King Lear: how not to manage your retirement. Also a good picture of the results of patriarchy

The Handmaid's Tale: What the world will be like when fundamentalists (of any religious bent) take over

Crime and Punishment: discover empathy

There's enough wisdom and strength in the Norton to last you several lifetimes. Feeling unimportant? Read "Gray's Elegy". Wonder what art has to do with your life? Read "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

Walden: how stupid we are to be chasing money and things when we don't have a clue about what to do with our own lives. "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation".

(Geldof) One of the few books I've read that actually got me crying ... chronicling his early music days and the events of his life leading up to first LiveAid .. his trips to Africa and the profound affect it had on him. (Although I remember after finishing it, i was more curious to know what happened to him and his psyche *after* LiveAid ..

I think my choices may be obvious in theme. (Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens)

For me, I was always a doubter of religion, but had never been able to make the leap towards vocal disbelief. These three books helped me find a way to express the views I had held onto, in a way that was based on a solid core of reason and understanding, instead of just gut instinct.