4 ms·

There are many books which sound good in theory but I think my younger self would not have been able to make use of the wisdom in those books because I did not

There are many books which sound good in theory but I think my younger self would not have been able to make use of the wisdom in those books because I did not have the experience to relate to what the book was talking about. Nevertheless, if I had to ignore this factor, I too, like many others in this thread, recommend "The Mythical Man Month". However, I think, it's more important to figure out what one wants from life than to just better one's craft. Of course if that is what you want in life, then indeed pursuing that makes sense. I'm also tempted to recommend "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse and "The Consolations of Philosophy" by Alain de Botton.

commandlinefan 8y ago
> recommend "The Mythical Man Month" But be prepared to come away very depressed than a book that's now 44 years old contains wisdom that none of the people who ought to have absorbed it have.
modbait 8y ago
If we're going meta, I'd add Ecclesiastes (yes, from the Bible). Doesn't matter whether you're religious--this was also a favorite of noted atheist Christopher Hitchens, for example. The basic theme is that everything is ephemeral. This really starts to resonate when you see how fast the results of your labors over a period of decades fade, turn to dust, and are utterly forgotten. As you yourself will be in short order. Ultimate medicine for keeping things in perspective. Here's a particularly readable paraphrase: https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-New-Under-Sun-Ecclesiastes/dp/1530872804/ https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-New-Under-Sun-Ecclesiastes/dp...