BOOKS:

- A Clockwork Orange
- The World Religions
- Anything by Stephen King
- Anything by Dan Brown
- Any foreign language book
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Sybil (biography)
- Siddhartha

MOVIES:

- The Wall by Pink Floyd
- Dazed and Confused
- Fast Times…
- Man on the Moon
- Million Dollar Baby
- Rock Star
- Kingpin
- Falling Down
- Wayne’s World I, II

MUSIC:

Pink Floyd
The Doors
Christopher Parkening
Janis Joplin
Jefferson Airplane
Jimi Hendrix
Jethro Tull
the Rat Pack
Arlo Guthrie
CSNY
John Sebastian
Joan Baez
Bob Dylan
Trans-siberian Orchestra
Blue Oyster Cult
Foreigner
The Clash
Alice Cooper
Frank Sinatra
Chuck Berry
Aerosmith
Bob Seeger
U2
Jackson Browne
CCR
John Fogerty
ELO
Rainbow
BTO
Bryan Adams
Robin Trower
Rush
Black Sabbath
Yes
Dean Martin
James Blunt
System of a Down
Scorpions
Steve Miller Band
Eagles
Talking Heads
Lou Reed
REM
Grateful Dead
Tim Hardin
Michael Angelo Batio
ZZ Top
Billy Idol
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Queen
Paul McCartney
The Beatles
John Lennon
George Harrison
Ringo Starr
Neil Young
Tom Petty+the Heartbreakers
Butterfield Blues Band
Steve Lucather
Iron Butterfly
Van Morrison
The Band
Wallflowers
Todd Rundgren
Buffalo Springfield
Styx
Motley Crue
Lynyrd Skynyrd
David Bowie
Eric Clapton
Cream
Stevie Nicks
Fleetwood Mac
Pearl Jam
ACDC
Led Zeppelin
Elton John
The Who
Phil Collins
Nazareth
Genesis
Deep Purple
Steppenwolf
Foghat
Sweetwater
GFR

ART:

Salvador Dali
Gerald Scarfe

I guess somebody loves music.

[quote author="theatheistheretic"]I guess somebody loves music.

Oh, you have no idea. that was only a portion of the many, many musicians that I love.

How about The Alan Parsons Project?  That’s my favorite group!

This is a really difficult question.  There are so many influences and their significance really depends on the context.  For example, the first Sagan book I read was a used copy of “Dragons of Eden”.  It opened my mind a bit and inspired me to broaden my literary spectrum, so it definitely lead to a more scientific approach to the world.  However, the book that I believe was the most inspirational was definitely “The Demon Haunted World”.  Which is more significant?  The book I found truly inspirational, or the book that sparked an interest which lead to the truly inspirational?  I guess I could divide my list into two very general- and most likely meaningless- categories.  Cognitive Instigators for those works which sparked new interests and Inspiration for those that have had the most impact after the acceptance of a critical worldview.

Cognitive Instigators

Books:

Ender’s Game
2001
Slaughterhouse 5
Catch 22
Dragon’s of Eden
Starship Troopers
Elric of Melnibone
Leaves of Grass
Candide
Warriors of the Way
Dune

Movies:

Millenium
2001, 2010 (Both together)
Donnie Darko
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I (heart) Huckabees
Bladerunner
Full Metal Jacket
Natural Born Killers
Wizards
Ghost in the Shell
Logan’s Run

Music:  Most of it in my younger days…

Pretty much any Pink Floyd
Tommy (the Who)
Led Zeppelin
Johnny Cash
Anthrax
Iron Maiden
Tool
Nine Inch Nails
REM
Marilyn Manson
Henry Rollins
Nazareth
Willie Nelson
Weird Al Yankovich - (give credit...taught many people power of parody)
Meat Loaf

Other:

George Carlin (comedian)
Cosmos (documentary)
A Brief History of Time (documentary)
History of the Bible (college course)
Physical Anthropology (college)
National Geographic “World” magazine <I’m pretty sure that’s what National Geographic for kids was called when I was younger>

Oh, you have no idea. that was only a portion of the many, many musicians that I love.

You and me both.  You have a great list, almost all of whom I’d have on my list as well.  Our iPods probably are similar!  Were those in any particular order, or as you thought of them?

>.> OMG, no one has seen Evangelion here?

Wait, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself - the topic was ‘influence..’

MOVIES:
#1 - Neon Genesis Evangelion
#2 - The Matrix

I am officially going to watch COSMOS, btw ^^

BOOKS:
#1 - David Keirsey: Please Understand Me II (I don’t necessarily buy it, but it was the first time I seriously considered the possibility that my personality was neither a perversion nor a defect)
#2 - Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals
#3 - Aeschylus: The Oresteia
#4 - George Lakoff: Moral Politics

MUSIC:
#1 - DEFTONES! (big fan)
#2 - Opeth
#3 - Tool
#4 - Reveille
#5 - KoRn (just the old stuff, their new is crap >_<)
#6 - J. S. Bach
#7 - Beethoven
#8 - Mozart

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I just read Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson Sci Fi about a Hacker/swordsmen in the near future who has access to plug into the metaverse (its like the matrix but free to do so like the internet, its for pleasure). There is a drug in the metaverse thats starting problems. It dives into religion and how a virus can effect your mind like religion can.

I recommend it, entertaining read!

Oh and also The movies Ghost In A Shell 1 and 2. There Anime movies, very philosophical, goes into the meaning of life, what is human, freewill. Goodstuff!

Very good topic.

Books

1984 George Orwell
East Of Eden J. Stienbeck
Grapes of Wrath J. Stienbeck
The Unkown God J. Stienbeck
Of Mice and Men J. Stienbeck
For Whom The Bell Tolls E. Hemmingway
A Farewell to Arms E. Hemmingway
The Sun Also Rises E. Hemmingway
The Lord of the Rings Tolkien

Movies

Contact
The Godfathers
Star Wars
Caddy Shack (Classic Can’t not mention)
Monty Python (Holy Grail, Life of Brian)
Aliens 1,2,&3;Awakenings
Goodfellas
The Last Waltz

Music

Van Morrison
Bob Dylan
Neil Young
The Band
Steely Dan
Dave matthews
Ben Harper
Elmore james
Johnny cash
Led Zepplin
Pearl Jam
Joni Mitchel
CSNY
Billy Preston
The marshall Tucker Band
The Allman Brothers

Too many over the years to enumerate.  However, two of the earliest books I read as a child and teen ager that had a major impact on me were:

Language In Thought and Action by S. I. Hayakawa (Semantics and critical thinking)

My mother read mythology, Greek, Egyptian, Norse, etc. starting when I was three and used them to teach me to read.  When I was six my aunt criticized my father for letting me read comic books, and not giving me any religious training.  He said, “I don’t care what he reads, as long as he does.” She gave me a child’s Bible, and I loved it—It was, of course, another wonderful book of mythology.  It demonstrated critical thinking flaws easily as well as Alice in Wonderland.

Occam

Books, Movies, Music

Movies:

Authors:

Asimov (Foundation series, Robot series)
David Gerrold (many but especially Chtorr series)
Charles Sheffield
Octavia Butler (Kindred, Lillith’s Brood)
James Alan Gardner
Nancy Kress
John E. Stith
Eric Frank Russell
Susan Blackmore
Stephen Bronner
David Detmer
Noam Chomsky
Howard Zinn
Robert Dreyfuss
Michael Albert (Realizing Hope)
Takis Fotopolous (Toward an Inclusive Democracy)
Carl Sagan
Stephen J. Gould
Tariq Ali
Paul Kurtz
Alfi Kohn
Ted Honderich
Anitol Lieven
Michael Martin
Michael Neumann
Douglas Rushkoff

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Thanks George. What beautiful music Bach wrote. What a master. BTW, another great book is Godel, Escher, Bach for interesting musings on his genius.