Ask HN: Books worth reading multiple times? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Books worth reading multiple times?

10 pointsmanceraio19 comments

I've seen this advice in different tweets and podcast that goes like this:

"It's better to read one good book multiple times than multiple books once" or "I would rather read the best 100 books over and over again until I absorb them rather than read all the books."

However I fail to identify what books are worth reading over and over again.

So, what books did you read more than once and are worth keep reading?

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This topic keeps popping up every few months or so and my response is the same; 1. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Csikszentmihalyi. I bought this book only last fall but have read it thrice already within the last 6 months. Why? I was grappling with severe mid-life crisis(existential) and found this book at that time. It saved myself and my career. It helped me really assess what was important in my life and how to attain that what is important. Very short read but very heavy at times. 2. Psychocybernetics-Maxwell Maltz. I bought this book after listening to the Audible audio book. which I listened to at least half a dozen times on my long walks. Found this also super useful along with Flow to navigate my mid-life crisis. Recommend actually reading the book which I have since then twice. hope this helps.

The classics, the most famous books of the last few thousand years, are a good bet. They've appealed to many generations. You have to read them to find out which ones speak to you.

For me, I'm constantly rereading the essays and non-fiction/philosophical writings of Hazlitt, Emerson, Chesterton, Stevenson, Santayana, William James, Collingwood. For 20+ years so far. Others, like Nietzsche, Wilde, Hilary Putnam, Dewey, I don't read so constantly but I've read some/most of their books over and over again. Wilde's Intentions, Putnam's Realism with a Human Face, Dewey's Art as Experience, for example, and almost everything of Nietzsche's, e.g. Human, All Too Human or Daybreak, I find endlessly rereadable. Chesterton, Nietzsche and Wilde are very funny too.

FYI, the essay that proposes to read good books multiple times is from Rolf Dobelli: https://www.dobelli.com/en/essays/how-to-read-books/

> So, what books did you read more than once and are worth keep reading?

I reread most of the books that I enjoyed reading the first time. Reading is my hobby, I only read what I like reading. Likewise, if I don't like a book after reading the first 50 pages, I stop reading. The earlier I admit my mistake, the better.

I read the bible in a year every day. I think as I get older I find it more fascinating. There is not much new under the sun as the book says, regarding human affairs.

Great suggestion

Interesting question. I read all kinds of books (mostly non-fiction) but I just realized I mostly reread poetry and comic books. Not sure why.

What meals are worth eating again and again?

Depends on your taste. Sounds like you haven't found something that rings that bell for you.

Personally I've read "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut three times and each time in one sitting. Then again I've read "Fragment" from Warren Fahy 3 times too. Some people reread their holy book dozens of times. It's all very personal.

Are movies or tv shows worth watching more than once? Music worth listening to more than once? … If somebody enjoys reading, revisiting a book can provide a way of spending time, remind the reader of what happened or reveal detail that was missed the first time.

With movies - especially remakes and adaptations there is additional motivation to see another take on familiar material (I suppose it also works with music and covers). I personally love to watch adaptations of Count of Monte Cristo - despite same overall story the differences are staggering ( which remainds me and makes me a bit sad that there was no new movie adaptation since Cavieziel one some 20 years ago)

"Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made" by Jason Schreier - especially episode about Stardew Valley - I just enjoy those stories, they are such an inspiration :)

Brave new world is small enough that you can read it in a day or two at the beach, I've read it twice almost unintentionally simply because of how short it is.

In my case, Fear - Thich Nhat Hanh and Travels - Michael Crichton

Additionally I've got a lot out of:

The Old Man and the Sea - Hemmingway L'Etranger - Camus The Castle / The Trial - Kafka

Any Thomas Pynchon, especially Gravity's Rainbow. The rabbit holes are endless.

The war of art by pressfield is worth reading more than once.

I read On Writing Well every few years.

Aion, by Carl Jung.

easy.

"finite and infinite games" by james carse.

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