Here's a question.
I've been thinking about the fact that we semi-regularly get questions as to what the "best" books are. I was wondering what people have found were the most influential books that they have read are?
I have a list of six:
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy by Mircea Eliade
The Spiral Dance (10th Anniversary Edition) by Starhawk
Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today (Revised and Expanded Edition - 1986) by Margot Adler
Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland
With the exception of Shamanism all of these were books I read from my early to late teens. Sacred and the Profane was an assignment in a philosophy class when I was in college the first time. Shamanism I read when I was about ~22 at the direction of a mentor. I'm a bit surprised that there isn't any fiction on the list, but none of it really has the "punch" that these have had.
And yes, it is somewhat embarrassing to have the Buckland on the list. But in all honesty I have to admit that it was the first book I ever actually bought on NeoPaganism (at least that I can remember). Is it a good book? Eh, that's very debatable. But it did strongly influence me, back a million years ago - and I still own that original copy (I just checked, it's the 3rd Printing, the second printing from 1987).
I have a list of six:
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy by Mircea Eliade
The Spiral Dance (10th Anniversary Edition) by Starhawk
Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today (Revised and Expanded Edition - 1986) by Margot Adler
Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland
With the exception of Shamanism all of these were books I read from my early to late teens. Sacred and the Profane was an assignment in a philosophy class when I was in college the first time. Shamanism I read when I was about ~22 at the direction of a mentor. I'm a bit surprised that there isn't any fiction on the list, but none of it really has the "punch" that these have had.
And yes, it is somewhat embarrassing to have the Buckland on the list. But in all honesty I have to admit that it was the first book I ever actually bought on NeoPaganism (at least that I can remember). Is it a good book? Eh, that's very debatable. But it did strongly influence me, back a million years ago - and I still own that original copy (I just checked, it's the 3rd Printing, the second printing from 1987).