I am going to pick two; one written by a Christian and one by an atheist. The first is Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by Professor RH Tawney which was given to me by my history tutor at Portsmouth Grammar School. Both he and this book were major influences on the way I view the search for truth and gave me a deeper understanding of the world I live in. The second is Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter House 5 a simply colossal work of the imagination woven around his own wartime experiences as a prisoner of war in Dresden. I was brought up a Christian, rejected that as a youth and became an atheist before returning to Christianity as an adult. Surprisingly perhaps I would say that Vonnegut’s visionary work was as instrumental in shaping my faith as it was in revealing his personal battle in dealing with the horror of what was going on around him. If I was to select a third book it would undoubtedly be Candide by Voltaire.