Mind-altering books you would recommend?

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

My two suggestions were already mentioned...but I'll just repeat them for emphasis.

Dune and 1984.

 

[CrusaderX]

The Great Divorce by CS Lewis. Very light but very deep.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Surfacing by Margret Atwood
The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks
On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins
The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon


All of these books have changed my life significantly.

 

[Chimera]

I clicked on this thread to recommend The Illuminatus Trilogy, only to find that others beat me to the punch. "Operation MindF***" indeed.

I would recommend the I Ching, which is basically ancient Chinese philosophy disguised as an Oracle; but most translations outright suck and it requires quite a bit of study to really appreciate.

 

[argo]

Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich - If you have not yet gotten over that youthfull phase where deep down inside you really do believe in your own imortality, this book will be your wake-up call.

 

[Eosin the Red]

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Most everything by M. Scott Peck (Beat of a Different Drum and Road Less Travelled)
Dune... I thought everybody read Dune?
Wil & Arial Durants History of the World. Amazing piece of work even if some of it is now dated. It is a 14 volume set that takes you through time.
House of God ~ I think you need to be medical to "get" it on more than a superficial level.

 

[Someone]

I'll add animal farm to 1984. And also the little prince First time I read it was when I was a child, and recently I bought it again. sometimes on needs to remember that the important things are so simple.

 

[F.C.Desoya]

The Celestine Prophecy
Flatland

 

[bodhi]

Another vote for The Illuminatus Trilogy.

Piers Anthony, On a Pale Horse. An interesting look at death. I read it in my teens, so it probably had more impact then than it would now, but still some good ideas, I think.

Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Alan Moore, From Hell. The graphic novel, not the movie. I'm a Johnny Depp fanboy of sorts, but the movie took out all the really interesting (and hard to film) parts.

Alan Moore, Watchmen. What makes a hero a hero? And when do you compromise?

Richard Bach, Illusions.

 

[jaerdaph]

I would have to say Fahrenheit 451, 1984 and Animal Farm probably had the biggest impact on my life and way of thinking after reading them.