I'll stick with fiction unless I can't think of any.

1. One book that changed your life. "Blood Music" by Greg Bear, was the main reason I chose molecular biology as an undergrad. In it, a biochemist turns his cells into intelligent organisms that evolve at a superfast rate. After turning him into a series of filaments stretching throughout his apartment, they infect the world and replace the entire human race. I thought this would be pretty cool, and I wanted it to happen, so I decided to become a molecular biologist. Of course, I sucked at lab work, so seven years later that dream had gone out the toilet.

Runner up would probably be "Lord of the Rings". As a result of reading this, I live in a hole in the ground, don't wear shoes, and frequently ask people in a querulous voice, "Where is the Preeeeccioussss!"

On a more serious note, other fiction books that I think had a big influence were "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, and "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver. "The Fountainhead" influenced my political thinking, and "Prodigal Summer" spurred my recent interest in nature.

2. One book you have read more than once? I rarely reread fiction. I think I read Robin Hobb's "Assassin's Apprentice" Series a couple of times. I just really the liked main character. He was the bastard son of a crown prince, and was treated like a second class citizen all his life, but he never sought fame and had a strong sense of honor and responsbility. I reread John Varley's "Opiuchini Hotline", which came out in the late 70s and was absolutely brilliant and visionary. Oh yeah, I found a copy of Karl Hansen's 1981 "Wargames" and reread it last week. Not to be confused with "Wargames" the movie from the 80s, this about a con artist turned genetically engineered supersoldier fighting rebels on Jupiter's moon Titan. One of those forgotten classics.

3. One book you would want on a desert island? "Survive on a Desert Island" by Claire Llewellyn. Either that or some porn.

4. One book that made you laugh? "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. I think I snorted milk out through my nose while reading it.

5. One book that made you cry? I don't really cry a lot. I'll have to think about this one. I'm sure with all the reading I do, something must have made me cry though..

6. One book you wish had been written? I'll have to jump away from my fiction only restriction here and say "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins. It's the only thing that came to mind. Very well written explanation of evolution with a final chapter that introduced the concept of Memes, which were supposed to be the cultural equivalent of genes but now have turned into these little quiz things that pass around blogs.

7. One book you wish had never had been written?
"A Feast for Crows" by George R.R. Martin. This was the fourth book in a series Martin is writing and with it he totally blew it. He completely ignored all of the characters and plot lines in the previous books in the series and gave us a bunch of new people to follow, many of whom died before the end of the book. George R.R. Martin's main characters tend to be brilliant, cynical, and lacking in self-esteem, and it doesn't take a big stretch to realize they represent some the characteristics of the author. As such, I guess a cynical piece of padding to milk this series for all it is worth shouldn't surprise me.

8. One book you are currently reading? "In the Eye of Heaven" by David Keck. A halfway decent piece of fantasy. I'm also working on the Jared Diamond's "Collapse", a non fiction book about how human induced ecological disasters have caused societies to collapse in the past.

9. One book you have been meaning to read? Nothing is currently on my fiction list at the moment. As soon as I finish "Collapse", I'm going to grab "Semiotics" by Umberto Eco (1984). Semiotics is an obscure philosophical discipline about the meaning of words. I'm interested whether it might supply some understanding on how words evolve. I've been mystified by the obscure terminology used in this field in the past, and when I discovered that a fiction writer whose work I had enjoyed had written a book on it, I thought I would take a look. I'm about 75% certain that I will decide the field is a bunch of junk, but I want to give it a look any way.

10. Now tag five people. No.
I got this from a journal entitled "Horseloverfat" that I don't usually read. Anyone who wants to take a stab at it is welcome.