45 ms·

Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

• ww520 5y ago
  The Little Prince. Ages young and old will get something out of it.
  • rntksi 5y ago
    This is one of my favourite as well. I like the symbolism and how reading it at different stages in my life has given me different meanings.
• Reclix 5y ago
  The Nature of Consciousness, by Rupert Spira. If you set aside your preconceived notions and read it as a series of hypotheses that must be confirmed within your own direct experience, it will transform your experience of reality and set you on the (pathless) path to enlightenment.
• cyneox 5y ago
  - Way of the peaceful warrior - Range - Conversations with God - Factfulness - Accelerate: Building and Scaling High-Performing Technology Organizations
• itayd 5y ago
  Honestly surprised that "Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan was not mentioned so far.
• fvold 5y ago
  1984. Yes, I know you've probably read it already, but it's probably time to read it again.
  • BoumTAC 5y ago
    I think Animal's farm is better and a lot closer to our current system
    • codeflo 5y ago
      Some people think that 1984 is mostly about surveillance, but that’s a superficial reading IMO. I think it’s a lot more about bending the truth and suppressing ideas. A quote that haunts me: “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” Do we have that freedom in the west, today? Will we have it tomorrow? It’s a lot less clear than one would hope.
      • fvold 5y ago
        Exactly. Surveillance is one of the methods of control, but it's really about oppressing the way people think, shaping it to suit the needs of The Party.
  • atulatul 5y ago
    It seems some people say they have read it even when they haven't. (Citation needed.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y83UkvHpYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y83UkvHpYk
    • codeflo 5y ago
      I can believe that more people started to read it than actually finished it. Plot points from the latter half of the book are only referenced very rarely.
  • wreath 5y ago
    I never read this book. I bought it at some point in mid-2020 and it was too real, i had to put it down because it was making me angry.
• egc 5y ago
  The World without us Its an incredible non-fiction book
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
• pizza 5y ago
  at the risk of sounding like a broken record freedom from the known
• anon2020dot00 5y ago
  Not for everyone, but some people would probably benefit from reading Clayton Christensen's books such as The Innovator's Dilemma, Competing Against Luck and How Will You Measure Your Life? His explanation of Correlation vs Causation while likely obvious to some was eye-opening for me as well as his idea of looking at products from what Job they fulfill standpoint
• theshrike79 5y ago
  If you're in software, read Peopleware. _Especially_ if you lead, or intend to lead, any kind of team.
• youeseh 5y ago
  Getting More by Stuart Dimond is a good book on negotiating and building relationships.
• byteface 5y ago
  The death of Superman (Graphic Novel)
  • rdevsrex 5y ago
    This was literally the first comic book I ever read. Got me hooked.
• Pandabob 5y ago
  Talebs Fooled by randomness.
• honkycat 5y ago
  Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a book about turning beauty into ruin. About the stupidity and cruelty of man. And also about the authors love of humanity and finding joy and love in the fate we all share. Vonnegut stared into the abyss and never lost his idealism.
  • LeonB 5y ago
    I generally list this as my favorite book. Have read it god knows how many times. Recently found an audio version read by Vonnegut himself - originally released on vinyl. It was great to hear him tell it, though it is quite abridged. A different (and unabridged) audio version I found recently was read by the actor Ethan Hawke — and though I respect the man, his voice/acting just couldn’t do the material justice. Great work of art.
• tcmb 5y ago
  'The Book' by Alan Watts
  • marginalia_nu 5y ago
    I wasn't particularly impressed with this one. He came off as very preachy. Watts is an entertaining guy, however. Definitely the pill I needed at one point of my life.
    • tcmb 5y ago
      He used to be an anglican priest, so no wonder he's coming off as preachy. :) By abandoning the anglican church and incorporating eastern religion and philosophy, he was able to teach much broader and also more suitable for his audience in the 1960s (and onward). Much of what he says is very inspiring but he also tends to over-generalize in order to make his point salient. It should be reflected upon and taken with a healthy grain of salt. My experience was similar to yours, I think. The book opened my perspective on how to think about myself and the world around me, and it was a stepping stone towards the original sources of Hinduism and Buddhism.
• tomcooks 5y ago
  Starting Strength by Rippletoe Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
  • TameAntelope 5y ago
    I would only recommend Ripptoe if you’re already strength training or have a passion for the mechanics of strength exercises, because if it’s not immediately practical or a fascination, the book will likely bore you.
    • tomcooks 5y ago
      Opposite of my experience, helps you have the proper mechanical info to learn the basics, skipping marketing nonsense and mumbo jumbo. Knowing how to lift something heavy safely goes beyond the practice of strength training, it's a life skill.
      • TameAntelope 5y ago
        It's multiple hundreds of pages, and a gigantic waste of time for anyone who isn't interested in the mechanics of strength training. Not everyone is interested in the same things as you.
• Shared404 5y ago
  Not for everyone, but those who it is for very much should read this - but not without understanding that it can be quite triggering at times. : The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma -Bessel van der Kolk It's not an easy read for said people, but very worthwhile. Was introduced at a friends place and got a little ways in, waiting to pick up my own copy now. Edit: Also "The Art of War" is fun. It mostly boils down to common sense, but it's interesting to see application of first principles to ancient warfare.
  • kh_hk 5y ago
    Not a book I would recommend without a trigger warning.
    • tosstoyevsky 5y ago
      For the Art of War? If you need a trigger warning for a book that’s been around for 2500 years you should stick to Golden Books.
      • Shared404 5y ago
        No, the first book I recommended. The above commenter is very right - that's the role I'd intended the line beneath it to fill, though it clearly doesn't.
      • kh_hk 5y ago
        If you know the art of war, and you do understand that it requires no trigger warning, why would you assume it applies to it and not the book you do not know about? Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.
  • kkoncevicius 5y ago
    I read it recently and didn't like it that much. 1/3 of the book is author praising himself for what he had accomplished, another 1/3 are success stories from his patients and one-sided presentation of research that agrees with his points. The rest 1/3 of the book I found interesting. As many modern books - it suffers from lack of focus; my opinion.
• senectus1 5y ago
  Accelerando - Charles Stross (actually Glass House as well)
  • vertis 5y ago
    This is an often overlooked book. Definitely worth the read.
• barbe 5y ago
  The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
• bsdz 5y ago
  How the mind works - Steven Pinker.
• devindotcom 5y ago
  As a "general" recommendation I think "The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster (1909) is an especially interesting read today. Extremely prescient and a fun, short book. For someone more ambitious I might recommend "The Anatomy of Melancholy," by Richard Burton (17th c.). At least the preface (around 100 pages) and maybe a smattering of the book proper. It's hard to explain - better to look it up. For something more recent and immediately relevant, I think "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Davis was quite eye opening about the history of racism in law enforcement and the production of the modern prison system.
• dsnr 5y ago
  Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
  • TheMonarchist 5y ago
    It is waiting its turn on my table btw.
• dgellow 5y ago
  Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden
• scary-size 5y ago
  The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street and Get on with Your Life by Bill Schultheis. Short concise, actionable advice.
• nullptr_deref 5y ago
  Maybe not for all but, Bhagavad Gita: As it is. Do not read the explanation which are biased to god and religion. But you can definitely read the stanzas. The idea that we are actor whose duty is to act is a powerful concept, especially when you are feeling low. The book also has some egoistic stuff like "I am god, obey me." But once you filter some of these, you see bigger picture.
  • banana2 5y ago
    Definitely not a recommendation I see often. I only came to know of the Gita by this quote: "To work you have the right, but not to the fruits thereof". Resonated with me, and brought me to the concept of "karma yoga". How did you come across it?
    • going_ham 5y ago
      Short story: I was lost during the early college days. I already had the book in my home for a while and decided to go through it. Once I finished it, I adopted some of the ideas from the book. Immediately, I realized how powerful the concept of acting (karma yoga) is!
      • banana2 5y ago
        Can I ask if you're Hindu or born in India (only if you are comfortable sharing)? Because I don't see many outside of those 2 circles knowing of this text - and I'm really looking for a different interpretation / view of it, rather than the traditional one. (I am neither, if it matters)
    • passion__desire 5y ago
      Alternative worded quote : "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." - Jean-Luc Picard
      • banana2 5y ago
        Hm, I would disagree. I think they are 2 different quotes, both meaningful in their own ways. I could elaborate more if you'd like.
• docdeek 5y ago
  Messiah by Boris Starling
• lmeyerov 5y ago
  Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation Product-led growth for deep tech category creation sounds like a new thing, but there's almost a century of quantitative social science on pretty much that. The book is a super easy & enjoyable distillation of it. ~10 years after reading, still inspires a lot of my first-principles thinking for how we approach basic product, marketing, partnering, etc
• chegra 5y ago
  Mini-Habit by Stephen Guise. "A mini habit is basically a much smaller version of a new habit you want to form. 100 push-ups daily is minified into one push-up daily. Writing 3,000 words daily becomes writing 50 words daily. Thinking positively all the time becomes thinking two positive thoughts per day. Living an entrepreneurial lifestyle becomes thinking of two ideas per day (among other entrepreneurial things). The foundation of the Mini Habits system is in “stupid small” steps." I did a summary here : https://www.chestergrant.com/26-highlights-from-mini-habits-by-stephen-guise https://www.chestergrant.com/26-highlights-from-mini-habits-...
  • ismail 5y ago
    This idea sounds like “tiny habits”, elaborated in the book by BJ Fogg? Have you read both? If so which would you recommend?
    • chegra 5y ago
      I never read his book, but I have taken a course by him via email. But yes, I believe they are the same thing. I think BJ Fogg has a more academic bent to it while this is a book from someone telling a story about what worked for them. I tend to like personal stories backed up with scientific evidence(I don't know if tiny habit is like that since I never read it). But, I like the practical implementation steps given in a personal story. What this book has over the stuff I was doing via email is that it is less complicated.
    • is_true 5y ago
      There's also atomic habits. It seems authors were in search of the smallest habit possible. Probably smaller = easier for readers searching for shortcuts to build willpower Can't wait for subatomic habits!!
      • playeren 5y ago
        I'm actually writing a book called "Quantum Habits". I've only gotten to the title, so far.
• BoumTAC 5y ago
  For European, I would recommend Basic Economics from Thomas Sowell. To have a total opposite mindset of the socialist we have here was mind blowing for me.
  • mek6800d2 5y ago
    Yes, Sowell has that effect on people. Once you get your mind back together, I recommend that you (and anyone) read Zola's masterpiece, Germinal, a testament to the virtues of capitalism.
  • olalonde 5y ago
    I really liked his book "Intellectuals and Society" as well. Of course, it is opinionated but there's also a lot of great insight on the root of disagreements in politics. His theory being that there are two broad competing visions of the world: the utopian vs the tragic. Thomas Sowell himself adheres to the tragic vision (e.g. human nature is essentially unchanging and that man is naturally inherently self-interested, etc.).
• lbacaj 5y ago
  The best two books for engineers are 1) “How to win friends and influence people” 2) “Never split the difference” The first one will teach you how to work with people. The second will teach you how to negotiate salaries, raises, and promotions among other things. I don’t recommend many technical books because engineers can find all of that on the internet and are much more at risk of being bad at people stuff.
  • ricardbejarano 5y ago
    Chris Voss (Never Split the Difference) is largely responsible for my income level today. Absolutely life-changing book. He also made a MasterClass.com video course with the same content, if you'd rather watch than read.
  • pengaru 5y ago
    > 1) “How to win friends and influence people” The folks I know who have this on their bookshelf tend to be dishonest, manipulative, self-centered pricks.
    • olalonde 5y ago
      They didn't read it then. I read it a while ago and from what I can remember there was nothing about manipulation or dishonesty. In fact I'm fairly sure manipulation and dishonesty were explicitly discouraged.
      • pengaru 5y ago
        I never read it cover to cover, but paged through some random parts and it certainly contained guidance away from authenticity and towards identifying and saying/doing the right things to achieve your goals. It's not a bad thing to read though, but more in terms of understanding what your competition is reading and tools they're potentially weaponizing (lots of copies have been sold). Just like I recommended my sister at least skim The Game when she was frustrated by her post-divorce dating experiences, which based on her description were at least partially being influenced by assholes having read it.
• aristofun 5y ago
  The Bible - as an original source of all types of stories and narratives you’ll find in 99% of all fiction books and movies. New Testament — as an original source of most of moral principles and ideas modern european civilization is based upon (also fundamental stories and narratives).
  • backtoyoujim 5y ago
    Or th4ey
  • laumars 5y ago
    I’ve read the Bible and frankly I wouldn’t recommend. Putting aside that the different translations can sometimes drastically change the meaning of some stories, the English Bible as a whole is harder to grok than Shakespeare. Then there are issues about how it was written by man, in the literal sense. Female testaments were left out. And some of the male testaments were only included hundreds of years after the death of Jesus. And then you have parts that are routinely taken out of context (because it’s such an massive and hard to read body of works) and other parts that contradict itself. Regardless of whether you believe in God or not, the Bible isn’t a particularly good book in my opinion.
    • aristofun 5y ago
      I didn’t say it was an easy read. For good or for bad - those books require efforts. But once you dig to at least 1% of the stories and ideas - you save weeks skipping tons of shallow books out there.
      • deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      • laumars 5y ago
        Reading something unenjoyable just for the sake of not having to read something else that you might enjoy doesn’t sound like a particularly compelling reason to read the first book. Besides, if all you’re trying to do is compress lessons in story writing then you’re better off skipping the Bible and picking up a collection of kids stories - particularly for ages 6 and below because those will often also follow the same lessons of morality to help children understand how to interact in a modern society and are only a few short pages long so much quicker and easier to read than the Bible :P The only reason I see to read the Bible is if you have a specific interest in the history of Christianity. Even Christians these days pick an choose which parts of the Bible to read and then distil those down into short stories and songs rather than reading the texts in full.
• gaara87 5y ago
  Sapiens
  • knapcio 5y ago
    I’d also recommend it but encouraging to get familiar with the criticism around it before reading: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jbrfqp/sapiens_a_brief_history_of_humankind_was_well/g8x5ges/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jbrfqp/sapie...
• sings 5y ago
  Absolute stand-outs from my teens, twenties and thirties, respectively, are The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien, Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Every visual/graphic/product/web designer should read The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst.
• dusted 5y ago
  It's probably cliché, and there are so many good books.. I must say "1984" because I read that as a kid, and it was not only the first "real book" i read from cover to cover, but also the one that I felt most strongly influence my thinking.
  • ImaCake 5y ago
    I know people love 1984 but I found it exceedingly boring when I tried to read it. But it does have some very interesting ideas. My issue with 1984 may have been prior exposure to it's best ideas elsewhere. Orwell is a great writer, highly recommend both "Homage to Catalonia" and "Animal Farm". Complex topics written in an accessible style.
    • dusted 5y ago
      Yea, I'm not sure how well it'd have fared with me if I'd read it in my 20's, but at 13, it was mostly new stuff to me (this was also before The Internet was really so much a thing, so my exposure to ideas was somewhat limited).. I did also enjoy the dystopian style described, I still remember it described the hallway as "smelling like cabbage" and I pondered the significance of this and found that cabbage was "poor people food" and other such details that enriched my experience, but yeah.. I'd be surprised if some single book could introduce wholly novel and interesting ideas into an informed adult in 2022. LaVeys bible would be a healthy read for a lot of people I think, but it's kind of difficult to convince people to read that one..
    • strzibny 5y ago
      I think Animal Farm is better.
    • rramadass 5y ago
      1984 is not boring; it takes commitment to read and think about the idea of "Power" it paints. Once you "get it" it can be Worldview altering. It may talk about "The Party" but that is just a stand-in for any Group; for example, think of any "Religion" and its hold on its followers. Here is O'Brien's monologue on "Power"; read it and see how widely it is applicable - https://artist-tyrant.tumblr.com/post/69668613937/obriens-monologue-1984 https://artist-tyrant.tumblr.com/post/69668613937/obriens-mo...
• hn_throwaway_69 5y ago
  With respect to those in this thread, I'm seeing a lot of suggestions of fairly niche books that I have never heard of or would consider reading. It may be that there is no one book that I think everyone should read. Everyone has different tastes and interests, and what I think is a must read is probably on someone else's list of books never to read.
  • Arainach 5y ago
    >I have never heard of That's the point >or would consider reading. Why? The point of lists like this (and of learning) is to go beyond what you're comfortable with and expand your horizons and knowledge.
    • hn_throwaway_69 5y ago
      There are many books people suggest I read which I have heard of but haven't had a chance to. On the other hand, some suggestions here are slightly outlandish. To their credit, some of these people have provided a brief synopsis to enable one to quickly decide if it's their cup of tea or not. My ultimate point is it strains credulity to think that there is a one size fits all approach to books. What you think is a great read others would say otherwise. There is no one book I would recommend everyone read. Maybe if we got specific into a particular academic field, there is. Not generally, though.
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• yamrzou 5y ago
  The Real Story of Money, Health, and Religion by Loren Howe. I found about it thanks to this HN comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29801661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29801661. I thought the video was amazing so I searched for the author and found the book written by the same person. It didn't disappoint.
• spython 5y ago
  Impro by Keith Johnstone. Still the best book about improvisation and life, full of warmhearted stories about loss and renewal of spontaneity. I recommend the first 2/3 of the book to literally everyone (Masks is quite specific to stage work).
• lerigner 5y ago
  tongue in cheek The dictionary! It’s THE book you need to write many other books!
• superasn 5y ago
  I guess it would depend on the category, like if you are doing any sort of front-end dev then one book I'd recommend over any other is Don't make me think which is still relevant today. For the smb/indie-hacking I think E-myth revisited really changes your whole perspective about running a small business, especially when you read yourself on the pages. Also there is one book which I don't think everybody should read but was truly life changing for me was Driven to distraction. It helped me get a evaluation and understand that ADHD is a very real thing (real as something which Doctors can spot on a MRI and it's not something you can overcome with strong will and determination).
  • hermitcrab 5y ago
    The E-myth revisited seems to be one of those business books where they took something that could have been an article, or maybe even a paragraph, and dragged it out into a whole (extremely dull) book.
    • harperlee 5y ago
      If the book were a paragraph, you wouldn’t be exposing yourself to the idea during the X hours that it takes to read the book.
      • hermitcrab 5y ago
        If it is the duration/repetition that matters, couldn't I just read the same paragraph over and over? It wouldn't be any more dull than the book.
        • harperlee 5y ago
          What? Three different anecdotes carry strictly more information than the same anecdote three times. Thus they are more novel and less dull. That’s even assuming no value in the new information - in reality different points of view of exactly the same model can be useful to learn it better.
  • 5y ago
• bryanrasmussen 5y ago
  I would not recommend a single book for everyone to read, because people have different tastes and interests - and even if you recommend a single book based on people's interests - if they are really interested in that and the book is important to that interest it's likely they've already read it. So probably a recommendation on any field should be made based on calculations both of how essential it is, but also how it's reading may change assumptions about the field if the person has not read it. It seems somewhat arrogant. And in the end it's annoying to get recommended a book one considers essential to the field, as it implies one does not know what one knows. All that said - for the field of: Fantasy - Gormenghast America - Democracy in America Programming - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
• pknerd 5y ago
  Compound Effect by Darren Hardy.
• MrsPeaches 5y ago
  Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud by Peter Watson. Just an amazing survey of how people have thought and created over the course of human history. For me, it put so many periods into context; I finally know the different between the renaissance and the enlightenment! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/408204.Ideas https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/408204.Ideas
• spython 5y ago
  You Are The One You've Been Waiting For: Bringing Courageous Love To Intimate Relationships by Richard C. Schwartz Despite the horribly long title it turned out to be a great book on what we actually look for in relationships, and how to deal with the difficulties every relationship causes. A very non-boring psychology book.
• kkoncevicius 5y ago
  There were many similar threads on HN in the past, and my recommendation is always the same: "The problems of philosophy" by Bertrand Russell https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5827/5827-h/5827-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5827/5827-h/5827-h.htm
• cordaciu 5y ago
  War and peace by Leo Tolstoy
• xaxaxb 5y ago
  Tao Te Ching.
• joeberon 5y ago
  Karl Marx - Das Kapital
• RheingoldRiver 5y ago
  Not everyone but since this is HN I'll say Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors. It's intended for technical writers as an audience, and there's a couple chapters developers can skip that are about formatting with pretty diagrams and using DITA and stuff, but at least 80% of it is applicable to all kinds of writing that devs will have to do, and everyone needs to be able to communicate with the written word effectively. Literally every developer should read this book (and everyone should read some writing book relevant to their own field). It's amazing.
• hertzdog 5y ago
  The power of stupidity, Giancarlo Livraghi Quite unknown, I discovered it more than 10 years ago. It is an easily and pleasantly readable book: I discovered my stupid actions, and I still use it to evaluate what I am going to do. It isn’t a survival guide or a “how to” manual, but it offers practical solutions to improve those human qualities that counteract stupidity.
• knapcio 5y ago
  Nassim Nicholas Taleb - The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
• Helmut10001 5y ago
  The Road - Cormac McCarthy
  • hermitcrab 5y ago
    'The road' is compelling, but pretty grim reading.
    • Helmut10001 5y ago
      Yes, absolutely. The effect it had on me was that I got more humble, which is why I recommended it. What I see on HN is that there is a lot of "Success" literature promoted, which from my point of view is a little bit too much focused on self-optimization.
• bigcat123 5y ago
  God Emperor of Dune The 4th book of Frank Hurbert's dune saga. Or I personally think it's THE ending of the actual dune story line. Not only it completes the cycle started in Book 1 titled "dune". The 2 later books are really spin-off that tells a much smaller story. God emperor shows Hurbert's astounding depth and width in understanding humans as the building blocks of the civilization. And gave an unprecedented interpretation of humanity (and ruthlessness). The words are poetic with a sense of intonation built-in that renders a supernatural feeling, and had made me rethink how humans should live together. It's also a book that ends at the beginning, and used one sentence to reveal the climax of the whole dune story line. One had to appreciate Herbert's immense imagination and skills to bring those into words, that depicts minuate details that are enthralling yet always points to the ultimate idea. A literary genius and magnificent architect in human language at the grandest scale. That's the one book Ill bring along if I am on an one-way trip to Mars!
• distalx 5y ago
  Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger.
• archhn 5y ago
  Everyone should read a platonic dialogue. Plato's Republic in particular due to its influence on western thought. Although some of the ideas may seem absurd from our modern point of view, it's still thought provoking and a good example of old school philosophy. Also, Plato casually outlines why our current system of government is doomed to fail...which is probably pretty important to understand.
  • marginalia_nu 5y ago
    The Republic is arguably more of a metaphor for the well-ordered mind, an analogy for his notion of a tripartite soul, much more than an earnest attempt at constructing a schematic for a utopian society. I do agree more people should read a few early Platonic dialogues because he teaches you to question things. I think, beyond anything else, that is what he wanted to teach. A lot of people call themselves skeptics today, but they seem primarily interested in debunking ideas and attitudes other people have that they don't share, but don't see that there is a lot of things they themselves take for granted.
    • archhn 5y ago
      Interesting theory. It does appear to be incredibly naive at times when taken literally. Although there are some rather matter of fact conversations about the progression of political regimes to the point of tyranny, i.e., the post-democratic degenerate phase... which reads as a prophesy to me personally in these times. Totally agree with your other statement.
      • marginalia_nu 5y ago
        Additionally, the society he's attempting to explore is a society in which justice is the single overriding principle. I think if there is anything to take away from that, it's that such a society maybe isn't so great. His critique of democracy does absolutely have a few good points. A lot of people get really mad when they see it, but I don't think that is at all constructive. If democracy is a good idea, it must stand on its own legs. We can't counter its criticism with what it promises to deliver, but only the reality of what it delivers. Denying or attempting to conceal its problems makes addressing them that much harder, and which problems are easier to fix after having festered for a long time? At the same time, I think the very Athenian democracy he criticized solved many of our problems today. Athenian officials had real skin in the game in a way ours do not. They risked ostracism (10 years of exile) if they misbehaved.
• miniwark 5y ago
  Enchiridion of Epictetus (and other Stoicism works like Marcus Aurelus Meditations). I myself prefer the epicurism point of view, but this book learn you mainly than there is not point to be to much emotional on the many things in life than you cannot control.
  • kvalium 5y ago
    Agree, both books really changed my point of view on many subjects such as life and death
• pengaru 5y ago
  I've gifted copies of Six Easy Pieces [0] to numerous people now, it's the only book I can say that for. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5553.Six_Easy_Pieces https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5553.Six_Easy_Pieces
  • ryloric 5y ago
    Would you recommend his lectures on computation too?
    • pengaru 5y ago
      Dunno, but I do hand out the youtube link for his Eselan talk on computer heuristics whenever people want to understand how a computer works. The thing about Six Easy Pieces is it's an exceptionally accessible subset, so it's a great gift for folks that could benefit from a quick physics refresh/primer. It's a small booklet.
• Jaruzel 5y ago
  Journey to the West https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West ..and not just for the fun Monkey bits.
• taurath 5y ago
  Nonviolent communication is a very good one. It’s not “the one book” but it will help a lot of people immediately.
• andrei_says_ 5y ago
  Medicine Stories by Aurora Morales. Refuses to accept the narrative of the colonizers, oppressors, slavers, winners of wars, and rewrites it, calling things and events by their real names. Pulls the veil of lies and delusions. Gives voice to the people who survived and endured. Exposes the methodologies of propaganda and oppression and offers roadmaps of healing from the normalized violence of poverty, racism, colonialism. Incredibly well written - concise, unflinching and yet levelheaded.
  • michalu 5y ago
    According to wikipedia Aurora Morales is a "radical jewish writer" ... in other words instead you'll just consume another subjective narrative by someone who has a stake in pushing it for their own ideological aims. Thanks but no thanks. I'd rather read the actual sources (eg Seutonius etc) and make up my mind also weighting the facts of who wrote it (winner/loser/hack like Jordanes) in. Everyone knows history is written by winners and not subjective. Not interested in another "storyteller" ...
    • deltaonefour 5y ago
      Eh. All journalism is subjective. The only thing one can change is the stylistic tone to sound more formal. Make no mistake, all articles are subjective even when made to sound dry and robotic. The only thing that isn't subjective is statistics, but such data is missing much qualitative information and can be manipulated to fool you as well. Much of the way we interpret the world is colored with a qualitative human experience. World War 2 is given to us with a bunch of numbers and statistics is meaningless. Unfortunately this "qualitative" is inevitably colored with bias. So in short I'm saying, the author of that book isn't disguising his book with a false sense of subjectivity. He is presenting his view point as a human narrative that is inevitably colored with his bias; and that is not always a bad thing.
  • robertlagrant 5y ago
    > calling things and events by their real names How are the real names determined?
• leoh 5y ago
  “The Scapegoat” by Rene Girard, which suggests that we are deeply vulnerable to imitating others; and that when we imitate, this tends to lead to deep conflict, for we often imitate desire for scarce objects (e.g. a certain role at work, a particular romantic partner, etc.). We also tend to imitate hatred for a given party, as we tend to imitate hatred, too; thus engaging in the process of scapegoating, when, in fact, scapegoats are almost always innocent.
  • rramadass 5y ago
    This sounds very interesting !
  • AnimalMuppet 5y ago
    Girard has a very casual relationship with evidence for his theory. For example, he says that both Oedipus and Jesus were scapegoats, with (IIRC) Jesus being scapegoated by his own followers. If you point out that that's not what the accounts say, Girard says that societies that scapegoat don't say out loud that they're doing that, so the accounts won't come out and say so. That lets him read pretty much any account as evidence for his theory, and the fact that the account doesn't actually say that as further evidence for his theory. That is very much not how evidence works. But if all you've got is an axe to grind, I guess every text looks like a whetstone...
    • leoh 5y ago
      Well, if you look at Oedipus and Jesus, they appeal to Girard’s definition of being scapegoats in that they didn’t do anything wrong, but are presented as resolving a serious problem, which they don’t actually solve. In the case of Oedipus, he is accused not merely of marrying his mother and marrying his father, but of bringing a plague into Thebes, which is just silly and demonstrably impossible; and his death does not resolve. With Jesus, he irritated a bunch of Jews and Romans, but wasn’t really guilty of causing that problem either. In both these cases, Girard is being plenty honest and reasonable, and his point still stands (which you take issue with) — namely: that those that engage in scapegoating don’t realize they have, which is also true— the people of Thebes and the Jews/Romans, respectively.
• olalonde 5y ago
  It's hard to pick only one but "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton Gordon Malkiel gave me some much needed financial literacy in my 20s.
• jll29 5y ago
  Books: Most of you will know it, but to make sure: I wouldn't want to die without having read "Gödel Escher Bach - An Eternal Golden Braid" (Douglas R. Hofstadter), a 1000-page recursive poem about consciousness, bio-chemistry, mathematical versus musical beauty, zen koans, recursion, symmetry, formal rule systems, AI and more. Every second chapter is written as a dialog. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky) In our time, media manipulation is at its historic peak, so perhaps everyone should know a bit about the political-economic underpinnings. How issues are framed and chosen, the influence of money, reporting biases. Dining with Terrorists: Meetings with the World's Most Wanted Militants (Phil Rees) A former BBC journalist tells about meals with 'interesting' people and the trickiness associated with the definition of 'terrorism'. I'm also going to throw in some movies for good measure. Films: Meaning of Life https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085959/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085959/ Adam's Apples https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418455/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418455/ Harold and Maude https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/
• sakisv 5y ago
  Basic yet eye-opening for me was "Talking to my daughter about the economy" by Yianis Varoufakis (ex Greek finance minister). It does an "explain like I'm 13" for how the idea of markets and money started, how and why it changed through the centuries and where we are now. It's so easy to read, that it took me a couple of days to finish it.
• indiantinker 5y ago
  I have gifted numerous copies of the book - “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse. I think the book changes the way you see the world.
  • zalebz 5y ago
    It's been a couple of decades since I read Siddhartha and I am very curious how my take on the book will be different from my younger self.
• Scarblac 5y ago
  I read Discworld novels for relaxation, they are hilarious and full of humanity, wisdom and insightful fury at injustice. But it's very hard to recommend just one. _Small Gods_ is about religion, belief and humanity's relationship with their gods, and about eagles dropping tortoises onto stones to crack them open.
• nudpiedo 5y ago
  A very classic one, also recommended by many other people: How to win friends and influence people, Dale Carnegie. It was the original "self help" book, and the principles there are so simple yet powerful that will resonate a self evident. However these are mostly ignored, and the same as with common sense which happens to be the less common of the senses.
• akullpp 5y ago
  The New Testament, or any book that explains the key themes. Even if you are not religious, Western societies are built around this. If you live in the West or do business with the West, it explains many explicit or implicit cultural norms. If you want to go deeper in understanding the West, it's recommendable to also get a rough idea of it's philosophers, especially the Greeks and the important ones up to Kant, including Descartes' idea of the social contract. If you still want to know more, you should read about the most important economic ideas, e.g. Smith, Keynes, Marx.
  • marginalia_nu 5y ago
    I'd toss in St Augustine as well, at least Confessions. You can't properly understand western thought without understanding the catholic church, and you can't understand the church from the bible alone. Maybe Cicero too, like De Officiis at least (although De Natura Deorum is a more enjoyable read imo). Cicero was a second rate philosopher and incredibly full of himself, but he was extremely influential for a very long time.
• derrida 5y ago
  The Tao Te Ching
• benjaminsuch 5y ago
  Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince
  • jldugger 5y ago
    Man, this is a book that really needs to be paired with an explainer, or you will miss the subtext and come across the exact opposite conclusions: The Prince is a _satire_, a gift to the Medici family that arrested, tortured and exiled him. Everything it praises should be avoided, especially the hypocrisy and corruption of Italy. It dwells on the virtue of a guy who was appointed to lead the papal armies after his dad(!) was elected Pope. It should be obvious its not a straight book by the time you get to the part where it recommends nobles arm the populace, but we see countless "Machiavelli for the boardroom" books that didn't quite pick that up. It was published posthumously, but was banned by the Church. Ostensibly because it recommended nobles behave awfully while pretending to be pious, but more likely because it pointed out the church was corrupt and its patrons more so.
    • benjaminsuch 5y ago
      Sorry to answer this late, I saw your comment just now. But I have to completely disagree with your view. The reason I recommend "The Prince" is, because Machiavelli confronts the reader with what actually happens in the real world and not what people think is morally acceptable. This whole book is rational. It asks you what you want to achieve (or conquer) and gives you a guide on how to achieve it. Without any illusions of moral and what else human kind "invents" to prevent them from achieving certain goals (or prevent them from doing the necessary). Machiavelli ignores, on purpose, what we call "good" and "bad". He focuses solely on what is purposeful in a given context, which is what I love so much about it.
      • jldugger 5y ago
        > This whole book is rational. But like, it literally _is not_. Most obviously an entire chapter is dedicated to how arming the general population is the best way of securing your noble estate, and that is objectively a bad idea for petty dictatorships. There's a reason the British governors of America outlawed guns, and why the US Constitution enshrined the right (and why the slave states did not afford blacks this right[1]). Even the intro uses a flawed metaphor to explain its qualifications: he claims its easier for a painter to paint a mountain from the valley, because you can see the whole thing. But, as anyone living near the Italian Alps can point out, the mountain is often obscured by foothills, and if you want to see many examples of a mountain peak, climb to the top of one and look around. He recommends sending your own troops into battle first, and avoiding alliances because they diminish your reputation. Taking that advice is a great way to lose your principality entirely. Without your own garrison, neighbors and mercanaries will have far greater leverage over you, and without alliances you will be at the mercy of those who do have them. He advises a ruler be feared but somehow not hated or despised. If it were possible to achieve that, his examples laughably do not -- appointing a bastard to govern a city and then parading his head on a pike when that goes badly is not something the burghers will praise, any more than appointing a shitty middle manager who abuses staff and firing them six months later would. Everyone knows you picked the guy, and his failures rub off on you. If readers today cannot pick this out, then perhaps it is because too much of the context is lost. We no longer live in the era of kings and cannons. > what actually happens in the real world I don't think you need to read a book to learn how sociopaths behave, and I don't think the sociopaths themselves need Machiavelli's help on being more sociopathic, and we shouldn't be handing them carte blanch to hang themselves with (nor does Machiavelli do so). The rest of society deals in what Smith calls "man's desire to be loved and be lovely." We want to earn the respect and admiration of those around us, and we want to believe those are earned honorably, even when we think _everyone else_ is a bastard. Hence bankers arent greedy, they're just "efficiently allocating capital to its highest social value" and earning a small prize in the process. Machiavelli's chief advice of hypocrisy runs counter to this, and the stories we tell ourselves. [1]: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1002107670/historian-uncovers-the-racist-roots-of-the-2nd-amendment https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1002107670/historian-uncovers...
• rcarmo 5y ago
  Definitely The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. If only so they would understand The Answer and the latent absurdity of our civilization. Although the bit about the plague from a dirty phone might be a little too close for comfort these days (but that just goes to show how fascinatingly “complete” the book is).
  • marttt 5y ago
    Douglas Adams seems strangely forgotten, considering how great he really was -- or maybe he isn't forgotten, in the British Isles and elsewhere? As a grammar and syntax nerd, I was a huge fan of his puns on rhetoric. "The mere thought," growled Mr Prosser, "hadn't even begun to speculate," he continued, settling himself back, "about the merest possibility of crossing my mind."
• danieloj 5y ago
  The Overstory by Richard Powers A book that encourages your imagination
• zentr1c 5y ago
  Things nobody tells you about relationship dynamics when you are young. Whats a head of you emontionaly? I recommend these to my son. Erich Fromm The Art of Loving David schnarch Passionate Marriage: Sex, Love & Intimacy in emotionally committed relationships. And before you get married... Get some new perspective why ... Wolfgang gädecke, Sexuality, Partnership and Marriage : From a Spiritual Perspective
  • tidbitsone 5y ago
    Fear of Freedom from Erich Fromm is also good. The Unfettered Mind by Takuan Soho is one of my favorites. Short but to the point. Here is my virtual library link: https://vengrams.blogspot.com/p/books.html https://vengrams.blogspot.com/p/books.html
• rgvr 5y ago
  “Too loud a solitude” for yourself. “Daemon” for the world. “Godel Escher Bach” for everything else.
• Lio 5y ago
  Not sure if it's the only book I'd recommend if I have to stick to the rules, I think others have already done that for me here but: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is very funny but also the back story to how it got published is both sad and interesting. ...and if I can pick a second book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance by Robert M. Pirsig. ...and a third: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  • haakonhr 5y ago
    Wow! More or less the three books I would've suggested in the same order. I would happily get some more suggestions until I encounter a book I haven't read (e-mail in bio)
    • Lio 5y ago
      Thank you, that’s very kind to say. So many good books in this thread already. I could suggest though: Hagakure - Yamamoto Tsunetomo Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Shunryu Suzuk For something lighter I like anything by William Gibson or Neal Stephenson. The Quicksilver trilogy is great as is Anatheme.
• zwischenzug 5y ago
  I've keep a record of my books read (and unfinished, and written up etc) over the last few years here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WSI8g_9BnNmfUM0ZupN1p7u_L9PXl8rxp1c5s_rolLU/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WSI8g_9BnNmfUM0ZupN1... If they're 'Written Up', they're generally pretty good.
  • cagmz 5y ago
    Great idea! What does 'Written Up' mean?
    • zwischenzug 5y ago
      I took notes and summarized the book for myself. I do this after some time has passed to consolidate the memory
• biren34 5y ago
  Okay at the risk of being offensive, all the comments before mine are made by overly intellectual fools. I'm not usually so insulting--but as a father of two, if my 3 year old and 1.5 year old could only read one book, it would have to be "Oh, the places you'll go" by Dr. Suess. Sorry to stomp on Das Kapital and its ilk, but if you get only one book, I can't imagine a better first message to convey than the endless possibilities inherent in each of us. The world is your oyster! Even if you're old and have wasted most of what you were given. Especially today, in some of the most amazing times that have ever existed (even if you didn't draw the long straw). Today is SO much better than most of history.
  • zentr1c 5y ago
    Dr. Seuss is a great start for kids. Smart advice.
  • adreamingsoul 5y ago
    I agree with OP. Even though it may be a book for children, it is worth reading.
  • halpert 5y ago
    What’s amazing about Dr. Suess is how much creativity and fun he packs into a very simply written book. Most children’s books are so asinine. “Sally went to the farm. She saw a pig. Sally can drive a tractor. Etc. etc.” There is rarely a point to the book. Dr. Suess uses similarly simple language: “You can think about red. You can think about pink.” While simple, the underlying message is usually profound, and that makes it so much more interesting.
  • alfiedotwtf 5y ago
    If you squint enough, Das Kapital is the extended version of "Oh, the places you'll go" :)
  • quietbritishjim 5y ago
    It sounds like you have read the question as "if a person could only read a single book in their whole life, what should it be?" But I think the question actually meant: "for actual real life people here on HN, who have all probably read some books already, what extra book would you suggest reading?" For us adults, there are probably books that would have more value than Dr Zeuss, excellent though it may be.
• zaphodias 5y ago
  https://hackernewsbooks.com/top-books-on-hacker-news https://hackernewsbooks.com/top-books-on-hacker-news this website is pretty cool!
• fsloth 5y ago
  Influence by Robert Cialdini. We live in a commercialized world - Cialdini gives a very engineer friendly, pragmatic and empirical review of the psychological tricks used to make people comply.
• keyme 5y ago
  Brave new world
• samsaga2 5y ago
  Thiking Forth. Even knowing that you will never touch Forth in your life is really worth it.
• qznc 5y ago
  Scout Mindset by Julia Galef. It is a light read so I recommend it widely. It is about the general topic of making good decisions and having correct opinions which is helpful to all of us. Caveat: I expect many HN readers to be familiar with LessWrong, SlateStarCodex, and the rationality community in general. In this case, there is probably nothing new in the book for you.
• billfruit 5y ago
  The Palgraves Golden Treasury.
• Zanni 5y ago
  I'd say that The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't [0] is the book for the current moment. Don't be put off by the subtitle. It's not about condemning a particular group as fuzzy thinkers. Rather, it's a manual for overcoming your own biases with immediate, actionable advice. For example, if you express your beliefs as "percent confident" rather than "true or false," it's easier to update them based on new evidence. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Scout-Mindset-People-Things-Clearly-ebook/dp/B07L2HQ26K/ https://www.amazon.com/Scout-Mindset-People-Things-Clearly-e...
  • ree-san 5y ago
    This sounds wonderful, thank you
  • guerrilla 5y ago
    It sounds like you might like Susan Haack's "Evidence and Inquiry."
• surajs 5y ago
• Brajeshwar 5y ago
  I decided to learn/understand why Religion is the center-stage for almost every event that happens to humanity. This year, I’m planning to read the books, at least, of the top 5 religions of the world. Read Bhagavad Gita[1], had read the Bible[2] in hotel stays but will read it again, and the Quran[3] is waiting in the book-shelf. No, not religious at all; in fact, very far from it. Some time back, someone did a nice collection of HackerNews recommended books[4]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran 4. https://hacker-recommended-books.vercel.app/ https://hacker-recommended-books.vercel.app/
  • pindab0ter 5y ago
    May I recommend the Ten Minute Bible Hour podcast? It’s a podcast that goes through the entirety of the book of Matthew, but without the sermon. Instead he covers historical, social and cultural context to help people better understand how the original audience would have read it and come to a better understanding of what the Bible says. Again: without the sermon.
    • spacebanana7 5y ago
      His YouTube content is great too
  • olalonde 5y ago
    As a non-religious myself, I can't understand how you found the willpower to read the Bible and even want to read it again. I tried reading some chapters and was either bored to death or couldn't understand the text because of how badly it is translated/written.
    • t0bia_s 5y ago
      If there is a story, try to adapot it for nowadays. Keep asking what is the point of it and what would happen today. Of course there are boring parts with family trees etc., so skip it.
• skripp 5y ago
  Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software. Wonderfully written book on how computers work. It's even a good read for the curious non-technical reader. However, some chapters might be a bit hard for them. The first road block seem to be the chapter on logic gates, but with some help it's not that bad.
  • Derbasti 5y ago
    And once you've read that, continue with "Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces", and "Crafting Interpreters". CODE is great to get a sense of what a processor is and does. Operating Systems shows how processes, file systems, and hardware abstractions make a processor useful to users. Crafting Interpreters implements a programming language on top of that. With these three books, you have a good overview of how a computer works.
• huijzer 5y ago
  A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science by Barbara Oakley. The book is almost childish in some sections, but the lessons are great. I'm still using many of the lessons daily such as taking a break when stuck on a hard problem, doing the most difficult task of the day first or that it is okay if you don't understand something immediately.
• sAbakumoff 5y ago
  the mind illuminated
• ploppyploppy 5y ago
  Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel. Perfectly explain the progressive religion we find ourselves under.
• koonsolo 5y ago
  The 7 habits of highly effective people. The section about "stewardship delegation" alone makes this book priceless.
• dunefox 5y ago
  Dune. I'd like to recommend all 6 by Herbert, but since I can only recommend one I'll say Dune. My favourite book. I even have this beautiful edition: https://imgur.com/LQPoi4m https://imgur.com/LQPoi4m
• mtrimpe 5y ago
  The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile [1] It's one of the biggest longitudinal qualitative studies on work life and company succes. It has given me by far the most valuable insight into what really matters in building happy and effective workspace. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11721498-the-progress-principle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11721498-the-progress-pr...
• shafyy 5y ago
  To have or to be - Erich Fromm Erich Fromm is a great author and in this book he looks at the difference of having (owning stuff) vs. being (enjoying experiences). He argues that too many people are focused on "having", and that our whole society and even language is built around that. For example, you would say "I have a relationship". He argues that it's a weird choice of words, since you don't own the relationship.
  • t8y 5y ago
    I think at the exact same time you posted this I also recommended an Erich Fromm book.
    • shafyy 5y ago
      He's great!
  • bttger 5y ago
    Is it really common to say "I have a relationship"? I would instinctively say "I am in a relationship". Maybe though it is also because my mother tongue is German and in Germany people say "Ich bin in einer Beziehung".
    • shafyy 5y ago
      My mother tongue is also German, so maybe I picked a wrong example for this :D A better one would be "I have a partner" maybe? I've read it some time ago, so I don't remember the exact examples, but you get the idea.
  • jazzyk 5y ago
    Also - The Art of Loving
  • ollran 5y ago
    Erich Fromm came to mind as well. The same ideas and themes also appear in the books of Hermann Hesse.
• t8y 5y ago
  Escape From Freedom by Erich Fromm
• lcordier 5y ago
  How about "Zero Waste Home" by Bea Johnson For its potential impact on humanity... > Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot (and only in that order) is my method to > reducing my family’s annual trash to a jar since 2008 -- Bea Johnson https://zerowastehome.com/ https://zerowastehome.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4n-jOJol3I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4n-jOJol3I
• paulus_magnus2 5y ago
  Firstly, as a meta comment I think HN has jumped the shark. Secondly, come on. You can listen to around 200 audiobooks per year while commuting, doing chores, excercising etc. Lastly: if you only ever want to read a couple of few books, these should be the dictionary and thesaurus.
  • geraltofrivia 5y ago
    Apologising in advance to derail from the point of this comment. Lately, I've been giving audiobooks a go. It really does make "consuming" a book much, much easier. Listening during commute/chores is a huge plus. But also, I can't help but feel that listening to books is far less engaging, rewarding than reading them. I've found this holds not just for immaculately written books, but even for easy reads (e.g. wheel of time; pulp sci-fis). And so I'm at a cross w.r.t. audiobooks. If its not half as gratifying, should I continue to pay thrice as much for a book that I'd enjoy twice as less? On the other hand, am I better of consuming said book (/audiobook) than not? I guess I want to ask if (i) it's just a me thing? and (ii) if not, where do you (/you all) stand on the matter?
    • yiyus 5y ago
      It's not just you. What I experience with audiobooks is similar to listening to the description of a picture. Maybe the outcome is, in theory, similar, but I have the feeling I am missing the real thing. I prefer to read books, and while I am on the move I listen music or podcasts.
    • NoboruWataya 5y ago
      Honestly I find I have a fairly low success rate with audiobooks. Temporary distractions might cause me to zone out and miss a part of the story, and "rewinding" to listen to the same part again isn't as easy as just re-reading a paragraph. I also find that I can be put off good books by poor narration, particularly if there is a lot of dialogue involved. I find I have most success with "pop science" books. Not too deep or difficult to follow, little or no dialogue. > should I continue to pay thrice as much for a book that I'd enjoy twice as less? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but are you saying you are paying three times as much for an audiobook as for its physical equivalent? If so, where/how? I've cancelled it now, but when I had an Audible subscription, it worked out as way cheaper per book IIRC.
• dzyanis 5y ago
  Citadelle (titled in English as The Wisdom of the Sands) by Antoine de Saint-Exupуery. He didn't finish the book but it's about philosophy of his life and I think that Antony was a good example of a strong-willed man.
• jlcoff 5y ago
  On genealogy of morality - Nietzsche
• dmichulke 5y ago
  Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt, written in 1946. Talks about minimum wages, inflation, tariffs, devaluing currency and so on in a very small book, based on (rather game-theoretic) analysis. Reads like it was written today.
• sdave 5y ago
  1984
• samwillis 5y ago
  I don’t think I can suggest a singular book everyone should read, but I can say which book probably had the biggest effect on my way of reading. I’m dyslexic and growing up reading was always a challenge, despite doing well at school and university I was a slow and uncritical reader. My girlfriend (now wife) was teaching The Great Gatsby to a class and practically made me read it. The process of reading that book and discussing it with her completely changed the way I read, it was an enlightening and incredibly enjoyable experience. It was as much about the discussions we had about the book as the book itself. So my recommendation is find a book that you can read and discuss in depth with someone else. For me it has become a delight for us to both read a book and then talk in depth about it. You gain so much more insight.
• xweber 5y ago
  The selfish gene by Richard Dawkins. Everybody should understand evolution.
  • satori99 5y ago
    This book also gave us the neologism 'meme' in the way most people know it today.
  • schnitzelstoat 5y ago
    I haven't read The Selfish Gene - but The Blind Watchmaker was an excellent book also about evolution. Probably more appealing to the tech crowd too (it has programs!)
• glandium 5y ago
  That's two books, but: The man who mistook his wife for a hat - Oliver Sacks The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind - Julian Jaynes
• coip 5y ago
  Infinite Jest
  • FL33TW00D 5y ago
    Despite the "literature major" stigma the readers get, this book is an incredibly powerful read.
• lordnacho 5y ago
  Someone else mentioned it, but I'll add some meat to the reasoning: Taleb's Fooled by Randomness. He's cooked quite a lot of soup on this stone, and he's built a comically aggressive persona, but the original book is still quite relevant. Being aware of randomness will change how you think of just about everything, not just financial markets. Jobs, relationships, rivalries, morality, competence, and so on.
• _han 5y ago
  I haven't read the English translation, but Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman had a profound influence on my trust in people, and expecting good intentions by default. Especially during bad times (COVID, geopolitics, etc.) it was a source of well-founded positivity that I needed.
  • Blaiz0r 5y ago
    This would be my recommendation too, also Utopia for Realists his earlier book is a great read.
• lm28469 5y ago
  Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius
  • rramadass 5y ago
    Nice! Which edition is your favourite ? Mine is Seneca Selected Letters translated by Elaine Fantham and published in the Oxford World's Classics series.
• lota-putty 5y ago
  It's a silly question, any book with facts not philosophy.
• whiddershins 5y ago
  How to win friends and influence people
• iyoyoyo 5y ago
• xunn0026 5y ago
  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
  • yesenadam 5y ago
    I think you have to read the sequel Lila too, as it explains so much that the first book merely hints at, particularly all about Quality, which it explains the structure of in detail...and it makes perfect sense. There's less crazy, more anthropology. I don't know which book I like more.
    • xunn0026 5y ago
      I found Lila much weaker. ZatAoMM seems more coherent both in how it touches subjects and the parallel (life) story. Lila seems like it might tell you more but it kinda just... hints towards a great reveal that never comes. Then it just ends.
• enchiridion 5y ago
  The Enchiridion, aka The Handbook. Simple language. Simple lessons. Life changing guidance that has stood the test of time.
  • rramadass 5y ago
    Good suggestion. My favourite translation with commentary is Keith Seddon's Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes: Guides to Stoic Living.
• ddkddk 5y ago
  Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt. Makes you look at work so differently. We aspire to do our best work, but what if the outcome of the work on the world is adding up to it becoming a worse place?
• shrubby 5y ago
  Easy to read and highly recommended for everyone comes Rutger Bregman and his Humankind. It paints a cool new'ish perspective on the human.
• thow-58d4e8b 5y ago
  Book of Ecclesiastes (part of the books of wisdom of the Hebrew bible) ancient era existentialism written in poetic form. Unlike the other suggestions here, it can be accessed for free and takes only ~20 minutes to read
• t8e56vd4ih 5y ago
  the bible
• zalebz 5y ago
  I'll make a suggestion that is somewhat odd for HN since it is effectively poetry: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran This little book stumbles into my life every 5 or 10 years and always reinvigorates my appreciation for the beauty of life. It is like being swept away by a beautiful piece of music - it can touch your soul. Then again, like music, it is not for everyone nor even repeatable for yourself depending on what mood you are in.
• ryloric 5y ago
  I know this is irrelevant for most people on here I pick Viktor Frankl's 'Man's Search for Meaning'. I started having thoughts of ending myself for the past two, three years and this book really helps my brain get out of that mental state. It's a very short book than can be read in an afternoon.
  • k_pres 5y ago
    Essential reading as far as I'm concerned
  • rntksi 5y ago
    Thank you for the recommendation. Please don't think it's irrelevant. I will read it tonight after work.
• Gud 5y ago
  I would recommend No More Mr Nice Guy for everyone with low self confidence
• marginalia_nu 5y ago
  I really liked Epictetus' Discourses. He has a very sort of no-nonsense Dr House vibe going with his bum leg and constant criticism of his pupils. A lot less full of shit than some other Roman Stoics. Maybe not everyone's jam, but I found the tools it provides for dealing with shitty situations highly useful.
  • rramadass 5y ago
    Checkout Robin Hard's translations in the Oxford World's Classics series (all are excellent); 1) Epictetus Discourses, Fragments, Handbook 2) Marcus Aurelius Meditations: with selected correspondence 3) Diogenes the Cynic Sayings and Anecdotes: with Other Popular Moralists
    • marginalia_nu 5y ago
      Indeed, I think it's a big mistake to cheap out and go for some impenetrable 19th century translation when reading this type of book. Philosophy is difficult enough without dealing with the ridiculously elaborate and flowery language of older translations. Modern Oxford World Classics or Penguin Classics translations are significantly more pleasant to deal with.
• tq-qv 5y ago
  Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
• alfiedotwtf 5y ago
  David Allen's Getting Things Done
• jmpman 5y ago
  Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. Not that the analysis is flawless as there are many critics. The reason to read the book is to understand the how and why different societies have evolved and why there was a massive difference between Western Europe and other parts of the world. From geological impediments to the evolution of the large animals in the region (zebras are quite skittish and harder to tame/ride than horses), the environment is a major contributing factor to these civilizations development.
  • andrewlgood 5y ago
    Phenomenal book. One of the few books I have gifted to friends over the years. Gets one to think about the randomness of situations (geography, diversity of flora, etc) that lead to critical outcomes (advancement of a society).
• BLKNSLVR 5y ago
  The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. For an insight into how our logic engine doesn't, itself, function in what we would consider a logical way. Reading this book made it easier for me to empathise with people whose situations I could relate to but their reactions to said situations made me question their sanity. Be thankful for a high functioning brain. Be understanding that very minor differences have majorly different outcomes.
• kypro 5y ago
  The Chimp Paradox is probably my #1 general book recommendation because I think we would all be better off if we could better identify and manage our irrational impulses. It's one of those books that can genuinely improve almost every aspect of your life if you take it onboard. It's helped me with countless things in life, from sticking to diets and just being a more reasonable person generally. There is also a book by the same author called, "My Hidden Chimp" which I believe is a child-friendly version of the The Chimp Paradox. I've not read it myself, but my girlfriend teaches at a primary school where the kids are reading it at the moment. She seems to think highly of it so that might be a good alternative for younger audiences.
  • hackerbeat 5y ago
    Sounds great. Thanks for the tip.
• tannr 5y ago
  Rational Male, you will not understand it anyway
• bjowen 5y ago
  Since someone’s done Hofstadter — Italo Calvino Le Città Invisibili or Invisible Cities. It’s a novel about complexity and civilisation and the difficulty and intangibility of memories, history and storytelling. It’s told in a series of 55 miniatures, each about a city that reveals some aspect of human experience. It’s like nothing else and utterly brilliant.
• mihaic 5y ago
  Anna Karenina would be my recommendation. I had a lower oppinion on novels in general before reading this, but Tolstoy is just phenomenal with his characters. It made me realize how great books should help improve your empathy towards others, and being more understanding to behaviour you'd normally just vilify.
• n4kana 5y ago
  I’m vulnerable to recency bias. The books that my recent life has pivoted on are Die Wise and Come of Age by Stephen Jenkinson. Both books are journeys that bedevil any effort to summarize. I highly recommend listening to the author read them as audiobooks - the words move too quickly on the page, and the author is kindling a modern spoken tradition. The early going to Die Wise was difficult, but my mind gave way to curiosity and they stole my heart and mind away from the rat race.
• jiriro 5y ago
  The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged by the same author It’s striking how fundamental the principles from those books are. An assembly code of the society:-)
• koolhead17 5y ago
  The Enchiridion By Epictetus http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html
  • rramadass 5y ago
    If you haven't already, checkout Keith Seddon's translation with commentary: Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes: Guides to Stoic Living.
• Blackstrat 5y ago
  When I see comments such as a book needing a "trigger warning", or concerns with the race or gender of the author, I can only shake my head with sadness. Those who believe such things have been poorly served by their education. Those who recommend books such as Das Kapital are either trolling the thread or historically ignorant of the death and destruction caused by Marxism. Try something like Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Nozick and quit being part of the granfalloon.
• BowTiedFox 5y ago
  How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis
• jazzyk 5y ago
  Since we can only pick one -> "Animal Farm", no question about it. Easy read, succinctly describes human nature. But if I could, I would supplement it with these two, because they were so prescient in describing what happened to us in the past 30 years: Erich Fromm - "Escape From Freedom" Aldous Huxley - "Brave New World"
• hackerbeat 5y ago
  Never even heard of Chimpanzee Politics. Sounds great. Thanks for the tip. non-fictional: everything Robert Greene fictional: everything Dostoevsky
• sol8 5y ago
  Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
• vinceroni 5y ago
  Good Economics for Hard Times, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo Great introduction to current social issues and how modern economics can help us make sense of them.
• sharno 5y ago
  The Autobiography of Malcolm X This is one of the best books I've ever read in my life. I'm a big fan of Malcolm X. The change in his life was huge and with every big change that happens to his ideas he doesn't get devastated or shocked but he pursues it with a better understanding. The culture and will power of this man is something respectable.
• thunderbong 5y ago
  I've thought about this multiple times myself and I'm torn between two - Mister God, this is Anna - by Fynn Finite and Infinite Games - by James P. Carse
• thelastinuit 5y ago
  The Denial of Death.
• mriet 5y ago
  How Emotions are Made, Lisa Feldman-Barrett IMHO, it will take another century before the world works through the full consequences of what she's written.
• koilke 5y ago
  ''The Man Without Qualities'' - Robert Musil (Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften)
• timka 5y ago
  Idries Shah, Knowing How to Know
• xSakiX 5y ago
  The Myth of Sisyphus, by A. Camus If a single book, it would be this one.
• kickbird 5y ago
  The three-body problem. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CF4JFZ?searchxofy=true&binding=kindle_edition&qid=1645177978&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CF4JFZ?searchxofy=true&binding... Just ignore the last volume which is a joke from another author. I'm unable to enjoy any other Sci-Fi fiction after this one.
• bobbydreamer 5y ago
  Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
• madjayhawk 5y ago
  The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes. An absolutely brilliant account of the founding of Australia. A review: https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Personal/Books/Hughes-Fatal-Shore/ https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Personal/Books/Hughes-Fatal-Shore/ Questions to think about as you read: Why weren't criminals transported to the Americas instead of to Australia? What if they had been? Do governments ever consider the long range implications of their policies? Were German the only people who practiced government-sponsored barbarism against subsets of their own people?
• id02009 5y ago
  Real time relationships, the logic of love.
• le-hu 5y ago
  No one mentions Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari? I liked it very much. I know it can be biased but really makes you understand how humans operate.
• thisismyswamp 5y ago
  A book that everyone should read, at an individual level, is a book that no one should read.