Not necessarily the best, or even my favorites. But something about each of these books has affected who I am. Had I not read any one book on the list, I would have been a different person. In no particular order:

1. The Shock Doctrine--Naomi Klein
2. The Catcher in the Rye--J.D. Salinger
3. Debt--David Graeber
4. Chemical and Biological Warfare--Seymour Hersh
5. Letting Go--Philip Roth
6. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
7. Crime and Punishment--Fyodor Dostoyevsky
8. Endless Night--Agatha Christie
9. Othello--Shakespeare
10. Hamlet--Shakespeare
11. The Mound Builders--Lanford Wilson
12. An Actor Prepares--Stanislavsky
13. Mind and Nature--Gregory Bateson
14. Summerhill--A.S. Neill
15. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions--Thomas Kuhn
16. Flatland--Abbott
17. Theater of the Mind--Barrie Richardson
18. The Alexandria Quartet--Lawrence Durrell
19. Howl--Allan Ginsberg
20. The Ginger Man--J.P. Donleavy

And you?

Here is a few of mine:

1. Art of War by Sun Tzu
2. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
3. Tarbell Course in Magic Volume 1
4. Card College Volume 1
5. Art of Happiness by the Dalia Lama
6. Zen and the Art of Happiness
7. King James Holy Bible
8. Paul Harris Art of Astonishment Volume 1
9. Sun Tzu and The Art of Business by Mark R. McNeilly (probably also falls under the Art of War)
10. Books written by Vietnam Veteran John H. Poole and former Army General David Petraus (hope I spelled his name correctly; both of these authors also reference Art of War extensively in their own books)
11. It Doesn't Take A Hero by Former Army General Norman Schwartzkopf (another former Army General who put to use Sun Tzu's teachings from the Art of War during Desert Storm)
12. The Secret Art of Magic by Evans and Carver

Nature - By God

Three more books I forgot to add:

13. The Trick Brain by Dariel Fitzkee (really a book on the mechanics of the art of magic)
14. Showmanship For Magicians by Dariel Fitzkee
15. Sleights of Mind by Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde (book on the neruoscience of magic)

Another book I finished reading earlier this year and has helped to shape me and my business:

16. Growing Your Business, What You Need To Know, What You Need To Do by Mark LeBlanc (it's a small, simple booklet, yet has helped me grow my business)

I am going to re-read number 16 again just to refresh myself on what he teaches in his book. Make sure I have absorbed all the lessons taught.

To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
The Illuminatus Trilogy- Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
Nightmare Alley- William Lindsey Gresham
The Amateur Magicians Handbook - Henry Hay
David Copperfield- Charles Dickens
Great Expectations- Charles Dickens
The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe
Macbeth- Shakespeare
The Crying of Lot 49- Thomas Pynchon
Foucault's Pendulum- Umberto Eco
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court- Mark Twain
The Aleph- Jorge Luis Borges
Coincidance- Robert Anton Wilson

I'll check out "The Amateur Magicians Handbook" by Henry Hay that you have listed there Bob. I read some of the reviews on it on Amazon and it has a lot of great reviews. Must be something good about the book. Seems like an important classic for a professional magician to read. Thanks for listing it.

William- I also rate the Amateur Magicians Handbook highly on my list and essay about what I consider to be the top 39 books in mentalism:

http://www.lybrary.com/thirtynine-steps-mentalism-a-10.html

Thank you Bob. I never performed much in the way of mentalism. I mean a few tricks like Twisted Sisters for example. But not some of the tricks you have performed. However, I would not eliminate mentalism from my arsenal either. Some of it is very good and useful, especially for good paying trade shows. Mentalism can make you a lot of money from trade shows and I am sure for other events as well.

As an early reader:
Are you my Mother?--PD Eastman.

In elementary school:
Search for a Living Fossil: The Story of the Coelacanth--Eleanor Clymer
The Chronicles of Narnia--CS Lewis

Teen years:
Lord of the Rings--JRR Tolkein
Brave New World--Aldous Huxley
Paradise Lost--John Milton

Early Adulthood:
Steppenwolf--Hermann Hesse
Heart of Darkness--Joseph Conrad
Dubliners--James Joyce
Ulysses--James Joyce
Fifth Business--Robertson Davies
The Evolution of Cooperation--Robert Axelrod
A Bird in the House--Margaret Laurence
Godel, Escher and Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid--Douglas Hofstadter
Paradise Lost--John Milton

Mature Adulthood
Paradise Lost--John Milton
Lolita--Vladimir Nabokov
Oryx and Crake--Margaret Atwood
Wonderful Life--Stephen Jay Gould
A Theory of Justice--John Rawls
Symposium--Plato

:)

A Little Taste of China by Deh-Ta Hsiung and Nina Simonds

In no particular order and hardly the complete list...

1) Bart Starr (biography) - John Devaney
2) The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
3) Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
4) 1984 - George Orwell
5) An Introduction To Magic - 141 Professional Tricks You Can Do - Sherman Ripley
6) Greater Magic - John Northern Hilliard
7) Baby and Child Care - Benjamin Spock (I didn't read it, but my mom did.)
8) Scenery for the Theatre: The Organization, Processes, Materials, and Techniques Used to Set the Stage - Harold Burris-Meyer
9) Stage Make-Up - Richard Corson
10) The Magic Center Catalog
11) The Real Yellow Pages
12) How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
13) Illusion Show Know-How - Ken & Roberta Griffin

Reader's Digest

Tricks Of The Mind (Derren Brown)

On that note...

The Joy Of Sex has shaped some of us here, literally...

Loved that book! I thought it was so great that they used the same actors for all the pictures and then you got to see them in all the different make-ups.
I remember the days I used to use Clairol Silver Streaks 'n' Tips for my hair and eyebrows for age. Now, it's no longer necessary unfortunately.

I'll try a VERY short list, just to be different.

1. The Bible
2. World Book Encyclopedia
3. Childcraft
4. The Republic of Plato

It's a good list, I think.

Favorite letter: F--it had the flags of the world plates.

Only 3 books where my life was literally changed by reading them:

1. Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
2. Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
3. Plexus - Henry Miller

These two books seem to be classics of magic. I have heard of Greater Magic, but I never read it. I might have thumbed through some of the pages when I was much younger. Unfortunately, I can't be reading too many books at once. I prefer to stay focused on a book at a time until completion, that is, if it is not a book that is more of a reference guide. Are these two books more of a classic reference guide for a magician? Or should both books be read from cover to cover?

Dang. I've got to read more.

Michael- I have fond memories of the Sherman Ripley book. As soon as I got it, I cut out the entire photo section in the middle and stuck the magicians's pictures all over my wall.