>What's "important"? (That may seem like a misguided question, but it's not.) I'm not certain if this question was meant for me directly. If it was rhetorical,

>What's "important"? (That may seem like a misguided question, but it's not.) I'm not certain if this question was meant for me directly. If it was rhetorical, I apologize for misunderstanding and answering. I prefer not to define "important" in this context to avoid excluding any definitions subjective to those who may respond to my question. That way, I may learn both what makes a book important to someone and tips on remembering which were important. Edit: Now that I know the question was intended for me, I'll provide a little more depth to my answer. The first thought I had when considering what makes a book important is how strongly it resonated within me, and the intensity of my emotions when reflecting upon what I've learned or how my perspective changed shortly after reading it. I know those stronger emotions may derive from a bias I had at one point in my life, and may no longer have. Therefore, I can't help but think my definition is wrong because it's relative to the period in my life which I read the book. So some books that were important before may not be now. That's why I was curious to learn others' definitions of "important" books, and how to identify them for rereading.