The Book

When I blipped about old friends I mentioned a book that had been important to me in the 60s and a number of people asked me to identify it. In a way I was reluctant because it was a book of its time, a book that was important to me then but one that I have grown away from now.

It was only getting it down from my bookshelf (the very copy I first read) and seeing the way I had marked passages that I saw how significant it was to me.

So here it is, "The Outsider" by Colin Wilson. Why was it important to me? First and foremost it was a stepping stone and it provided a predigested list of further reading. But more than that it was optimistic. It didn't only consider the Outsider's problems, it looked at possible solutions as well. It was those solutions that interested me, and indeed still do.

I went on to devour Wilson's other books but none of them had such an impact on me. I began to identify my own avenues of inspiration but I have always shared his positive attitude towards my and mankind's possibilities.

If you are interested in exploring Colin Wilson's writing I suggest you start with a recent book of his entitled "Super Consciousness: The Quest for the Peak Experience" (Watkins Publishing, 2009). In this, at 75, he is still ploughing the same furrow but he has arrived at some conclusions.

What books have shaped you?