What books have made such an impact on you that you would go as far as saying they have been life changing? We've been asking that question and will be bringing you some notable answers over the coming months. If you're wondering what to read next, wonder no more!

Tony Gallienne was Chairman of the Arts Commission for many years and remains a staunch supporter of the Guernsey Literary Festival.

One of the first books I read for pleasure was Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Why that book, and how I came across it, I do not recall, but I was seduced by its deceptively simple style, and the mixture of war and romance which was a heady brew for a teenage boy. That book taught me that books can be read for pleasure, and I have read ever since.

The next book which had a great influence on me was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig’s 1974 bestselling novel on the nature of values. This was a ‘right-on’ book to read as a student in the mid-seventies. This book was my entry into the world of philosophical contemplation.

My third ‘life-changing’ book is Thinking Fast and Slow from 2011, by the Nobel prize winner, Daniel Kahneman. As a student of economics in the seventies I was taught economic theory based on the premise that economic man always makes rational decisions. This book demolishes that notion and demonstrates that the way people make decisions is as much irrational and emotional, as rational. It has made me far more aware of the intuitive way I engage with the world.