Books That Changed My Life

A friend recently challenged me to list ten books off the top of my head that changed my life.  Here are the ten books that I picked in no particular order.

1. The Sign Of Jonas by Thomas Merton
2. The Genesee Diary by Henri Nouwen
3. Centering Prayer by Basil Pennington
4. Discovering The Enneagram by Richard Rohr
5. The Little Flowers Of St. Francis by Raphael Brown
6. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
7. Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
8. The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
9. The Art Of Happiness by the Dalai Lama
10. Spiritual Master-A Thomas Merton Collection edited by Lawrence Cunningham 

Here are five additional books that had a great impact on me at the time I read them.

1. The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser
2. The Cistercian Way by Andre Louf
3. The Mystery Of The Ordinary by Charles Cummings
4. Letters From The Desert by Carlos Carretto
5. The Cloud Of Unknowing by an unknown monk of the 14th century

As you can see the books that have most formed me as a person are books of a spiritual nature.  Certainly there have been other books I thoroughly enjoyed, such as books about music, but those that formed and changed who I am are deeply spiritual in nature.