Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
Hey fellow HN people,
What are some life changing books have you encountered?
You can state the why as well and how it mattered.
For e.g. Almanack of Naval Ramakant is a good starting point.
Thanks.
For e.g. Almanack of Naval Ramakant is a good starting point.
Thanks.
In response to some questions:
It's not a kids book. It's a fan-fiction inspired by the original books, but written with adults in mind.
You can read it for free at http://www.hpmor.com/.
I read the last one 10 years ago? Can’t wait to start reading them to my kids.
Stephen King put it this way in his review: Harry Potter books are meant to grow up with the child, while many other childrens' books series target a specific age range.
Today you can buy and read all Harry Potter books at once, but it's actually best to follow the release times and keep a year or so between books, if the child is younger.
There is also an excellent and free audio book here: https://hpmorpodcast.com/
You may also want to take a peek at the Contents. The plot will catch you too fast to notice, but most parts of the book are meant to teach a certain lesson. And yes, there exists the no-fiction version, but it's quite a bit longer and drier :)
- How to win friends and influence people. Helped me understand the dynamics of relationships in a unon manipulative and empathetic way.
- Sapiens. Changed my view on human organizations and religion
- the monk who sold his Ferrari
- meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- the screwtape letters. Letter 15 specifically changed me
It's a great book, however it creates one problem, when all of the advice is implemented. It makes you a perfect listener, but doesn't mention the imbalance it can cause.
1984. First real sense of society at large, totalitarianism, and other "grown-up" stuff. I was maybe 12 or 13.
Brave New World. Same as 1984, except I was maybe 14 or 15.
1491 and 1493. Amazing way to deeply understand history, and completely new perspectives on America pre and post Columbus.
The Pillars of the Earth. First time a novel captured me so deeply, in terms of sense of history, and sense of other people's lives.
Then, various novels, mostly from Italian authors (I grew up in Italy).
Bear with me on this. It was a bridge into politics, ecology, religion, and economics, as well as an amazing world-building narrative. It got me interested in philosophy and literature, and the roles they play in creating, describing, or influencing cultures. It is my keystone book.
https://arnoldkhan.medium.com/how-the-sabre-of-paradise-insp...
- "The Defining Decade: Why Your 20's Matter and How to Make The Most of Them Now": it motivated me to find a fulfilling a career in tech (among other things).
- "On the Shortness of Life" (Seneca) - Really made me take a hard look at my life, for the better.
- "Eat and Run" - Interesting read about an Ultramarathoner. Inspired me to find the motivation for doing "tough things" in general.
So if you felt fairly happy chances are good you’ve made good choices. It may be worth a read for anything you’d like to tweak
[1] https://www.quora.com/I-am-in-my-late-20s-and-feel-I-have-wa...
Long answer: the sooner you read it the better, but any time is better than never. There was a great metaphor early in the book, actually. I don't have a copy on hand so to paraphrase: your life is like a cross-continent flight. If you want to change your destination, earlier on is better--the plane need only make a slight adjustment at the beginning to alter its trajectory significantly. Closer to the end, and you gotta make a pretty sharp turn.
It's not the perfect metaphor but for me personally it really resonated.
Especially if you're fairly happy at your late 20's, any adjustments you might discover you want to make probably aren't that far off :)
Being 31, still feeling lost, this title stresses me out
2. Never split the difference - ditto . IMO, "start with no" is a sub set of this but it is worth separately anyway
3. Fooled by randomness
4. The black swan
5. Books on intermittent fasting by Dr Jason Fung
6. All books by Noah Harari but start with Sapiens
7. Security Analysis by Ben Graham
Just don't try to implement the things outlined there. Graham, in the last published interview he gave (Financial Analysts Journal, 1976), said:
>> In selecting the common stock portfolio, do you advise careful study of and selectivity among different issues?
> In general, no. I am no longer an advocate of elaborate techniques of security analysis in order to find superior value opportunities. This was a rewarding activity, say, 40 years ago, when our textbook "Graham and Dodd" was first published; but the situation has changed a great deal since then. In the old days any well-trained security analyst could do a good professional job of selecting undervalued issues through detailed studies; but in the light of the enormous amount of research now being carried on, I doubt whether in most cases such extensive efforts will generate sufficiently superior selections to justify their cost. To that very limited extent I'm on the side of the "efficient market" school of thought now generally accepted by the professors.
* http://www.grahamanddoddsville.net/wordpress/Files/Gurus/Ben...
It changed my perspective of everything. It could be existential crisis fuel too, but ultimately it's trying to answer what's our reality. At the same time is an autobiographical book from a scientist and the history of Cosmology.
It's considered one of the founding books of the secular Buddhist movement. Not only did it open me up to the depths of the meditative path as a therapeutic practice (rather than religious practice), but it inspired me to complete a university degree in Religious Studies.
This is the first book that gave me a thorough insight into philosophy. Completely changed my worldview. I reread chapters from it everyday. It has become my bible. The Incerto strictly focuses on the practical applications of stoic philosophy.
2. All books by Dan Brown
The Dan Brown books got me in to reading for fun. While some people may regard his books as thrillers, I consider them hard science fiction. I owe him my reading culture.
3. The age of intelligent machines. 4. The singularity is near. 5. The age of spiritual machines. ... all the above by Raymond Kurzweil
These books introduced me to computer science.
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond: Gave me a deeper insight into the geographic underpinnings of civilization and history, and how available resources and climate allowed some early settlements to grow into mighty empires, while others struggled to subsist. It also improved my Civilization 3 game playing. ;)
The Language of Mathematics by Keith Devlin: Sparked a renewed interest in mathematics through historical narratives of the development of our number systems, mathematicians and numerous mathematical topics.
The Code Book by Simon Singh: Kicked off my historical and professional interest in cryptography and keeping secrets.
Flow by Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi: Showed me how to make the best use of every minute, especially waiting at bus/train stops, and helped me recognize what I really like doing.
Firstly, I read it as a kid, in my formative years, when it was most likely to have an impression on me.
But I remember reading the books and feeling completely enraptured by this magical world. I also remember feeling a a bit annoyed at what I perceived as Harry's laziness and ingratitude! I would think "if I was him, I would spend all my days in the library, learning all the coolest spells, potions etc., and make the most of all this magical power"
As an adult, this has unintentionally become the frame through which I view my job as a programmer. You can call me a romantic, but I've been doing this for years and I still think it's wonderful. At any time I can open a book or a man page and learn some amazing new spells.
With our computers, we _all_ have access to magic, it's just about learning to use it.
Why? Because until I read it my only other experience with writing of that era was the bible readings from when I attended synagogue (before I realized that there was no god). I always found the bible stuff strange, but I forgave it, because I thought that people were just like that at that time in human history. Well, Herodotus changed my mind. He is brilliant, skeptical, humorous, and inquisitive. Attributes that, until I read the book, I somehow thought belonged to we moderns. Now I know how wrong I was, and I think about things differently.
There is a newer translation by Tom Holland which I own but have not read yet: https://www.amazon.ca/Histories-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0...
The indices, maps, and other additional information was a great aid in understanding the text.
I think the danger in this focus on technology now is that it is so easy to dismiss anything at all that ancient Greeks or whomever said as not even simply wrong but even trivial and unworthy of being studied.
Of course I used to dismiss most earlier writings as well. What could they possibly teach me, after all everything is so advanced now? This kind of attitude being widespread and I think entailed in most modern science talk (as an unspoken and easy conclusion that mostly never becomes explicit) is part of the reason we struggle with the same issues as you say.
If I see something wrong published on the topic that I know well, I assume that the quality of the content from the same source is not any better for the topics I don't know.
It is a good general principle but the heuristics/shortcut doesn't work sometimes.
(See my handle too!)
Nice to find a kindred spirit.
Might I recommend giving Iliad and Odyssey a go - if you haven’t already.
Less history, more poetry. But enthralling all the same.
I particularly enjoyed the Alexander Pope translations.
It becomes impossible to truly appreciate a completely different culture, and way of thinking and seeing the world, when it's being tortuously twisted to fit into the "English" way.
It's like reading Bulgakov's The Master and the Margarita in anything but Russian; or Clauswitz's On War in anything but German; or Homer's Iliad in anything but Ancient Greek.
In the first, you lose the raw emotion of the Russian language. In the second, you lose the exacting precision of the German language. And in the last, you lose the sublime beauty of the Ancient Greek language.
If you have to learn another language in order to read a book, you're probably not going to read the book.
If you already happen to know Russian, German and Ancient Greek, then yeah, go ahead and read them in the original languages :)
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735211299/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...
Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
https://www.amazon.com/Almanack-Naval-Ravikant-Wealth-Happin...
I wasn't arguing anything about any particular person, but rather commenting that a lot of the entrepreneurs and investors that get fetishized around here found their "success" from family wealth or by doing some sociopath-level things. There are obviously exceptions, and maybe Naval is one of them, but I've read enough Silicon Valley biographies to become pretty skeptical of this entire genre of business/self-help/productivity hack books/blogs/tweets.
That's a "privilege" he earned.
My personal epiphany came about 10 years ago. I was in an incubator in SF, and some investor came to give a talk about fundraising. They heavily emphasized that many startups do a friends-and-family round to bridge them to a proper seed round-- nothing major, just get 20k from 5 family members and you should be good until you have something to show angel investors. My two co-founders and I (all from the Midwest) realized that we couldn't even come up with five people to ask for 20k because all of us came from pretty modest families.
These are the types of privileges that get glossed over in success stories. To be successful you, more likely than not, need to either have money or have connections to money. Everyone likes a good underdog story, but those founders are more like lottery winners than anything else.
So, coming from that lens, it's hard to take advice seriously from "successful" entrepreneurs. It's sort of our industry's equivalent of "just stop eating avocado toast and you'll become a millionaire."
I wrote this 2 months ago, my opinion hasn't changed. I guess there are worse charlatans out there (ribbonfarm springs to mind) but why should one waste his/her time reading chewed takes by someone who doesn't seem to have a single original thought-idea streak in him.
Varela / Maturana - The Tree of Knowledge
Miller - Living Systems
Prepare to have your mind blown apart.
If he offers me a bunch of true and useful ideas, in a single place, and in a useful form, that seems valuable to me.
I listened to Naval with a critical eye, and read criticisms from HN. His ideas seems useful, but tilted towards selling Entrepreneurship as the only way to become wealthy, and creating the feeling that's his path is a safe bet.
How beyond that does he manipulate his audience ?
Ad hominems are relevant when the person's work involves telling people how to be.
It is obvious that Jordan Peterson has seen and experienced misfortune. For most of us, it's much easier to relate to his ideas, than to those of the self-proclaimed modern gurus and egomaniacs from Silicon Valley.
His books are very verbose and boring, he covers too much stuff. I admit that I couldn't finish any of them. There are however excerpt from his lectures and interviews on Youtube which are spot on - very clear and direct.
It doesn’t make all of them bad authors, sometimes the talant is in the way you communicate known ideas.
Do you consider having a new layer in your thinking process "life changing"? Then, I would say-
1. Deep Work and So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport. He goes against famous ideas such as "follow your passion" and provides you with alternative actionable advice.
2. Black Swan by N. Nicholas Taleb. It makes you aware of unhinged "platonistic thinking" where stuff are "explained" looking back. And people expect to use these explanations in future. I also learned about silent evidence which is, of course, a type of survivorship bias and sampling bias. Whenever, I see a straigh-forward "explanation", alarm goes off inside mind- 'this is too simplistic, and thus oversimplified, and not entirely correct'.
3. Made to Stick by Cheap Heath and Dan Heath: this book explains why some ideas stick and why some don't. From this book, you also learn how to make ideas stick. You start to see the world in a different way.
4. Godel, Escher, Bach: others have already mentioned it. It is life changing. I am still reading it.
5. Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen: Indian past is generally seen as a golden age heavily tied to religion and faith. Sen, in an articulated, smooth, and scholarly way provides evidence in contrary. The past of India is also an age of reason, athiesm, debate, faithlessness, unorthodoxy, and opposing of religions. Sanskrit is the first language to have athiestic text, maybe.
Bengali:
I used to feel very bad about my ethnic identity, and felt ashamed about it. (I was 14/15.)
Then I read the book "Those Times" by Sunil Ganguly. It is a novel based on history and historical figures, the Bengali renaissance, the feminist movements of Bengal.
This was the first time I ever felt confident about my ethnic identity, and fount a history I could take pride in. Totally changed me. It was like finally having soil under my feet for the first time in my life.
Bouddha Dharma by Haraprasad Shastri: This is a history of Buddhism in Bengal region.
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These are just some of many. I am in my early 20s and I have read 250 books till now, and all read in recent years were carefully chosen. Many had meaningful impact in my life.
I wish I spoke Bengali just to read Tagore in the original. First poet, at the age of 33, that I have ever appreciated. Brilliant.
Of course, an atheist would have trouble appreciating him
I am a total athiest, and I really like Tagore's poems.
See, Tagore not only wrote poetries and songs, he was a great essayist, as well.
Many of his essays would be highly appreciated by athiests and progressives (I mean the real progressives, not current US-style ones). Same goes for many of his novels and plays.
His romantic poems and love songs are top-notch.
I know because I have been immersed in Tagore culture from my childhood.
He was a thiest, but definitely not in the usual way. Many of his songs that belong to the "Worship" sect, can be, and is interpreted as romantic songs a lot.
He was definitely a progressive.
Try reading this through G Translate maybe- https://www.tagoreweb.in/Stories/lipika-147/kortar-bhut-2533 .
Fun fact: that he was progressive and wrote romantic poems and songs irked Swami Vivekananda, and they did not talk with each other despite being from the same period.
That sounds like I “know” a lot, but those are useless facts. All I really know of Tagore is the Gitanjali because its his only work I have read.
With my limited knowledge at hand, I cannot fathom how an atheist can appreciate the full depth of Tagore’s poetry. Im sure Bertrand Russel appreciated the Gitanjali as a great work of art when it was published but how could he have truly appreciated Tagore’s description of total surrender to God as a bride (representing Tagore, a heterosexual man) succumbing to her groom? An imagery we see in the Song of Songs, btw.
Perhaps instead of saying “how can an atheist appreciate Tagore”, I should written: “how can an atheist appreciate Tagore’s Gitanjali?” (Which I suspect Tagore himself would consider his greatest work?)
I feel the same way with religious art. Millions of tourists in Italy see Caravaggio’s “the denial of Peter”. Its easy for anyone who has grown out of youthful immaturity to appreciate the chiaroscuro, but how can a non-believer be moved in the way a believer is? The painting is more than the betrayal of a friend that anyone can understand - a believer (as a basic tenant of Christianity) holds that personal sin is recreating the betrayal of Peter. That is, a believer sees himself in Peter denying Jesus.
Not all “religious” art, mind you. Michaelangeo’s Il Davide is a good looking naked chap holding a slingshot.
EDIT: As a Catholic, I understand the Hindu Tagore, or muslim Sufis far better than atheists. Or, rather, we understand each other; we understand the difficulties of a faith journey.
As I said, Tagore wrote a lot of novels, plays, songs, and essays. Tagore's body of creation is formidably vast. I would put the number of people awarded PhD each year for their work on Tagore and/or his work at 10-20.
> Which I suspect Tagore himself would consider his greatest work?
Haha, not really. We have an inside joke that more or less says that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for one of his weaker works.
And I concur. There are much better works by Tagore than Gitanjali. I have one bilingual Gitanjali sitting right on my shelf across the room where I am.
I grew up reciting poems of Tagore since I was literally 3 and a half. I still do it, but I'm special occasions.
As a literature lover, I also appreciate other forms of religious art.
I like reading poems called Vaishnava Padavalis. They are divine songs dedicated to Krishna or Chaitanya [0] with 2-3 meaning per each poem. These are among the best works of art I have ever seen.
Same goes for Charyas, poems written to propagate a special form of Buddhism, written in proto-Bengali, about 1000 years ago.
I also enjoy kirtanas.
These are all religious, and they don't stop me from enjoying them.
Many athiests enjoy religious art. But they have to be art. When it stops being art, and becomes too much about faith or devotion, I stop enjoying it.
> friend of Gandhi
They also disagreed a lot. If you read Gandhi's works, you would see that he is the king of luddites. Rabindranath was more forward-thinking.
Tagore wanted industry, education, uplifting of the masses, and admired science. He opposed Gandhi on the issue of boycotting British industries among others.
I have never really read Tagore in translation. I would not know what to suggest you. But I strongly suggest that you read other works of him.
> Hindu Tagore
Not really. He was a Brahmo [1]. They were the Protestants to Hinduism (this is oversimplified, ofc). They did not believe in statue-worshipping, caste, superstitions, etc. Brahmos were monotheistic and puritan among other things.
My study of Tagore is limited. But it is still non-trivial. I have visited his house (very well-preserved university and museum) multiple times and also Visva Bharati.
I am happy to answer if you have any other questions.
Very popular.
> compared to the rest of India.
But not compared to the rest of India. This is how majority of worship is done.
In West Bengal (state where Kolkata/Calcutta is), there is Durga Puja, in Maharashtra (Mumbai) there is Ganesh puja.
Idols are made out of clay, then worshipped for a day (4 in case of Durga), then they are dissolved in water, preferably in the Ganges.
But environment laws and enforcement are getting stringent, and so the bigger statue is often not worshipped according to rituals, and a much, much smaller one is worshipped, and that is dissolved.
And mind you, these statues are no jokes. They are very carefully created by sculptors, some are work of higher art, and gets awarded by the President.
Indians are known to have many festivals. But there are different dominant festivals in different parts of India.
Moreover, not only statues, but elaborate decorations are created where the statue resides. There are some committees that spend US$100k-$200k for 1-5 days of the festival. These are now often corporate sponsored.
The total GDP of 4 days of Durga Puja in Calcutta is assumed to be US$4.2bn [0]. Although many holistic estimates (including parlor visits, etc. from one month before) put it at as high as $25-$30bn.
You could look at pictures [1][2][3] of these events, and I highly encourage you to do so.
Just note, whatever you see in those, are temporary, and kept for 5-15 days only.
Although these are religious in paper, they are practically secular.
[0]: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/creative...
[1]: https://youtu.be/yaOju_xXy-I
[2]: https://www.indiatoday.in/lifestyle/what-s-hot/story/top-5-d...
[3]: https://www.tripsavvy.com/famous-kolkata-durga-puja-pandals-...
As a child I was inspired by its radiant optimism about engineering advances extracting men from peril and lifting them to the position of control of their lives and making the most of their circumstance.
The Martian had the same vibes for me.
- Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman
- Debt by David Graeber
- Extreme Ownership by Jocko Wilink
- Genesis and the Big Bang by Gerald Schroeder
- The Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila
Meditations - Aurelius
Taught me that simply existing peacefully can be exhilarating.
The Prince - Machiavelli
Shrewd and cunning. I don't find myself applying his ideas but I definitely encounter them.
Edit:
Healing Back Pain - Sarno
Self explanatory. No longer experience back pain, wrist pain, or other minor aches and pains.
https://www.amazon.com/Difficult-Conversations-Discuss-What-...
It's short and easy to read, yet gives you a really valuable addition to your mental toolkit for understanding the world
- "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene
- "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker
- "Left of Bang" by Patrick van Horne and Jason Riley
- "Influence" and its follow-up "Pre-suasion" by Robert Cialdini
- "Courage is Calling" by Ryan Holiday (yes it was published this year but I found it helpful)
- "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie
- "No One Ever Told Us That" by John D. Spooner
- "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki (Not something I'd read today but there was some good things in their for my naive 20 year old self)
There are many reasons that even ordinary people should, in my opinion, read such material and take it in, but the most important one is that understanding how other people work is necessary to knowing if you are being manipulated and how to out-manipulate the manipulator if that's called for.
Of course, I think if I didn't include the 48 Laws of Power, attributions of sociopathy towards me (yours certainly not being the first) would be largely diminished. Cialdini's books, if you were to read them, certainly aren't written as guides on how to be a sociopath, but rather the contrary. The 48 Laws of Power is written the way it was to be the most entertaining and thematic, which I think is pretty clear.
Most evil of the psychopathic nature are conducted by people nearer to the psychopathic end of the spectrum but they aren't quite totally psychopathic. They bridge that gap by justifying their actions with lies they tell themselves.
Hitler, for example was unlikely to be a psychopath, but the actions he committed makes it seem like he was one. He was also likely on the far end of the spectrum in terms of psychopathy and clearly he still had some story he used to justify his horrific actions.
Personally - I would recommend some of the books as well because they are incredibly prevalent in the American psyche in some form or another.
That is not to say that I endorse their methodologies. After all - win friends is impossible for me because if its basic premise “you must be genuinely interested”. I’m rarely ever genuinely interested in anyone - as most people I meet are pretty terrible individuals. (Maybe that’s just a side effect of living in cutthroat SV)
https://bookshop.org/books/deterring-democracy/9780374523497
gave me a diff pov on the US/government, in particular. helped start shifting my perspective, break out of the 'indoctrination' of a standard US education, which already included college, gd.
i think it could matter because, if we're going to survive, americans will probably have to start looking at the world a bit differently -- since the US is still, for now, really the sole superpower in the world and effectively sets global policy, including and especially on climate collapse.
i imagine we'll maintain our 'sole superpower' status indefinitely, which doens't bode well for continued organized life on earth, unfortunately, but maybe we can still change our ways. maybe we'll be able to force the 1% to let us live, even in this much-diminished environment.
There's a few recommendations made here that I have read, for instance Nassim Talebs Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness, both of which I honestly didn't find to be all that good. They're interesting, but not that useful and I don't feel that he's all that good at explaining his ideas.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius have some rather good parts, while others are just rambling and repetitive. It's not enough to be life changing. It can guide you in some specific situation, but that's about it.
Atomic Habits: Again interesting, very pratical, but long winded and by no means a guaranteed way to changing your life/habits.
Don't get me wrong, the books recommended, at least those I've read, are interesting, and worth a read, but they won't change your life.
Yes it can. I don't merely think so or believe so, I know so.
By significant I mean would the people around you see a different person after you read the book.
As a personal example a book/novel (how to live on 24 hours a day) made me change how I view my day, shifting from a work day focus (the day is finished when work is finished) to looking at the waking time outside of work as the focus for my day.
This is something noticeable both to me and my surrounding since it gave me a lot more time to do things for personal enjoyment or to help others every day.
And no it didn't change the world but it made a profound impact on my life by implementing a tiny change in how I view the world
Then I read "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley which really push me towards psyche exploitation. And last big one was:
"Freedom From the Known" by Jiddu Krishnamurti and it was a buddhist mind-bomb.
Would help in understanding context.
2. _Eichmann in Jerusalem_, Hannah Arendt. Made me wiser about how evil works. "Evil" is a fun word to throw around and lends itself to silly political slogans, but the real thing is no joke, is out there, and does not look like what you think.
3. _Eugene Onegin_, by Pushkin, as translated by Douglas Hofstadter (yes, that one). The man taught himself Russian by translating the Onegin to distract himself after his wife died. The foreword-essay changed how I regard language and translation.
3. _Getting Unstuck_, by Pema Chodron. I still use this shit every time I get obsessive about some coding thing. Wise AF.
4. _Getting Things Done_ by David Allen. Everything is an interface and everything is algorithmic, your only choice is whether or not to consciously intend them. You can engineer better habits.
5. A biography of Malcolm X -- I forget which one, embarrassingly, and I am in a hurry so I will not google. Whichever one came out closest to the year 2007 :)
These days tho I would grab _The Dead are Arising_ -- the most recent. It's aleady on my Kobo. Malcolm X showed me how to survive in hell and start a movement.
It's sort of like a mirror, a way to look at yourself. Also, reading it is a pleasure, very refreshing. This is in contrast with Daniel Kahneman's book which is quite depressing while being essentially on the same topic.
Evolution of horses, disappearance of the .400 in baseball, where are all the modern Geniuses, and the most integral part- the dominance of bacteria- and how evolution and the progression of entropy/ the 2nd law, does not, against most intuition, generally _lead_ to the increase of complexity, but merely _allows_ for its existence.
I do disagree with him on the premise of "hot-hands," and the bit about joe dimaggio's performance being the most (statistically) outstanding in human history is also unintuitive.
The book does have such a general sense of applicability though, cannot recommend it enough.
- Hal Clement's _Space Lash_ --- a collection of short stories, these are still thought-provoking now, esp. "Raindrop" and "The Mechanic", w/ the former seeming esp. prescient. These are available in: _Music of Many Spheres_: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/939760.Music_of_Many_Sph...
- Hal Gordon's _Divers Down! Adventure Under Hawaiian Seas_ which is available as a podcast: https://www.sffaudio.com/uvula-audio-divers-down-adventure-u... --- where I got my work ethic
- Susan Cooper's _The Dark is Rising_ pentalogy --- early urban fantasy billed as a young adult series --- good insights on morality
- Steven Brust's _The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars_ --- art and life and love by a writer who always has something interesting to say --- other books in this series are quite good
- Oscar Ogg's _The 26 Letters_ and Warren Chappell's _The Living Alphabet_ and _A Short History of the Printed Word_ --- these books, which I read when I was quite young were why I studied graphic design and did book composition --- if you read and understand them, you'll know more about typography than most professional designers
- H. Beam Piper's _Little Fuzzy_ --- a delightful book, which is beautifully read by tabithat on Librivox: https://librivox.org/little-fuzzy-by-h-beam-piper/
- C. J. Cherryh's _Rimrunners_ and the balance of her Alliance-Union books --- her stuff is always worth reading.
One book which I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned, and which I need to read for myself is _Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics_ by Alfred Korzybski
"The Gallic Wars", Julius Caesar -- for the enjoyment of reading a 2k years old book by a major historical character. Probably more interesting if you are french, belgian or german. Truly epic ending with the battle of Alesia. The staging of this battle is almost unbelievable although to date, every archeological finding has only confirmed the description made by JC.
Both are short, direct, self contained books.
The undeniable fact that there is only ever 'now' was also a bombshell of a realization. What a wonderful book that one, for those who have the disposition to grok it.
The Peaceful Warrior's Way, by Dan Millmann, is a very good first step. It's lightweight, easy to read, fun, but full of gems. It can also guide you towards the heavier stuff.
[1]https://25iq.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/the_global_negot...
Two days ago one of my children was caught out telling a lie. The next morning my daily bible reading for that day was from Proverbs about the importance of not telling lies. As I say, some things don't change :-)
It fairly accessible and yet opened me up to a much more complex world of inner experience than I was able to perceive before reading the book.
"The Once and Future King", T.H. White -- best novelization of the problem of power
"Don Quixote", Miguel de Cervantes -- why stories matter
"Essence of Decision", Graham Allison -- how views of a historic episode vary with the theory you apply
"Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings", Basler/Sandburg -- The application of reason to the problems of law, morality and politics
- "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy" by William B. Irvine
- "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton G. Malkiel
- "The Real Happy Pill" by Anders Hansen
- "Never Split the Difference" by Chris Voss & Tahl Raz
- "Drug Use for Grown-ups" by Dr. Carl L. Hart
- "Soft City" by David Sim
https://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp...
https://www.amazon.com/How-Happiness-Approach-Getting-Life/d...
Another book that's definitely worth a read, or two, is "The Goal", which teaches you how to think goal-oriented while not being a bore to read.
on transforming core motivational schemas that we were conditioned with since a young age and no longer serve us
Opening the Heart of Compassion by Lar Short and Martin Lowenthal (available free on dli.org)
on understanding deep patterns of behavior in yourself
- How to run a big ship (Cptn Rory O'Connor, RN) Really made me think about how much of modern leadership and management theory is a rehash of old theory. But now we replacing the individuals responsibility with hired consultants that should "teach" us how to work.
- Meditations (Marcus Aurelius) Together with my Grandmother really showed me a way to live with focus on what matters.
Apart from this there is a lot of fiction that has added up to create the ideals I try to live by today and to be fair I think you can do worse than basing your ideals on classical fantasy and science fiction.
"The Dream Machine" by M Mitchel Waldrop - Biography of JCR Licklider and history of computing.
I've listened to dozens of self help type books, and this one had an immediate and permanent effect on me. It changed my life. I don't think it will do the same for everyone, but it did for me. I think most time spent listening to these self help type books goes to waste, but there is the occasional book or insight that resonates with a person and makes it all worth it. This was one of those book for me.
Epictetus' Enchiridion helped me massively with depression and anxiety over the past few years. I still read a few excerpts from it weekly. Much of it is self evident, but it's reassuring and reinforcing.
The works of Terry Pratchett shaped my sense of humor, and my outlook on life. I would definitely be a different person today if I hadn't encountered Discworld at such an early age. They've made me a optimistic cynic.
I'd highly recommend anybody interested in starting the Discworld books to start with Mort, and then the rest of the Death series in order (Hogfather in particular).
Outwitting the Devil is a work of fiction that was written in 1938 by Napoleon Hill, which was considered too controversial to be published in its era. The book is written as an interview between Hill (Mr. Earthbound) and the devil (our inner dark self), wherein Hill attempts to uncover the secrets to freedom and success by evaluating the greatest obstacles that humans face in order to attain their personal goals in life. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It's remarkable how universal this book is, despite being written long ago. It changed my perspective on the West-centric world.
I certainly have seen books mentioned I wouldn't even leaf trough, but this comment is particularly strong - and fascinating
Never Split the Difference - too long never finished completely, didn't feel practical or anything beyond common sense
The Obstacle Is the Way - trash, not worth time, if you watch motivation videos then go ahead buy it.
Exactly What to Say - read the the table of contents and you get 90% of the value the book has to give
Indistractable - did you know if you could focus and work without motivation you could do great things..oh wow news of the century. Book has flawed premise and flawed solution. Saying control your internal triggers is a very round about way to say control your motivation. This book more of an academic book, on topic, that is under research.
How to Make Sh*t Happen: Make more money... - honestly liked the book, resonated with author's struggle .. but I don't recall getting much value. It was like watching a show that starts really strong and you have high hopes but just never delivers. I'd read the summary of it and not waste time reading the entire thing. i was kinda putt off by cringe over the top cursing to look unorthodox.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things - omg the self patting.. unless you're a ceo, of series A startup then maybe this book will have some value. HARD PASS.
Grit - here I'll save you time: people who keep at it on average win against talented people. There I saved you from 30 life stories of author and her daddy issues.
The case studies and even better textbooks that have case studies compiled into lessons are much better.
Truly a life-changing book that completely changed the way I think about the world and about people
- N.N. Taleb "Black Swan", as great intro to his thought system which may well be called the "mediterranean soul".
Later books by him can be safely ignored, more worth in his Medium articles, especially the one on work and employment.
- Spitznagel "Dao of Capital", pound for pound one of the smartest books I've ever read.
For me I would say The Lean Startup, On Writing Well, and Atlas Shrugged for very different reasons.
My comment there: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15157724
Come as you Are - Emily Nagosky
The Fifth Sacred Thing - Starhawk
The ministry of the Future - Kim Stanley Robinson
- Sovereign Individual, Davidson
- Origins of Money, Carl Menger
- Operating Systems, Tanenbaum
Ted Chiangs tower of Babylon. Short story.
How to make friends and influence people
Black Swan by Nassim Taleb
No book is totally life-changing IMHO, but many are life-altering… life-shifting? But for a good shift in perspective, I would maybe try the following:
For fiction, best no reasons given, go into these blind:
- Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
- The City and the City, China Mieville
- Exhalation, Ted Chiang
- Never Let me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
For non-fiction:
- Any book that tells some of the history of the field you have a career in. You need it for perspective. For me it was the books Hackers by Stephen Levy (problematic as it may be) and Journey Through Genius by William Dunham. They led me into deeper dives and other books which rooted my knowledge in some chronological perspective.
- Surreal Numbers by Donald Knuth, a “fiction” book about Conway’s surreal numbers. Holy cow, this shifts your perspective on what a number can be.
- Godel Escher Bach by Hofstadter, recommended by others, as a mind bending book
- What We See When We Read, by Peter Mendelsund. Really changed my perspective on the act of reading in general. Very easy and quick read.
- Debt, by David Graeber (sure to hear about this in the comments lol)
Biographical:
- Read at least one book from someone who has had a different life experience than you have had. For me, it was Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain which wasn’t totally a biography but told a lot of experiences in his life completely different than mine that offered some perspective.
- One anti-recommendation: any book that a CEO writes or has ghost-written about their life. None of that is applicable to your own life, even if you are a CEO.
Self-help: no recommendations.
Self help books only help the person selling the books IMHO. I’ve read my share, and it tells more about the person writing the book than it does give life tips about how to live one’s life.
I disagree because Ben Horowitz's "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" is fairly autobiographical but is very helpful in guiding startup founders and CEO's and is widely lauded by them.
Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson by George Guerdjieff
It ultimately led me down a path that changed a lot about how I approached investing, and how I perform value appraisal / how I view value in general across all aspects of life. The principles of value investing and value judging apply to most things, rather than being narrowly limited to eg stock investing. It introduced me to some of the basic foundations of value investing. It's not a super renowned book (ala Ben Graham's various treatises on value investing), however it's my favorite Buffett book regardless and the one I most often recommend to new investors.
Price is what you pay, value is what you get. Such a simple concept, so extraordinarily important as a distinction.
Technological Slavery: The Collected Writings of Theodore J. Kaczynski, a.k.a. "The Unabomber" -- A Harvard-educated mathematician terrorist presents a lucid neo-Luddite manifesto. It doesn't take a cool-headed logician to appreciate this work. Draws heavily from the works of Jacques Ellul, but presents Ellul's ideas in a quintessentially American manner, without the obfuscation required of French philosophy. Yes, he's a convicted murderer, yes, he was a subject of MKULTRA, but even so, the perspective of a Harvard-educated psychedelic terrorist should alone be worthy of a lookover (he doesn't receive any proceeds from sales). If you prefer French philosophy or a pacifistic author, replace this with The Technological Society and Propaganda: the Formation of Men's Attitudes, both by Jacques Ellul, tackling the same subjects (mostly).
Management of Savagery: The Most Critical Stage Through Which the Islamic Nation Will Pass by Abu Bakr Naji -- This is the playbook that was used for establishing the Islamic State. Its philosophy isn't unique to Wahhabist Islam, however. It's like the anti-Embrace-Extend-Extinguish philosophy. It's disruptive innovation for religion. In short, it has three stages: first, destroy the social contract and return to a Hobbesian state of nature. Second, reestablish the social contract with your team in control. Third, use this island of order to expand outwards until your goal is reached (in this case an Islamic Caliphate).
Suicide Note by Mitchell Heismann -- Mitchell Heisman shot himself on September 18, 2010 in Harvard Yard as ”Experimental Elimination of Self-Preservation,” according to this work that he published posthumously. Possibly, along with Kaczysnki, the best illustrator of G.K. Chesterton's assertion that "Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess players do. [...] The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason." This is his, nominally rational, defense of suicide against what Heismann terms viviocentrism. It is an experience, if nothing else.
Two picks that dovetail together exceptionally well and equally magisterial in their respective wheel-houses:
First, the Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist -- Why is the brain divided? What if modern consciousness as we know it only emerged during the Axial Age? The differing world views of the right and left brain (the "Master" and "Emissary" in the title, respectively) have, according to the author, shaped Western culture since the time of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, and the growing conflict between these views has implications for the way the modern world is changing. The first half is pure neuroscience, the latter half teased-out implications of the former. It is a brilliant work.
Second, Debt: the First 5000 Years by the late David Graeber -- What is the historical relationship of debt with social institutions such as barter, marriage, friendship, slavery, law, religion, war and government? Why do we keep debts fuzzy with friends, but settle them immediately with strangers? What exactly is money?
I imagine that the processes noticed by both McGilchrist and Graeber are interrelated in profound ways (i.e. the dual advent of physical currencies and complex civilizations incentivized profound shifts in cognition, arguably in favor of disembodied abstraction and decontextualization, creating in its wake what is termed "mental illness").
And why not? A final choice: The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Tolstoy -- "The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him." When Jesus says to turn the other cheek, Tolstoy asserts that he meant to abolish violence, period. A favorite quote: "The attitude of the ruling classes to the laborers is that of a man who has felled his adversary to the earth and holds him down, not so much because he wants to hold him down, as because he knows that if he let him go, even for a second, he would himself be stabbed, for his adversary is infuriated and has a knife in his hand. And therefore, whether their conscience is tender or the reverse, our rich men cannot enjoy the wealth they have filched from the poor as the ancients did who believed in their right to it. Their whole life and all their enjoyments are embittered either by the stings of conscience or by terror."
Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre.
The Prince by Machiavelli.
Categories by Aristotle.
- The Black Swan
- Antifragile
- Crucial Conversations
- Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby
The Holy Bible by God.
Near magical in how it can teach you to connect better with others in a real, lasting way.
Before reading it I felt like I had free will, but I didn’t know how to articulate why. A few hours later (it’s not a long read), it was clear to me that free will is an illusion.
To summarize, we can control what we do, but we can’t control what we want to do, which is a product of our genetics and our environment —- neither of which we have much control over.
This realization has eliminated all regret from my life, since it means that wishing I had made a different decision in the past is akin to wishing the laws of the universe were different.
By: James Nestor
I dislike Atlas Shrugged because it's a terrible novel with paper thin characters and cringeworthy dialogue. I'd argue that A Song of Ice and Fire, with its magic and dragons and undead armies still makes for a more realistic exploration of the human condition than the claptrap of Atlas Shrugged.
Life is too short to read Ayn Rand.
I didn’t find it cringy I couldn’t put it down. Especially during John Galts speech. Just brilliant if you ask me. There are cetainly things I don’t agree with but OP asked for novels that changed me.
Were taking opinions here btw, keep that mind.
There are comments on this very thread that recommend Atlas Shrugged that haven't been downvoted. The best way to get downvoted on HN is to complain about being downvoted.
> I’d say if a novel elicits so much consistent response it’s already worth reading.
That is a bizzare take. I'm pretty sure Mein Kapf would elicit a more consistently negative response.
> Were taking opinions here btw, keep that mind.
The people downvoting you are also expressing their opinion.
Letter To A Christian Nation - Sam Harris The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The moment you realize you've been lied to your whole life is horrific and liberating ... it's hard to describe. Took many years to "let go" but i don't think it would have been possible without these 2 books for me.
Outer Wilds.
Mechanically, you play as a space archaeologist stuck in a time loop. The whole game is a giant knowledge puzzle, and you explore an entire solar system in search of clues about a long-gone civilization.
If this sounds even remotely interesting, stop reading and go play the game, because every bit of information is a spoiler, and below I'll talk about my experiences about it. Seriously, do not watch any gameplay, just make sure your computer meets the (rather tame) requirements, buy [0] and play it, then you can come back.
---
It is not a motivational game. It doesn't have a point to make. Instead, it confronts you with an entire way of existence and makes you ask of yourself what you make of it, and any takeaways will be incredibly personal. Heck, even if you don't discover any intuitions, it's still an intrinsically fun experience that perfectly exercises the "nerd curiosity" (or "The Knack" as it is put in Dilbert [1]).
The game starts out as this vaguely giddy space adventure, but as you come to understand the Nomai, it instills in you so much true awe: The perseverance of these people, to settle in the galactic backwoods in search of the answer to the Universe. The melancholy of a people who achieved the pinnacle of technology, sure of their destiny, only to be destroyed oh so early. The incredible anxiety of living at the end of the Universe, where the only way out is to deny yourself of existence.
After wandering space for who knows how long, piecing together this intangible society and their long-overdue plans, while the rest of your kind seems to be on the spacefaring equivalent of a holiday break, you come to appreciate every little interaction with the present. This feeling is more welcome as you unfold the story, but you know it is empty time, so like the Nomai before, you must persevere, and solve the Universe. The consequences will be dear, but inevitable. The Universe is waiting on you.
For me, having played this game this game gave me a perspective to truly appreciate what I have, and the moment I live in, even despite all that is going on and how things seem to be going sour. It also rekindled my interest for discovery for discovery's sake, and, in a way, gave me peace towards the idea of death. It also gave me many perspectives about myself which I don't need to share online, but were really appreciated.
And then...
They made an expansion [2], which resolves the only remaining plot point of the story beautifully, and while it is more traditionally "puzzle"-y than the base game, is a great excuse for a replay, and gives you a new friend to mourn.
Just like in the base game, we had the naively curious Hearthians, and the incredibly rational Nomai, here we see a third take on the events of the game: An entire race of heartbroken people, who unlike the Nomai, seek to deny everyone from the answers seeked in game.
---
[0]: https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/ also available for consoles.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8vHhgh6oM0
[2]: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1622100/Outer_Wilds__Echo...
Book of the New Sun
First Things First https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00V1XGKJK/ref=tmm_kin_swat...
The Now Habit https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001QNVP7M/ref=tmm_kin_swat...
Chaos https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143113453/ref=tmm_pap_swat...
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B1FG8RW/ref=tmm_kin_swat...
My side of the mountain https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0525463461/ref=tmm_hrd_swat...
The Histories https://smile.amazon.com/Histories-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe-e...
The History of the Peloponnesian War https://smile.amazon.com/History-Peloponnesian-War-Thucydide...
The Social Contract https://smile.amazon.com/Social-Contract-Other-Political-Wri...
The Blank Slate - Stephen Pinker
Capitalist Realism - Mark Fisher
Straw Dogs - John Gray
Godel Esher Bach - Douglas Hoffstader
The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
Path with a Heart - Jack Kornfield
I read it a while ago but I remember James Clear being a really great author in that he really explains in detail why something works and gives a lot of anecdotes.
It's also a really systematic approach to solving the problem of habits. His focus on systems really changed the way I think about managing my attention and my time.
IMO it's probably the best self-help book I've read so far but tbf I haven't read a whole lot of them.
Thinking Fast and Slow. After you read it take a course on statistics & probability.
The Art of Strategy
The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance
Armor by John Steakley Great book of fiction, helped me understand PTSD.
Read a lot of Asimov, robot series, foundation and short stories starting with The Last Question.
Jules Verne
Mark Twain, various stories but particularly the Diary of Adam & Eve
The Jungle Book by Kipling
Lost Horizon
Robinson Crusoe
Dune Series
Enders Game and sequels.
The Odyssey
The Count of Monte Cristo
Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card because it helped me understand that a cultures internally consumed fiction tells you about its values.
The book of Ecclesiastes. The book of Job. Leviticus 25. Galatians 5:22-23. Romans 2:15. Luke 18:1-8. The minor prophets. Bible generally if you want to deep dive, I did once upon a time.
25th chapter of the First Epistle of Clement of Rome
Aristotle, Socrates.
Thus Spake Zarathustra
Through Gates of Splendor Peace Child
Let Freedom Ring. I was working illegally (as I recall) as a 15 year old teenager for Sean Hannity (as a w2 employee through a proxy) when this book came out and along with my personal interactions with him at the time it helped clarify that he is not a person whose opinion holds any weight or even much thought. I remember at the time thinking it was unbearably poor reading.
Farmer Giles of Ham. If you've already read the hobbit, LOTR, etc. it helped me understand the framing of Tolkien way better.
Then read Pride and Prejudice through the lens of Farmer Giles of Ham. Calling it a romance novel is a disservice.
A James Bond Novel. I can't remember the name but there is one in particular that describes why he always acts so overtly and not spy-ish at all. The explanation helped me understand why you should throw yourself fully into work projects and helped me get over fear of mistakes. It made me a far better consultant as well while I was doing that.
So good they can't ignore you & deep work.
How to win friends and influence people.
Run Silent, Run Deep.
The Communist Manifesto
The Christian Manifesto
From Dawn to Decadence.
Romance of the 7 kingdoms.
Life together.
There's a big yellow book about the 6 day war, it's very detailed and blow by blow, I can no longer remember its name but it impressed upon me the chance and vagaries of war.
The Free Will Defense. Alvin Plantinga (and the various philosophic revuttals/conversations)
In Defense of the Kalam Cosmological Argument. William Lane Craig (and the various philosophic revuttals/conversations)
No little people. Francis Schaeffer
The Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich.
The Rails Way. 1st edition.
Javascript. The good parts.
Visual quick start guide to SQL.
^These three are probably the most important books I ever read, they probably changed the trajectory of my life more than any others on the list.
Midnight's Children. Rushdie
Roberts Rules of Order.
The four loves
Love languages
A once popular anti catholic tract called "The Trail of Blood".
Basically there is truth, falsehood, history, emotion and understanding in all these works, synthesizing these particular books made me who I am today. There are many others but these are the ones that come quickly to mind and whose titles I can still mostly recall.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
It's not even my favourite Stephenson book (that would be Seveneves) but it's the one that made me reflect the most on philosophy and meaning.