
Ask HN: Books that changed your life? - devmonk
What books have you read that changed your life for the better?
======
sandipagr
The Alchemist [http://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Fable-About-Following-
Dream/...](http://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Fable-About-Following-
Dream/dp/0062502182)

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance [http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-
Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry...](http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-
Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0688002307/)

How to win friends an Influence people [http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-
Influence-People/dp/14...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-
People/dp/1439167346)

~~~
danielzarick
Definitely all three of these...

Plus recently "Made to Stick" has really changed how I think about ideas and
sharing them with others. [http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-
Others/dp/140...](http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-
Others/dp/1400064287/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282795235&sr=1-1)

------
viggity
Can't believe this hasn't been listed yet: Atlas Shrugged

<http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452011876>

------
adammichaelc
Business: 7 Habits, 8th Habit, Getting Things Done, 4 Steps to Epiphany,
Straight from the Gut

Spiritual: Book of Mormon, Book of Isaiah, The 4 Gospels in the New Testament

Relationship: The 5 Love Languages, Men are from Mars Women from Venus

Physical: Spark, The Vitamin D Solution

------
Arun2009
Man's search for meaning, by Viktor Frankel

The Republic, by Plato. It introduced me to a whole new way of thinking.

The Gita. I later came to know about the chariot allegory in the Kathopanishad
(<http://www.atmajyoti.org/up_katha_upanishad_17.asp>), and thought that the
writer's depiction of the charioteer as Krishna and the rider as Arjuna was
just brilliant.

------
beagle3
The Emergence of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by
Julian Jaynes.

A mind blowing explanation of consciousness. The jury is still out with most
critics considering this wrong -- but nevertheless, it's an amazingly detailed
(and well supported) theory of where consciousness, gods, schizophrenia etc
come from.

~~~
dwwoelfel
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0618057072>

------
dwwoelfel
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0300087012>

I read this after listening to the following lecture: [http://arc-
tv.com/inspiring-heroes-great-leaders%E2%80%94fre...](http://arc-
tv.com/inspiring-heroes-great-leaders%E2%80%94frederick-douglass/). His
strength of character allowed him to escape slavery and abolish the practice
in the United States.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: <http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0452011876/>

Don't buy the mass-market paperback, the writing and margins are so small that
it is a pain to read. Spend a little extra for the larger version I linked to.

------
secret
One Hundred Years of Solitude- The English translation is some of the most
beautiful writing I've ever read. The story is amazing and its understanding
of people is unlike any I've encountered before, but the writing alone gave me
a completely new understanding of what literature should really be.

It's been described as "the first piece of literature since the Book of
Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race." [1]

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rque...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez#cite_note-46)

~~~
dwwoelfel
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060929790/>

------
kksm19820117
1984 - turned me from a die hard socialist to a rabid anti authoritarian.

Cosmos - helped me fall in love with Physics, and the sciences.

Tao Teh Ching - If I could tell you how it influenced me, we'd both have the
wrong impression.

~~~
fbnt
If you havent read it yet, I'd suggest you to read Huxley's Brave New World,
as opposed to 1984.

Given it was written in 1932 it surprisingly exposes present-day concerns.

~~~
timruffles
1984 has a lot to teach, and you could argue we've not learned them as history
is rewritten, thoughts outlawed and truth redefined by our politicians and
media.

But I'd agree that BNW has more to teach us about today - lots of us are
losing/have lost the ability to think much beyond our next pleasurable
experience.

[http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2PAuup/www.recombinantrecords....](http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2PAuup/www.recombinantrecords.net/docs/2009-05-Amusing-
Ourselves-to-Death.html/r:t)

------
matthewphiong
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch -- <http://www.thelastlecture.com/>

Everybody should read it, or at least watch the video on Youtube. It changed
my life.

~~~
suckerfish
How does the book compare to the video?

~~~
matthewphiong
Well the book has a lot more to offer. It is the super set of the 'Last
Lecture' (video). More stories I can say.

I happened to bump onto the video at first (and watched over and over again)
and finally decided to grab the book. Reading the book really like having
myself in the story.

Go grab the book. It is worth a life.

------
maxdemarzi
Isaac Asimov - Foundation Series : taught me to have no fear 'cause Hari
Seldon already figured it all out and I'm gonna be alright.

~~~
luffy
Yes! My mind was blown when I read this. Here are some others:

"A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace, pretty
sure this book has changed how a generation writes. At least it convinced a
generation they'll never be as good as DFW.

"Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami, which I like to think of as a Japanese
C.i.t.R.

G.E.B. - power through it, soldier!

"Making Certain it Goes On", by Richard Hugo. An instructional book on how to
write poetry, or to basically do just about anything. I highly recommend it to
all programmers.

------
AmitinLA
Snow Crash and In the Beginning was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson both
introduced me to tech culture in different ways with the same result: it got
me more excited about tech than anything else and made me realize that I had
to work in tech, and also filled me with respect for what hackers do and
regret that I was never going to be a good hacker.

~~~
dwwoelfel
Snow Crash: <http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0553380958>

In the Beginning was the Command Line:
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0380815931>

------
timruffles
Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, R Pirsig

Recently each of Alain de Botton's books (Status Anxiety, Pleasures and
Sorrows of Work and Essays on Love) had a valuable lesson to teach.

Alexander Pope's 'Essay on Criticism' (poem, not a book) was one the first
poems that I gleaned something from, and that opened up a whole new library of
potential reads.

~~~
dwwoelfel
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0553277472>

Alain de Botton: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_de_Botton#Publications>

Essay on Criticism:
[http://books.google.com/books?id=KFc7AAAAYAAJ&printsec=f...](http://books.google.com/books?id=KFc7AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Essay+on+Criticism&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false)

------
satori99
The Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan.

Corny as it sounds,, that book changed my way of thinking and indeed my life
when I was around 18yo.

~~~
arethuza
It doesn't sound corny at all - it really is an extremely good wee book. I
occasionally like to debate with people what five books we think everyone
should read by the time they leave school - The Demon Haunted World is on my
list.

------
dandrews
The Student as Nigger, Jerry Farber's collection of essays published circa
1970. Powerful, angry, and a product of its time (Farber was active in the
civil rights movement), it exposed the university social dynamic in raw terms.

------
btilly
_Parenting from the Inside-Out_. If you're willing to work your way through it
slowly, and do the exercises, it is invaluable. If you just read and
understand it intellectually, the benefit is not nearly so great.

~~~
dwwoelfel
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1585422096>

------
jnorwood2000
Time Enough for Love. Robert Heinlein. [http://www.amazon.com/Time-Enough-
Love-Robert-Heinlein/dp/04...](http://www.amazon.com/Time-Enough-Love-Robert-
Heinlein/dp/0441810764)

------
hajrice
The Game by Neil Strauss.

~~~
dwwoelfel
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060554738>

------
ljf
An Island to Oneself - Tom Neale

Free version somewhere online - but I own a first run edition. Amazing book
about what you can do if you really want to, and how strong the human mind can
be.

~~~
dwwoelfel
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0918024765/>

------
phoenix24
Matsushita Leadership

[http://www.amazon.com/Matsushita-Leadership-John-P-
Kotter/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Matsushita-Leadership-John-P-
Kotter/dp/068483460X)

------
instakill
As improbable as it may sound, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

~~~
dwwoelfel
<http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0684833395/>

------
hajiss
From a start up perspective, Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki is probably one of
the most all around no bs start up book out there....

------
suckerfish
Leadership: Theory and Practice (Peter Northouse)

The Craft of Research (Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams)

On Writing Well (Zig Ziglar)

~~~
inetsee
I thought 'On Writing Well' was written by William Zinsser. Amazon doesn't
list any books by Ziglar with that title.

~~~
suckerfish
Yes you are right. My memory failed me ;)

------
dwwoelfel
Please add Amazon links to the book titles. You could even make a little money
by including your Amazon Associate tag.

------
camperman
Godel, Escher, Bach at age 14 or so made me realise that I wanted to program
more than anything else.

------
dman
Non technical - Autobiography of an unknown Indian. Technical - Little
Schemer.

~~~
dwwoelfel
Autobiography of an unknown Indian: <http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/094032282X/>

Little Schemer: <http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0262560992/>

------
dimitrisli
'The Schopenhauer Cure' and 'When Nietzsche Wept', both by Irvin D. Yalom

~~~
dwwoelfel
The Schopenhauer Cure: <http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0066214416/>

When Nietzsche Wept: <http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060975504/>

------
blinkit
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov.

------
lotusleaf1987
Brave New World, 1984, The Metamorphosis, The Stranger, and...possibly Les
Miserables if you have A LOT of free time.

