Influential Book as a Child

I can't seem to pinpoint a single influential book that I read in my early years, but I can think of a genre that speaks to my passions. My dad always had non-fiction adventure stories of mountaineers and explorers from around the world. Books like Into Thin Air or The Endurance (A book detailing Ernest Shackleton who shipwrecked in the Antarctic). Come to think of it, most of my middle school reading at home was non-fiction. I wasn't even introduced to Greek Mythology until high school and we covered all of a few weeks of it. I've read Oedipus and snippets from various short stories, but most of that knowledge is filled in by Saturday morning cartoons. My parents come from semi-religious backgrounds, but we never went to church and thus I've never sat down and read the bible. Any knowledge of Christianity has come from pop culture and second hand information. These gaps in fiction have led to a large makeup to my agnosticism.

I know a rough outline of The Book of Mormon from this South Park episode. (It could be way off, but the South Park generalizations are usually close to the mark). And my mom came from a Mormon family! Half my cousins have been married in the temple in Salt Lake City and yet I know very little about it because my immediate family neglected to clue me in on the subject. That window to teach me has more or less passed though. I believe the general rule of thumb is that each person's religious knowledge is formed in elementary school. Some people are taught the Bible and they view the world through a Christian lens while others read the Koran and shape their lives around the Muslim culture.

Am I better off without having a predominant religious text guiding me through my childhood? Is it even possible to learn between right and wrong without reading biblical/mythological text? These questions sound perfect for Mr. Sexson, but I'm guessing he'll simply tell me to take his mythology and biblical classes to find out. I'd like to think I can get my moral fill from nonfiction. Let's see where it takes me.