Books that inspired you

[Gary.C]

Left behind Series
Masada
Transall Saga

[RoboMom]

Old thread, but I'm still reading!

Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People Robert S. Root-Bernstein

Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas James Adams

Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius Michael Michalko

And

The Cloud Collector's Handbook Gavin Pretor-Pinney

[Ogehsim]

For inspirational books, I second Three Cups of Tea and add its sequel Stones Into Schools. These books are amazing, and if you believe in the mission of FIRST -- changing culture and promoting education -- you will love them. Greg Mortenson is my hero, and I hope to high Heaven that one day I can have made an impact like he has.

For books to make you think, anything by Malcolm Gladwell. Some times the "science" may be a little iffy, but they're very thought provoking.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead requires a knowledge of Hamlet to fully understand. It's a play, specifically theater of the absurd. There's some great quotes and philosophical stuff in there, and it's short too for a nice quick read.

What is Your Dangerous Idea? Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable Again, thought provoking. You will agree, disagree, possibly be confused, but it's very interesting.

[woody]

Lots of great books in this thread. I guess I'll throw in a few of my own:

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Read the book, watch the video...

Rocket Boys After I watched October Sky, I read several of Homer Hickham's memoirs. It's a fantastic book about dreaming and overcoming obstacles.

1984 by George Orwell. It's a classic, and it's a great warning of where we might end up if we surrender our history and subsequently our liberty to anyone.

Fahrenheit 451. In my mind, a great counterpart to 1984. Probably one of the best (and most well known) criticisms of censorship out there.

Launching a Leadership Revolution by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady. All about developing yourself as a leader, and then helping others to do the same. A must read for any FIRST mentor, and should be required of students too!

Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright. It's less on "leadership" in the traditional sense and more on developing the attitude and culture of a team to promote excellence. Teams like 148, 217, 1114, 111, etc. stand out as shining examples of some of the principles in this book. If that's not enough of a reason, just talk to IKE. He'll convince you : )

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. I saw this mentioned earlier in this thread, and I'm actually on my third time reading it right now. It is a fantastic book that covers everything from belief, to attitude, to developing positive habits. This is one of the best "personal development" type books ever written. If you read this and actually apply even some of the principles he discusses, you will be amazed with how much you can change your outlook and your results.

[davidthefat]

Holy Bible

Feynman Lectures On Physics

Night Trilogy

Write Great Code Volume 1 & 2

[MarcD79]

"The New Cool" By Neal Bascomb. We need another lead into the public eye & hopefully this book will accomplish that. This inspires me to continue spreading the word about FIRST.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by woody

Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright. It's less on "leadership" in the traditional sense and more on developing the attitude and culture of a team to promote excellence. Teams like 148, 217, 1114, 111, etc. stand out as shining examples of some of the principles in this book. If that's not enough of a reason, just talk to IKE. He'll convince you : )

He will convince you and it is totally worth it.

I'm working through that and The Dancing Wu Li Masters. It was recommended to me by a professor about how people view science as a religion. Fascinating read because it talks about some very interesting ways of looking at how people view things.

[J.Warsoff]

The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten.

Being a musician (mainly jazz, like the author) myself, I have always loved listening to Victor's amazing bass playing either by himself or with the Flecktones. I play bass along with other instruments, so Vic is one of my major influences. However, after reading this book, my whole view on music and life completely changed. Victor really knows how to make anyone, musician or not, question his or her views on life and gain a lot of amazing insight. Definitely one of my favorite books.

[tim-tim]

Uncommon and Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy

[David Doerr]

...when I was growing up?

As soon as I could read my mom would take me to the closest library - housed in an old building that previously was a schoolhouse in Keego Harbor, Michigan. There I found The Boy Electrician by Alfred P. Morgan, the book I probably spent more time with than any other during my grade school years.

That book had a lot to do with me deciding to be an engineer...

[T Shank]

Definitely would be the Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam for me

[karebear95]

Originally Posted by T Shank

Definitely would be the Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam for me

That's funny--- I feel the same way. I really loved how he found a dream and he pursued it despite the constant "downings" from his father.

[Nemo]

Interesting thread. My list includes two already mentioned books and a couple more:

Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins (novel)
Funny / philosophical / irreverent / makes me feel good to read it.

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynmann, Richard Feynmann
Cool autobiographical stories about Feynmann (Nobel winning physicist with a big sense of humor). I want to be like this guy.

The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Carl Sagan
Sagan's best and last book. He was a true champion for science.

The Singularity is Near, Ray Kurzweil
Speculative book about our technological future that might blow your mind.

Cryptonomicon, Neil Stephenson (novel)
Amazing, amazing writing. His other stuff is great, too. The others inspire me, but this one is merely a masterpiece that should appeal to people who are into science and technology.

[mwtidd]

Accidental Billionaires

Crossing the Chasm

Blue Ocean Strategy

[Ian Curtis]

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage is enthralling. It is truly about the triumph of the human spirit. Once you've read it, you realize that driven people really can accomplish anything.

Shackleton and his team of 28 polar explorers were attempting the first crossing of the Antarctic when the Endurance is caught in the ice. She is crushed in the spring thaw, and the crew spends nearly 200 days living on the ice flow, where you are either above freezing and soaked, or below freezing and covered in ice. A small group take a 22 ft boat across 800 miles of the worst seas in the world with maps that are getting increasingly more difficult to read as the water soaks the ink, and attempting to hit tiny South Georgia island.

Pick it up... you won't put it down until it's done.