Book That Changed My Life....

In response to this article in The Atlantic, "11 Books That Changed How You Live," by Brian Fung, my candidate for the book that changed my life is:
A Martian Odyssey, by Stanley Grauman Weinbaum. Note that you can buy this book from Amazon, browse in used book stores for it, or download it from Project Gutenberg.
My father, of the blessed memory, gave me my first copy at the age of seven, I've since bought several others as the paperbacks inevitably wore out and dissolved. My dad also taught me how to speed-read. It was easy because when one is that young, you don't understand that it's impossible. He taught me not to read aloud, even in my head and not to follow the words with my fingers, but to take in whole lines and phrases all at once.
Weinbaum created in Tweel a credible alien and in the pyramid creatures credible aliens with alternate biology that didn't merely look or act like men in space suits, but had agendas of their own. Further, he demonstrated the difficulties and rewards of cross-species friendships between Jarvis the earthling and Tweel the Martian. In so doing, Weinbaum influenced generations to follow, obeying the dictat of the legendary John W. Campbell, whose challenge to his authors in Astounding, "Write me a creature who thinks as well as a man, or better than a man, but not like a man."

Here's a link to a very nice review of A Martian Odyssey, which explains why you should read it.

I learned to speed-read, which opened up many, many books. It is proven that speed-readers retain more than out-loud readers. I learned that the world is vast and open to many, many possibilities, even impossibilities. Best of all, I became a voracious unstoppable reader.