Books That Define Us

I think most people have at least a couple of books that are extra important to them, inspired them or in other ways shaped them. Most likely from childhood or youth, as that is the time we are most impressionable.

My mother used to read to me and my brother when we were young, something I really loved, but sometimes it was frustratingly slow. I always wanted to know what would happen next. I obviously don't have a perfect recollection of that time, but I believe that this to some degree is what spurred me to learn to read, so that I could devour books on my own. I don't know when exactly I progressed from reading children's books to more adult books, but I have a clear memory of reading The Hobbit in 2nd or 3rd grade on my own, and then my mother had already read to me and my brother. So this is probably one of the first book taking me out of the children's fiction into the wider world. My mother also read The Lord of the Rings to me and my brother sometime after reading the The Hobbit. I can't say exactly when, but it must have been somewhere around 2nd or 3rd grade I imagine, as I have distinct memories of reading it on my own somewhere around 4th grade. Tolkien made a huge impression on me, and for many years I probably re-read The Lord of the Rings at least once per year.

This is without doubt one of the reasons for my interest in fantastic literature throughout my childhood and to date.

Somewhere around 3rd or 4th grade I discovered classics, widely expanding both my horizons and the selection of available books, even if it was limited to what was available in the local library. The classics that stand out the most from this time is The Mysterious Island (L'Île mystérieuse)  and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: Tour du monde sous-marin) by Jules Verne and The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson.


Part of my interest in science is probably coming from reading science fiction in my youth. Author's such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. The first science book that I remember reading that made a huge impact on me was Isaac Asimov's The Collapsing Universe, which I read in 8th or 9th grade. This opened my eyes to how important books and libraries are in terms of access to information. Of course we are now living in a different world, where information is available to almost anyone at the tip of your fingers without little to no effort, by help of the Internet, Google and Wikipedia.

My interest in science was mostly focused on cosmology and the laws of physics, and remained within this area for several years. I vividly remember reading Michio Kaku's Hyperspace sometime in high school, which introduced me to string theory. My interest in science was dominated by string theory for some years, and probably culminated with reading Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe in 1999.

Since then my interest has shifted somewhat to focus more on genetics, which even ended up with me studying bio medicine for fun. Except for text books, I think Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene, is the single book within the field that has had the greatest impact on me.

Since my first child was born in 2013 there has been a noticeable decline in the number of books read, unfortunately, and I unfortunately have to admit that I am probably reading more for pleasure than anything else these days. But that will have to be the topic of another post.