I've been thinking about your suggestion of influential books as a
birthday gift, and I put together an Amazon list. Most of these are books
that affected me as a psychologist. One is a classic science fiction story. I thought I would give you a little background on each of them.
Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl -- This is the book I loaned or gave away most often. Victor Frankl was a psychoanalyst who was held in a Nazi concentration camp. The book describes that experience in the starkest images, but the book is about survival and transcendance. I worked mainly in prisons, with the most dysfunctional and those with the least hope, and this book has helped many people to cope with existential despair.
We're All Doing Time by Bo Lozoff -- Bo Lozoff was interested in Buddhism and meditation, and stumbled into a job working in a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina. He needed a job, was was poorly suited temperamentally to work as a prison guard. By chance he was given the opportunity to teach yoga and meditation to the prisoners. This book is the study guide he provided for inmates.
Crime in America by Ramsey Clark -- This is more of a political book than psychology. Ramsey Clark was Attorney General under Lyndon Johnson and was a significant figure in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam movements. As Attorney General he implemented major prison reform programs, including the establishment of a research prison at Butner, North Carolina -- where Bo Lozoff stumbled into a job.
This book is a sociological overview of the causes of crime and our society's inneffective, inhumane, and non-rational response to crime. It is also a somewhat radical manifesto arguing for major social change. Although it was written in 1970, I still see it as accurate and seminal. Like most of the ideals of the 1960s, this progressive approach was submerged under the Bush/Reagan/Bush years.
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon -- This is a somewhat obscure science fiction story. It presents a 'future history' of mankind. The language is a little antique, but the scope of imagination is dazzling. I like it especially because I strive to be a futurist in my thinking. I believe in the Gene Roddenberry view of a future in which Earth has matured beyond war and poverty. Even though the Klingons, etc., present a challenge, the Star Trek philosophy is optimistic and confident.
The list could, of course, continue for pages, but these are books that have stayed with me. If you can send me a mailing address, I will have Amazon send these along to you.
You commented recently about adulthood. I'm a few years ahead of you, so I will let you know when I see it.
Good luck in graduate school. Let me know if I can be of any help.
