
Ask HN: What book do you recommend everyone should read? - Gammarays
Hi HN,<p>Every person I&#x27;ve come across always has one book that sits at the top of their book list that they would recommend to everyone. For me, it&#x27;s &quot;How to win friends &amp; influence people&quot; by Dale Carnegie. What&#x27;s your book?
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edpichler
Another book I recommend: On the shortness of life, by Seneca

I's life changing, it teaches you the importance to do not waste our most
precious finite resource.

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Curiositry
A Guide to the Good Life, by William B. Irvine

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playing_colours
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
[http://peakthebook.com/index.html](http://peakthebook.com/index.html) It is
on deliberate practice. Together with "Deep Work" can help to build a personal
system to achieve the goals in study, work, etc.

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NumberCruncher
If you want to play the game: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

And if you don't: How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

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niosus
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character.

It is very motivating, witty and just great fun to read!

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kleer001
Non Fiction: Godel Escher Bach

Fiction: Seveneves

Both of these I've read several times and glean new things each reading. And
those things I've learned have formed essential parts of the heuristics I use
on a day to day basis to deal with the dark ambiguities of life.

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roystonvassey
Fiction: War and Peace; the more everything changes the same humans stay. 200
years old and yet you can empathise with every character

Non-fiction: Letters from Seneca; the only philosophy book I enjoyed and whose
tenets I aim to practise every day.

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steeef
Did you mean "Letters from a Stoic" by Seneca?

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roystonvassey
Yes, you're right. Thanks for pointing that out!

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tbihl
Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs. If you ever think
about the design of your town or city or wonder why it's not safe to go out
after dark in parts of your city, among many other things, it's applicable to
you.

Reading Jacobs' most famous book, you're​ hit with this feeling that she
possessed the perfect balance of humility and knowledge. That we still make
the mistakes she described half a century ago is quite unfortunate, especially
once you realize the we do and for a long time, have, known better.

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antoaravinth
Deep work is one of the best book I had read in this year

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1455586692/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1455586692/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489895766&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=deep+work)

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akulbe
1\. How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie

2\. Deep Work - Cal Newport

3\. Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman

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anotheryou
wouly you say it's enough to read the wikipedia page on the first one?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influen...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People#Twelve_Things_This_Book_Will_Do_For_You)

The only section where I would use an example is with "Let the other person
feel the idea is his or hers.". It's also one of the few that are not just
about being positive and honest.

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kevindeasis
How to win friends and influence people

Man's search for meaning

Architecture of happiness

Eternal Golden Braid

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trcollinson
The Mythical Man Month: Essays on Software Engineering - Frederick Brooks

The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company - David Packard

I have read countless books and articles and have attended countless
discussions and talks on software engineering and business practices and it
never ceases to amaze me how many of the principles tie right back to these
two books. Each is short and can be easily tackled together in a day or less.

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mvpu
1\. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth -
[http://amzn.to/2mLuQyU](http://amzn.to/2mLuQyU)

2\. The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman -
[http://amzn.to/2mXSlFB](http://amzn.to/2mXSlFB)

3\. Strengths Finder by Gallup Press -
[http://amzn.to/2mqDNuY](http://amzn.to/2mqDNuY)

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dudul
Sun Tzu - The Art of War.

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tnecniv
You can breeze through it in an afternoon and it ends up being strangely
applicable to life.

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dudul
TBH if you read it in an afternoon you're probably missing on a lot of things.

I find that the original text on its own is very hard to fully understand.
Usually better to read a commented/detailed edition. At least that's my
experience.

But yeah, it is amazing how it can apply to so many things.

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chauhankiran
1\. Prithvivallabh (Gujarati Book) by K.M. Munshi 2\. Glimpses of World
History[0] by J. Naheru

[0].
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glimpses_of_World_History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glimpses_of_World_History)

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tjalfi
Technical - Hacker's Delight by Henry Warren

Fiction - The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

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id122015
"Economics in one lesson"

I found it on a libertarian website, free to download, its about free market,
against government intervention. It gives many examples of how "anything that
the government touches, it dies"

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mindcrime
_The Fountainhead_ \- Ayn Rand

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fiftyacorn
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Bogleheads for investing

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sugarygrind
Health Related:

1\. The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss Jason Fung

2\. Tripping Over the Truth: The Return of the Metabolic Theory of Cancer

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victorhn
The bible.

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madamelic
A bit dry but worth a read.

You will know more about Christianity than a lot of Christians.

It's definitely a good book if you are looking for common sense morality. I
think the Jefferson Bible is a better book if you are looking for moral
teachings (never read it, only heard about it)

~~~
tbihl
On the Bible front, I'd recommend a story bible. There's a good reason so many
people fail to read the Bible: it's full of motivational landmines such as
genealogies. Even reading a story bible would put one far ahead in terms of
understanding.

The one I read is the Ritchie pruehs story bible, which is free as a Kindle
book.

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edpichler
I recommend a book only recently I could read, the classic: 1984 by George
Orwell

Every citizen should read it, on my opinion.

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asagdullaev
Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki

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madamelic
I've heard that book isn't very good. It is full of stories that didn't happen
and are just Robert's ideas about what makes a rich person rich.

Basically, Robert got rich from telling others how rich people are.

I've read plenty of books about finances that are just mind-numbingly obvious
that it is a skip for anyone with common sense. Would you agree RDPD is that
kind of book?

[https://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-
in...](https://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-investment-
blog/61651011-john-t-reeds-analysis-of-robert-t-kiyosakis-book-rich-dad-poor-
dad-part-1)

~~~
eswat
> It is full of stories that didn't happen and are just Robert's ideas about
> what makes a rich person rich.

If you read it like a parable similar to The Richest Man in Babylon or The
Alchemist you can still gather some useful info and refreshers from this book.

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dragon1st
Fiction: The Baroque Circle + Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson

Non-Fiction: Presence - Amy Cuddy

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Bumerang
Fiction: The Martian - Andy Weir

Non fiction: Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely

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madengr
Asimov's Foundation

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alinalex
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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ed_balls
Peter Thiel - Zero to One

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madamelic
I read it in one sitting.

I wouldn't say it is a must read, but it brings up a few good points. It isn't
a heavy thinking book, it is like an extended Medium post.

If you want to hear Thiel's ideas, it is worth a read but otherwise I wouldn't
really recommend it.

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eip
Transylvania Sunrise

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sixQuarks
1\. Cosmos

2\. Demon Haunted World

Both by Carl Sagan

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TheVip
Commenting so that I can come here later

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trcollinson
The reason folks here are downvoting you is because you can favorite a
submission or a discussion and see it in your own profile. No need to comment
so you can come back. :)

~~~
TheVip
Well, thanks for telling the reason. I'll take care from next time

