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Ask HN: Which book had the biggest impact on your personality?
- JPLeRouzic 9y agoFor 55 years at least it was "Stand on Zanzibar" by John Brunner [0]. Now I am really impressed by the Culture serie [1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series
- nxsynonym 9y agoI'm finishing consider phlebas now, it's awesome. Can't wait to dive into others in the series. Any suggestion on what to read next?
- computerwizard 9y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kybalion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kybalion
- JSeymourATL 9y agoFeeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns > http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46674.Feeling_Good http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46674.Feeling_Good
- cableshaft 9y agoI really started to take life and society a lot less seriously after I read The Illuminatus! Trilogy when I was a young teenager. It seemed to break through my mental barriers a lot better than any other book. It reads kind of like an acid trip, wandering around from the headspace of one character to another character throughout time and space, sometimes mid-sentence, but over the course of the book it tells an entertaining romp chock full of conspiracies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy More recently I've been reading through Antifragile: Things that Gain From Disorder by Nassim Taleb, and while I'm not completely on board with everything he said (his assertions that academia contributed virtually nothing to the development of the computer rang particularly false to me, so some of his other assertions are similarly suspect), it is forcing me to think of how I can live my life in a way that is less susceptible to things outside of my control. For example, I've been following cryptocurrencies quite a bit and have some 'skin in the game' there, and that field does seem to require some 'antifragile' thinking in order to weather its volatility. The book seems to be particularly good if you want to get more into the entrepreneurial or creative mindset. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile
- jotjotzzz 9y ago"7 Habits of Highly Effective People". Even just the first chapter on "Be Proactive" by taking responsibility of your life was a wake-up call. Here's a good summary of all the 7 habits: https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit1.php https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit1.php Well worth the read or listen if you haven't already.
- Powerofmene 9y agoMan's Search for Meaning
- AlexAMEEE 9y agoEverything that Arthur Schopenhauer wrote. It's a lot about finding purpose in life. I started reading his stuff and then I became angry at him and at me. At him because he showed me that I'm a slave of nature and at me because I started questioning life and humanity. Then I started to disprove his thesis and found my own purpose in life, not only that, it also gave me a much better understanding of human nature, which can be used in marketing or product design.
- twbarber 9y agoAny of his work in particular?
- AlexAMEEE 9y ago'The world as will and representation' is probably the most important. I would actually just recommend a book that does a summary of all his books, that's enough in my opinion. His stuff is very hard to read and I often had to ask professionals who then translated or explained it to me.
- noam87 9y ago> Everything that Arthur Schopenhauer wrote. Though you're probably good just skimming over anything he had to say about women or non-white people :p Even my 19th-century edition of his essays comes with a prefatory warning.
- AlexAMEEE 9y agoI agree, it's recommended to read a summary of all his texts.
- rwieruch 9y agoMaybe Give and Take? [0] - [0] https://www.robinwieruch.de/lessons-learned-give-and-take/ https://www.robinwieruch.de/lessons-learned-give-and-take/
- SirLJ 9y agoThe Asian Saga by James Clavell https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Asian_Saga https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Asian_Saga
- FullMtlAlcoholc 9y agoThe Hero with A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces?wprov=sfla1 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Fac...
- 2_listerine_pls 9y ago"Are you Bill Gates?" by William Gates.
- suramya_tomar 9y ago'How to Win Friends and Influence People' by Dale Carnegie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influen...
- mkrishnan 9y ago"The monk who sold his Ferrari". It helped me quit smoking and run 2 marathons.
- Chickenosaurus 9y agoMeditations by Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD) helped me to keep going in tough times and to be a happier person.
- andrei_says_ 9y agoI am that
- r0brodz 9y agoBhagavad-gita 1972 edition by Prabhupada
- cromd 9y agoLetters from a Stoic (a Seneca collection). A lot of the ideas were completely foreign to me, having grown up with a little too much television, politics, food, etc.
- crispytx 9y agoThe Texas Penal Code ;)
- AnitoKid 9y ago1. The Flight of the Doves by Walter Macken - read it when I was about 9-10 years old. 2. Master of the Game by Sydney Sheldon - read it when I was in high school.