional books
Think about the influence of books globally. In your learning log, create a short list of books, with accompanying images, which you believe to be important in a global context.
Global: Objective
Excluding the Bible and the Quran we can add other religions holy books on this list.
The Tripitaka
The Tripitaka is the collection of sacred buddhist writings. Tipitaka in Pali means three baskets. The three baskets are: basket of discipline (vinaya pitaka), basket of discourses (sutta pitaka) and basket of ultimate things (abhidhamma pitaka).
The Torah
“The Torah” is the holy book in Judaism
Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching is one of chinese sacred texts
The Vedas
Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita is the sacred book of the Hindus. It is written in the form of dialogues between Lord Krishna and Arjuna.
…
A full list of important religious books and holy tests can be found at this link:
http://historylists.org/other/10-most-influential-sacred-texts-in-history.html
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton
This is one of the greatest works in the science history. It established the bases of mechanics, physics and astronomy.
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus
Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was instrumental in establishing the concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the solar system. He made one of the greatest breakthroughs in the astronomy.
Aristotle’s Physics
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. His books played a huge role in development of natural history and sociology
Capital by Karl Marx
This book can be considered as the key publications of our century. The author was writting this book during 40 years and was calling it the main affair task of his life. Marks discovered the main economical laws of creations, developing and dying of capitalism in this main work of his. This book revealed the essence of the capitalism exploitation to the working class (proletariat).
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is an autobiographical book by Adolf Hitler. This book virtually became the Bible of every Nazi.
“The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” by Homer
These poems are the first well known creations of the ancient greek literature. They had a magnificent influence on the ancient culture and on the modern culture afterwards.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare is decided to be a genious poet and dramatist not only in Great Britain but worldwide. It would be hard to outline the most powerful book of his. Because all his creations effected the further progress of literature and theatre. His plays written 400 years ago are relevant even nowadays.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings is one of the most read books in the world. It touched the global culture of the XX and the XXI centuries.
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
The Divine Comedy inspired artists, poets and philosofers during seven centuries. This poem also influenced the Catholic Church doctrine. In fact Dante was the first person who suggested the idea of purgatery.
Personal: Subjective
Books from subjective list are not the books wich changed the history. This books helped me to get to know myself better. That’s why there are only fiction books on my subjective list.
The Moomins series by Tove Jansson
My favourite childhood books
Bidstrup Sketch Caricature by Herluf Bidstrup
Herluf Bidstrup danish cartoonist. I usually read this book when i feel sad. Reading it make me feel happy.
Harry Potter by Joanne Rowling
My generation has grown up on Joan Rowling’s books. I read the first book when I was 11 years old. So I can say that I grew up alongside Harry Potter and his friends
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Its a question of discipline, when you’ve finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet.”
The Little Prince has taught me to clean my room every morning and I’m very grateful to him for this.
Stories by Stephen King
When I was 12 I used to read a lot of horror fiction novels for children by R. L. Stine. Onse I notised a strange book with a black cover and a small golden skull on the spine at my parents book shelf. It was a book by Stephen King. I took it to my room and read at night. It was so scary that I had trouble sleeping that night. But I liked it. I didn’t want to read horror books for children anymore. Stephen King became my favorite author for the next two years.
99 francs by Frédéric Beigbeder
I was a great fan of this book when I was a depressed teenager. This book shows the true ugliness consumer society.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
It’s a good book. Kind and inspiring. I read this book in one breath, and it touched my heart.
Foam of the Days by Boris Vian
This is one of the most unusual books I’ve ever read. The author’s manner of expression seemed to me very interesting and unique. I was really impressed by his way of writting.
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
It was hard to choose only one book by this author, because I’ve read them all. It would be more correct to say that I was influenced not by this particular book but by the work of Haruki Murakami on the whole. What did I learn from his books? While you live according to generally accepted standards, there’s no place for miracles in your live. But once you get off the beaten track and go your own way, the unusual things will start happening in your daily life.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
It was the first J.D. Salinger’s book I’ve read. I was 15 and this book impressed me deeply. If I read it earlier of later it wouldn’t influence me that much. So I read this book at the right age. It used to be my favorite book. After reading this book I read all the rest books by J.D. Salinger and he became one of my favorite authors of all time.
The Gray House by Mariam Petrosjan
This is my favorite book. I re-read it many times and every time I found something new to me. By the way, this book will be published in English on April 25, 2017.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
This is a very special book about war. I usually don’t like books about war. This book is an exception. I really admire one of the main characters with the strange name Yossarian. I’m thrilled about all that insane tricks he did to stay alive in this senseless war.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
This book also has influenced me. After reading this book I never forget to bring my towel in a journey)
Did any of these books appear on your earlier list?
None of these books appeared on my first list, because I didn’t focus on fiction books while making up the first list. There are at least fifty famous fiction books wich have a huge influense on readers and on the further development of literature in general. The Catcher in the Rye and The Little Prince definitely could be included in the first list.
Categories: Book Design, exercises