Books that inspired you

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by dlavery

The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe.

The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. A very close friend gave this to me in high school.

Time Enough For Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long, by Robert Heinlein.

The Bible, the Torah, and the Koran, (various authors). I don't care what your religious persuasions may be, and you may not care about mine. I won't get into any religious philosophical discussions on this forum. Setting aside all such discussions, there is still incredible value that I took from these.
-dave

It was a little scary when I started to read Dave's list and realized mine was very close.
Follow the "Right Stuff" with Gene Kranz's "Failure Is Not An Option", it is possible for man to think he has thought of everything only to have Murphy come along and screw things up. Backup the backup to the backup.

I like Robert Heinlein a lot and have read everything I could but my favorites are "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" (kind of a hokey title now but still a great book) which taught me anyone can make their dreams a reality. "Door Into Summer" taught me that high school students when presented with real world problems can find workable solutions even under adverse conditions.

"Red Giants and White Dwarfs", sorry I don't remember the author, an astronomer as I remember, who describes the life span of an average sun, like our own, as it ages. I find it a humbling experience to put life in perspective. No matter how good a job you think you are doing, in the big picture (geologic time that is) your life is a micro-microsecond.

"The Prophet", I read in college at the prompting of a friend. I finally saw in print some of the emotions and deep feelings I was experiencing at the the time. (yes, I am a child of the sixties and so-called hippie) Scary thing was this prompted some interesting discussions with my uncle who had also read it and as I learned later, people of different age brackets read different aspects into some of the passages.

As to the Bible and other religious books, these are tributes to living your life in a manner that makes you and those around you happy. The belief in the presence of a supreme being and all that goes with that concept is what guides me through life's tribulations. I am not saying I am good at it, but I am trying.

"The Boy Scout Handbook" (any edition) has a lot of tips for everyday living. Just getting from here to there can be tricky, and cutting yourself along the way is a problem that can be overcome. I am quite sure I would not be writing on this forum if not for the Scout Law, "A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverant."

The collected adventures of Sherlock Holmes which taught me that things are not always what they seem and different people see things differently. You need to broaden your horizons to see the world but have the ability to narrow your focus down to one detail at a moment's notice, to find a solution to a problem.

For electrical guidance, "The Radio Amateur's Handbook" is the one book I have repeatedly picked up and thumbed through since I was in grade school. I have four editions from the early sixties to the present and now on CD.