When I was 14, my father gave me a book to read. This was hardly a rare or unexpected occurrence. He was an English professor, and was forever setting me upon books from "Catcher in the Rye" to the Horatio Hornblower series.

There were, of course, the complete works of Shakespeare, along with a thoroughly enjoyable tour through the Canterbury Tales. At the time, it didn't occur to me that I was reading much that was terribly different from other kids, but looking back, I can see the effect all that book learnin' had on not just my grades in English, but on my ability to think logically and form independent ideas.

Basically, a good book makes you think. A great book makes you change the way you think.

What made Kurt Vonnegut special, however, was the fact that he was the first author I went and sought out on my own after finishing my "assigned" reading. That first book, "Slaughterhouse Five," is a somewhat autobiographical tale centered on the firebombing of Dresden in World War II. That description, however, is entirely inadequate ... but to fully illuminate the tale of Billy Pilgrim would take far longer than the lunch break during which you're no doubt reading this.

In quick succession, I devoured "Player Piano," "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater," "Welcome To The Monkeyhouse" and "Mother Night." I couldn't get enough of Vonnegut's wit, irony and sly ability to get a point across completely below my mental radar. Frequently, I'd finish a story and not realize until a week later what I'd actually learned from it.

Ask the average teenager if he or she is still thinking about a story they read two weeks ago and you're liable to be favored with one of those blank looks teens cultivate to deal with adults asking questions so bizarre they may originate from another universe. I was like that with pretty much everything else I read ... but Vonnegut stuck with me. I started to question things I'd taken for granted; social conventions I'd always taken as set in stone were now open to debate.

And, most important, I no longer automatically believed anything anyone "in authority" told me. I think that's a valuable lesson for any young person to learn. Respect for authority is one thing, blind obedience another.

The story that hit my young brain the hardest, the one that I had to go back and read several times before I'd thoroughly digested it, was "Harrison Bergeron." It's a short story, just over 2,000 words, and at a casual read the first half of it comes off almost like a Monty Python skit, with two dilapidated suburbanites watching television and having a nonsensical conversation. However, as the tale unfolds, Vonnegut lays out a future world in which all humans are, by means of government-imposed mental or physical handicaps, made equal to the lowest common societal denominator.

Strong? You wear weights around your neck. Smart? A nifty little ear radio blasts random sounds into your skull at intervals to disrupt your thought processes.

I will tell you no more. To tell you the rest would be to deprive you of one of the greatest learning/reading experiences of your life. Let's just say you'll never look at the too-easily-used word "equality" ever again.

Vonnegut's production had tailed off in recent years, with the slim-but-worthy "God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian," the last submission in book form, in 1999. He had continued to lecture here and there, and his appearance with Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" is something I'll never forget. I had long held a dream of being able to catch the great man in person someday.

And now, at least in this timeline (he would tell you), that is not to be. Last week, Vonnegut succumbed to injuries suffered in a fall several weeks before. It is somehow fitting that the man, a lifelong smoker, died of something having nothing whatsoever to do with the habit.

I'll be laying in fresh copies of his books soon, rereading them again and then setting them aside. I've got a son of my own now, you see, and I'm going to let Kurt help me show him how much fun it can be to look at the world sideways ...

What's weird in your world? Drop me a line, anytime!