I’ve read many of the classic books; Horn of the Hunter, The Old Man and the Boy, The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, African Rifles and Cartridges, The Short, Happy Life of Francis MacComber, etc. I still have zero safari rifles, and doubt I ever will.
No Second Place Winner, In the Gravest Extreme, Sixguns, Protect Yourself with your Snubnose Revolver and Cirilo’s book Guns, Bullets and Gunfights made for interesting, but dated, reading.
I still read a lot of gun magazines. Fun bedtime stuff to check out. Same for Taffin’s Book of the .44 & .45, good stories and guns!
I started my WWII fascination as a kid with the Time Life series, then I graduated to The Longest Day, Band of Brothers, Islands of the Damned, Panzer Ace, The Forgotten 500, Pegasus Bridge, At Dawn We Slept, Code Talker, The Flying Tigers, And No Birds Sang, etc.
I don’t think much influence was done to steer me towards one particular caliber, gun or gun type, but these books (and many others) certainly kept my fire for guns and related stuff burning.
Stay safe.