List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
Steven Kotler’s The Rise of Superman changed the way I looked at mind-body development.
Water Margin [a.k.a. Outlaws of the Marsh] convinced me a sprawling epic could be worth reading if it was done well, it kicked my love of Chinese Literature into high gear, and it started me on the path of learning Chinese.
Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson had a major influence on my early philosophical development — especially the titular essay.
Now, I’m thinking I should’ve pushed one of these out for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, but perhaps another time.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 
Of course, Emerson was a Yankee — and to my mind particularly obnoxious in his fulminations in favor of the first great war for righteousness. This does not, of course, undo his achievement as an essayist.
In American literature, my heart will always belong to Mr. Poe.
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