The Chronicles of Amber

* The Chronicles of Amber (10 volumes) * CODE - Microsoft Press * Snowcrash

Roger Zelazny's, the Amber series. I only like Corwin story arc. Must have read them 5 or 6 times...

Agreed. No specific book has every "changed my life", or specifically been the source of positive impacts. But reading stories is fun, and something I do constantly. Currently I'm re-reading Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Every year or two I re-read Dune, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Amber, and Steven Brust's Taltos series. Always a pleasure. My recommendations would probably echo those already posted, with the addition of small random stories that I remember fondly because they were just fun, interesting, or surprising (e.g. H. G. Wells: The Door in the Wall, or the original Mary Poppins books recently completed after finishing the Dresden Files for the first time.)

"Nine princes in Amber", by Roger Zelazny. Read the whole series multiple teams and the Corwin Cycle some more...

"The Golden Age" by John C. Wright - just awesome, and I agree with the values of the main character "Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelazny - for imagination and badassery Favorite short story is "Understand" by Ted Chiang - mind-expanding ;) Also in general the lesser known Heinlein books are amazing. Not a fan of Stranger in a Strange Land. Named my current company after a reference to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Since you're going with "classics" I'd add: * Les Liaisons dangereuses * The Count of Monte Cristo Plus my personal picks; Taltos the assassin, Chronicles of Amber, Dune & LoTR.