I mentioned in the Potter post that I couldn’t remember where I “picked up” the beliefs similar to “Nonviolent Communication” concepts that Peters and Amanda champion but now I realize that they came from a book I read over ten years ago called The Moral Animal, by Robert Wright (suggested to me by Liz). Wright isn’t really a scientist but a science writer. He is very skillful at mixing scholarly research and with historical context into a very readable form for the non-scientist. The Moral Animal primarily explains many of the theories of evolutionary psychology and uses the concepts to psychoanalyze the life of Charles Darwin. The Moral Animal is also the most important book I’ve every read. It blew my 22-year-old mind and continues to influence me a decade later.

Which got me thinking…. What are the most important books the Hollow Men (and Women of course) have read? Note that I’m not asking which are best books but the most important – the books that changed your life or the books that irrevocably changed the way you see the world. Perhaps they are not the best book by that author (certainly the case with my list). Perhaps if you read these books now they would not have the same effect on you. Perhaps there was something going on in your life at the time that made the book important.

Here is my list:
The Moral Animal, by Robert Wright
Two Minutes of Silence, by H. C. Branner
The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell