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    When someone reads the right book at the right time in his life, it can have a profound effect. Such is the case for the people on this list, who come from all walks of life. These people have singled out a book that they read which had a life-changing effect on them. They, in turn, affected the worlds of science, technology and politics.

1). That Printer Of Udell's—Ronald Reagan

    One book that had a big effect on former President Ronald Reagan as a child was the Christian-book That Printer of Udell's, by Harold Bell Wright. The main character of the book, Dick Falkner, was born into a broken home with an alcoholic father. After losing both of his parents, Falkner moves to a bigger city, called Boyd City to make a living. However, everyone turns Dick down for a job, except for a printer. At the end of the book, Dick heads to Washington, D. C, to become a politician. It's said that the book showed him that good could defeat evil and that the good guys followed a code of morality, which can be seen as a driving factor in his presidency.

2). A Treatise Of Human Nature—Albert Einstein

    Albert Einstein was one of the greatest minds of all time. His name is synonymous with brilliance. So, what book had the biggest effect on such an important mind? It was A Treatise of Human Nature, by David Hume, which was published in 1738. Hume was a Scottish philosopher known for his contributions to philosophical skepticism(怀疑论). Einstein mentioned a few times that A Treatise of Human Nature had a large influence on him. He read the book just before coming up with his famous special relativity theory. In a letter, Einstein said that Treatise helped him formulate the ideas. It was like he already had the ideas in his brain, and Hume helped him to express them clearly.

3). The Aeneid—Mark Zuckerberg

    When Mark Zuckerberg first added his likes to his Facebook profile, he put the book Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, as a favorite book. Later, in an interview with The New Yorker, Zuckerberg clarified that the sci-fi classic was one he enjoyed, but it wasn't his favorite. He said that his favorite book is The Aeneid, by Virgil, a Latin epic poem that was written somewhere between 29 - 19 BC about a group of Trojan survivors. Zuckerberg said he first read the book when he was in high school while he was studying Latin and that one thing that stuck with him was Aeneas's drive to follow his fate to build a city that “knows no boundaries in time and greatness".

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    On plenty of drives with my mom through my childhood, she would suddenly pull over the car to examine a flower by the side of the road or rescue a beetle from tragedy while I, in my late teens and early twenties, sat impatiently in the car.

    Though Mother's Day follows Earth Day, for me, they have always been related to each other. My mom has been “green” since she became concerned about the environment. Part of this habit was born of thrift (节俭). Like her mother and her grandmother before her, mom saves glass jars, empty cheese containers and reuses her plastic bags.

    Mom creates a kind of harmonious relationship with wildlife in her yard. She knows to pick the apples on her trees a little early to avoid the bears and that if she leaves the bird feeders out at night, it is likely that they will be knocked down by a family of raccoons (浣熊). Spiders that make their way into the house and are caught in juice glasses will be set loose in the garden.

    I try to teach my children that looking out for the environment starts with being aware of the environment. On busy streets, we look for dandelions(蒲公英) to fly in the wind; we say hello to neighborhood cats and pick up plastic cups and paper bags. This teaching comes easily, I realize, because I was taught so well by example. Mom didn't need to lecture; she didn't need to beat a drum to change the world. She simply slowed down enough to enjoy living in it and with that joy came mercy and an instinct(直觉) for protection.

    I am slowing down and it isn't because of the weight of my nearly forty years on the planet, it is out of my concern for the planet itself. I've begun to save glass jars and reuse packing envelopes. I pause in my daily tasks to watch the squirrels race each other in the trees above my house.

    Last summer, in the company of my son and daughter, I planted tomatoes in my yard. With the heat of August around me, I ate the first while sitting on my low wall with dirt on my hands. Warm from the sun, it burst on my tongue with sweetness. I immediately wanted to share with my mom.

    When she moved the covering cloth to look upon his tiny face, she was shocked. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears.

    Time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. When he rushed home from school one day and threw himself into his mother's arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be full of heart- breaks for his imperfect appearance.

    He grew up, handsome for his misfortune and popular with his fellow students. He might have been class monitor, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music.

    Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You're going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret." The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person turned up. His talents blossomed into genius, and his school and college became a series of success. Later he married and entered the diplomatic service.

    One day ,he urged his father, "Who gave so much for me？I must know! I could never do enough for him." "I do not believe you could, " said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know... not yet."

The years kept their secret, but the day did come— one of the darkest days that a son must endure. He stood with his father over his mother's casket (棺材). Slowly, tenderly, the father reached out a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair to show that the mother had no outer ears.

    "Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut, " he whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought Mother less beautiful, did they？"

    Real beauty lies not in the physical appearance, but in the heart. Real treasure lies not in what can be seen, but in what cannot be seen. Real love lies not in what is done and known, but in what is done and not known.

    Dr Dian Fossey, one of the world's leading women scientists, had a remarkable career. The work she devoted her life to protecting and studying the mountain gorillas (大猩猩) of Africa—has proved highly effective and has resulted in the steady (平稳的) increase of this most endangered great apes.

    Fossey made her first trip to Africa in 1963. Three years later, she returned to Africa to begin a long term study of the mountain gorillas. She set up camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo but moved to Rwanda because of political reasons in 1967. She established her "Karisoke" Research Centre camp on September 24, 1967.

    Fossey's aims were to study gorilla ecology (生态学) and social organization. She found that in order to achieve this, she needed to recognize individual gorillas, which required that the gorillas get used to her presence (出现). By copying gorillas' behaviour and sounds, Fossey began to gain their trust, and in 1970 an adult male gorilla she had named "Peanuts" reached out to touch her hand.

    Close observations over thousands of hours enabled Fossey to gain the gorillas' trust and bring forth new knowledge about their behaviour. Stories and photographs of her work were published in National Geographic Magazine and elsewhere.

    In 1977, one of Fossey's favorite gorillas, Digit, was killed by poachers and she established the Digit Fund to help raise money for gorilla protection efforts in the same year.

    On December 26, 1985, Fossey was murdered while going back to her house in Karisoke. Her body was discovered near the research centre. Most probably? Dian Fossey had been killed by the poachers she'd fought against. On her tombstone (墓碑): "No one loved gorillas more..."

    In 1988, the life and the work of Fossey were made into a movie based on her book.

    If you're feeling overwhelmed by all the features and apps available on smart phones these days and miss the good old days when mobile phones were simple communication tools, you'll probably love Light Phone 2, a stylish " dumb phone" designed to remove time-wasting distractions(使人分心的事物) from your life.

    The original Light mobile phone could only be used to make and take phone calls, but its creators recently decided that in order to improve its usefulness while still keeping users safe from smart phone distractions, it needed a few extra features. They recently announced Light Phone 2 is just as tiny and stylish as the original ones, but also features text messaging functions and an alarm clock.

    Data from company Flurry shows that people in the US spend around five hours a day on their smart phones, while a study from the firm Asurion found that Americans check their phones an average of 80 times per day. Those are some pretty alarming numbers, and to make matters worse, scientists report that too much screen time has a bad effect on our brains, especially those of children.

    Light Phone 2 will never replace your Apple phone, but it can at least help you mitigate the effects of smart phone addiction by allowing you to "go light" every once in a while. You can stay in touch with the important people in your life, but you'll be free from the apps distracting you from the wonders of the colorful world.

    But becoming free of smart phone distractions doesn't come cheap. The Light Phone 2 is expected to be priced at around $400, which is far more expensive than some smart phones. However, a lot of people seem to think the phone and what it promises to do are worth the price, as evidenced by the success of Light's latest crowd funding(众筹) campaign. With 24 days left until deadline, the company has already raised $360,000, blowing past its $250,000 goal.

A British woman who once weighed some 322 pounds said breaking a roller coaster seat during an amusement park outing was her motivation for working toward a healthier weight.

Four years ago, Danielle Wright, 27, went to the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, England, with her sister. She wanted to avoid roller coasters, fearing that she was too heavy for them. But she was convinced to give it a try and boarded one of the rides.

"Fitting in the seat was bad enough, but when it came to pulling down the safety bar, my stomach stopped it from working," she recalled. "One of the employees came over and had to put his foot against the ride and push the bar hard to make it click into place."

She was worried throughout the ride that “the bar was going to pop open and I was going to be thrown off the tracks". When the ride ended, the bar sprang up and made a huge noise. Shortly after, she heard an announcement over the loudspeaker saying the ride was temporarily closed due to a broken seat.

Though it was embarrassing, the incident presented a silver lining. "It's what I needed to motivate me to lose pounds," Danielle said. She totally changed her diet, cutting back on carbohydrate and replacing food like chocolate with healthier choices such as apples and yogurt. Meanwhile, she also began participating in workout classes.

In November 2016, Danielle found out she was pregnant. But as tempted as she was, she didn't allow herself to eat unhealthy food while pregnant and stuck to her new diet.

Now Danielle weighs some 140 pounds. "Being able to run and play with my little boy is, he best part of it all. I couldn't have asked for a better reward," she said.