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Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

• Grimeton 2y ago
  "White Line Fever"
  • cyberpunk 2y ago
    If the stars fall down on me And the sun refused to shine Then may the shackles be undone May all the old words cease to rhyme If the sky turned into stone It will matter not at all For there is no Heaven in the sky Hell does not wait for our downfall
• ramkarthikk 2y ago
  When I reread these, I always pick up some details that I missed in the earlier reads: - On the shortness of life - Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Growth - Show your work and Steal like an artist - Domain modeling made functional
  • _yb2s 2y ago
    +1 for Seneca
• DarrenDev 2y ago
  - Zero to One, Peter Thiel Always makes me feel that I’m not ambitious enough. And that too many smart people are in the wrong industry (finance). - The Dip, Seth Godin Don’t give up. Unless you’re in a cul-de-sac. - Obviously Awesome, April Dunford Your competitor is often not who you think it is.
  • jasiek-net 2y ago
    Same here - Zero to one - really inspiring book! And Lean startup - far too ambitious for me at the moment, but I learned a lot from it. 4 hour work week - I would say it’s more like a fiction book, but still fun to read. 7 habits of highly effective people - it’s saved my life in high school, I knew some parts of it by heart.
    • tailspin2019 2y ago
      I share your taste in books. 7 Habits in particular absolutely changed my life. I’ve always thought that its title doesn’t really do it justice. There is a lot more depth to that book than you’d think based on the title alone. It has helped set my moral compass. Lean startup is a recent discovery for me - and boy do I wish I’d read it sooner! Edit: also I highly recommend Stephen Covey’s audiobooks of 7 Habits and First Things First (read by him)
    • xucian 2y ago
      yep, funny how I wanted to post these exact 3 books (should grab the 4th one soon), I've bought them all at once, perhaps we've read the same blog post that recommended them?
• euroderf 2y ago
  My Life, by Isadora Duncan
• mindcrime 2y ago
  Offhand I can think of a few that I've read at least 2-3 times. And in a couple of cases, maybe as many as 4 or 5 times. There are probably some others that just aren't jumping to mind, but suffice it to say that these are all books I've found very valuable. The Four Steps to the Epiphany - Steve Blank The Discipline of Market Leaders - Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema Society of Mind - Marvin Minsky Mastering the Complex Sale - Jeff Thull How to Measure Anything - Douglas Hubbard The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
  • srid 2y ago
    > The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins I read this book a long time ago ... 2006, I think? I should re-read it. And read the author's sequel books to it. Out of curiosity, would you say your understanding changed or deepened upon re-reading it?
    • mindcrime 2y ago
      > Out of curiosity, would you say your understanding changed or deepened upon re-reading it? It's hard to do justice to that in a few words. I think I had a different reason for reading it the second time, as opposed to the first time. The first time around, I think I was more reading it because I like to think of myself as an educated, scientific-minded person, and it was one of "those books" that any self-respecting "educated, scientific-minded person" was sort of "supposed to" have read. That and I was mentally already in a place somewhere in the nether regions between "agnostic" and "atheist" and I knew of Dawkins as a strong advocate for atheist thinking, and I guess I was looking for something that might convince me one way or the other. Or maybe that's just post-hoc rationalization on my part, but that's what I felt like I found. I felt much better about just calling myself an atheist after reading the book. Anyway... one thing I was struck by though, was his discussion of things like kin altruism and reciprocal altruism and some of the game theoretical stuff, including mentions of Robert Axelrod and his research. So the second time I read the book, I was really looking to focus more on those sections, and take notes and do some further research. And all of that was really driven by my interest in evolutionary computing / genetic algorithms / etc. and a thought that I might find something there that I could apply to those areas. I wound up buying Axelrod's book The Evolution of Cooperation, but I sadly have not quite gotten around to reading it yet. > And read the author's sequel books to it. I've also read The Blind Watchmaker twice, although that was sort of by accident. I forgot I'd already read it, and I was moderately deep into the second read before I realized I'd read it before. It was worth it though. I still have Climbing Mount Improbable, The God Delusion, The Ancestor's Tale, and a couple of other Dawkins books queued up to read as well.
• closetkantian 2y ago
  The Structure of World History, Karatani
• Jimmc414 2y ago
  Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It - Chris Voss Clear actionable direction on how to negotiate.
  • baal80spam 2y ago
    It's a good book, but I've read it a few years ago and already forgot most of it. I gather you need to refresh this knowledge just before you negotiate.
    • deleted 2y ago
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  • r0fl 2y ago
    I have gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars of value with “would it be ridiculous if”
  • jjice 2y ago
    The ROI on this book is incredible. To be fair, it's easy to get ROI on a $10 book, but I ended up with an extra $40k-ish on a salary negotiations over the years because of some of the details in there. You just need one or two to hit. The hyper specific number idea surprisingly worked for being a pretty goofy concept to me at first.
    • noud 2y ago
      Not only did these techniques save me money, but they also saved me a considerable amount of time. I've employed these same strategies at work and private to navigate away from requests and projects in which I have no interest.
• ldehaan 2y ago
  The Coming of Neo-Feudalism - Joel Kotkin (its a brainful) Algorithns to live by - Brian Christian Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel khaneman The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom - James Burnham
  • mdp2021 2y ago
    > Algorithms to live by - Brian Christian [and Tom Griffiths] I think it would have been very difficult for Brian Christian alone to produce Algorithms to Live by: Tom Griffiths must have had a very strong presence in it. It was Tom to give the "appetizer" presentation at TED: https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_griffiths_3_ways_to_make_better_decisions_by_thinking_like_a_computer https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_griffiths_3_ways_to_make_bette... -- By the way, I see that Brian Christian has published a The Alignment Problem - Machine Learning and Human Values, https://brianchristian.org/the-alignment-problem/ https://brianchristian.org/the-alignment-problem/ Has anyone read it?
  • srid 2y ago
    Could you provide a summary of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism?
    • ldehaan 2y ago
      [dead]
• smallmancontrov 2y ago
  Trade Wars are Class Wars by Klein and Pettis I was originally pointed to this book as an answer to my persistent question "I love manufacturing, but it seems like the US economy hates manufacturing, why?" and while it did give me a satisfactory grasp of the macroeconomics involved, it also became my reference for a handful of trade policy / macroeconomic points that are, shall we say, less frequently bubbled up by The Submarine (in reference to the Paul Graham essay).
• Froedlich 2y ago
  I'm re-reading Tracy Kidder's "The Soul of a New Machine" at the moment. It's about Data General and the development of a new minicomputer. I read it at the dawn of my IT career in the 1990s and found much of was still relevant then. (the book was written in 1981) Thirty years later, I'm mostly just nodding as I follow along; yep, yep, yep. "Engineering" is a distant second to corporate politics and office pecking order. Reading Brian Shul's "Sled Driver" autobiography on the tablet. Shul was an SR-71 pilot, and the book is about 10% Shul and 90% SR-71. It reads fast and it's interesting, with unexpected bits of information. Just finished David Goggins' "Can't Hurt Me." It's supposed to be a "motivational" autobiography. I can't say I felt motivated. Most of his problems were self-inflicted, and he treated his family and children like dirt.
  • coffeemug 2y ago
    I looked up Sled Driver and the cheapest I can find is $350 on eBay (with $475 being the next best price). Where did you find the book?
    • freefaler 2y ago
      annas-archive org :)
  • _yb2s 2y ago
    As for David Goggins, I mostly agree, his level of drive is impressive at some level, but also just insane- he pushes himself to do things likely to cause permanent lasting injuries just because he can. It seems like he couldn't even get along with other Navy Seals, because they weren't disciplined and motivated enough for him, and wouldn't accept ideas like training to the point of serious injury or disability. But it makes zero sense- how can you be ready for a mission when you're injured? Ultimately, it seems like he's addicted to self harming to escape emotional trauma/pain, not because he's disciplined. Jocko Willink is a similar "Navy seal teaching you the secrets to becoming a badass" but his approach seems a lot more sane and useful, and has been more effective in his own life.
  • davis 2y ago
    Another vote for The Soul of a New Machine. It's one of my favorite books.
• magnio 2y ago
  "Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager". Many knowledge workers manage projects on a daily or weekly basis, yet most, including myself, don't have formal training in it and will profusely reject the title "Project Manager". The book gives a no-bullshit guide to manage things—deliverables, deadlines, schedules, and scope—and how to lead people—team members, customers, etc. "The Emperor of All Maladies". A haunting, personal, and intimate biography of cancer. Having been on the peripherals of several cancer patients, I find the book an incredible overview of the disease, and how to deal with its physical, mental, and societal consequences.
• max_ 2y ago
  The Incerto by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
• nutrie 2y ago
  Isaacson's Steve Jobs. It's incredibly well executed in terms of writing and structure. A piece of art.
  • ghshephard 2y ago
    As an incredible addition to that, I would strongly recommend listening to the two-part (he couldn't get it done in one) hypercritical podcast with John Siracusa. I definitely enjoyed the book - but it's useful to get the insight from those who are, shall we say, very deep in the weeds just to center our understanding. https://medium.com/hyperlinked/john-siracusa-tells-us-what-is-wrong-with-the-steve-jobs-biography-49dd0aa6fd19 https://medium.com/hyperlinked/john-siracusa-tells-us-what-i...
• deleted 2y ago
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• ghshephard 2y ago
  Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols 2nd Edition - Radia Perlman Every 2-3 years, particularly in the periods when I'm not actively in network engineering, I re-read this book from start-finish - and it just completely centers my mindset with regards to pretty much every fundamental topic in Network Engineering. There almost didn't need to be a 2nd Edition - most of the major topics were covered in 1st edition - the only major difference is the use of lots of protocol examples. The core material itself is timeless. Here is just one gem from Chapter 5 - "Hubs, Switches, Virtual Lans and Fast Ethernet" "I originally resisted adopting the term switch. Unlike thing, switch sounds like a word you'd apply to a well-defined concept, so it makes people assume that there is a crisp definition that everyone else knows. I thought the world was already confusing enough with the terms bridge and router. Unfortunately, people coined the word switch assuming they were inventing a new concept, somehow different from a bridge or a router. And there were various independent product concepts named switch. As "switch" vendors expanded the capabilities of their products, the products wound up being functionally the same as bridges and routers, usually a hybrid or superset. One cynical (and ungrammatical) definition I use for switch is "a marketing term that means fast." Almost all products these days are some hybrid or superset of bridges and routers. So maybe it's right for the industry to settle on a new word, switch, as a more generic term for a box that moves data."
  • deleted 2y ago
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  • codazoda 2y ago
    I don’t know if my understanding is correct but I always thought of a switch in contrast to a network hub. A hub broadcasts incoming packets to all its ports while a switch keeps a table and broadcasts only to the port that MAC is plugged into. That table is likely called a “routing table”, which probably drives some confusion. I always thought of a router as an internet connected switch. In addition, I always thought of a modem as something that can speak the language of the line (phone lines originally) instead of just the network protocol. I’m not a network pro and these concepts could be totally wrong in my mind. Not sure why I’m spewing them out, other than to give myself something to solidify in the future.
• louhike 2y ago
  The Myth of Sisyphus By Albert Camus. A great philosophy book, not that hard to read, about the absurdity of life. Camus talks about suicide in this context, and why life still has meaning despite its absurdity. The Art of Not Giving A Fuck by Mark Manson. As the title implies, it talks about caring less about what other think (while not being a narcissist). And how it can make you more happy and more likeable.
  • HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
    I feel like those are related.
• incidentist 2y ago
  "The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America", by Daniel Boorstin
• johngossman 2y ago
  "Range: How generalists triumph in a specialized world" "How to win friends and influence people" "The History of Western Philosophy" Russell...though the Anthony Kenny series is at least as good. "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" open at any page and there is an interesting story.
• jakespencer 2y ago
  The Culture Code - Daniel Coyle
• kibae 2y ago
  Atomic Habits. It's a simple book that can be summarized in an essay, but listening to it repeatedly while driving helps me keep my life on track.
  • browningstreet 2y ago
    I highly recommend James Clear's first appearance on the Rich Roll podcast. Him speaking about the book is a lift.
  • _yb2s 2y ago
    Seems like a great idea/book, but I've never managed to make any of the advice work, despite trying pretty hard. I suspect this has something to do with having ADHD. In general there are a ton of productivity books out there that seem to be great advice, but are missing some steps that make it possible to implement for some people with ADHD. In the same category, I also love the book "Deep Work" by Cal Newport, but also haven't gotten much real world traction from it.
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    • kibae 2y ago
      Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg might be a better book for you. The key to building habits is to start with a habit that is ridiculously small and once you feel like you've got that locked in, you can add another ridiculously small habit on top of it. e.g. To build a flossing habit, floss just one tooth a day. Once you've got into the habit of pulling out floss and flossing just one tooth, you can move onto flossing two teeth and so on. If at any point you feel resistance to doing the bigger habit you're trying to build up, you can always revert back to doing the initial tiny habit of flossing just one tooth.
      • ottaborra 2y ago
        I think there needs to be some feedback that the goal is sustainable, one tooth a day to an adhd mind is just as bad as not doing anything as it's still a very tall staircase to climb. Too granular a step
• xhevahir 2y ago
  I'm about to reread Nixon Agonistes. It's always relevant, but in a year that has come eerily to resemble 1968, it's especially so. More about the book here: https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/11/gary_willss_nix.html https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/11/gary_willss_nix.html
• shihanwan1 2y ago
  Profiles in Courage by JFK (probably ghost written) I go back to the section on Daniel Webster and the compromise of 1850 a lot. It always stuck with me how much courage it took to advocate for compromise and peace rather than head into a civil war.
• numeromancer 2y ago
  The Abolition of Man - C. S. Lewis All Things Considered - G. K. Chesterton Some others I daren't mention. Category Theory for Programmers - Bartosz Milewski The Design of Relational Databases - Heikki Mannila, Kari-Jouko Raiha
  • sotix 2y ago
    C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton are great authors. I rather enjoy them along with Tolkien from that period and part of the world.
• kyleblarson 2y ago
  I can usually pick up any Michael Lewis book and be entertained even if it's the 5th timing reading it.
• numbsafari 2y ago
  The Bhagavad Gita
  • krishna2 2y ago
    Likewise![1] I apply it to all aspects of life and also whatever book[2] I read, I end up seeing something from the Gita in there. (or a movie or song). [1] https://krishna2.com/bg https://krishna2.com/bg [2] https://krishna2.com/books https://krishna2.com/books
  • reallymental 2y ago
    To offer a counter opinion, the post did say "Non-Fictional". I jest.
  • uptownfunk 2y ago
    One of the best. So much wisdom. I try to read a chapter a day. Amazing.
• dotsam 2y ago
  The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch. Has an exceptionally high density of good ideas. The first time I read it, I didn't love it and only engaged with it superficially. But gradually I began thinking about it more and came back to it, and I read it with more attention. After re-reading it several times I think it is one of the deepest and most important books I have ever read. It has changed how I see the world.
  • a_tartaruga 2y ago
    It is probably the most hopeful thing I've ever read and more or less believed. Internalizing parts of it has made almost everything easier to think about. I love the idea that flowers are objectively beautifully.
  • loveparade 2y ago
    I read that book and didn't take away anything from it. It left no impression. Maybe it should give it another try. Can you explain why you think it is so good?
    • dotsam 2y ago
      Here are some things that I think about often from that book. * Problems are inevitable, but problems are soluble * All evils are the result of insufficient knowledge * Knowledge being the result of trial and error, and there being no such thing as certain knowledge. * The idea of 'wealth' being the set of all physical transformations you can bring about. * The thing that distinguishes people from non-general intelligences is the ability to create an endless stream of explanatory knowledge; that is, to have unbounded creativity. * People are universal explainers; anything that can be understood, we can understand * If something is permitted by the laws of physics, then the only thing that can prevent it from being technologically possible is not knowing how * How commitment to knowledge growth entails a commitment to particular moral values (tolerance, openness to being wrong, valuing the truth); objective morality I love how the ideas support each other and have such tremendous reach (morality, politics, epistemolgy, computing). And it is written very cleanly and lucidly, which perhaps makes it easy to read quickly and miss how dense and deep the ideas actually are.
• deleted 2y ago
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• GuB-42 2y ago
  Honestly? Probably some kind of user manual, technical reference or cookbook.
• _benj 2y ago
  For me is the psychology of money getting things done, first edition How to Win Friends and Influence People (Unfortunate title for one of the best books on plain common sense when it comes to interacting with people)
  • Handprint4469 2y ago
    getting things done, first edition Is the first edition better than the newer ones?
    • office_drone 2y ago
      "The one book we encourage startup founders to read is Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's critically important for anyone in business. Try to get a used copy printed before the 1960s; after Carnegie died, the book continued to be "updated" by a committee, and the changes were not for the better." https://paulgraham.com/startupfaq.html https://paulgraham.com/startupfaq.html
    • senkora 2y ago
      Yes, the second edition is much longer and adds nothing of value.
      • _benj 2y ago
        This
  • sam1r 2y ago
    >>> Unfortunate title for one of the best books on plain common sense when it comes to interacting with people) Many say the same of the infamous “the art of the deal” from Donald J Trump” in 1989. He, (pretty much), defines a base framework he still follows himself vehemently, today. The way he executes today becomes a little less exciting, imo, each time he takes over headlines.
    • drcongo 2y ago
• _yb2s 2y ago
  The Discourses of Epictetus - This is useful to re-read frequently while thinking about any new challenges in my life, as these are powerful tools for managing hardship and generally living well. When I say no, I feel guilty by Manuel J. Smith - a book on assertive and non-manipulative communication. This has been incredibly valuable for improving my personal relationships and work. It's also allowed me to recognize and defend myself against emotional manipulation, which is more common than I realized. For many people that is the main way they communicate- by trying to control others with guilt through manipulation.. and I used to be both unaware and extremely vulnerable to it. It is useful to re-read and practice frequently, as these are skills that require practice.
• tazu 2y ago
  Black Swan by Nassim Taleb
• exe34 2y ago
  I have meditations, letters from a stoic and discourses on rotation.
• kkylin 2y ago
  Glenn Gould Reader, a collection of writings by Canadian pianist Glenn Gould Eye, Brain, Vision by David Hubel, IMO an excellent introduction to visual neuroscience for the layperson and a really, really nice example of good scientific writing Huygens and Barrow, Newton and Hooke by VI Arnold, for the density of ideas Perceptrons by Minsky and Papert, mainly as an example of clear mathematical exposition
• sedawk 2y ago
  In no particular order... 0. Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony, by Akio Morita, Edwin M. Reingold, Mitsuko Shimomura 1. The Practice of Programming (TPOP) , by Brian W. Kernighan, Rob Pike 2. Wings of Fire, by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Arun Tiwari
• extr0pian 2y ago
  A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William Irvine is great. I read it a couple of years ago and just recently listened to the audiobook. It definitely gives you a different perspective on how to approach life.
• black6 2y ago
  Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" Cicero's "How to Grow Old" John Derbyshire's "Prime Obsession"
• oidar 2y ago
  The War of Art by Pressfield, Natural Meditation by Dean Sluyter, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracián are books I often come back to ever couple of years.
  • WorkerBee28474 2y ago
    The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracián really is a hidden gem
• cinntaile 2y ago
  Why are most of you just listing books? At least explain why you reread those particular books, that's what's actually valuable here.
  • justin_oaks 2y ago
    I agree that it'd be much more useful if people did that. Without that information, I assume that the books that are mentioned more than once are the ones that I should look into.
• deleted 2y ago
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• interbased 2y ago
  The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle Letting Go - David R Hawkins Both books provide amazing reminders for the best ways to approach life and handle stress.
• light_triad 2y ago
  If you like history you should check out 19th Century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt's collection of essays Force and Freedom - I read it every 2 years or so. It's great summary of the different sources of power in society and how they interact during different periods. Highly recommended. "In Force and Freedom, Burckhardt reduced the main elements of history to the state, religion, and culture, discussing the hypothetical and actual supremacy of each over the other two. “Culture” comes out best, religion worst in his value system, but the state has its dangers too..." https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-european-biographies/jacob-christoph-burckhardt https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-europ...
• BrannonKing 2y ago
  The Bastiat Collection. Emerson's essays.
• Brajeshwar 2y ago
  I've re-read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie so many times. It is now my comfort book. I’m on a quest to have a list of less than 10 of the best books I can re-read, recommend to others - https://brajeshwar.com/books/ https://brajeshwar.com/books/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influen...
• sotix 2y ago
  Walden, in which the author, Henry David Thoreau, builds a cabin in the woods and lives there for two years, two months, and two days. He gives up many of modern life’s luxuries and makes some incredibly profound observations on how much unnecessary bloat we have in modern life. It was published in 1854 yet remains relevant. Henry David Thoreau was part of the Transcendentalist movement, so the book reflects a lot of that philosophy. I am revisiting it after first reading it a decade ago and am finding it really fascinating now that I’m older and have spent a bit of time in the workforce and in society.
  • OnACoffeeBreak 2y ago
    You may also enjoy a modern-ish take on this from Zoro's Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods.
• curiouscavalier 2y ago
  Statistical Mechanics by Pathria. Every read teaches me something new and reminds me how little I know.
• INGSOCIALITE 2y ago
  1984 by George Orwell
• uptownfunk 2y ago
  The Rama Charit Manasa Bhagavatam Bhagavad Gita Chaitanya Caritamrta Mahabharata
• tptacek 2y ago
  Garner's Modern American Usage.
• jimsojim 2y ago
  "Who Am I?" by Ramana Maharshi
  • randycupertino 2y ago
    This has been in my audible wish list forever but I haven't pulled the trigger. Thanks for the nudge, will try it!
• praving5 2y ago
  Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. Timeless advice on money and life management
• HellDunkel 2y ago
  The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
  • teddyh 2y ago
    That’s fiction.
    • gcj 2y ago
      Wait, WAS IT ALL LIES??????
• thraxil 2y ago
  Systemantics by John Gall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemantics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemantics
  • jesterson 2y ago
    Amazing book
    • thraxil 2y ago
      Yeah, I re-read it every once in a while to feel like "it's not just me; everything really is messed up".
• barnabyjones 2y ago
  I think Xenophon's Anabasis is an excellent treatise on leadership and crisis management, and his Hellenica is also a great look at the sources of and risks to moral authority.
• kkoncevicius 2y ago
  The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times - Rene Guenon (1945). An esoteric book that summarises everything as a direction which moves away from quality and towards quantity. Here is an excerpt that uses this system to analyse modern workplace anonymity: "[...] tendency to uniformity demands that individuals shall be treated as mere numerical 'units', thus realizing equality by a leveling down, for that is the only direction in which equality can be reached 'in the limit' [...] Anyone who wonders what happens to the individual in such conditions will find that [...] he is so to speak reduced to his substantial aspect, and this amounts to saying that he becomes scarcely more than [...] 'a body without a soul'. From such an individual the qualitative or essential aspect has indeed almost disappeared ('almost', because the limit can never actually be reached); and [...] the individual really no longer has any 'name' that belongs to him, because he is emptied of the qualities which that name should express; he is thus really 'anonymous', but in the inferior sense of the word. This is the anonymity of the 'masses' of which the individual is part and in which he loses himself, those 'masses' that are no more than a collection of similar individuals, regarded purely and simply as so many arithmetical 'units'. 'Units' of that sort can be counted, and the collectivity they make up can thus be numerically evaluated, the result being by definition only a quantity; but in no way can each one of them be given a denomination indicating that he is distinguished from the others by some qualitative difference."
• pedalpete 2y ago
  The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday Holiday, in most of his books, makes stoic philosophy relatable and gives examples of we'd be familiar with in modern day. It's a fairly easy read, and I gift it the most as well. As a software engineer, I found his less popular book Perennial Seller to also be very good. It describes his writing style, which honestly is very similar to coding, but also talks about his approach to marketing his books, which drives the content. Play Bigger by Al Ramadan (and a few others) which talks about category design. I haven't tried their newer books, but I'm somewhat tempted.
• drcongo 2y ago
  Happy by Derren Brown - not a self help book, more an introduction to classical Greek and Roman philosophy framed around stoicism and a dash of Epicureanism. While it does include mental exercises you can do to aid in a stoic sense of self, I've never found the need to do them, but have definitely become more stoic, and by extension happier, as a result of reading it.
• zigmig 2y ago
  PeopleWare. I read it and then re-read it every year.
• _zamorano_ 2y ago
  Joe Studwell - How Asia works, and all Nick Lane. The first is, despite its name, a manual for countries on how to win at capitalism. A must read to understand what works and what doesn't in macroeconomics. About Nick Lane, he's an English biochemist working on cutting-edge investigation regarding the cell and origin of life. His work is very deep and leaves me with a sense of awe, of what nature and natural selection has 'built' and why life is the way it is.
• partitioned 2y ago
  The Mental Game of Poker
• mrrobot900 2y ago
  Escape from Freedom[1]! the meat of Fromm's thesis is that modern societies have attained a lot of "negative freedom" (i.e. freedom from necessities and/or authorities), but the corresponding growth in "positive freedom" (freedom to express oneself authentically and genuinely) has been lackluster. the result is that we become "burdened" by the responsibilities of freedom, unable to handle it without feeling overwhelmed. instead, we resort to escape mechanisms: e.g. by seeking refuge in authoritarian leaders, or by conforming to societal standards and expectations. both are detrimental, Fromm says, as they undermine individual freedom. Fromm urges that we should pay more attention to our thoughts and actions, and to be more wary of them, as they may or may not be genuine expressions of our inner selves. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_Freedom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_Freedom
  • qwertygerty 2y ago
    This seems quite apt for how I'm feeling the last few years. Thank you for this, I will look into it
  • timtas 2y ago
    Positive rights don’t exist because they are simply claims on other people’s labor.
• jollofricepeas 2y ago
  Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant. If you know you know.
• JackMorgan 2y ago
  Wow, this is interesting, very few books I've read more than once! Even fewer are non fiction, but they sure do explain a lot about me: - Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker helped me process a number of assaults that happened to me as a child - Designing Data Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann helped me understand intuitively how databases work and how to use eventual consistency to handle workloads - The Highly Sensitive Person: How To Thrive when the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron this helped me process my and my families neurodivergence. - Structure And Interpretation of Computer Programs by Ableson and Sussman. Great book, it's how I learned to love Lisp. I felt like I grew 10x in skill from completing all the homework. - Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe. This is the book that got me into powerlifting as a regular part of my fitness. I used this to heal my back, neck, and wrist pain. Changed my life. - Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney. The GOAT of plein air painting himself teaches so much about how light works on complex forms. I've dog-eared this book. - Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux. A great look into how to build and run a self organizing team. Very insightful for when I was leading several teams and needed inspiration for something other than the typical chain of command. - The Classroom Management Book by Harry Wong. This book taught me so much about how humans work. I still apply lessons from this book 20 years later. - Real World Haskell by O'Sullivan, Goerzen, Stewart. This taught me a lot about Haskell, and got me into all the neat effects needed to make a function pure but still handle IO/async, etc. - Peopleware by DeMarco, Lister. My go to book for people management and a philosophy of project management - Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples by Gottman. I love this book for teaching me how to be a better spouse and friend. - The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Larimore, Lindauer. A great guide to building a permanent portfolio that will return consistent gains with the market. Simple in hindsight, thanks to this book. Best book on investing I've ever read. - How to Take Smart Notes by Ahrens. Introduces the zettlekasten system for thinking and creativity. Very inspiring, got me to start a personal file that I keep going to this day, five years later. - Twenty Small Sailboats to Take you Anywhere by Vigor. I read this book over and over, dreaming of buying a small boat and sailing around the world. Maybe this year...
  • mucle6 2y ago
    I've heard so many good things about lisp, but unfortunately I've never had a chance to learn it. Can you share a bit on why you love it
• NoGravitas 2y ago
  The Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti: a good introduction to radical pessimism. If you get into it, it's a good idea to move on to Eugene Thacker, whose writing is deeper and less polemical. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 by Hunter S. Thompson: gives a better understanding of the political contexts that led to our current politics. Somehow, we keep re-living this election over and over again.
  • FumblingBear 2y ago
    I've read and adored a lot of Thomas Ligotti's fictional works—I think this comment will finally push me to read The Conspiracy Against the Human Race. Thanks for sharing some additional reading to consider too. At least from what I've read from Ligotti, he has such a hauntingly poetic way to touch on the horrors of the mundane. Thanks for sharing :)
• xucian 2y ago
  Zero to one The lean startup The 4-hour workweek The subtle art of not giving a f*ck -- What I've found out, biographies are the best thing for me because I always want to know what happens next, but I also learn invaluable lessons from the biographee (just googled this term now and it exists!), so it's a nice mix of story and self-help
• yungporko 2y ago
  seneca's letters from a stoic, marcus aurelius' meditations, the pragmatic programmer by david thomas & andrew hunt
  • agent008t 2y ago
    Look up other writings by Seneca, e.g. On Peace of Mind. They are great too!
• smokeydoe 2y ago
  Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart D. Ehrman. It’s a great read about early scribe practices and known problems with different manuscript translations in the New Testament.
  • notdonspaulding 2y ago
    I've not personally read "Misquoting Jesus", but I've listened to Ehrman on YT a bit. Based on that, and having spoken with a few biblical scholars who have read Ehrman, the general impression I get is that he has a "select is broken"[0] attitude toward the reliability of the Bible. Much like GCC, and the Linux kernel, and the PostgreSQL query planner, the Bible is a battle-tested historical artifact. There may be a slew of yet-to-be-discovered "edge cases" in its interpretation (and perhaps Ehrman is the man to discover them). But in the main, it's an incredibly reliable witness to history. So, while I wouldn't want to discourage people from starting their study of Biblical textual criticism with Bart Ehrman, I would definitely discourage them from concluding it with him. The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. Prov. 18:17 [0]: https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-first-rule-of-programming-its-always-your-fault/ https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-first-rule-of-programming-...
    • freedomben 2y ago
      I think you are making the opposite error that you're accusing Ehrman of making, specifically that you seem to be taking (what survived of) the Bible at it's word, putting the benefit of the doubt on everyone/everything else to disprove it, rather than giving it the burden of proof on its claims. You seem to be giving it more credibilty because it is old, but there are plenty of similar aged or older books that are clearly not accurate/true just because they are old and can't be disproven. If that's your standard, then you must also accept the existence of a lot of Pagan gods as well. Even if we just limit it to "the Bible" then you have to accept that Asherah and other early Hebrew gods really existed, and had priests and prophets capable of doing miracles and curses/blessings, etc. Of course there is historically accurate stuff in the Bible, but there's also a ton of supernatural claims that can't be proven or disproven (aka they are non-falsifiable). For that matter The Odyssey has survived a long time and has some accurate historical things in it, but we don't take the Odyssey's stories about supernatural things at face value. It's also not hard to show that The Bible is not historically reliable just by comparing different sections of it that contradict each other. For example, what were Jesus' last words on the cross? Mark, Luke, and John all disagree on this and have different words. They can't all be his last words. What day did he actually die? Was it the day after passover as in Mark, or the day before as in John?[1] We absolutely agree though on reading lots of perspectives on it. There is no shortage of PhDs who debate these things, so at the end of the day you'll have to either choose the stay agnostic on it, or go with what seems "most likely" to you. [1]: https://ehrmanblog.org/why-have-i-stopped-explaining-how-i-lost-my-faith-readers-mailbag-june-4-2017/ https://ehrmanblog.org/why-have-i-stopped-explaining-how-i-l...
• jjice 2y ago
  Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez is a personal favorite. I re-read every year or so to make sure I'm thinking about my real personal goals. It also makes me trim the fat from my personal budget again each time I read.
  • interglossa 2y ago
    I used it to prepare for retirement. The investment in T-bills is not the sole strategy they proposed but the basic ideas are solid.
    • jjice 2y ago
      > The investment in T-bills is not the sole strategy they proposed but the basic ideas are solid. Agreed. They actually updated their stance in their second edition that was published in 2017 since Vicki acknowledges that their advice was only relevant when it was originally published. They lean more towards index funds now.
• notdonspaulding 2y ago
  I don't tend to reread many books in general. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien's fictional series are probably the only exceptions. However, I do frequently reread books from the Bible, typically the English Standard Version. And yes, I would make the claim that all of these are non-fictional books/letters. - Jonah: for its description of God's desire to have compassion on a group of people who don't know him, by leaving Jonah with no other option than telling those people about Him. - Ecclesiastes: For "The Teacher's" many vignettes about how life is a quickly-dissipating vapor, and his pointing to ways to find satisfaction in it. - Mark: Mark tells the story of Jesus' life and ministry in a no-nonsense, get-to-the-point kind of way. - Romans: Paul gives a treatise on: the main problem of mankind, the inability of men to live up to any standard of behavior, the source of any confidence that anyone can have that God might be pleased with them, the way the Christian church relates to the people of Israel, and how to live in unity with people with whom you have disagreements. - 1 John: John never got over the fact that he was loved by Jesus, and this letter is his recapitulation of that same love toward others. [Jonah]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%201&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%201&versi... [Ecclesiastes]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1&... [Mark]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1&version=... [Romans]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+1&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+1&versio... [1 John]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+1&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+1&versio...
  • mrozbarry 2y ago
    Ah, an ESV brother. Great selection of books!
• FL33TW00D 2y ago
  How to win friends and influence people - Dale Carnegie. Influence - Robert Cialdini. Like it or not, we enter into "adversarial" situations every day.
• atebyagrue 2y ago
  The Foxfire books ever since I was little. It's a series of books documenting traditional skills like crop growing, fiddle making, blacksmithing, plumbing, foraging, cooking, etc. as done by rural people in Appalachia. They contain all kinds of valuable information in them as well as a good source of life skills & fun hobbies. I recommend them to everyone.
  • rdmullins1978 2y ago
    Such a great series, and so well-done. I grew up in the heart of Appalachia and am forever grateful to the authors and editors for capturing/preserving so much content and knowledge that would otherwise be lost over generations.
• sujayk_33 2y ago
  Atomic Habits by James Clear - The art of showing up has been effective and it worked for me. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy - You get what you've put your soul into Shoe Dog by Phil Knight - I love the storytelling by the author, you can hear Phil telling this story himself.
• mrozbarry 2y ago
  The Bible. Even if you don't care for it's spiritual implications, there is a rich history that is used by archaeologists, and many face-value lessons of cause and effect, and even recommendations on how to manage a business and employees. The beautiful non-spiritual message is that humans don't change, but we can still learn from histories mistakes.
  • MrGinkgo 2y ago
    I feel like I've got to read it eventually just so I can be up to speed on all the millions of references to it in other works of art. In a college class recently, we read beowulf, and I was confused what was meant when grendel was described as being from "cain's clan" - I was raised non-religiously by parents who had both been burned pretty bad by institutional religion, so it was pretty much only me and an asian immigrant in that class who needed the reference explained. (Granted, I was one of the few non english majors in that class, which also probably affected my lack of understanding.)
    • Perceval 2y ago
      Going through life without having read through at least some of the KJV Bible and Shakespeare would be like watching The Wizard of Oz in black and white – sure, you'd be able to follow the plot, but you'd be missing out on the color experience. Similarly, without having some foundation in those two foundational works of English language, you'd be missing idiom, metaphor, and allegory that you might not even realize is there. Imagine trying to read President Lincoln's speeches without getting his references to scripture. Imagine trying to read Faulkner's Sound and the Fury without getting the titular reference to Shakespeare and the structural reference to the Gospels (the same story told by four different authors).
    • giraffe_lady 2y ago
      The main cultural touchstones are disproportionately concentrated in a few books too, you can get a lot of them with just a dozen or two hours of reading. Genesis specifically is packed with common references, can be read in a few hours, and is fairly engaging and accessible as a coherent piece of literature in its own right. Ecclesiastes is like five pages and possibly the most quoted thing across european cultures. So many literary references and even common idioms come from there. After that any one synoptic gospel + john + acts will set you up to catch a lot of christianity-specific cultural references. And then revelation imagery comes up a ton in pop culture, music, film & tv. All of what I mentioned is about the length of a medium-short novel and would set you up to catch probably the majority of allusions to the bible. You'd be missing some major stuff like moses, david & solomon, plus a bunch of misc but influential stories like jonah & the whale, samson etc. But for bang for your buck it would get you pretty far.
• aristofun 2y ago
  Bible is one of few obvious choices of foundational books.
• Jsebast24 2y ago
  folklore.org - Anecdotes about the development of Apple's original Macintosh, and the people who made it (123 stories), A. Hertzfeld
• rdmullins1978 2y ago
  For the last several years, I've kicked off my annual book list by re-reading Ben Franklin's _Autobiography_. I just love the conversational tone and how wide-ranging it is, and there's a surprising amount of still-practical day-to-day advice in there. Honorable mention to _How to Win Friends and Influence People_ (I agree with other comments that earlier editions are better) and _Getting Things Done_. Thanks for starting this thread! Lots of good recommendations here.
• spit2wind 2y ago
  "The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work" by Gottman. It's not the best writing in the world yet it's based on 50 years of actual research. "Peopleware" by Tom DeMarco. It's a book every manager should read about how, maybe, you can create a team that jells. "The Effective Executive" by Peter Drucker. Examines the necessities of knowledge work. What every manager and employee should read.
• mrbluecoat 2y ago
  Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation by Jonathan Kozol Growing up in a sheltered middle-class home, it was my first awakening to 'the real world'
• ananya_paw 2y ago
  "Chanakya Niti"- best for Leadership/Business/DecisionMaking/Life overall
• kcartlidge 2y ago
  Most gave been mentioned, but as they probably won't be I'll include these: - The Extended Circle - an Anthology of Humane Thought by Jon Wynne Tyson - Letters from the Desert by Carlo Carretto
• jonjacky 2y ago
  Computer Power and Human Reason by Joseph Weizenbaum. It's a true classic. Weizenbaum wrote the first AI chat program, Eliza, sixty years ago. I read his book shortly after it came out in 1976, and several times since, most recently last year after ChatGPT etc. arrived. I was impressed again how pertinent and prescient it is. A fifty year old book about AI is still relevant because it is mostly about peoples' motivations for building and using AI, their expectations for it, and their responses to it. These haven't changed in fifty years and don't depend on the technology in the AI, or what it can actually do. Weizenbaum recognizes that making and using computer technology has moral and ethical consequences and isn't afraid to say so. He argues that computers should not be used for some purposes, whether or not they can be made to work.
• jk_jaggu 2y ago
  The Alignment Problem
• themadturk 2y ago
  The Soul Of A New Machine, by Tracy Kidder - The history of computing fascinates me, and this is one of my favorite books on the topic. Hackers, by Steven Levy - Again, computing history, and especially relevant to me because I started personal computing in the mid-80s and like reading about the stuff I missed. Levy is always fun to read. There are a lot of good books on the microcomputer revolution, this one is just my favorite. Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott - It's not just a book about writing, but a book about living. Lamott is a born storyteller, and every one of her non-fiction books is inspiring and highly readable. On Writing, by Stephen King - I am not a King fan. The only fiction piece he's written I come back to is The Stand. But the story of how he became a writer, and his life as a writer, gives me hope for my own writing. And his advice is valuable; even if I don't like his books, I can't argue with his success.
  • gaws 2y ago
    > The history of computing fascinates me Have you watched "Halt and Catch Fire?"
  • rdmullins1978 2y ago
    Nice selection. Also along computer history lines, I'd recommend Bob Cringely's Accidental Empires.
    • rdmullins1978 2y ago
      And/or the 3-part PBS series Triumph of the Nerds, which was based on it and has tons of great interviews with the personal computer pantheon - not just Jobs and Gates and Allen, etc., but MITS people, Intel, the behind-the-scenes people who made the IBM PC, so on. Good stuff even today (the documentary is from ~1995 ish, I think). It's on YT.
  • audantin 2y ago
    Also: On Writing Well by Zinsser. Re-skimming the first few chapters always pulls me in and my writing immediately improves.
• patal 2y ago
  "Last Chance to See" by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. About Adams and Carwardine travelling the world to document several animals on the brink of extinction (by then 1988). Very entertaining and raising questions about the responsibility of human globalization. An all-time favourite. "Never In Anger" by Jean Briggs. About her living 17 months among Inuit in the 1970ies, documenting how the Inuit see emotions and raise their children without any shouting or violence. "Shots in the Dark - Japan, Zen, and the West" by Shōji Yamada. About the culture exchange between Japan and the West in the early 20th century and how several perceptions of Zen got constructed in the process. "Gödel, Escher, Bach" by Douglas Hofstaedter. About core ideas in logic, music and art, and their connections. I always find something new there. "In Praise of Mastery" / "芸談" by Tanizaki Jun’ichirō. An essay about the japanese pursuit of mastery. It's a fascinating window into the arts perception in late 19th century Japan. Webster's Dictionary of 1913. A great resource for looking up original meanings of words. I find it very useful for naming stuff in programming. "Woe Is I" by Patricia O'Conner. A witty grammar book. O'Conner's entertaining style makes it easy to grasp the grammar topics and come back for more.
• t-3 2y ago
  Thinking Forth. It's one of the few nonfiction books I've actually read completely, let alone revisited. I used to look at dictionaries and a few reference books fairly often, but these days I use dictd and chop up the electronic versions of the reference books and pull up the page I'm looking for from the command line when I can.
• magnetowasright 2y ago
  I don't generally read nonfiction related to or targeted at start ups/tech/silicon valley/self help kinda stuff. James Rhodes' (pianist) books 'Instrumental' and 'Fire on All Sides' (both memoirs) are, well, I hesitate to call them 'comfort reads' because they are harrowing. They're comforting in the sense that he brings to light some extremely confronting things (take the content warnings seriously!) and does it with earnestness, a deep desire to educate, a brilliant sense of humour, and despite never having gone through any of the things he has, the books are somehow extremely relatable. His passion for music is contagious as well. As for general things I keep coming back to? Pretty much everything Bertrand Russell wrote. Mark Fisher, Judith Butler, too. Lots of Ancient Greek chaps, of course. Lots of philosophy. I do sometimes read 'idiomatic <programming language>' type books for languages I'll probably never use. It's not all that impactful when not actually trying to program in the language but they're usually well written, interesting, and the ideas/philosophies/approaches to programming for the language can be valuable.
• sandwichukulele 2y ago
  Energy Systems: A Very Short Introduction by Nick Jenkins (2019) Oxford University Press. I am very interested in figuring out how to reduce the cost of energy and given my background is only in CS and Economics, I frequently have to reference texts like this until I have a better understanding to move beyond
• deleted 2y ago
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• rasulkireev 2y ago
  - Antifragile - Masters of Doom - Atomic Habits - How to Read a Book - Books by Austin Kleon I'm sure i'll remember more, but these were the ones that popped into my head. I'm trying to switch it up a little and start reading older books and get hooked so that I'm can reread those.
  • dang 2y ago
    Sorry for the offtopicness: I can't reply to the emails you've been sending because the replies keep bouncing. Can you try emailing hn@ycombinator.com from a different address?
• unraveller 2y ago
  Jacques Barzun - From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present (2001) The Ancient City by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (1864) Intellectuals By Paul Johnson Daniel J. Boorstin - The Discoverers The Great Courses - The Industrial Revolution (audiobook/lectures) Decline of the West - Spengler
• andrei_says_ 2y ago
  I am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj. Recorded discourses with him, in q&a format. This is the most powerful spiritual text I’ve encountered to date. Instantly places me in a state of deep understanding. I open it on a weekly basis.
• sans_souse 2y ago
  "A History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
• austin-cheney 2y ago
  * On Liberty - John Stuart Mills * 6 Meditations - Rene Descartes I find it strange when people recommend censorship and somehow equate that to advancing democratic norms. Most recently I saw such perverted absurdities here on HN when Israelis users were justifying the expulsion of unfriendly news media. I cannot help but go back to Mills.
• nishparadox 2y ago
  Every year, I come back to "On The Shortness of Life" by Seneca to ground myself to the fact that life keeps on happening and I have to remind myself that life is long enough if I think about it...
  • igloopan 2y ago
    The historical context behind why that was written is also quite interesting (supposedly to let his father-in-law save face when retiring early).
• gcj 2y ago
  The Conquest of Bread - Kropotkin
• animeshz916 2y ago
  1. The Wellness Sense - Om Swami 2. The subtle art of not giving a f*ck - Mark Manson There are a few more but these are the actual killers.