5 ms·

Ask HN: Which books would you recommend to me that had a big impact on you

11 points by kilodeca 5y ago

woliveirajr 5y ago
Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion, from Cialdini. A good book to grasp the meaning of influence on other people (or from them upon you)
beyondcompute 5y ago
The Design of Everyday Things – Donald Norman
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
_gtly 5y ago
1984, Orwell Brave New World, Huxley Animal Farm, Orwell The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heinlein Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Persig Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut Catch-22, Heller The first 3-4 books of the Foundation Series, Asimov The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
diplodocusaur 5y ago
Several answers buried on HN past threads. A couple searches you can make at the foot of this page: > ask hn books impact > ask hn books made you > show hn books > ask hn favorite books > top hn books The last one especially since someone already thought of attempting to compile lists. The only problem is your question is too broad. Fiction, nonfiction, technical books? What are you trying to accomplish?
- kilodeca 5y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3323163 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3323163
elnatro 5y ago
I’m going to be “that guy” and not recommend books. I have read many (well 40-50) books and I wouldn’t say that books have taught me anything I couldn’t have learned by experiencing it. I mean, of course, Computer Science has made me read a lot of books, articles, blog posts, etc. but from the personal point of view, experiences (traveling, meeting new people, moving to a new city, getting a new job) are the things that have taught me more. I don’t know, maybe I’m an illiterate or maybe I was bad choosing books (I think the later could be true). So, keep reading but also keep having new (healthy) experiences!
- Jtsummers 5y ago
  40-50 in your lifetime? Of what sort? It seems hard to judge the impact of books when you’ve read so few.
  - elnatro 5y ago
    Excluding novels and such.
mandmandam 5y ago
His Dark Materials series by Pullman 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez The Culture series by Banks
koolhead17 5y ago
Enchiridion of Epictetus https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus/the-enchiridion/elizabeth-carter https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus/the-enchiridion/...
mikewarot 5y ago
1632 by Eric Flint - Very interesting alternative history, which really gets you thinking about what it takes to run civilization. It's a series, and 1632 is the first book.
room505 5y ago
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore
acquiremoney 5y ago
Antifragile Ishmael Siddhartha Black swan
ollran 5y ago
The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989) by Žižek

11 points by kilodeca 5y ago

Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion, from Cialdini. A good book to grasp the meaning of influence on other people (or from them upon you)

beyondcompute 5y ago

The Design of Everyday Things – Donald Norman

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

_gtly 5y ago

1984, Orwell Brave New World, Huxley Animal Farm, Orwell The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heinlein Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Persig Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut Catch-22, Heller The first 3-4 books of the Foundation Series, Asimov The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

diplodocusaur 5y ago

Several answers buried on HN past threads. A couple searches you can make at the foot of this page: > ask hn books impact > ask hn books made you > show hn books > ask hn favorite books > top hn books The last one especially since someone already thought of attempting to compile lists. The only problem is your question is too broad. Fiction, nonfiction, technical books? What are you trying to accomplish?

kilodeca 5y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3323163 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3323163

elnatro 5y ago

I’m going to be “that guy” and not recommend books. I have read many (well 40-50) books and I wouldn’t say that books have taught me anything I couldn’t have learned by experiencing it. I mean, of course, Computer Science has made me read a lot of books, articles, blog posts, etc. but from the personal point of view, experiences (traveling, meeting new people, moving to a new city, getting a new job) are the things that have taught me more. I don’t know, maybe I’m an illiterate or maybe I was bad choosing books (I think the later could be true). So, keep reading but also keep having new (healthy) experiences!

Jtsummers 5y ago
40-50 in your lifetime? Of what sort? It seems hard to judge the impact of books when you’ve read so few.
- elnatro 5y ago
  Excluding novels and such.

mandmandam 5y ago

His Dark Materials series by Pullman 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez The Culture series by Banks

koolhead17 5y ago

Enchiridion of Epictetus https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus/the-enchiridion/elizabeth-carter https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus/the-enchiridion/...

mikewarot 5y ago

1632 by Eric Flint - Very interesting alternative history, which really gets you thinking about what it takes to run civilization. It's a series, and 1632 is the first book.

room505 5y ago

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore

acquiremoney 5y ago

Antifragile Ishmael Siddhartha Black swan

ollran 5y ago

The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989) by Žižek