Obviously, each of these works influenced me at most by ~0.5% on an imaginary scale. That still is a lot in my opinion for just reading a book or watching a movie. I’m going to try to optimize for works with a maximum influence per obviousness ratio. For example, Star Wars obviously affected me a lot but it affected everyone else too, so it isn’t a particularly interesting work to list here.
Books
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Arthur Clarke’s short stories - Scifi in it’s purest form - Blew my mind as a kid. Singlehandedly inspired me to learn how technology works and got me excited for the future.
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The Lion of Comarre - One specific Arthur Clarke short story - Made me consider what I want the future to look like. Got me excited about robotics and how that would reshape society.
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Matterhorn - Vietnam war novel - There but for the grace of God go I. It was an experience reading this.
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How To Be A Victorian - A historical book detailing how Victorians actually lived - Opened my eyes to how people in the past weren’t any different from us today, they just operated under different incentives and constraints.
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The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber - Short story by Hemingway about courage - I read this at a pivotal time in my teenage years when I was taking on a more risk-taking attitude.
Movies
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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Man goes from daydreamer to global adventurer - Seriously influenced me to become more adventurous as a person.
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Tampopo - A Japanese ramen western - It inspired me to take food more seriously. It has an outsized effect on me anyways, I might as well give it the respect it calls for.
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The Family Man - I can’t figure out what the moral of this story is. Every few years I change my mind on which path I would’ve chosen for myself. I think when I watched this as a kid it made me consider what role working plays in life.
TV Shows
- Mad Men - A show about an ad agency in the 60’s - The only show where I felt like I KNEW the characters. I haven’t ever rewatched it because my memory of watching it the first time is so mindblowing.
Games
- The Total War series - Historical RTS games set in Feudal Japan/Fall of Rome etc - Inspired my love of history.
