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Ask HN: What book do you recommend everyone should read?
Hi HN,
Every person I've come across always has one book that sits at the top of their book list that they would recommend to everyone. For me, it's "How to win friends & influence people" by Dale Carnegie. What's your book?
- mindcrime 10y agoThe Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
- TheVip 10y agoCommenting so that I can come here later
- trcollinson 10y agoThe reason folks here are downvoting you is because you can favorite a submission or a discussion and see it in your own profile. No need to comment so you can come back. :)
- TheVip 10y agoWell, thanks for telling the reason. I'll take care from next time
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ed_balls 10y agoPeter Thiel - Zero to One
- hammadnasir 10y agoreading these days...
- madamelic 10y agoI read it in one sitting. I wouldn't say it is a must read, but it brings up a few good points. It isn't a heavy thinking book, it is like an extended Medium post. If you want to hear Thiel's ideas, it is worth a read but otherwise I wouldn't really recommend it.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- dudul 10y agoSun Tzu - The Art of War.
- tnecniv 10y agoYou can breeze through it in an afternoon and it ends up being strangely applicable to life.
- dudul 10y agoTBH if you read it in an afternoon you're probably missing on a lot of things. I find that the original text on its own is very hard to fully understand. Usually better to read a commented/detailed edition. At least that's my experience. But yeah, it is amazing how it can apply to so many things.
- victorhn 10y agoThe bible.
- madamelic 10y agoA bit dry but worth a read. You will know more about Christianity than a lot of Christians. It's definitely a good book if you are looking for common sense morality. I think the Jefferson Bible is a better book if you are looking for moral teachings (never read it, only heard about it)
- tbihl 10y agoOn the Bible front, I'd recommend a story bible. There's a good reason so many people fail to read the Bible: it's full of motivational landmines such as genealogies. Even reading a story bible would put one far ahead in terms of understanding. The one I read is the Ritchie pruehs story bible, which is free as a Kindle book.
- mvpu 10y ago1. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth - http://amzn.to/2mLuQyU http://amzn.to/2mLuQyU 2. The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman - http://amzn.to/2mXSlFB http://amzn.to/2mXSlFB 3. Strengths Finder by Gallup Press - http://amzn.to/2mqDNuY http://amzn.to/2mqDNuY
- akulbe 10y ago1. How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie 2. Deep Work - Cal Newport 3. Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman
- anotheryou 10y agowouly you say it's enough to read the wikipedia page on the first one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People#Twelve_Things_This_Book_Will_Do_For_You https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influen... The only section where I would use an example is with "Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers.". It's also one of the few that are not just about being positive and honest.
- dragon1st 10y agoFiction: The Baroque Circle + Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson Non-Fiction: Presence - Amy Cuddy
- madengr 10y agoAsimov's Foundation
- kleer001 10y agoNon Fiction: Godel Escher Bach Fiction: Seveneves Both of these I've read several times and glean new things each reading. And those things I've learned have formed essential parts of the heuristics I use on a day to day basis to deal with the dark ambiguities of life.
- kevindeasis 10y agoHow to win friends and influence people Man's search for meaning Architecture of happiness Eternal Golden Braid
- asagdullaev 10y agoRich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki
- madamelic 10y agoI've heard that book isn't very good. It is full of stories that didn't happen and are just Robert's ideas about what makes a rich person rich. Basically, Robert got rich from telling others how rich people are. I've read plenty of books about finances that are just mind-numbingly obvious that it is a skip for anyone with common sense. Would you agree RDPD is that kind of book? https://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-investment-blog/61651011-john-t-reeds-analysis-of-robert-t-kiyosakis-book-rich-dad-poor-dad-part-1 https://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-in...
- eswat 10y ago> It is full of stories that didn't happen and are just Robert's ideas about what makes a rich person rich. If you read it like a parable similar to The Richest Man in Babylon or The Alchemist you can still gather some useful info and refreshers from this book.
- Curiositry 10y agoA Guide to the Good Life, by William B. Irvine
- alinalex 10y agoAntifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- niosus 10y agoSurely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character. It is very motivating, witty and just great fun to read!
- abhis27 10y agoThe Holy Bible (y)
- fiftyacorn 10y agoMan's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl Bogleheads for investing
- eip 10y agoTransylvania Sunrise
- sixQuarks 10y ago1. Cosmos 2. Demon Haunted World Both by Carl Sagan
- Bumerang 10y agoFiction: The Martian - Andy Weir Non fiction: Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
- playing_colours 10y agoPeak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise http://peakthebook.com/index.html http://peakthebook.com/index.html It is on deliberate practice. Together with "Deep Work" can help to build a personal system to achieve the goals in study, work, etc.
- roystonvassey 10y agoFiction: War and Peace; the more everything changes the same humans stay. 200 years old and yet you can empathise with every character Non-fiction: Letters from Seneca; the only philosophy book I enjoyed and whose tenets I aim to practise every day.
- steeef 10y agoDid you mean "Letters from a Stoic" by Seneca?
- roystonvassey 10y agoYes, you're right. Thanks for pointing that out!
- chauhankiran 10y ago1. Prithvivallabh (Gujarati Book) by K.M. Munshi 2. Glimpses of World History[0] by J. Naheru [0]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glimpses_of_World_History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glimpses_of_World_History
- NumberCruncher 10y agoIf you want to play the game: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene And if you don't: How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World
- trcollinson 10y agoThe Mythical Man Month: Essays on Software Engineering - Frederick Brooks The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company - David Packard I have read countless books and articles and have attended countless discussions and talks on software engineering and business practices and it never ceases to amaze me how many of the principles tie right back to these two books. Each is short and can be easily tackled together in a day or less.
- tjalfi 10y agoTechnical - Hacker's Delight by Henry Warren Fiction - The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
- sugarygrind 10y agoHealth Related: 1. The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss Jason Fung 2. Tripping Over the Truth: The Return of the Metabolic Theory of Cancer
- tbihl 10y agoDeath and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs. If you ever think about the design of your town or city or wonder why it's not safe to go out after dark in parts of your city, among many other things, it's applicable to you. Reading Jacobs' most famous book, you're hit with this feeling that she possessed the perfect balance of humility and knowledge. That we still make the mistakes she described half a century ago is quite unfortunate, especially once you realize the we do and for a long time, have, known better.
- edpichler 10y agoI recommend a book only recently I could read, the classic: 1984 by George Orwell Every citizen should read it, on my opinion.
- edpichler 10y agoAnother book I recommend: On the shortness of life, by Seneca I's life changing, it teaches you the importance to do not waste our most precious finite resource.
- id122015 10y ago"Economics in one lesson" I found it on a libertarian website, free to download, its about free market, against government intervention. It gives many examples of how "anything that the government touches, it dies"
- antoaravinth 10y agoDeep work is one of the best book I had read in this year https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1455586692/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489895766&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=deep+work https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1455586692/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=...