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Books that deeply impressed me

Esta página tem uma versão em português. (This page has a Brazilian Portuguese counterpart.)

In this page I list some books that had an impact on my life. I deliberately don't mention some classics and otherwise important books that I have read but that didn't quite influenced me that much. Most of the links are for the US amazon store, for links to the Brazilian store, check the Brazilian Portuguese version of this page. I was born in 1975.

If you are after recommendations for Buddhist books, check this page. There's also this page if you want to check what I am currently reading.



1982-1985 (learning to read)

Emily Reed
Let Papa Sleep!1My granny read it to me 10-15 times a day.

Maria Dinorah
O Galo Superdotado (The Gifted Rooster)2First book I read. Although in Portuguese it does sound a little like "The Well Endowed Cock", it is still a respectable children's book.

Ziraldo
O Menino Maluquinho (The Nutty Boy)3One of Brazil's most endearing child books. Sometimes used to teach Portuguese to foreigners.

Maria José Dupré
A Ilha Perdida (The Lost Island)4And many others from the Vaga-Lume Collection, an infamous series of books for young readers—everybody had to read them at elementary school. Though some were quite pleasurable reading to me anyway.

Aldous Huxley
Brave New World

Erico Veríssimo
Viagem à Aurora do Mundo (Travel to the Dawn of the World)

Luís Fernando Veríssimo5Veríssimo introduced me to North-American and, let's just say, globalized humor. He started imitating Woody Allen. Although very famous in Brazil, he is far from unanimity—the point sometimes being he is not "Brazilian" or "Gaucho" enough... where did we hear something like this?
O Analista de Bagé (The Psychoanalyst from Bagé6Bagé is a small city on the southernest state of Brazil, where it seems sophistication is not quite the norm. So his psychoanalyst, while very orthodox, is quite... let's just say... gauche like a gaucho. Something like "The Shrink from Arkansas".)

Erich von Däniken
Chariots of the Gods7First introduction to empty repetitive rethorics. It was a very important formative experience.

Shere Hite
Hite Reports8On both male and female sexuality. It was delicious erotic literature for a 9 year old.

Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights

Matthew Gaines
Atomic Energy9And many others from the Knowledge Through Color Collection

Various contributors
Enciclopédia Delta Universal (based on the World Book Encyclopaedia)10I used to envy those who had a Barsa, then those who had a Britannica, now I just love the Wikipedia.


1985-1990

Marcelo Rubens Paiva
Blecaute11A post-apocalyptic Brazilian tale.

Machado de Assis
Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas (The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas)
Quincas Borba (Philosopher or Dog?)

Isaac Asimov
The Colapsing Universe
The Stars, Like Dust12Plus at least another 50 from the good doctor... There was a time in my youth Asimov's books were all I read and wanted to read. I started with the popular science ones, I snobbed science fiction a little bit—and was this book that started my fall, and from science I went to hard sci-fi, and then to soft sci-fi.

Eisberg
Fundamentals of Modern Physics

Carl Sagan
Cosmos

Ray Bradbury
R Is For Rocket

Gilberto Schroder
Ficção Científica13Brazilian book that has lots of references and discussions around classical sci-fi stories and movies. Before the internet I wanted so badly to get hold of some of the material described there, but some of it was just impossible to get at that time in Brazil.

Fritjof Capra
The Tao of Physics14Unfortunately, I was a follower of the infamous "quantum mysticism" until 1997, when I dropped all the New Age stuff.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One Hundred Years of Solitude15All of Latin American families have some stuff in this book where they see themselves. I still find this to be a really great book.

Carlos Castañeda
Journey to Ixtlan

Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Cat's Cradle

Jorge Luis Borges
El Aleph (The Aleph)


1990-1997

Herman Hesse
Steppenwolf

Tom Wolf
The Kool-Aid Acid Test

Jack Kerouac
On the Road

C. G. Jung
Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido
Aion, Researches on the Phenomenology of Self

Aleister Crowley
The Book of Lies

Timothy Leary
Flashbacks

Douglas Hofstadter
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas Hofstadter & Daniel C. Dennett
The Mind's I

Joseph Campbell
The Power of Myth

Robert Anton Wilson
Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy

Phillip K. Dick16The Man in the High Castle, A Scanner Darkly and Clans of the Alphane Moon are some of the others books by K. Dick that are favorites of mine.
Ubik

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Sirens of Titan: A Novel17Slaughterhouse Five, Slapstick or Lonesome no More, Galapagos and Breakfast of Champions are some of the others books by Vonnegut that are favorites of mine.

Umberto Eco
Foucault's Pendulum

Mircea Eliade
Yoga: Immortality and Freedom18First contact with the vajrayana, Padmasambhava, and Mahasiddhas.


1997-2010

Samuel Bercholz, Sherab Chödzin Kohn, and Bernardo Bertolucci
Entering the Stream: An Introduction to the Buddha and His Teachings

Chögyam Trungpa
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism19The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma (3 vols), The Myth of Freedom, Lion's Roar, Journey Without a Goal, Orderly Chaos: The Mandala Principle, Crazy Wisdom and Transcending Madness are some of the other books by Trungpa Rinpoche that are favorites of mine.

Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Gates to the Buddhist Practice

Patrul Rinpoche
Words of my Perfect Teacher

Dudjom Rinpoche
Perfect Conduct: Ascertaining the Three Vows

Various Contributors
Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion

Dalai Lama
Tantra in Tibet
Kindness, Clarity, Insight

Keith Dowman
Buddhist Masters of Enchantment
The Divine Madman
Sky Dancer

B. Alan Wallace
Choosing Reality: A Buddhist View of Physics and the Mind

Erik Pema Kunzang
Advice from the Lotus Born

Tsele Natsok Rangdrol
Empowerment and the Path of Liberation

Tulku Thondup
Hidden Teachings of Tibet

Robert Thurman
The Central Philosophy of Tibet (Speech of Gold on the Indian edition)

Ray Monk
The Duty of Genius

Erik Pema Kunzang & Marcia Binder Schmidt
Blazing Splendor: the memoirs of the Dzogchen Yogi Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Diana Mukpo
Dragon Thunder: my life with Chögyam Trungpa

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
What Makes you Not a Buddhist

Donald S. Lopez
The Madman's Middle Way


2010-

Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
Cascading Waterfall of Nectar20Small Golden Key, Welcoming Flowers Across the Threshold of Hope are some of the others books by Thinley Norbu Rinpoche that I read at this time.

Anthony Storr
Not for Happiness, A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices

Janet Gyatso
Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary

Thomas Cleary (trans.)
The Blue Cliff Record

Geoff Dyer
Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room

Padmakara Translation Group
Introduction to the Middle Way: Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara with Commentary by Ju Mipham

Padmakara Translation Group
The Adornment of the Middle Way: Shantarakshita's Madhyamakalankara with Commentary by Jamgon Mipham

Douglas Duckworth
Jamgon Mipam: His Life and Teachings

Dudjom Rinpoche
The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History


2015-

John W. Pettit
Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection

Ivan Illich
Deschooling Society

Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche
Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
The Guru Drinks Bourbon?

Padmakara Translation Group
The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham's Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of The Way of the Bodhisattva

Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Gendun Chopel: Tibet's Modern Visionary

Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan: Autobiographical Reflections21Gypsy Gossip and Other Advice, Magic Dance: The Display of the Self-Nature of the Five Wisdom Dakinis, Echoes: The Boudhanath Teachings, White Sail: Crossing the Waves of Ocean Mind to the Serene Continent of the Triple Gems, Sunlight Speech That Dispels the Darkness of Doubt: Sublime Prayers, Praises, and Practices of the Nyingma Masters.

Matthieu Ricard
Enlightened Vagabond: The Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche

Matthieu Ricard
On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters

Holly Gayley and Joshua Schapiro (editors)
A Gathering of Brilliant Moons: Practice Advice from the Rime Masters of Tibet

Chogyam Trungpa and Nalanda Translation Committe (translators)
The Rain of Wisdom: The Essence of the Ocean of True Meaning


These are dharma books that I consider not only profound, but that were also a pleasure to read.

From this last list (2010-) the only two aren't dharma-related are Wittgenstein's biography, Zona by Geoff Dyer (which is about a movie Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche loves) and Deschooling Society, which I should have read 20 years ago. Feet of Clay was a Khyentse Rinpoche recommendation, so it becomes dharma

Again, if you are after recommendations for Buddhist books, check this page. There's also this page if you want to check what I am currently reading.

The page pertaining to this URL was last updated in 2018-09-12 18:53:18.



1. ^ My granny read it to me 10-15 times a day.

2. ^ First book I read. Although in Portuguese it does sound a little like "The Well Endowed Cock", it is still a respectable children's book.

3. ^ One of Brazil's most endearing child books. Sometimes used to teach Portuguese to foreigners.

4. ^ And many others from the Vaga-Lume Collection, an infamous series of books for young readers—everybody had to read them at elementary school. Though some were quite pleasurable reading to me anyway.

5. ^ Veríssimo introduced me to North-American and, let's just say, globalized humor. He started imitating Woody Allen. Although very famous in Brazil, he is far from unanimity—the point sometimes being he is not "Brazilian" or "Gaucho" enough... where did we hear something like this?

6. ^ Bagé is a small city on the southernest state of Brazil, where it seems sophistication is not quite the norm. So his psychoanalyst, while very orthodox, is quite... let's just say... gauche like a gaucho. Something like "The Shrink from Arkansas".

7. ^ First introduction to empty repetitive rethorics. It was a very important formative experience.

8. ^ On both male and female sexuality. It was delicious erotic literature for a 9 year old.

9. ^ And many others from the Knowledge Through Color Collection

10. ^ I used to envy those who had a Barsa, then those who had a Britannica, now I just love the Wikipedia.

11. ^ A post-apocalyptic Brazilian tale.

12. ^ Plus at least another 50 from the good doctor... There was a time in my youth Asimov's books were all I read and wanted to read. I started with the popular science ones, I snobbed science fiction a little bit—and was this book that started my fall, and from science I went to hard sci-fi, and then to soft sci-fi.

13. ^ Brazilian book that has lots of references and discussions around classical sci-fi stories and movies. Before the internet I wanted so badly to get hold of some of the material described there, but some of it was just impossible to get at that time in Brazil.

14. ^ Unfortunately, I was a follower of the infamous "quantum mysticism" until 1997, when I dropped all the New Age stuff.

15. ^ All of Latin American families have some stuff in this book where they see themselves. I still find this to be a really great book.

16. ^ The Man in the High Castle, A Scanner Darkly and Clans of the Alphane Moon are some of the others books by K. Dick that are favorites of mine.

17. ^ Slaughterhouse Five, Slapstick or Lonesome no More, Galapagos and Breakfast of Champions are some of the others books by Vonnegut that are favorites of mine.

18. ^ First contact with the vajrayana, Padmasambhava, and Mahasiddhas.

19. ^ The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma (3 vols), The Myth of Freedom, Lion's Roar, Journey Without a Goal, Orderly Chaos: The Mandala Principle, Crazy Wisdom and Transcending Madness are some of the other books by Trungpa Rinpoche that are favorites of mine.

20. ^ Small Golden Key, Welcoming Flowers Across the Threshold of Hope are some of the others books by Thinley Norbu Rinpoche that I read at this time.

21. ^ Gypsy Gossip and Other Advice, Magic Dance: The Display of the Self-Nature of the Five Wisdom Dakinis, Echoes: The Boudhanath Teachings, White Sail: Crossing the Waves of Ocean Mind to the Serene Continent of the Triple Gems, Sunlight Speech That Dispels the Darkness of Doubt: Sublime Prayers, Praises, and Practices of the Nyingma Masters.


BBC

Overdue library book returned
to school 120 years late

A book that had been missing from a school library is finally returned - 120 years late.
Papo de Homem

Como e por que incomodo o leitor

Reflexão sobre minha atividade como homem bomba conceitual. Haters gonna hate.
Papo de Homem

Como aprendi inglês

Reminiscências sobre meu aprendizado da língua durante as décadas de 80 e 90, quando o material em inglês não era tão facilmente acessível.
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