Books that changed my life: "Hackers: heroes of the computer revolution" (Steven Levy). I bet this book is quite familiar to many news.yc readers. For me, it w

Books that changed my life: "Hackers: heroes of the computer revolution" (Steven Levy). I bet this book is quite familiar to many news.yc readers. For me, it was the first book I read that introduced me to the idea that software could be written by ordinary people and not just big companies (I was pretty young and didn't have much experience using a computer at the time). After reading this, I went out and found Linux & then stopped using windows. "The Backpacker" (John Harris - pseudonym). It's a big world out there with plenty of adventures to be had. I read this a few years ago and have wanted to travel ever since. (next week I'm going to France to spend a few months cycling. I'll probably get to go to Spain/Italy a little too) "Neuromancer" (William Gibson). I can't remember when I first read this but I've come back to it a dozen times over the years. Gibson is my favourite fiction author (though his books seems to get closer to reality over time as technology catches up with him). This book really inspired me to drink lots of coffee and sit in front of a computer 20 hours straight. The insomnia and caffeine addiction were worth it considering what fun I've had in the process. "startup: a silicon valley adventure" (Jerry Kaplan). This is Kaplans book about his experience with building Go corporation (early PDA's). I saw how intense his experience was and decided that I was going to have my own company one day. Other news.yc readers: please post your own books too - knowing what people have read is a great way to get inside their head and see what they are like and you guys are an interesting bunch of people.