Dave, cb, and Blobby all posted about 10 books that have stuck with you over time. Which got me thinking about what books have stuck with me over time.

These are in no particular order, other than the order they popped into my head. Each one of these I have read multiple times over the years.

Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
H2G2 is pretty much the way my brain thinks, if it could be expressed in book form. (Or blog form!). A lot of things Adams has written actually feels like how my brain sees the world. I still need to get that 42 tattooed on me…

Larry Gonick’s The Cartoon History of the Universe
Another insight into my brain: I remember things better in picture form better than I do words. In high school and college, I had a tendency to take all my notes in the form of doodles and cartoons. Imagine my surprise (and delight!) when I ran across this series of history books in cartoon form.

By Neil Ardley, illustrated by David Macaulay: The Way Things Work
Again with doodles. But this time it’s a “how things work” manual done with doodles of mammoths and humans and other beings.

Inferno, from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy
As a teenager, I somehow ended up having to read Inferno. And I loved it. Even though I didn’t understand all the historical references at the time, the descriptive narrative of the descent into purgatory fascinated me. And still does. I’ve probably read this at least 10 times.

Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth
Hollow Earth theory in narrative form. I still find the idea fascinating.

Robert Anton Wilson’s Schrödinger’s Cat Trilogy
I don’t really know how to describe this trilogy, other than putting the concept of quantum mechanics into story form. It’s a bizarre, but totally enveloping set of books.

Homer’s Odyssey
There’s a reason my business’s are named after this epic tale.

Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Another Adams book. If you could take those old detective stories and make them bizarrely quirky, you have this book (and it’s sequel).

Dan Simmons’ Hyperion
I don’t even know how to describe this story, other than I like it. It might be the only “blind read” I ever recommend to anyone.

H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine
It seems a lot of books I like have to do with time. Either vast expanses or multiple time-lines. This book falls in the “vast expanse” category.

And there you have my ten. I wonder what those ten say about me to others?