4 ms·

Ask HN: Which books changed your life?

11 points by aadilrazvi 13y ago

What books inspired you? Changed your worldview?

sobbybutter 13y ago
Antifragile by Nassim Taleb Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino Il deserto dei tartari (The Tartar Steppe) by Dino Buzzati How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- dmak 13y ago
  I second this book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  - Nicholas_C 13y ago
    After seeing this on so many Hacker News comments to threads like this I finally gave in and started to read it. It has definitely opened my eyes to how I interact with people and made me a lot more self aware.
    - DonGateley 13y ago
      Warren Buffet credits it for much of his success. I don't much like the bastard but he learned his lessons well.
      - Nicholas_C 13y ago
        Why is he a bastard?
        DonGateley 13y ago
        His views and past behavior with respect to employees below top management. He seems to believe that only owners should profit from success because only they create it. This comes from my reading of Schroeder's authorized biography.
  - timonv 13y ago
    I agree it's great, but the summary serves just as well! http://sameffect.com/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-summary/ http://sameffect.com/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people...
dmak 13y ago
Steve Job's book was very inspiring and motivational for me. The way he saw the world was very enlightening. Here's a video of what I thought was really profound for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYfNvmF0Bqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYfNvmF0Bqw
bensw 13y ago
Moral Mazes by Robert Jackall For Harmony And Strength by Thomas Rohlen
johnatwork 13y ago
"Who moved my Cheese" (http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144463 http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144...) And in conjunction to that, this article "Someone is Coming to Eat You" (http://randsinrepose.com/archives/someone-is-coming-to-eat-you/ http://randsinrepose.com/archives/someone-is-coming-to-eat-y...)
DonGateley 13y ago
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe Be Here Now - Ram Das Whole Earth Catalog - Stewart Brand Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace Savage Continent - Keith Lowe Forged - Bart D. Ehrman Young Stalin - Simon Sebag Montefiore Court of the Red Czar - Simon Sebag Montefiore
- deadfall 13y ago
  Ram Das has such great lectures. I have yet to read his books. I am reading The Power of Now and I wonder how different it is to Be Here Now.
  - DonGateley 13y ago
    The message is pretty much the same but the presentation is considerably different. After the wordy introduction which is more or less the story of his transformation from Richard Alpert to Ram Dass, Be Here Now is as much a work of art as it is a book. It tries to reach around your intellect. I haven't had a copy for many years and just ordered one from Amazon because you made me think about it fondly again. I first read it shortly after it was published in '71 and it's time to read it again. :-) There is a trap in the thinking that it took me a long time to understand. The present is a consequence of past behavior that cannot be safely ignored. The future is a consequence of present behavior and cannot be safely ignored. Discarding that caution brought me a lot of trouble I would have been better off avoiding. This is obvious but excess enthusiasm for mindfulness of the present can easily lead one to places that one wouldn't want to be.
meerita 13y ago
In no particular order: What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness 1984 Farenheit 541 Foundation (all saga) The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings (all saga) The Prince De Bello Gallico and Other Commentaries The Design of Everyday Things The Riverworld (an entire saga of 5 books) On the Good Life Treatises on Friendship and Old Age Asimov On Numbers Asimov on Chemistry The Roman Republic And hundreds more I cannot list.
user_235711 13y ago
Universe by Freedman and Kaufmann http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Roger-Freedman/dp/142923153X http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Roger-Freedman/dp/142923153X Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre http://www.amazon.com/Existentialism-Dostoevsky-Sartre-Revised-Expanded/dp/0452009308/ http://www.amazon.com/Existentialism-Dostoevsky-Sartre-Revis... A Kierkegaard Anthology http://www.amazon.com/Kierkegaard-Anthology-Soren/dp/0691019789/ http://www.amazon.com/Kierkegaard-Anthology-Soren/dp/0691019... Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto by Anneli Rufus http://www.annelirufus.com/partyofone/ http://www.annelirufus.com/partyofone/ The Mindbody Prescription by John E. Sarno http://www.amazon.com/The-Mindbody-Prescription-Healing-Body/dp/0446675156/ http://www.amazon.com/The-Mindbody-Prescription-Healing-Body...
timonv 13y ago
In no particular order: Politics and philosophy: Ishmael - Daniel Quinn (even though in the end, it's just a cute, in essence a softies introduction to anarchist communism) On property - Proudhon (Meta, ye oldist anarchy) Das Kapital (If you read Marx, also read on Marx, can't stress this enough) Beyond good and evil (but in his thought in general) - Nietzsche (Mainly for showing there are no absolutes, moral is what we make of it, and in that moral we can excel) And so, so many others, philosophy really adds up, just keep on reading, there's fundamental books for sure, but every publication adds up in some respect. Sports and nutrition: Starting Strength (for making me bad ass strong in the last couple years) 'Paleo' diet (for showing an extreme solution for a more simple problem, that actually worked and made me not fat anymore) Some random books that made a huge impression the last years: The Alchemist, for showing how humble you can experience the wonders of life Siddhartha, same really. A short summer of anarchy (biography of Durrutti, rise of anarchism in 30s Spain, out of print) Crime and Punishment and Karamazov (There's beauty in the darkest corners of the human spirit, and so much more) The Prince Butler (For using Nietzsche's deconstruction to argue against 'genetic' discrimination, controversial, but very good) Metamorphosis - Kafka (I don't have a one liner to summarize this. Just read it, it's < 100 pages) Funny enough, as far as Tech and Business goes, I skim books to get some details, but at the end of the day most value comes from hacking around. For both.

11 points by aadilrazvi 13y ago

What books inspired you? Changed your worldview?

Antifragile by Nassim Taleb Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino Il deserto dei tartari (The Tartar Steppe) by Dino Buzzati How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

dmak 13y ago
I second this book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Nicholas_C 13y ago
  After seeing this on so many Hacker News comments to threads like this I finally gave in and started to read it. It has definitely opened my eyes to how I interact with people and made me a lot more self aware.
  - DonGateley 13y ago
    Warren Buffet credits it for much of his success. I don't much like the bastard but he learned his lessons well.
    - Nicholas_C 13y ago
      Why is he a bastard?
      - DonGateley 13y ago
        His views and past behavior with respect to employees below top management. He seems to believe that only owners should profit from success because only they create it. This comes from my reading of Schroeder's authorized biography.
- timonv 13y ago
  I agree it's great, but the summary serves just as well! http://sameffect.com/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-summary/ http://sameffect.com/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people...

dmak 13y ago

Steve Job's book was very inspiring and motivational for me. The way he saw the world was very enlightening. Here's a video of what I thought was really profound for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYfNvmF0Bqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYfNvmF0Bqw

bensw 13y ago

Moral Mazes by Robert Jackall For Harmony And Strength by Thomas Rohlen

johnatwork 13y ago

"Who moved my Cheese" (http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144463 http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144...) And in conjunction to that, this article "Someone is Coming to Eat You" (http://randsinrepose.com/archives/someone-is-coming-to-eat-you/ http://randsinrepose.com/archives/someone-is-coming-to-eat-y...)

DonGateley 13y ago

Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe Be Here Now - Ram Das Whole Earth Catalog - Stewart Brand Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace Savage Continent - Keith Lowe Forged - Bart D. Ehrman Young Stalin - Simon Sebag Montefiore Court of the Red Czar - Simon Sebag Montefiore

deadfall 13y ago
Ram Das has such great lectures. I have yet to read his books. I am reading The Power of Now and I wonder how different it is to Be Here Now.
- DonGateley 13y ago
  The message is pretty much the same but the presentation is considerably different. After the wordy introduction which is more or less the story of his transformation from Richard Alpert to Ram Dass, Be Here Now is as much a work of art as it is a book. It tries to reach around your intellect. I haven't had a copy for many years and just ordered one from Amazon because you made me think about it fondly again. I first read it shortly after it was published in '71 and it's time to read it again. :-) There is a trap in the thinking that it took me a long time to understand. The present is a consequence of past behavior that cannot be safely ignored. The future is a consequence of present behavior and cannot be safely ignored. Discarding that caution brought me a lot of trouble I would have been better off avoiding. This is obvious but excess enthusiasm for mindfulness of the present can easily lead one to places that one wouldn't want to be.

meerita 13y ago

In no particular order: What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness 1984 Farenheit 541 Foundation (all saga) The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings (all saga) The Prince De Bello Gallico and Other Commentaries The Design of Everyday Things The Riverworld (an entire saga of 5 books) On the Good Life Treatises on Friendship and Old Age Asimov On Numbers Asimov on Chemistry The Roman Republic And hundreds more I cannot list.

user_235711 13y ago

Universe by Freedman and Kaufmann http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Roger-Freedman/dp/142923153X http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Roger-Freedman/dp/142923153X Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre http://www.amazon.com/Existentialism-Dostoevsky-Sartre-Revised-Expanded/dp/0452009308/ http://www.amazon.com/Existentialism-Dostoevsky-Sartre-Revis... A Kierkegaard Anthology http://www.amazon.com/Kierkegaard-Anthology-Soren/dp/0691019789/ http://www.amazon.com/Kierkegaard-Anthology-Soren/dp/0691019... Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto by Anneli Rufus http://www.annelirufus.com/partyofone/ http://www.annelirufus.com/partyofone/ The Mindbody Prescription by John E. Sarno http://www.amazon.com/The-Mindbody-Prescription-Healing-Body/dp/0446675156/ http://www.amazon.com/The-Mindbody-Prescription-Healing-Body...

timonv 13y ago

In no particular order: Politics and philosophy: Ishmael - Daniel Quinn (even though in the end, it's just a cute, in essence a softies introduction to anarchist communism) On property - Proudhon (Meta, ye oldist anarchy) Das Kapital (If you read Marx, also read on Marx, can't stress this enough) Beyond good and evil (but in his thought in general) - Nietzsche (Mainly for showing there are no absolutes, moral is what we make of it, and in that moral we can excel) And so, so many others, philosophy really adds up, just keep on reading, there's fundamental books for sure, but every publication adds up in some respect. Sports and nutrition: Starting Strength (for making me bad ass strong in the last couple years) 'Paleo' diet (for showing an extreme solution for a more simple problem, that actually worked and made me not fat anymore) Some random books that made a huge impression the last years: The Alchemist, for showing how humble you can experience the wonders of life Siddhartha, same really. A short summer of anarchy (biography of Durrutti, rise of anarchism in 30s Spain, out of print) Crime and Punishment and Karamazov (There's beauty in the darkest corners of the human spirit, and so much more) The Prince Butler (For using Nietzsche's deconstruction to argue against 'genetic' discrimination, controversial, but very good) Metamorphosis - Kafka (I don't have a one liner to summarize this. Just read it, it's < 100 pages) Funny enough, as far as Tech and Business goes, I skim books to get some details, but at the end of the day most value comes from hacking around. For both.