
Ask HN: I have no commitments for the next 6 months – what books should I read? - cvigoe
I&#x27;m a 3rd year undergraduate student and for various reasons I&#x27;m taking the rest of the year out and returning to studying Electronic Engineering next September. I know there are a lot of &quot;Best books of 20xx&quot; posts on HN, but I&#x27;m looking for overall recommendations for someone who is intelligent and thinks a lot, but has done almost no reading before (excluding school readings etc.) and wants catch up with the rest of humanity in terms of literature. I intend on spending the next 6 months doing a lot of reading, and when I return to college, I intend on getting into a good habit of continued reading. I&#x27;m interested to see what the HN community considers the top books of all time to add to my list, both fiction and non-fiction. My current list is as follows (no particular order):<p><pre><code>  1: Happy City (Charles Montgomery)

  2: Thinking Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)

  3: Man&#x27;s Search for Meaning (Viktor Frankl)

  4: Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future (Peter Thiel)

  5: The Tender Bar (J. R. Moehringer)

  6: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Charles Duhigg)

  7: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (Ashlee Vance)

  8: Superintelligence (Nick Bostrom)

  9: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (Douglas Hofstadter)

  10: How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)

  11: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (Eliezer Yudkowsky)

  12: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner)

  13: What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (Randall Munroe)

  14: Hitchhiker&#x27;s Guide to the Galaxy series (Douglas Adams)

  15: Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference (William MacAskill)

  16: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Edward Tufte)

  17: Butterick&#x27;s Practical Typography (Matthew Butterick)</code></pre>
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Freak_NL
> […] recommendations for someone who is intelligent and thinks a lot, but has
> done almost no reading before (excluding school readings etc.) and wants
> catch up with the rest of humanity in terms of literature.

You are undoubtedly aware of books that are relevant to and liked by people in
the STEM field; your list already shows this quite clearly. So I would say
that you do _not_ need any recommendations for books that would appeal
specifically to your peers. On the contrary; while your list is not too bad
(but very US-centric; e.g., Carnegie), it is the type of list you would hand
an undergraduate _to prepare for his studies_.

That is a noble goal in itself, but has nothing to do with _catching up with
the rest of humanity in terms of literature_.

My advice: go look for literature in the broadest sense, but cut down on the
self-help and non-fiction. Find out about the classics you've missed out on or
couldn't appreciate in high school, and ask people in person about their
recommendations. Have you considered asking a librarian at your local library?

~~~
cvigoe
Thanks! Yes I was aware that my list was very STEM heavy, most of my friends
are in STEM fields which of course has heavily influenced the list. Funnily
enough, the thought of asking a librarian had completely slipped my mind,
definitely something I'll do.

With regards to your response to the "catching up with the rest of humanity",
I definitely agree that my list so far does not reflect that intent, but this
is exactly why I am reaching out! Hopefully I will be able to compose a more
holistic list in time!

~~~
brudgers
Instead of composing a list, pick up a book and start reading. If it's good
keep reading. If it isn't put it down. One of the great things that comes with
getting old(er) is that different books are better or worse at different time
in my life. And, sometimes the same book is a different book at a different
time in my life.

------
pprbckwrtr
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (Joan Didion)

Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Paul Zindel)

The Things They Carried (Tim O' Brien)

This Side of Paradise (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury) _Essentially a children 's sci-
fi novel, but it doesn't read that way.

A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway) _My personal favorite (along with his
short stories, which I highly recommend), but if it's your first time reading
Hemingway, might be better to go with The Sun Also Rises.

Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates)

On the Road (Jack Kerouac) *One of my personal favorites, but most people
either love or hate it, so maybe save this towards the end.

On my own reading list:

Speedboat (Renata Adler)

Money (Martin Amis)

Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

~~~
pprbckwrtr
This was formatted better when I first typed it out! I have no idea why it
italicized some things.

~~~
0942v8653
Asterisks turn into italics:

    
    
        some *formatted* words
    

becomes "some _formatted_ words"

If you put a space after the first one it won't be formatted: some *
formatted* words

------
nickolasBruce
Good list. I really recommend these to everyone. they are listed in my order
of love to like. Hope you enjoy Conor. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (864)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (159) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (268)
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (337) The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
(130) and last but not least The Stranger by Albert Camus (this one is short,
idk how many pages, but its like 60. and if you read it from an existential
point of view, it can have life altering effects.) Keep in mind, these are my
absolute favorites. I don't think you can go wrong with any one of them. =]

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danieltillett
Rather than suggest books, can I suggest that you go to your local library and
select some books at random off the shelf (make sure you use a real random
process). You will find mostly crud, but around 1 in 20 will be something you
will cherish that you would never have found in a thousand years any other
way.

------
brudgers
_Blood Meridan_ , Cormac McCarthy.

