Books have always played a major role in altering history and shaping our lives. Different books leave their impact on our lives, changing the way we think, act, behave and live. Here is a list of the top ten books that have changed our lives, including some religious books as well.
You are welcome to add some more to the list through your comments.
The Bible
The bible is the most purchased book in the world. There is no doubt about the fact that it has changed the world more than any other book.
The 1st major change this book made was conversion of whole Roman Empire from paganism to Christianity. Since then Christianity became the largest religion of the world.
The Bible consists of two books one The Old Testament and 2nd the New Testament.The 1st book ever published on the press was the Gutenberg Bible.
The Quran
The Quran is the holy book of the Islamic Religion. The Quran was completed in 23 years. It was recorded in 632 after the death of Muslim’s Prophet Muhammad.
Muslims consider the Quran as the last revealed word of God. This book changed the world and made the Islam second largest religion of the world.
Recently different debates about Quran are going on around the world that its content provokes Muslims to kill non-believers, whereas according to Muslims that’s not right because opponents of Islam are taking its text out of context.
The Summa Theologica
The Summa Theologica is basically a multi volume set of books that outlines exactly the doctrines and beliefs of Christianity. It is regarded as second to Bible. This was the most used reference book at the Council of Trent (1545-1563). All Christian World was influenced by it as the reforms of the Council of Trent were implemented.
Today the Summa Theologica is used for primary teaching tool in Roman Catholic seminaries.
The Rights of Man
An English writer Thomas Paine wrote this book. According to this book, the main purpose of a government is to protect the non-refutable rights inherent to every human being and all institutions that do not benefit a nation are unlawful including monarchy and the military establishment.
Paine went to France at the time of the French revolution and there in France, not even knowing the French language, he was elected to the National Convention. His migration from France saved him from the punishment regarding his book.
Either/Or
Either/Or contains two life views, one being consciously hedonistic and other based on ethical duty and responsibility, in two volumes.
Each life view is portrayed by a fictional pseudonymous author and prose of the work depends on which life view is being discussed. For instance the aesthetic life view is written in short essay form with poetic imagery and allusions, with discussion of aesthetic topics like music, drama and beauty.
While the ethical life view is written with argumentative and restraint prose with discussion of moral responsibility, critical reflection and marriage.
In spite of book’s popularity, this book was not published in English till 1944.
Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles wrote Communist Manifesto on the request of the Communist League, and it became one of the most influential political tracts in history.
The Manifesto suggested a course of action for working class to take out the revolution.
The most famous quote in this Manifesto was “ Working men of all countries, unite”.
Experimental Research in Electricity
Michael Faraday the English chemist and physicist is the person whose many experiments with electricity lead to his invention of electromagnetic rotary devices, which provided the foundation to electric motor technology.
Though he had little formal education and was not good in higher mathematics, he is one of the most influential scientists in history. It was his experiments that made electricity feasible for use in technology.
He died on August 25, 1867.
On the Origin of Species
This book is considered a basic evolutionary biology book. Charles Darwin wrote it and it was highly controversial book because it contradicted many religious views on biology. It contains that over time, through natural selection, species evolve.
The book is interesting and readable even for non-specialists. In this book 1st ever evolution theory was presented. Till today evolution theories presented in this book are discussed.
The Second Sex
Best-known work of Simone de Beauvoir is the Second Sex. In this book she wrote that although she was a woman, she realized that it would have to be defined that what a woman really is, which became the main topic of the book. It is regarded as major feminist work
In the book she mainly argues about the fact that women throughout the history, have been defined as the “other” sex, a distorted image from the “normal” male sex.
She was the pioneer of the feminist movement and in her book she argued that women had historically been considered deviant and abnormal.
Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand’s last work was Atlas Shrugged before she devoted her time exclusively for philosophical writing. The book contains variety of themes that later became the central part of her philosophy Objectivism.
Though the book was largely a critical failure but it had an enormous poplar success.
On three-month online poll for twentieth century best novels, Atlas Shrugged was voted number one. Even in the celebrity world Ayn Rand is having a large following including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Both of them selected to play main characters in films that aims to bring Atlas Shrugged to the silver screen in near future.
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