We often encounter books, not having directly to do with photography, that affect the way we see the world around us. Sometimes, those influences take the form of ethereal, colorful prose; other times, it can come in the work of an artist in another medium; and occasionally, inspiration may come from philosophers or scientists.

Below, Fotophile.com has selected a sampling of books that accomplish some of the same aesthetic ideals many, if not all, photographers seek from their environments.

If there's a book you'd like to add to the list, please feel free to e-mail books@fotophile.com.

Art

• Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting by Robert Storr, Gerhard Richter
• Jean-Michel Basquiat by Richard Marshall, Robert Marhall, Robert D. Thompson (contributor)
• Basquiat by Glenn O'Brien
• The Art of Richard Diebenkorn by Jane Livingston, John Elderfield, Ruth Fine, Richard Diebenkorn

Fiction

• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story by Dave Eggers
• Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
• Drown by Junot Diaz
• You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe
• All the Pretty Horses (Border Trilogy, Vol. 1) by Cormac McCarthy
• The Crossing (Border Trilogy, Vol. 2) by Cormac McCarthy
• Cities of the Plain (Border Trilogy, Vol. 3) by Cormac McCarthy

History & Political Science

• The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America by John Sperling

• A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present by Howard Zinn
• Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology by Howard Zinn
• Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky

Science

• Don't Know Much About the Universe: Everything You Need to Know About the Cosmos but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis
• The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene

Philosophy

• The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard

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