
Books That Changed My Life - markbao
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002879.php
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djm
Books that changed my life:

"Hackers: heroes of the computer revolution" (Steven Levy). I bet this book is
quite familiar to many news.yc readers. For me, it was the first book I read
that introduced me to the idea that software could be written by ordinary
people and not just big companies (I was pretty young and didn't have much
experience using a computer at the time). After reading this, I went out and
found Linux & then stopped using windows.

"The Backpacker" (John Harris - pseudonym). It's a big world out there with
plenty of adventures to be had. I read this a few years ago and have wanted to
travel ever since. (next week I'm going to France to spend a few months
cycling. I'll probably get to go to Spain/Italy a little too)

"Neuromancer" (William Gibson). I can't remember when I first read this but
I've come back to it a dozen times over the years. Gibson is my favourite
fiction author (though his books seems to get closer to reality over time as
technology catches up with him). This book really inspired me to drink lots of
coffee and sit in front of a computer 20 hours straight. The insomnia and
caffeine addiction were worth it considering what fun I've had in the process.

"startup: a silicon valley adventure" (Jerry Kaplan). This is Kaplans book
about his experience with building Go corporation (early PDA's). I saw how
intense his experience was and decided that I was going to have my own company
one day.

Other news.yc readers: please post your own books too - knowing what people
have read is a great way to get inside their head and see what they are like
and you guys are an interesting bunch of people.

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redsymbol
Wow... too many to list :)

The Hyperion novels, by Dan Simmons

Retire Young, Retire Rich by Kiyosaki and Letcher (and other books of theirs
as well)

Principles of Effortless Power by Peter Ralston (martial artist)

A lot of stuff by John-Roger (spiritual author) - helped me decide that I'm
here to serve the people around me, as best I can

Intro to the Theory of Computation, by Mike Sipser

Many of the physics books I've read over the years (though now a hacker I be,
I started as a scientist... still am at heart). Not one in particular, except
maybe Modern Quantum Mechanics by Sakurai, and Structure and Interpretation of
Classical Mechanics by Sussman & Wisdom

The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Role-playing game manuals, especially D&D 2nd edition (just the current
edition at the time, when I was a kid)

You know, just making this list reminds me of how grateful I am to be here in
this time and place. My life has been so uplifted by reading. I cannot imagine
what it would be like without.

~~~
ovi256
I am wondering what you found life changing? As for me, it was the Consul: the
exquisite diplomat and adventurer, but also a Renaissance Man that can play
excellent Bach on his organ. I long to be like him.

~~~
redsymbol
What I found life changing about the Hyperion Cantos, you mean? Well... the
story line itself. I didn't identify a lot with specific characters; there was
a process much larger than all their little lives unfolding, that they were
caught up in.

Fundamentally it works just like any fiction: it starts by capturing your
imagination, perhaps moving into your mind and emotions. If it's _really_
good, it can touch even deeper than that.

Hyperion did that to me. And I don't know the mechanism. After reading it, my
world was just _bigger_. Tremendously so. And I mean the real life world, not
just the world of imagination and emotion we all go in to when reading great
fiction. [ed: nonfiction too.] Something about it forever changed how I move
through the world, how I treat myself and others, even my goals for this
lifetime. Call it inspiration.

It's the same with all the other books on my list. That's why I put them
there.

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aspirant
Like KK, I recommend Gandhi's book. Hell, I recommend the title.

The Story of My Experiments with Truth

Gandhi didn't outsource the pursuit of truth. He thought it was too important.
It was a job that would be poorly done if left to the authorities religious,
political, or scientific. Just like good hackers know software is too
important to leave to someone else.

Gandhi also made it obvious that I could apply a rigid filter to books. Read
authors who, 1. Reason soundly with the reader, and 2. Have led significantly,
uncommonly, fruitful lives. The sample size of humanity seems to have gotten
large enough to where you can find someone who meets both criteria so I'm done
settling for less.

I like the brand of epistemology that says, variously, that the more true
things you believe, the better you can harmonize with, hack, pwn, reality. So
I perk up now when I find someone peacefully liberating a country or figuring
out how to do a startup while 'being good,' and hope that they've written
about it.

So if you'd like to read a book by a social, physical, and metaphysical
scientist, who (judging from what he accomplished) collected a lot of
knowledge and hacked the system good, read this book.

But don't take my word for it.

------
dazzawazza
The Worst Journey in the World - Story of Scott's famous expedition to the
South Pole written by an unlikely team mate. This book literally changed the
way I see men and heroes.

Mein Kampf - never has fascism looked so reasonable (if a little repitious). A
portrait of a dangerous idea.

120 Day's of Sodom - Freedom as most people will never experience it.

1984 - the first book that, as a child, told me that every adult had lied to
me and I was walking in to a trap.

Bible, Quaran, 2600 - showed me that social engineering can get you a long
way.

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maryrosecook
Potential, Ariel Schrag. An autobiographical comic book written by a
straight/bi/lesbian/queer girl about her junior year of high school. Totally
changed my ideas about honesty in writing. <http://www.amazon.com/Potential-
Ariel-Schrag/dp/094315104X>

The Eighteenth Emergency, Betsy Byars. Re-read this when I was an adult and
realised how brilliantly Byars does dialogue, and how she builds the whole
millieu around it. [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eighteenth-Emergency-Betsy-
Byars/dp/...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eighteenth-Emergency-Betsy-
Byars/dp/0099408678)

Goodbye To Berlin, Christopher Isherwood. A memoir of Isherwood's time in pre-
Nazi Germany. The most beautiful prose I have ever read.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_to_Berlin>

------
azsromej
Walden and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

~~~
ovi256
Either Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is over-rated, or I do not
get it at all. Read it for a second time two months ago, and could not see why
it is so famous. It is a good book, do not get me wrong.

~~~
whatusername
I found it strange. Definately interesting and well written, but strange.
Wasn't life changing (for me at least) either.

------
sebg
"Ender's Game" (Orson Scott Card) First SF book I remember reading. For me, it
introduced the idea that it was okay being smarter than the adults around me
as well as the beauty of having to rely on yourself.

"Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" (Paul Reps) Short zen stories that drive home a point
per story. Suggest thinking about one of the stories for a whole day each and
every day. Helped me relax and be okay with who I am and what I am
accomplishing.

"Kim" (Rudyard Kipling) Great introduction into indian culture as well as the
to relations between Britain and Russia during the end of the 19th century.
What really stood out to me was the spiritual search Kim's mentor takes as
well as the significance attached to it. Also worth the read is the thinking
and training around Kim becoming a self-reliant spy.

"Foundations of Financial Economics" (Chi-Fu Huang and Robert Litzenberger)
Fantastic introduction into financial economics and derivations of key ideas
in the theory and practice. Authors were also involved in LTMC Hedge Fund and
subsequent blow up. (Chi-Fu in LTCM and Litzenberger in Goldman). Liked seeing
how Chi-Fu Huang went from mba student to phd student to professor to hedge
master of the universe. Very interesting.

"SICP" (Abelson, Sussman, and Sussman) Besides the obvious excellence of the
book as an introduction into computer science. It also showed me how human and
approchable the "stars" of CS were as I had Sussman as a freshman advisor and
Abelson responded to emails I wrote him before I went to college.

------
msg
The Fall, by Camus. Sometime after a friend of mine killed himself, I went to
the library and picked this up basically by accident. I read it in the space
of an afternoon. It was the beginning of my thoughts about the meaning of
death.

A Spell for Chameleon, by Piers Anthony. It was the first of my mom and dad's
sf books that I chose to read for myself. It started a lifelong love affair. I
outgrew the Xanth, but not the sf.

Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy. An unassailable Mount Everest in the peaks of high
literature. It's a spiritual journey I've taken repeatedly over the years.

The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy L Sayers. A meditation on the intersection
between art, creativity, free will, and the Trinity. My copy is getting worn
out.

The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism,
by David Tracy. This book was the cap to my spiritual journey in college. It
is about finding authentic experience in classics, whether they are from your
own tradition or not. It is a synthesis of modern Christian (also Catholic)
thought, but also about how Christianity should be mediated through lived
beliefs and culture, and how people should be open to real experiences from a
culture not their own.

------
smanek
Nozick's 'Anarchy, State, and Utopia' and Hofstadter's 'Godel, Escher, and
Bach' probably changed the way I think more than anything else. Nozick is like
a less insane version of ayn rand ;-) I loved 'atlas shrugged' when I
discovered it in high school though ....

Miller's 'Sexus' changed the way I see the world.

and Mencken's 'Chrestomathy' changed the way I comment on the world.

Hmm, actually, all three are just about due for a good re-read

~~~
tdedecko
Good to see someone else with an interest in Miller. I just started reading
Plexus the other day. Did you read the Tropic books as well?

~~~
Psyonic
Miller is awesome. Just finished Tropic of Cancer -- Couldn't recommend it
more.

------
jey
The C Programming Language (Kernighan & Ritchie)

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (R. P. Feynman)

What do _you_ care what other people think? Further adventures of a curious
character. (R. P. Feynman)

I serendipitously found the Feynman books right after I dropped out of college
while I was flying around interviewing for jobs. It was a stressful time and I
was feeling pretty dejected, but then I found these amazing books: this
Feynman guy was running around having _fun_ and enjoying life, rejecting the
notion of convention for the sake of convention, but the amazing thing was
that he did it while being a _completely real_ and _serious_ scientist.

Godel, Escher, Bach was pretty good too, but it wasn't a transformative
experience for me. It probably would've been great if I had read it when I was
14 or 15 when my dad first gave me his copy... but I read the first few pages
and decided I didn't want to read 1000 pages of flowery literary/historical
junk.

------
ojbyrne
Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing.

------
shaunxcode
Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

The Revolution of Everyday Life by Raoul Vaneigem

The Society of the Spectacle by Debord

Nihilist Communism by Monsieur Dupont

The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

And other classics: 1984, brave new world, planet of the apes, huckleberry
fin, slaughter house five (anything by vonnegut actually!). Anything I have
managed to get by Stafford Beer has been incredible as well not only as a work
of relating to systems analysis but on a philisophical and political level at
the same time. Too bad most of his books are in the hundreds of dollars. If
you get the chance download Designing Freedom. I will see if I can find a link
again.

------
Tichy
Steven Levy - Artificial Life (still want to do research in this area)

Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide (tipped my decision to study mathematics)

Alice Miller - most of her books (makes me view other people in an entirely
different light - maybe these books should be way on top of my list)

Richard Dawkins - Blind Watchmaker (Evolution shows everywhere)

Albert Camus - Myth of Sisyphus (although I only read the first couple of
pages, still seems the only approach to the "meaning of life" possible. Helped
me against depression)

Walt Disney (or actually Carl Barks) - Donald Duck stories, a very good
encouragement for wild imagination. Read those a lot as a kid.

Jules Verne - science and adventure...

...

------
senthil_rajasek
The key to this list is books that have changed one's life.

In that spirit, apart from Gandhi's autobiography the other book that changed
my life and millions of others is "Thirukkural" which was originally written
in Tamil a few thousand years back. I don't have a specific English
translation to recommend but here is one (from a wikipedia reference entry
actually),

<http://www.geocities.com/nvashraf/kur-eng/close01.htm>

------
eyudkowsky
Godel Escher Bach

The Moral Animal

Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases

Language in Thought and Action

Probability Theory: The Logic of Science

The Adapted Mind

Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

The Feynman Lectures on Physics

The Tao is Silent

Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition

------
rms
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

Read it for free here. <http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/>

~~~
djm
I've read that a few times. Can't say that I found it particularly life
changing, but it was a good read. I really enjoyed the 'death jockey' cult
that tried to game the system and beat Asimov's three laws. Bonus points for
being free.

~~~
rms
It made me contemplate the nature of reality a great deal. Can't say it's
changed the way I've lived my life, but it's pretty good. Also, as far as
utopian/dystopian works go, the book builds up a rather great utopia but still
manages to trigger its ultimate collapse. I'm a fan of Asimov, so it's
definitely a great exploration of his three laws.

The plot of the book, in short, is what happens if a benevolent AI bound to
Asimov's Three Laws gains absolute control over matter and energy.

------
manny
Atlas Shrugged,

The Fountainhead,

Stranger in a Strange Land,

The Rules of Life,

Catch-22,

1984,

Brave New World, and

An Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning (by Peter Eccles)

~~~
djm
I read Brave New World when I was in college. I didn't find it a particularly
good read to be honest but I liked the very direct way Huxley categorizes
humans in his alpha to epsilon system and how everyone knew where they stood.

In the real world everyone rates themselves in comparison to other people too,
but most of the time the process is not very open. In the workplace people are
prevented from saying what they think about other people by office politics,
employment law, and HR policies against this and that. Probably the only place
it is really transparent is in school (If memory servers correct there is a PG
essay about this).

Stranger in a strange land is definitely a great book and Heinlein has to be
one of the greats of SF writing. Read 'the moon is a harsh mistress' too if
you get the chance.

------
jraines
1984

Walden, Civil Disobedience, Letters to a Stoic

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

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markbao
Also, reader discussion has more books, here:

[http://lifehacker.com/397142/what-books-have-changed-your-
li...](http://lifehacker.com/397142/what-books-have-changed-your-
life#viewcomments)

------
Flemlord
Code Complete and Crossing the Chasm were the first good business books I ever
read. They started me on a self-education path that eventually led to me
founding a successful startup.

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Dobbs
So far: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone

The Age of Reason - Thomas Paine

The first ignited my love for reading the the second changed how I look at
life.

~~~
xlnt
Do you have a view on the ideas expressed in The Rights of Man? (Paine's reply
to Burke wrt the French Revolution)

~~~
Dobbs
Sorry can't say I've read it but I'll add it to my list.

~~~
xlnt
FYI I don't recommend it. I think it's awful.

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DTrejo
I loved The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb. He is the one who threw me into the
world of intellectual non-fiction.

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patrickg-zill
Albert Jay Nock - Isaiah's Job (essay rather than book, I suppose.)

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andyjenn
"Crime and Punishment" (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) changed my life.

------
coglethorpe
Demon Haunted Word -- Carl Sagan

------
xlnt
The Fabric of Reality

