What book had the greatest impact on your life, and which part of it is the most memorable for you?

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Plato's Republic.
I got really interested by its description in Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy. After reading the book, I realized how arbitrary the setup of current society is. Then I followed it up with More's Utopia and Marx' Das Kapital. A true Big Bang for my political views.
“Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Autocrat of the Breakfast Table
- I’ve read Utopia & Das Kapital, but admittedly at the time they were for school projects and I was young. Too young to pay attention to the real, major themes.
  I love to learn about all of those things, I just don’t feel I’m equipped to do it solo & fully grasp the concepts being laid out. Like I almost need someone to tell me what I need to be looking for and why it’s important in each chapter. I love to read, and I do it a lot (fiction & nonfiction), but classics like that…it’s so weird, like I am incapable of understanding it in an intuitive manner, like other books. It’s almost embarrassing to admit.
  I find it all fascinating & enjoy learning about it, but I don’t do so well when I go to the source…if that makes sense.
  
  Do give Russell's History of Western Philosophy a try. It places those books into a much needed context. When I first picked up that book, it was out of a hope to learn more about philosophy, but after finishing it, I only had those three books on my 'definitely must read' list. I know there's a companion book to Das Kapital written by David Harvey, but he's not the easiest to read either. And Marx, omfg, that mofo has a way of dancing around things for pages on end through the most labyrinthine sentences, so I can definitely commiserate! It took me months to get through the whole thing. Luckily I was in the middle of a move, without TV or computer, so that helped a lot :)
  
  Thank you for the detailed response! That clarifies things a lot. I will give it a try!

51 comments