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Elijah Schultz, Staff Engineer (2019-present)

Elijah Schultz, 主管工程师(2019-至今)

Edit: This question originally asked for top 10 books, not just best books in general.
Ok, to set some ground rules.
There’s a unity to the Bible, but in the context of a best books list, I treat it as a canon of books and letters. I’m therefore going to do one list for books of the Bible, and one for others. Neither will be in any particular order
Bible
Genesis: The starting point. This is the book you have to understand to work out the relationships between everyone throughout the rest of the Bible. It is also the book of the Bible most concerned with anthropology, what it means to be human, and a bearer of the imago dei. The binding of Isaac haunts me in a good way.
Job: More or less the definitive Christian text on suffering. Read Job to remind yourself that there is room in the Christian worldview to acknowledge pain. I read this book about once a year, despite the fact that I always feel like I’m missing something.
Mark: Mark is the shortest of the gospels, but I find it the most interesting as a work of literature because Christ’s divinity is so hidden for the majority of the book. Mark is indispensible for the reader who wants to know why the Jews didn’t recognize Jesus as the messiah. They were expecting something radically different, and Mark respects the surprise.

编辑:这个问题原本是问十大畅销书，而不是常说的最佳书籍。
好吧，我来定一些基本规则。
《圣经》是统一的答案，在最佳书籍列表中，我把它当作书籍和书信的参照标准。因此，我将列出一个《圣经》的书单，和另一个其他书单。两者都没有特定的先后顺序。
《圣经》书单
《创世纪》：这是起点。你必须先理解这本书，才能理解《圣经》其余部分的人物关系。它也是《圣经》中最关注人类学的书，关于人类的意义，以及神的意象载体。以撒约束着我往好的方向走。
《约伯记》：几乎是基督教关于苦难的权威著作。阅读《约伯记》来提醒你自己，在基督教的世界观中是有承认痛苦的余地的。这本书我大约一年读一次，尽管如此，我还是觉得自己遗漏了什么。
《马可福音》：这是福音书中最短的一部，但我觉得它是最有趣的一部文学作品，因为在这本书的大部分篇幅里，基督的神性都是隐藏的。对于想知道为什么犹太人不承认耶稣是弥赛亚的读者来说，《马可福音》是不可或缺的。他们期待的是完全不同的东西，而《马可福音》就有这种惊喜。

Ruth: A great immigrant story, and an even better foreshadowing of the wider grafting in of the Gentiles in the New Testament. “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” And I wanna cry every time.
Hebrews: A lovely treatise on Christ’s role as high priest as well as a passionate exhortation to remain faithful to Him. Theologically dense, and spiritually edifying.
John: I love Mark because Christ’s divinity is hidden. I love John because it’s an inescapable fact from the word go. The synoptic gospels are story and history. John’s is theology. I’m grateful for it.
Ephesians: Read Ephesians for some great advice on relationships: between husbands and wives, parents and children, faith and works. If you want to know how people or theological concepts interact, there’s a good chance Paul mentions it to the Ephesians.
Song of Solomon: This one maybe isn’t one of the best books in the Bible, but I’m glad it’s in it, because, like Job, it reminds me of the breadth of experiences to which scxture speaks. It’s also, of course, a lovely allegory for God’s love for us, and a surprisingly sensuous one at that. It gives some idea of the intimacy implied by the church’s position as the bride of Christ.
Judges: This is maybe the most depressing book in the Bible, and I say that as a compliment. Israel, given every advantage, consistently fails to live up to God’s law, even after God redeems them repeatedly. The case for depravity in narrative form. Judges 17 is also the basis for one of the most convicting sermons I’ve ever heard, Paris Reidhead’s Ten Shekels and a Shirt.
Hosea: Like Judges, Hosea is bleak about human nature. Like Song of Solomon, God is presented as an intimate husband longing for his bride’s return. This one is another that makes me wanna cry.

《路得记》：一个伟大的移民故事，更好地为新约中异教徒的广泛移民做铺垫。"你的国就是我的国，你的神就是我的神"，每次看到这句话我都很想哭。
《希伯来书》：这是一篇关于基督作为大祭司这一角色的富有吸引力的论文，也是一篇充满激情的劝诫，要对他保持忠诚。是神学上的深化和精神上的启迪。
《约翰福音》：我爱《马可福音》，因为基督的神性是隐藏的。我爱《约翰福音》，因为这是不可避免的事实。符类福音书是故事和历史，而《约翰福音》是神学。我很感激它。
《以弗所书》：读《以弗所书》可以得到一些关于夫妻关系，父母和孩子，信仰和行为的建议。如果你想知道人或神学的概念是如何相互作用的，保罗很大概率在《以弗所书》中提到了这些。
《雅歌》：这可能不是《圣经》中最好的书之一，但我很高兴它在《圣经》里，因为，就像《约伯记》一样，它提醒了我《圣经》所讲述的经验的广度。当然，这也是一个关于上帝对我们的爱的优美的寓言，而且是一个令人惊讶的感性的寓言。它体现了教会作为基督新娘的地位所隐含的亲密关系。
《士师记》：这可能是《圣经》中最令人沮丧的一本书了，我这么说是褒奖的意思。以色列人虽然有各种优势，但即使神一再救赎他们，他们却始终不遵守神的律法。本书以叙述的形式列出了堕落的案例。雷汉德牧师的十舍客勒和一件衬衫是我听说过的最具有说服力的布道之一，也是以《士师记》的第17章为基础的。
《何西阿书》：和《士师记》一样，《何西阿书》对人性的看法是暗淡的。就像《雅歌》，上帝是一个亲密的丈夫，渴望他的新娘回来。这也是另一本让我想哭的。

Not the Bible
The Lord of the Rings: Tolkien only published the book as a trilogy because of postwar paper shortages. God can use the small to accomplish his purposes, and delights in doing so.
Til We Have Faces: C.S. Lewis’ last and most haunting novel. The last few chapters are soul wrenching and I love it.
Paradise Lost: Theologically and metrically dense and delightful
After Virtue: Alasdair McIntyre’s history of ethics and defense of Aristotelian virtue grounded in communal practices. This book helped me crystallize my own emerging communitarian impulses.
The Man Who Was Thursday: This is the campiest book I have ever read. The incessant ridiculous plot twists are annoying until you realize they’re meant to be annoying, after which they’re a great setup to the final banquet scene and it’s questions.
Augustine’s Confessions: This one I don’t know if I love it because it’s good or becabuse I relate so hard to Augustine’s struggles, with academic pride and lust especially. In any case, the man from Hippo basically invented autobiography and did a bang up job with it. Don’t sleep on the last few books meditating on time either. They’re fascinating for entirely different reasons, and pair really nicely with Lewis’s The Great Divorce.
The Toaster Project: This book is competently rather than artfully written, but it’s subject matter, a London art student trying to build his own toaster from scratch is so absurd I can’t help falling in love.
The Silmarillion: I suspect I may love this book less if I reread it, but it awakened in me a love for myths, and a belief in the power of stories embedded deep in a culture.
A Tale of Two Cities: Dickens ripped my heart out with this book. Well done to him.
Crime and Punishment: Dostoyevsky is long and psychological and tantalizing. You cannot have someone else’s conversion.
Those are are my picks. Hope you liked them.

非《圣经》书单
《指环王》：托尔金只是因为战后纸张短缺才以三部曲的形式出版了这本书。神可以用小事来成就他的目的，并且很乐意这样做。
《Till We Have Faces》：C.S. Lewis的最后一本也是最令人难忘的一本小说。最后几章是对灵魂的折磨，但我喜欢。
《失乐园》：神学和韵律的集中与享受。
《After Virtue》：Alasdair McIntyre的伦理学历史和对基于公共实践的亚里士多德的美德的辩护。这本书帮助我明确了自己新兴的社群主义冲动。
《The Man Who Was Thursday》：这是我读过的最滑稽的书。接连不断的荒谬的情节转折很烦人，直到你意识到它们的本意就是烦人，这对最后的宴会场景和问题来说是一个很好的设置。
《Augustine's Confessions》：我不知道我喜欢它是因为它很好，还是因为我把它与Augustine的努力联系得太紧密了，尤其是学术上的骄傲和欲望。无论如何，这个人基本上完成了自传，而且做得很好。不要在最后几本书上犯困，他们各自都有完全不同的引人入胜的地方，而且和适合与Lewis的《The Great Divorce》一起看。
《The Toaster Project》：这本书写得很好，不只是技巧的运用很好，还有它的主题，一个伦敦的学艺术的学生试图从零开始制作他自己的烤面包机，这听起来很荒谬，我忍不住爱上了这本书。
《The Silmarillion》：我怀疑如果我重读一遍这本书，我可能就不会那么喜欢它了，但它唤醒了我对神话的热爱，以及对深深植根于文化中的故事的力量的信仰。
《双城记》:狄更斯的这本书让我心碎，他写的很好。
《罪与罚》:陀思妥耶夫斯基的小说是长篇的的、攻心的、诱人的。看过后你将不会再有其他的信仰。
这些是我的选择，希望你们喜欢。
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Pankaj
The best book that I have read and that I will be reading over and over again all my life is the Bible. It changed my life, gave me victory over sins, gave me a hope for future and eternal life, gave me access to God, gave me scientific information about the origin of this universe and much more. Why ? Because the person that it talks about came out of His grave on the third day. You see, the only person that can give you hope in this hopeless and death-ruled world is the one who has overcame death-whose grave is empty and that's Jesus Christ.
The Bible has been the best selling book for centuries since Jesus Christ has been the most charismatic and influential personality in all history. The following seven points taken from deeptruths.com will throw more light on what makes this book so spectacular:
1.)The Bible is unique in its CONTINUITY.--It was written over a 1,500 YEAR time-span by over 40 authors from every walk of life, including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, shepherds, soldiers, poets, statesmen, scholars, etc.! Nevertheless, from beginning to end, its authors spoke on hundreds of controversial subjects with harmony and continuity, outlining one unfolding story: God's LOVE for man!
2.) The Bible has been READ BY MORE PEOPLE than ANY other book! It has out-sold every book that has ever been written and it STILL sells more copies every year than any other book in the World! But of course in the best-sellers lists they don't dare acknowledge that, that in spite of all man's writings and foolishness and fiction and ridiculous interpretations of history and reality, the BIBLE still out-sells them all! Another unique and related fact is that the Bible was the FIRST major book ever to be printed, on Gutenberg's press.
3) The Bible has been TRANSLATED and PUBLISHED IN MORE LANGUAGES than ANY other book in existence!--As far back as 1966 the WHOLE Bible had appeared in 240 languages and dialects, and one or more of its books appeared in 739 additional ones!

《圣经》是我读过的最好的书，也是我一生中会一遍又一遍地温读的书。它改变了我的生活，给了我战胜罪恶的机会，给了我对未来和永生的希望，给了我接近上帝的途径，给了我关于宇宙起源的科学知识等等。为什么呢？因为书中提到的人在第三天从坟墓里出来了。你看，在这个绝望和死亡统治的世界里，唯一能给你希望的人是那个克服了死亡的人——他的坟墓是空的，那就是耶稣基督。
自从耶稣基督成为有史以来最有魅力和影响力的人物后，《圣经》在几个世纪内一直是最畅销的书。以下7点摘自deeptruths.com，将有助于解释这本书为何如此引人注目:
圣经的连续性是独一无二的。——它是由40多位作家在1500年的时间跨度内完成的，来自各行各业，包括国王、农民、哲学家、渔民、牧羊人、士兵、诗人、政治家、学者等。然而，本书的作者们从始至终和谐连贯地谈论了数百个有争议的话题，概述了一个正在展开的故事:上帝对人类的爱。
读《圣经》的人比读其他任何书的人都多，它的销量超过了任何一本书，而且每年的销量仍然超过了世界上的 任何一本书。但是，在畅销书排行榜上，他们不承认这一点。尽管有那么多人类的著作、愚蠢的、虚构的以及对历史和现实的荒谬解读等，《圣经》仍然比他们卖得都好。另一个独特而相关联的事实是，《圣经》是史上最初由古腾堡印刷机印刷的主要书籍。
《圣经》被翻译和出版的语言比现存的任何一本书都要多。——早在1966年，《圣经》就有240种语言和方言的版本，还有一本出现了739种语言版本!

4) The Bible, compared with all other ancient writings, has MORE MANUscxt EVIDENCE than any TEN pieces of classical literature COMBINED! Although originally written on perishable materials, having to be re-copied by hand for thousands of years before the invention of the printing press, it's style, correctness and accuracy has been preserved as no other book in all History! The Jews had special classes of scholars within their culture whose sole duty was to preserve and transmit the books of the Bible with PERFECT accuracy, counting the very consonants, vowels, syllables and words per manuscxt as a means of double-checking. Literally THOUSANDS of ancient manuscxts in the original languages have been unearthed which PROVE, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the scxtures have come down through the ages to us just as they were originally written!
5) The Bible has WITHSTOOD VICIOUS ATTACKS by its enemies as no other book. Many have tried to burn it, destroy it and outlaw it, from the days of the Roman emperors to some present-day anti-Christ countries. Its very existence today and the fact that its teachings and Truths have been preserved despite the countless campaigns and tirades against it is in itself MIRACULOUS!
6) Discovery after discovery by MODERN ARCHAEOLOGISTS have CONFIRMED and PROVEN the Bible's absolute accuracy and have proven it to be a source of HISTORY. Archaeologists following Old Testament references have rediscovered whole nations and resurrected entire peoples that the skeptics and critics once said were non-existent or imaginary. In fact, it can be stated categorically that NOT ONE archaeological discovery has EVER contradicted or cast doubt on a Biblical reference--all have CONFIRMED its accuracy!
7.)The Bible is the ONLY volume ever produced which contains a large amount of PROPHECIES accurately predicting the future of individual nations, peoples, cities, and the coming of One Who was to be the Messiah! Although the ancient world had many different devices for determining the future, NOWHERE in all of Greek and Latin literature can there be found ANY real specific prophecy of a great Historic event to come in the distant future. But the BIBLE is FULL of countless, detailed, specific prophecies, all of which have been miraculously FULFILLED and come true--except, of course, the final ENDTIME prophecies which are either to be fulfilled in the near future or are coming to pass right NOW!

与所有其他古代著作相比，《圣经》的手稿证据比任何十部古典文学的总和都多。虽然它最初是用易腐的材料写成的，但在印刷机发明之前的几千年里，它的风格、正确性和准确性都被保存了下来，这是历史中任何一本书都没有办到的。犹太人的文化中有特殊的学者阶层，他们唯一的职责就是保存和准确地传递《圣经》的书籍，把每一份手稿中的辅音、元音、音节和单词计算在内，作为一种重复检查的手段。从字面上说，成千上万的原始语言的古代手稿已经出土，这毫无疑问的证明着，经文已一代一代按照最初的样子传了下来。
《圣经》比其他任何一本书都能经受住敌人的恶毒攻击。从罗马皇帝时代到当今一些反基督的国家，许多人都曾试图烧毁、摧毁和取缔它。尽管无数的运动和长篇大论反对它，而它今天仍然存在，以及它的教义和真理都被保存下来，这就是奇迹。
现代考古学家一次又一次的发现证实了《圣经》的绝对准确性，证明了它是一个历史的来源。考古学家根据旧约文献重新发现了整个国家，复兴了整个民族，而这些民族曾被怀疑论者和批评家认为是不存在的或虚构的。事实上，可以肯定地说，没有一项考古发现与《圣经》的引用相矛盾或相质疑——所有的考古发现都证实了它的准确性。
《圣经》是有史以来唯一一本包含大量预言的书，准确地预言了各个国家、民族、城市的未来，以及一个即将成为弥赛亚的人的到来。尽管古代世界有许多不同的方法来决定未来，但在所有的希腊和拉丁文学中，都找不到任何真正的关于遥远未来将要发生的重大历史事件的具体预言。但《圣经》里有着无数详细、具体的预言，所有的这些预言都奇迹般地实现了——当然，除了最后的末日预言，它们要么将在不久的将来实现，要么即将实现！

Jay Bazzinotti, Kindness is never wasted: love is never a mistake

Jay Bazzinotti, 善良永远不会浪费：爱永远不会错

This is an impossible question to answer. There have been thousands, perhaps millions of books written, and I’ve read a few thousand at most. Recently I came across a book called “The Story of a Stanley Steamer” that was being discarded by my library. It was written in 1950. Because I’m a big fan of the Stanley Steamer, I plucked it from the refuse pile and took it home. It was the story of a man who restored a Stanley in 1950. The writing is riveting. The point I am trying to make is that there are so many books that are excellent that will never, ever be read just because, and as time goes by, more and more of them will be forgotten, no matter how good they are. We try to set aside what someone thinks is “great writing” by elevating the books with things like the Pulitzer Prize or the Booker Award, but writing is so subjective that it’s no guarantee they are good books. There are some real gems - and dogs - on the Pulitzer list.
The question should read, what are the best books I’ve ever read

这是一个不可能回答的问题。人们写了无数书，而我最多看了几千本。最近我偶然看到一本被我从图书馆丢弃的书，名叫《The Story of a Stanley Steamer》。它写于1950年，因为我是斯坦利蒸汽车的忠实粉丝，所以我把它从垃圾堆里拿了回来。这是一个故事，讲的是一个人在1950年修复了一辆斯坦利。我想说的是，因为随着时间的推移，越来越多的书会被遗忘，所以有那么多优秀的书永远不会被人读到，不管它们有多好。我们试图用普利策奖或布克奖之类的东西来提升书籍的档次，从而抛开别人认为的“伟大的作品”，但写作是非常主观的，任何人都不能保证它们是好书。在普利策的名单上就有一些真正的“宝石和狗”。
这个问题应该是，我读过的最好的书是什么。

The best book I have ever read is “The Caine Mutiny” by Herman Wouk. It’s a long, involved book about a minesweeper lost in the Pacific during WW2. It won the Pulitzer; it was made into a movie and won the “Best Picture” Oscar; it was made into a play and won whatever the top award is for that. Another book that came out not long after was “The Flight of the Phoenix” by Elliston Trevor, a marvelously written book that puts you into the desert with those men dying of thirst while they struggle to repair their downed aircraft so they can escape. “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller just gets better with every reading, it is intelligent, funny, heartbreaking and the only book that ever made me laugh and cry at the same time, the heartbreaking story of men fighting WW2 in the air and the crazy things they have to do to survive. The best book I’ve read in the last 20 years is “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese. I cried for the last 100 pages and I rarely, if ever, cry. It is astounding in it’s rich detail and timeless story of love and betrayal and redemption and sacrifice. There are other marvelous books - many of the “Horatio Hornblower” books by CS Forester are incredibly well written - but Hornblower is such an unlikable anti-hero that he never really caught on so much. Even the A&E series made about him had to change the character into a likable one. Forrester made a huge mistake when he made Hornblower so, no only unlikable but dis-likable. No one wants a hero they can’t relate to. I’ve read the entire series three times. The most relentlessly exciting book I have ever read is “True Crime” by the distasteful author Andre Klavan, and it’s no longer in print. You can’t even get it anymore. There are lots of authors who have written incredible - and I mean incredible books that will never be read, such as “Suspects” by William J. Caunitz, who wrote a series of exciting, richly detailed police stories in the 1980s and 90s. Who has even heard of him? I’ve read “Suspects” over a dozen times. Or anything by Donald E. Westlake. There are so many good books- “All the Light We Cannot See”, “The Book of Air and Shadows”, “Beat the Reaper”, “Hearts in Atlantis” (Steven King’s best book) and so, so many others. There’s no way to determine the “Best book ever written”. How would I know? How would you know? Who could prove it?

我读过的最好的书是Herman Wouk的《The Caine Mutiny》。这是一本关于二战期间一艘扫雷艇在太平洋失事的长篇。它获得了普利策奖，被拍成了电影并获得奥斯卡最佳影片奖，还被拍成了一部戏，因此获得了最高奖项。不久后出版的另一本书是Elliston Trevor的《The Flight of The Phoenix》，这是一本写得很好的书，它把你带到了沙漠中，尽管他们快渴死了，仍然在努力修理被击落的飞机，以便逃跑。约瑟夫·海勒的《第二十二条军规》，每读一次都能让我有所进步，它聪明、有趣、令人心碎，是唯一一本让我又哭又笑的书，是人们第二次世界大战在空中搏斗的令人心碎的故事，也是他们为了生存而必须去做的疯狂的事情。在过去的20年里，我读过的最好的书是Abraham Verghese的《Cutting for Stone》。我很少哭，但读到这本书的最后一百页时我一直在哭。它丰富的细节和永恒的故事，爱，背叛，救赎和牺牲，都很令人惊讶。还有其他精彩的书，有很多，比如CS Forester的《Horatio Hornblower》，写的出乎意料的好，但Horatio Hornblower是一个如此不讨人喜欢的反派英雄，以至于他从未真正受到如此多的关注。即使是关于他的A&E系列也不得不把这个角色换成一个讨人喜欢的角色。Forrester犯了一个巨大的错误，他这样做不仅没有讨人喜欢，反而更不讨人喜欢了，没有人想要一个他们无法联系起来的英雄。整个系列我读了三遍。我读过的最激动人心的书是令人讨厌的作家Andre Klavan写的《True Crime》，现在已经绝版了，你再也买不到了。有很多作家写出过不可思议的书，我是说那些不可思议的书永远不会被人读，比如William J的《Suspects》。Caunitz在20世纪80年代和90年代写了一系列令人兴奋、内容丰富的警察故事。而谁听说过他？我读了十几遍《Suspects》。或者是Donald E. Westlake，写了那么多好书——《All the Light We Cannot See》、《The Book of Air and Shadows》、《Beat the Reaper》、《Hearts in Atlantis》（Steven King的最佳著作）等等，还有那么多其他的好书。没有办法确定什么是“有史以来写得最好的书”。我怎么知道？你怎么知道？谁又能证明呢？

Jenny Hawkins
I will list the ten “best” books as the ones that changed my way of thinking—and not necessarily the ones I enjoyed the most, or even the ones I reread the most often.
Les Misérables; when I was 15, reading this book altered my perception of rules and law and what constitutes justice. I read it while weeping with empathy, knowing it used that emotional appeal, and still, it opened a door in my mind and heart into a worldview that had room for forgiveness and grace alongside justice.
To Kill a Mockingbird; the book credited with motivating the civil rights movement showed me something of what love is, how ugly hatred really is, and the dark underbelly of my country. It motivated me to see and support change.
The Art of Reasoning; I have a natural inclination to be both logical and analytical, but this book helped me take that to another level.
Evidence that Demands a Verdict; the first of a long line of its kind, it has inspired many imitators, and while it may no longer stand as the best among the more modern books in this category, it remains the book that began the evidence and faith movement. It opened my eyes to a world of questions as reasonable—and perhaps answerable.
The Formation of a Persecuting Society; written back in the 80’s, no one has disproved its theory since. It asserted that the rise of secularism and the centralization of power is what caused the terrible persecution of the middle ages, (including that which took place abetted by the church), that the secular state was the leader in persecution as a method, and continues as such today long after the church ceased persecuting people, closed its Inquisitions, and disbanded its troops. This contradicted the commonly held hypothesis that the church was the sole or even the primary source of this evil.

我列出了10本“最好”的书，它们改变了我的思维方式，但不一定是我最喜欢的书，也不一定是我最常温读的书。
《悲惨世界》：我15岁的时候读到了这本书，它改变了我对规则和法律以及正义的理解。读这本书的时候，我感动到流泪，虽然我知道它利用了情感的吸引力，但它仍然在我的思想和心灵中打开了一扇通往另一种世界观的大门，正义应与宽容和恩惠同在。
《杀死一只知更鸟》：这本推动了民权运动的书，向我展示了什么是爱，憎恨是多么丑陋，以及我的国家黑暗的一面。它促使我看到这些，并激励我去改变。
《The Art of Reasoning》（推理的艺术）：我天生善于逻辑分析，这本书帮助我又提高了一个层次。
《铁证待判》：这是同类作品中的第一部，它激发了许多模仿者的灵感，虽然它不再是这类书籍中最现代的一本，但它仍然是证据和信仰运动的开端。它让我看到了一个充满问题的世界，这些问题都是合理的，或者说是可回答的。
《The Formation of a Persecuting Society》（迫害社会的形成）：追溯到80年代，从那以后就没有人否定它的理论了。它断言，世俗主义的兴起和集权是中世纪迫害的原因（包括教会教唆的迫害），世俗国家是迫害的领导者，并在教会停止迫害人民，关闭宗教法庭，解散军队后仍然如此。这与普遍拥护的假设相矛盾，即教会是这种邪恶的唯一甚至主要来源。

The Western Humanities; offers a view of history from the perspective of individual human input rather than the perspective of large wave events such as war and politics where the individual is lost in the scope. Studying history this way made me realize all history is really the history of individuals. We miss that because it’s easier for us looking backwards to deal with broad sweeps—not because that’s the way it really would have happened. All history is a record of individual decisions.
Critique of Pure Reason; Kant changed my “perspective” on everything. :-)
The History of Christianity; like so many out there I thought I knew—then I learned I knew nothing. This was actually one of my text books, published by Oxford University, since I went to a secular school, and it completely changed my understanding of Christianity and western culture.
Sophie’s World; is a layman’s introduction to philosophy which I bought for my children and liked so much (skipping the intro about God) that I have bought versions and given them away to many.
The Bible; this is the book that actually changed my life, my values and point of view on most everything. I was upside down and it turned me right side up.
These are books that helped form the foundation of my worldview. There are others that have had powerful input as well—my first introduction to Physics—the Rise of Christianity by Stark, The Hunchback of Notre Dames, books on suffering, character development, and the value of redemptive suffering, but while they were impactful, these ten were foundational for who I am and what I believe. For me that makes them “best.”

《西方人文》：提供了一种从个人角度来看待历史的观点，而不是从战争和政治这样模糊个人存在的大事件的角度。通过这种方式学习历史，我意识到所有的历史其实都是个人的历史。我们之所以忽略了这一点，是因为我们可以更容易回顾过去，大范围论述——而不是因为事情真的会这样发生。所有的历史都是个人决定的记录。
《纯粹理性批判》：康德改变了我对一切事物的“观点”。
《基督教历史》：就像其他很多我以为我知道的人一样——然后我发现我其实什么都不知道。这实际上是我的一本教科书，由牛津大学出版，自从我进入世俗学校，它完全改变了我对基督教和西方文化的理解。
《苏菲的世界》：这本书是我为我的孩子们买的一本外行的哲学入门书，我非常喜欢这本书(除了关于上帝的介绍)，所以我买了很多本送给了孩子们。
《圣经》：这本书改变了我的生活，我的价值观和对大多数事情的看法。我原先是颠倒着的，它把我纠了回来。
这些书帮助我奠定了世界观的基础。还有其他的书，也让我汲取了很多知识。我的哲学入门——Stark（罗德尼·斯塔克）the Rise of Christianity by Stark（基督教的兴起），《巴黎圣母院》，关于苦难、性格发展和宝贵的救赎的书籍，尽管它们都很有影响力，但这十本书决定了我是谁以及我信仰什么。对我来说，这就是“最好的”。