Earth Abides (I forgot who wrote it)

Unsolved Problems in Astrophysics-John N. Bahcall, Jeremiah P. Ostriker

Unconventional Flying Objects, a scientific analysis-Paul R. Hill,NASA scientist

#13 by Aleatoric - 6/15/2004 12:28:09 AM Douglas Hofstadter - "Godel, Escher, and Bach"

o yes, read this one years ago - my recollection of it is a little fuzzy but I remember having my mind well and truly boggled

#20 by Mrs _footsie_ - 6/15/2004 7:34:51 AM Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah- Richard Bach

one of my all time favourites - this, along with it's predecessor Jonathon Livingstone Seagull, had a major influence on how I was to engage with the world around me

a couple of others:
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. I had tried to read this a couple of times but it was a little esoteric for me. Then one day I picked it up and it must have been the right time because it clicked. Wow
Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance - same thing, tried and failed a couple of times...then...clickage

The science fiction of Iain M. Banks - Immensely rich and detailed vision of an advanced "culture" (to coin a phrase)

And of course The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy The idea that anyone capable of getting themselves elected as leader of the universe must be entirely unsuited for the job is priceless
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My fav is still Lord of the Rings(all three) and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien Classic and timeless

Memnoch the Devil(anne rice)
A Breif History of Space and Time.(guy in the wheelchair)
Anything by Larry Niven
Hitchhikers Guide
Bibles(any religion)
A Comedy of Job(heinlein)

double post. methinks i'll be stoned.
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"Prey" by Michael Crichton. He's the guy who wrote the Jurassic Parks as well as the creator of E.R. the tv show.

Books on my desk now include:

Islam Under Siege by Akbar S. Ahmed (its helping me to understand)

The Qur'an (I hope to understand more)

Not always so: Practicing the true spirit of Zen...Shunryu Suzuki

Men in Black Dresses ... a quest for the future among wisdom makers of the middle east  by Yvonne Seng, ph.d.

The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom

hehe

and LAMB, (the gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal) by Christopher Moore

Books on my desk now.....

Cambridge International Dictionary Of English.....

Where to start? Where to start?
Spirtual knowledge came from two books. Khalil Gibran's the Prophet. Oh yeah. Like Tiggz said. Wow. And a little book that belong's to my mother called Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly. Have no idea if you can even buy it anymore. http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/d90670034a290953.html you can go here see if a library near you has it. If you feel inclined.
Others that I love and still read over and over again because they touch me and reconnect me when I need it are:
Anne Rice. Of course.
The Plays of Ibsen.
Our Town by Thorton Wilder
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Lost Horizons By James Hilton
Weathering Heights By Emily Bronte
All E.M. Forster
Hannibal Lecter, My Father by Kathy Acker
Isaac Asimov all the Foundations.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
The Spice-Box of Earth by Leonard Cohen
Portrait of Jennie by Robert Nathan
Gentalman Junkie by Harlan Ellison
Hitchhikers Guide (how can one not) and
Billy and the Boingers Bootleg by Berke Breathed

"Computers for Dummies"

Since I'm almost never without a book in my hand this is a tough one. But, I guess I'd have to say firat and foremost the Bible and then Edwin Black's works "War Against the Weak" and "IBM & the Holocaust". These deal with what happens when advanced technology fall into the wrong hands and tell a blood chilling history of when that happened......

Chapterhouse: Dune - Frank Herbert
All other original Dune books - Frank Herbert
All the Hitchhiker books - Douglas Adams