Found this list of books that most influenced right wing bloggers. I haven’t read all of them but found some of the ranking interesting.

These are the ones I have read: The Bible, 1984, Lord of the Rings, Mere Christianity, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Way Things Ought To Be, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, How to win Friends and Influence People.

I was surprised that the only Robert Heinlein book on the list was Mistress. I figured Starship Troopers would be the top ranked of Bob’s books. It was the book that probably most influenced my political thought (and it is nothing like the stupid movie) His Tunnel In The Sky most influenced my philosophy of personal expectations. Don’t know if that is the right words.

Mere Christianity is the most approachable book of apologetics out there, and Lewis’ explanation of God and Jesus as Shakesphere in a play he wrote is the best metaphor I’ve ever read. There is a lot of Lewis that influenced my theology. The Great Divorce was another. So was Narnia, more the books other than The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Another book that I would say influenced me was Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson. I read Snow Crash and didn’t like the philosophy and couldn’t get through Cryptonomicon. Diamond Age is obviously about nanotechnology, but is really about culture.

Other big influences on me were Personal Power and Giant Steps by Tony Robbins, and Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.

You know it just occurred to me that people really want an author that talks philosophy in an interesting and deep way like Heinlein did. Like Stephenson does. I don’t know of any other SF author that succeeds at that. The Wachowski brothers did it with the Matrix.

I also noticed that Ayn Rand had two books on the list. Making her #2 on the list behind Lews’ 3. I had a co-worker/friend give Atlas Shrugged to me once and I just found it boring. Seems to be very influential. Maybe I should try again. But I find when you start to read a book because you should, it almost never works.