> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.tom-shaw.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Books That Changed My Life - URL: https://www.tom-shaw.uk/books-that-changed-my-life/ - Published: 2024-05-17T08:00:41.000Z - Updated: 2024-05-17T08:00:41.000Z - Description: An evolving reading list with books I believe have something profound to say. - Author: Tom Shaw - Tags: Reflections, #substack, #substack-type-newsletter, #substack-access-everyone, #Import 2026-10-24 12:50 I’m still astounded by the power of books to change my perspectives on issues and the trajectory on which I approach my life and my own works. I want to use this piece as an evolving list of the books that have had a significant impact on me and that I believe others would benefit from reading. They’ll be listed in alphabetical order, and I’ll be adding commentary for each of the books I include with time to give some perspective on why I believe they are befitting of this list. --- ### Contents 1. Bechamp or Pasteur? - Ethel D Hume 2. Democracy: The God That Failed - Hans Herman Hoppe 3. The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 4. The Invisible Rainbow - Arthur Firstenberg 5. Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny 6. Lord of the Flies - William Golding 7. The Master and His Emissary - Dr Iain McGilchrist 8. Memories, Dreams, Reflections - Carl Jung 9. The Road To Wigan Pier - George Orwell 10. The Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis --- # Bechamp or Pasteur? - Ethel D Hume ![Bechamp or Pasteur?: A Lost Chapter in the History of Biology](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/b0ca7c37-fea1-4935-9494-93c8b7b53d21_671x1000.jpg) There have been lots of books and resources in recent times that have challenged the idea that vaccines are needed for human health. Not only is this prevalent in the likes of Suzanne Humphries and Roman Bystrianyk’s [“Dissolving Illusions”](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dissolving-Illusions-Disease-Vaccines-Forgotten/dp/1480216895?ref=tom-shaw.uk), challenging the efficacy of vaccines directly in controlling pandemics, but it is especially prevalent amongst those challenging germ theory. The books of [Dr Sam Bailey](https://open.substack.com/users/99467308) and Dr Mark Bailey, Dawn Lester and David Parker’s [“What Really Makes You Ill?”](https://whatreallymakesyouill.com/?ref=tom-shaw.uk), Dr Tom Cowan and Sally Farron Morrell’s [“The Contagion Myth”](https://drtomcowan.com/collections/all/products/the-contagion-myth?%5Fpos=4&%5Ffid=3c3f425f6&%5Fss=c&ref=tom-shaw.uk) and most recently, Daniel Roytas’ [“Can You Catch A Cold?”](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Can-You-Catch-Cold-Experiments/dp/1763504409?ref=tom-shaw.uk) are just a few of the offerings in this department. I wouldn’t have come to exploring this issue seriously if I hadn’t [experienced first-hand instances of direct poisonings being mistaken as viral illnesses](https://www.tom-shaw.uk/virus-existence-the-internet-and/). As I explored more and more just how prevalent this could be (including EMF-induced illness - more on that later!), I ended up listening to a 100-year-old book on audio from Ethel D Hume detailing all holes in Louis Pasteur’s now-orthodox approach to understanding illness - and where Bechamp’s work and theories were able to fill them. Even today it is still an incredibly accessible book, and would be of interest to anyone interested in the “no-virus debate” that seems to embroil many Covid dissidents. [Get A Copy](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bechamp-Pasteur-Chapter-History-Biology/dp/1467900125?ref=tom-shaw.uk) # Democracy: The God That Failed - Hans Herman Hoppe ![Democracy: The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/be0952c2-20c4-4a10-9806-8d889bdd9b73_333x500.jpg) In the original incarnation of this list, I included this entry as I was still reading it. Because, simply from a few chapters in, it was clear that this book was radically reshaping my view on one of the biggest preconceptions I had gained from my school years: that democracy is a sign of progress. Leaning on a lot of Austrian economic principles and libertarian theory, Hoppe argues that, from seemingly every metric and angle, democracy has done more to destroy life, liberty and property than to preserve it. In comparing democracy to monarchy - a system he argues is still imperfect - he systematically demonstrates that everything from crime, taxation, infrastructure, discrimination, wars and more is worse in democracies. I’m now in a position where I believe much of the globalist cabal’s subversion of nation states is actually being perpetuated by democracy rather than stopped. If you’re triggered by the sounds of the book, but are open-minded enough to be challenged on the subject, I believe this book is a great choice. [Get A Copy](https://mises.org/library/book/democracy-god-failed?ref=tom-shaw.uk) # The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ![The Gulag Archipelago By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/72a00e5c-d806-4b62-97a9-3488af9e9f4e_326x500.jpg) “The Gulag Archipelago” was one of the first books I read when the Covid lockdowns began. And, very quickly, I could see the parallels between the treatment of dissenters of the Communist regime in Russia and the treatment of dissenters of the Covid narrative. It’s a frightening read of a world that has arguably already returned for many, but it has some notes of optimism in there too. The power of belief in faith and moral values, and the ability to do good beyond ourselves, comes out in full force during Solzhenitsyn’s recollections of his own experience within the gulags. [Get A Copy](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gulag-Archipelago-Abridged-Vintage-Classics/dp/1784871516/ref=sr%5F1%5F2?ref=tom-shaw.uk) # The Invisible Rainbow - Arthur Firstenberg ![The Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Firstenberg PDF Download](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/431e1947-5d0e-4554-a78a-ddfb4bf5f4ff_267x400.jpg) This is the book that convinced me that life is all about energy and frequency. The Invisible Rainbow systematically breaks down how the body is fundamentally electromagnetic in nature, and how modern technologies like wireless communications can cause illness and more. While the idea of frequency and energy in human health may not be new for some, as someone coming from a conventional scientific background, I found it to be incredibly well-cited and well-explained. I believe that anyone coming from a scientific conception of reality who is interested in the health effects of electromagnetism and electricity would greatly benefit from reading this book. [Get A Copy](https://chelseagreen.co.uk/book/the-invisible-rainbow/?ref=tom-shaw.uk) # Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny ![Lord Of Light (S.F. MASTERWORKS): Amazon.co.uk: Roger Zelazny: 9780575094215: Books](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/0f4dd654-e88b-4ed0-bbed-845d72af8e00_651x1000.jpg) There’s a plethora of dystopian fiction I’ve read over the past few years that has helped give me perspective of the challenges society currently seems to be going through. “Lord of Light”, however, stands above the crowd by the way it seamlessly integrates Hindu and Buddhist mythology into its story, with the characters all being reincarnations of various gods and deities with supernatural powers. Giving the idea of a technocratic elite controlling society a religious spin added an impressive amount of depth to the meaning of the story for me, allowing for an examination of idol worship, dogma, and whether “good” and “evil” really exist in such binary terms. [Get a Copy](https://amzn.eu/d/0hVuRvE?ref=tom-shaw.uk) # Lord of the Flies - William Golding ![William Golding - Lord of the Flies](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/654c6bcf-79d7-4605-961b-ffb3b6031bf2_635x1000.jpg) “Lord of the Flies” was one of the options for texts that could be examined as part of English Literature exams in the UK. It was not the one our class was assigned, which I am incredibly thankful for as I suspect I would not have seen as much meaning in it then as I have been able to by heading in to it on my own terms. For me, “Lord of the Flies” is an example of why we need elder wisdom and guidance - [something I am incredibly passionate about](https://overtotheyouth.com/?ref=tom-shaw.uk). The children of the novel already possess a plethora of innate gifts that allows for their continued survival on the island, but without someone who has taken more steps on the path, they can make fatal mistakes and can be guided by short-term and trauma-enforced behaviours that threaten everyone. I’ll be damned if there isn’t something within that that isn’t relevant to our modern condition. [Get a Copy](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lord-Flies-William-Golding/dp/0571191479/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?ref=tom-shaw.uk) # The Master and His Emissary - Dr Iain McGilchrist ![The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/9cbd9161-994f-4885-ad76-ed4b5ec21ee1_638x1000.jpg) The brain is a complicated thing. And one of the most illuminating books I’ve found on this matter has been “The Master and His Emissary”. Not only is there an analysis on a scientific level of the influence of different sides of the brain on our cognition, but the book also looks at manifestations within art, culture and history of when different hemispheres were more, less, or equally prevalent. I certainly don’t think it should be used to characterise our entire thinking or consciousness, [which I believe also requires the heart](https://www.tom-shaw.uk/the-mediator-between-the-head-and/) amongst other things. But for the brain alone, I found this to be pretty insightful. [Get a Copy](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Master-His-Emissary-Divided-Western/dp/0300245920?ref=tom-shaw.uk) # Memories, Dreams, Reflections - Carl Jung ![MEMORIES, DREAMS, REFLECTIONS](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/9fcdff18-a043-414f-b557-0ef815f9c02d_620x1034.jpg) Some of you may know [I wrote a found poem](https://www.tom-shaw.uk/our-uprootedness/) based on a passage from this book, but the entire book is an incredible piece in and of itself, acting as an autobiographical account of Carl Jung’s life. It’s filled with fascinating insights into faith, trauma, human connection, and much more, which I will do an injustice by trying to describe in any great detail here. It’s just one of those books that resonated with me far beyond the capacity I have to say fully why. Especially if you have an interest in psychology, but really any interest in the human experience as a whole, and the story of a man who went to great lengths to understand it, then this may be a book worthy of your time. It was certainly worthy of my time. [Get a Copy](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Memories-Dreams-Reflections-Flamingo-Jung/dp/0006540279/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?ref=tom-shaw.uk) # The Road To Wigan Pier - George Orwell ![](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/e869d9a1-3c19-4b0b-a6ab-3b8ebc0f457a_978x1500.jpg) I actually had an essay on this book that I was going to publish with [Over To The Youth](https://overtotheyouth.com/?ref=tom-shaw.uk) but never got round to. I have since lost the original draft - d’oh! - so this little blurb will have to suffice. “The Road To Wigan Pier” is the book that helped me understand how and why it is that we can come to dislike and “other” people - or why other people might come to do that to us. Through its exploration of a working class-liberal elite divide that existed within Britain in the 1930s, it highlights the power of being able to label someone as “unclean” - something that we’ve seen bear out in both the hatred of [certain religious groups and of the Covid unvaccinated](https://neveragainisnowglobal.com/?ref=tom-shaw.uk). For the exploration of this insight alone, I found the book to be well worth my time. [Get a Copy](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Wigan-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/0141185295?ref=tom-shaw.uk) ## The Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis ![The Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength) by C.S. Lewis (2011) Paperback](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/725f33e4-166d-4474-9522-6db4570d8d83_328x500.jpg) This may be technically three books in one, but considering they all form part of the same series, and given how interconnected the books are, it made sense to include it here as one entry. Over the course of the series, Lewis interweaves British folklore, science fiction, fantasy elements and Christian allegories, creating a rich fictional world that examines how scientism leads to totalitarianism - and how it can be stopped. [Get A Copy](https://www.amazon.com/Trilogy-Perelandra-Hideous-Strength-Paperback/dp/B00ZAT776G/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?ref=tom-shaw.uk) I gave some more of my thoughts on the series in my piece “Writing The Desecration of England”, which you can read below: [Writing The Desecration of EnglandThe works of C.S. Lewis were absent from my childhood - and I struggle to consider the few instances where I saw film versions of various Chronicles of Narnia instalments as part…![](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/c307d39e-3048-4ec9-b511-12a1a31ba9aa_800x800.png)Tom ShawTom Shaw![](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/343aeb80-b20d-470c-9e6d-4abfd9f61aa6_1600x1137.jpg)](https://www.tom-shaw.uk/writing-the-desecration-of-england/) --- ![](https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a14ac55a4f27472c5d894ec1c3c743d2/substack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com/public/images/d1b51b7b-6e3f-4bbf-b254-501c9339da8c_750x990.png) [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) [Make A One-Time Donation](https://tom-shaw.uk/product/one-time-donation-or-tip/?ref=tom-shaw.uk)