Ask HN: Which two books were the most influential on you?

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. Should be read by all who wonder how our minds work - and how much happens "behind the scenes", "under the covers".

Darwin's Dangerous Idea, by Daniel Dennett. Should be read by all curious to know the full implications of mechanistic evolution (hint: think about what came before life).

The Mating Mind, by Geoffrey Miller. Must-read for anyone in marketing, or anyone wondering why the other guy got laid and you didn't.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond. Why are we rich and they poor? Why so few domesticated African animals? Why one big China and a many-state Europe?

The Laughter of Triumph: William Hone and the Fight for the Free Press, by Ben Wilson. Great read about an early 19th C. struggle against unjust laws used to gag journalism. Relevant in today's age of bloggers, etc.

1. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (No pun intended).

This book really turned my head around and made me realize how there are people (especially ones in the Sales & Marketing realm) out there waiting to sneak one past you. Don't be surprised (not if you can help it), if while reading the book you go "Oh my, someone actually used that trick on me!".

2. The Mindbody Prescription

I understand that some people are skeptical about the theory (TMS) that Dr John Sarno proposes (I was too at first). I'm no neuro-scientist to attest anything in the book, but empirical evidence (experiences of mine and a few others even on HN) seems to suggest the possibility of Dr Sarno getting it right. Anyway, it seemed to help me overcome a problem I had with my wrists and I'm thankful.

1) Diaspora - Greg Egan. Absolutely changed my world view regarding our place in the universe, the nature of conscious minds, and the potential for post-biological life.

2) Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance. Pulled this off the shelf at random in a book store 3-4 years ago and found out that modern Finance involves a bunch of mathematics and programming. Started me on a course of learning everything I could learn about the subject and changed my "life arc" very much for the better.

1) Rockets, Missiles and Men in Space - Willy Ley ( side note: I rescued this book from a friend who was using it for target practice with an airgun!)

2) Chaos - James Gleick

(I have to mention this one too) The Armchair Universe : An exploration of Computer Worlds - A. K. Dewdney

Untethered Soul. Just finished it but I can already say it has influenced me more than anything spirituality related I have read in the last 10 years.

The power of this book is it's clearity and simplicity. It's not a new age book and not a how-to book. I feel I made a huge leap to a new level of inner tranquility. Maybe it's just the right book at the right time and something I needed to hear but it amazes me how direct the words speak to me.

There's also a short article of the same author on huffington post if you want to get an idea of what is it about.

As the OP asked for two books and we're on HN I'd say SICP

This is going to sound like sucking up on hacker news but....

Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham. It is the reason I looked into lisp. A very entertaining read that made me change my opinion on several political issues.

Definitely Getting Real (by 37signals). My bossed showed it to me shortly after I started in the tech industry. I remember being inspired by their process for producing products, and running a business.

0) The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup

1) Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson and Sussman

2) Kvachi Kvachantiradze by Mikheil Javakhishvili

Think & Grow Rich

How to Win Friends & Influence People

1. Naked economics. This is essentially a primer on Econ, I read it when I was 17 or so and it taught me 90% of what I was taught getting ivy Econ degree. Short, easy, intuitive read, can't recommend it enough. 2. Innovators dilemma. This is where the now-meaningless-buzzword 'disrupt' comes from.

The Startup Owners Manual by Steve Blank and Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

Atlas Shrugged

The Fountainhead

(both by Ayn Rand)

Halmos, 'Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces'

Rudin, 'Real and Complex Analysis'

1) The Burn Collector by All Burian 2) Getting Real by 37 Signals

1. The Fountainhead

2. The Power of Habit

3. Think and Grow Rich

4. The 4-Hour Workweek

5. Pragmatic Thinking and Learning