
Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life? - sondog
It seems like most book recommendation threads end up being filled with a load of self improvement type books. Do you have any fiction book recommendations that have positively impacted your life? Maybe a book that helped you through tough times or made you change your outlook on life?
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adaisadais
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

My best friend in 7th grade had older siblings and they had all read Ender’s
Game. He read it and told me I had to read it. Being the impressionable 7th
grader (2006-7) that I was I gladly obliged.

I found the book to be deeply fascinating. It opened my eyes to ‘new’
technology like ‘ansible’ (can communicate anywhere in the universe
instantaneously) and really opened up my imagination to what I could do with
my life.

Growing up in rural South Carolina with dreams of being an explorer or an
astronaut seemed kinda far fetched. Most people just wanted you to be a Dr. or
Lawyer or get a job at BMW. Ender’s Game showed me that it was ok to be
different. It was ok to love to read books and to think that one day I too
could have an impact on society.

For what it’s worth: Mark Zuckerberg also had Ender’s Game listed in his books
section on FB. But truthfully back in ‘07 I was busy writing poems on MySpace
(FB wasn’t rural yet) hoping that I would one day be as influential as the
Demosthenes character in Ender’s Game

~~~
throwqwerty
whenever someone mentions ender's game in a positive light i worry about that
person

[https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu....](https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tenshi/Killer_000.htm)

tldr; orson scott card is a bigot and ender's game is nazi apologia. if you
don't want to read the above it's been written about in numerous places
(google "ender's game book fascism").

~~~
TulliusCicero
When I read

> ender's game is nazi apologia

in your comment, I was pretty sure that there would be a point in the quoted
article where the author went from reasonable background/description, to
instantly jumping to a completely nonsensical argument, and I was not
disappointed.

> The difference between Peter and Ender is not in what they do, but in what
> they are

What? That's incredibly dumb.

This like saying a serial killer, and someone who shot a person who shot at
them first, are the same thing. You can't just _ignore_ context because it's
convenient to your argument. By this reasoning, anyone who's not an avowed
pacifist -- who wouldn't even fight back against naked aggression -- is
equivalent to the worst murderer.

Maybe Ender went too far, but he did act in self-defense, against other kids
who tried to maim or even kill him. Peter killed animals because he wanted to.
That is nowhere close to the same thing.

Like, does the author of this piece seriously believe that self defense is
never justified or something?

> Ender is “kind” and “good” even when his actions seem to belie that
> characterization.

Ender is ruthless against those who go out of their way to threaten him,
that's true enough, but in the context of the story he has an awful lot of
threats to his life for a little kid! Brutally fighting back is completely
understandable. What else would you even expect him to do, in that situation?

If you're gonna find fault with the story here, pointing out that the adults
are all complicit in letting Ender be abused, sure that's bad and dumb. But
given that they're doing that, blaming Ender for desperately fighting back is
utter nonsense.

~~~
throwqwerty
>Maybe Ender went too far, but he did act in self-defense

the book is literally about a kid committing genocide and the reasons why he
should feel okay about it (ie a pretext). or did you not read it through to
the end?

~~~
Gollapalli
Did you read the sequel?

He literally spends the rest of his life making up for that mistake as speaker
for the dead.

~~~
newen
Speaker for the Dead is the book that the author originally wanted to write.
Ender's Game was written as a prequel for it.

~~~
Zanni
To clarify, yes, Speaker for the Dead is the book Card wanted to write, but he
found he had to write Ender's Game first to lay the groundwork. And he did. He
wrote them in that order (Ender, Speaker). A prequel usually refers to a work
produced later that comes chronologically before.

~~~
newen
I see, thanks for clarifying.

------
Jkol
Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, aka Three Body Problem. Explored
existential topics in a way I've never encountered anywhere else. I truly
believe that decades from now this series will be viewed as the LOTR of our
time.

I've recently been reading the Foundation series, and have found the concept
of The Mule character to be incredibly eye opening. I can't say directly it's
had a positive impact on my life but it's definitely changing my outlook and I
feel its expanded my horizons.

~~~
metroholografix
I found all 3 books to be vastly overrated and mediocre at best. I would bet
money that in 10 years, few will even remember them.

The translation doesn't help, but the issues with the books go beyond it. It's
obvious that Cixin Liu is not a good writer. The characters in TBP are
cardboard cutouts and his pacing and framing of ideas awful. I feel that there
is merit in his imagination but it'd be better presented in a different format
than science fiction.

To truly see how bad he is as a writer, compare him to the greats:

Stanislaw Lem, Gene Wolfe, Iain Banks (Culture Series), Strugatsky brothers,
Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein, J.G. Ballard, Ursula Le Guin, William Gibson
...

Since Dune was mentioned in this thread, I find the first two books to be
absolutely in a different league than TBP as they're complex socio-political
SciFi masterpieces that have stood the test of time. I've read Dune more than
9-10 times already (as I've read and re-read most of the books by the greats I
previously mentioned). Can you imagine doing that with any of the TBP books?

~~~
kleton
> The characters in TBP are cardboard cutouts

Try to read this as Chinese literature and not apply Western standards. TBP is
not about individual people but civilizations. Similarly, if you read Tale of
Genji expecting a plot, you will be disappointed. But that doesn't mean it
will be forgotten in 10 years.

~~~
esoteriq
Yep. Individual character development isn't Liu's strongest suit. His
characters are mostly just allegories to prove a point. (Wenje - bitterness,
Luo Ji - logic, etc.) But Liu is brilliant in his deception of mass psychology
--the various ways in which large groups react to hopelessness.

Interestingly, I see a lot of parallels between Liu and Thomas Hardy. They
both wrote sweeping tales that use individuals to represent abstract ideas.
So, it's not just an Eastern thing.

------
bo1024
The Little Prince. It’s beautiful and helps me re evaluate / question
priorities.

Vonnegut impacted me to be a bit more fatalistic (“among the things he could
not change were the past, present, and future”) and nihilistic in a positive
way. Although not sure this is a positive overall for my personality. More
sort of forgiving, e.g. the idea that people’s mistakes are due to their bad
chemicals or faulty wiring. Suggest Cats Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5, maybe
Galapagos for starters.

Once A Runner, as a runner myself, crystallized for me a philosophy of
striving for excellence at something that may not matter to anybody else. And
I find it fun.

What I liked about Neal Stephenson’s Anathem was the “this too shall pass”
perspective on human societies and civilizations outside the wall of the
maths. Whatever the current government or technology levels or wars happen to
be, blend together. It reminds me of the feeling you get in Jerusalem of being
in a moment of history that is no more important than other times and is of
one piece with them, rises and falls included. This probably connects to the
nihilism again. Anyway.

I almost exclusively read fiction but I’ll mention Working by Studs Terkel,
not fiction but certainly not self help or technical. Just helped me feel
connected to parts of society I don’t experience.

------
vector_spaces
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

This book changed my life. I read this book when I was maybe 17? And read it
again last year, a decade and a half later.

The most powerful lesson I learned here is what anthropologists call cultural
relativism. This book also taught me that everyone is under the influence of
Mother Culture and her stories. I think internalizing this can help a lot with
understanding other people, building self awareness, understanding politics in
general, and also history in general.

There's a narrative here about ecology and generally making the world a less
shitty place which is nice too, but not the primary value-add IMO (although
it's unique in proposing cultural transformation as the solution).

Nevada by Imogen Binnie was another. I read it when I was working through
questions about my gender. It's dark, funny, beautiful, and brutally candid
account of the (a) trans experience.

Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series follows these closely.

~~~
jeffe
I'm surprised that this book, which is as about as heavy handed and nuanced as
Atlas Shrugged, seems to have such positive consensus. Reading it at a
similarly impressionable age I found it to be a typical luddite philosophy
presented by a condescending pseudo-intellectual gorilla. It presented some
obvious truths about human culture and its effects on the environment, but
insidiously twisted everything to support his notion that we have destroyed
some grand 'natural' order and need to stop being a culture of 'takers'. Did I
mention that to Quinn all cultures are either 'givers' or 'takers'? You can
probably guess which one he spent the majority of the book demonizing.

~~~
andrei_says_
The book aside, in what world are we not a culture of takers or have not
destroyed the natural equillibrium(s) of our own biosphere?

~~~
jeffe
I don't believe the concept of some 'natural order' the book seemed happy to
worship. Nature is always in a state of flux, and species will always compete
and alter their environments. Limited resources means all species are
'takers'. I would argue that it is even more 'unnatural' for a dominant
species to deliberately cede dominance.

There is plenty of evidence suggesting we are currently on an unsustainable
path with regard to the continuation of our own current lifestyle. I doubt it
will lead to the end of life on Earth, and (regarding the book) I'm not quite
convinced that a return to hunter gatherer societies is the proper solution.

~~~
andrei_says_
I see where you’re coming from.

I never thought the book in any way presented returning to hunter-gatherer
societies as a solution.

I saw it as a commentary on slaving to infinite greed and thus prioritizing
the wrong things. A commentary on the madness of “normalcy”.

------
tkamphefner
Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, for a coming of age story, using
nanotechnology as a futuristic concept for understanding the differences of
being fed one's needs and being given the tools for meeting them.

Steinbeck's East of Eden for coming to grips with a fundamental moral struggle
of what is good and what is choice.

Anything ever written by Kurt Vonnegut for the proper cynicism needed to live
in this world.

Oscar Wilde for that same cynicism minus the science fiction, plus more witty
one liners.

~~~
slothtrop
I could have written the same. Would also include The Name of the Rose, The
Remains of the Day, Dune, the Master and Margarita, Candide. Probably others.

~~~
joi_de_vivre
not GR? your name is, uh, evocative

~~~
slothtrop
I read a fair amount of Pynchon, but neither GR or the others jump out as
having a "positive impact" on me. It's been too long, and I guess I'm not
really clear on what that means. With some books I walk away with positive
affirmations or a sense of better understanding. I suppose there was some of
the latter, but not the same sort of catharsis. The world is dark and
disgusting and confusing. I'd be lying if I said it didn't impact me though,
which I'll grant, probably for the better.

~~~
jrumbut
I find Gravity's Rainbow to be, in it's ugly way, somehow life affirming. It's
also very funny at times, which is always helpful, and very long which might
help people right now.

Right now I think maybe people will appreciate being in a zone where the
normal rules have ceased to apply (Allied occupied Europe in the novel), and
where there is a lot of wrangling about who the winners and losers in the new
world will be.

------
adamredwoods
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse

[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2500/2500-h/2500-h.htm](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2500/2500-h/2500-h.htm)

This book resonated at a perfect time for me, opened my eyes to what peace in
human mind could be, peace through acceptance, and above all the rejection of
strict god-judging religions. This was important because instead of chasing
"happiness" I began to work towards "contentness" which has lead to minor
emotional improvements in my life.

~~~
rtkaratekid
Just finished reading this and found it incredible how one book could reveal
so much of myself to myself.

~~~
tingol
What did it reveal? I found it to be the most overrated book I've encountered
so far. I'm positively inclined towards Buddhism but it was just cheap
mysticism whenever it was time to say something meaningful. A trope of Hesse's
in general...

~~~
rtkaratekid
For me it was less of a commentary on Buddhism and other actual teachings and
more of a way to understand and feel okay about leaving paradigms you were
raised by that don’t fill “the cup.” Maybe that’s not the takeaway most people
want to hear, but I found that the way that topic is approached in this book
refreshing. Does that make sense? As far as actual, less “meta” books, I’ve
certainly found more helpful. But this one helped me feel less guilty about
searching.

~~~
newswasboring
I read the book around 4 years ago I think, and I don't find it refreshing at
all. One possible reason is that I grew up a Hindu and have found this
baseless mysticism just tiring. And it is quite baseless, at no point in the
book does the exalted one ever question himself, maybe once but it took him
half a page to pat himself on the back and move on. He was born with the
knowledge of exactly what his purpose is, never quite learns anything from
anybody and quite frankly is condescending to the max.

------
weeksie
Depends on how old you are, or for me it did. Some books resonate at different
points in a person's life. The fiction that's had the most impact on me as an
adult was all stuff I read in my early 30s.

* Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller — Perfect for a single man in his 30s. Very solipsistic and hedonistic, which is a great way to explore that decade. Each of the books in the series is a novel length prose poem. Absolutely beautiful

* Journey to the End of The Night by Louis Ferdinand Celine — my favorite book in the world. Very misanthropic, set in WWI. The protagonist finds himself drafted into the war and does his best to survive while the brave people around him die like idiots, it escalates from there. The most beautiful line I've ever read is from a part of the book where the protagonist is hanging out at a brothel: "Toward one of the beautiful girls there I soon developed an uncommon feeling of trust, which in frightened people takes the place of love." there are jaw-droppers like that on every other page

* Crime and Punishment — a cautionary tale about exactly the kind of solipsism and misanthropy that can take us over in our 30s. Fast paced and beautifully written, it reads like a modern crime thriller.

For fun conceptual stuff

* Ficciones by Borges — short stories that will twist your mind up, each are more puzzle than narrative, but tremendously engaging nonetheless. Ted Chiang is the modern writer that I would identify as the most similar in spirit to Borges.

As a note—I'm a speculative fiction author. Most of what I read these days is
sff and nerdy lit fic. The value in fiction is the same as the value in
philosophy, it exposes you to the inside of peoples' minds in a way that other
forms of narrative entertainment do not, and the real good stuff acts as fuel
for concept creation.

~~~
jesuslop
For a lover of Borges, what would you recommend first from Chiang?

~~~
dnr
He only has two collections published so far. I thought the first one (Stories
of Your Life and Others) was slightly better than the second (Exhalation), but
both are good.

------
marvion
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy + all parts.

It's a common recommendation for exactly that - but I'm amazed by how much
it's in the back of my head and gives me support. Especially in the current
time.

I can't point to an exact quote.. but I'm listening to all audio books(as
background noise) by Douglass Adam's for the last weeks and it just feels like
there is a part in the books for almost every weird situation in life....

And it's not like it gives a solution for every weird situation... it's more
like it supports to feel however you feel about it...

~~~
eyegor
So hitchhikers guide I can certainly agree with, but the rest of the series is
pretty inconsistent. Restaurant was pretty terrible in my opinion, but then
Life is almost as good as the original. I'd say the quality of the series is
downhill from there. The follow up books didn't introduce many interesting
situations or ideas that weren't already presented and so it just felt like it
was dragging on.

~~~
fullshark
I like So Long and Thanks for all the Fish, in part because of how sweet and
optimistic it was. After finishing I then was shocked by how dark and
depressing Mostly Harmless was.

~~~
Causality1
One of the greater modern literary tragedies is the way Adam's said he wrote
Mostly Harmless when he was in a very bad place mentally. He said he intended
to write a followup to cap the series off in a lighter way but then died
before he was able to.

------
marnett
Re-reading Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle after being in Silicon Valley after a while
really illuminated the character-type I found myself surrounded by:
emotionally detached geniuses absentmindedly ruining the world.

His style of storytelling is just great. He leaves so much off the page with
his short style that at the end you get that feeling you’ve experienced
something profound that can’t quiet be put into words.

~~~
notjustanymike
Player Piano is a great read for that as well

~~~
cookie_monsta
Anything by Vonnegut is worth a look

~~~
pengaru
There are a bunch of short earlier works when he was writing for something
like Women's Home Journal to pay the bills that one wouldn't go wrong skipping
IMHO.

~~~
cookie_monsta
Haha. Ok - probably some of his primary school poetry isn't required reading
either ;)

------
tickerticker
Brothers Karamotzov by Dostoevsky. Helped me see the relationship between
suffering and happiness, between pain and pleasure. Made me realize that
government is an exercise in making the best of a bad thing, given that so few
people can handle power. Taught me ways that government can goad or torture
people into submission. Confirmed my opinion that pseudointellectuals can fool
quite a sizable audience. If this author spent so many years in the salt
mines, I wonder how much of Russia's brain trust was decimated.

~~~
trm42
I’ve been a scifi and fantasy nerd for my whole life but Dostoevsky’s and Mika
Waltari’s books have been more influential in understanding humans, their
motivations and emotions than most of the fiction. Wish I could find more of
something similar.

~~~
ljiljana
I would recommend short stories by Anton Chekhov, any "Selected Stories"
collection is fine. His characters are just normal people from >100 years ago
but they feel very real and relatable. He makes you feel as if you're inside
their head, the topics are generally very tragic though and it can get a bit
depressing.

------
Dowwie
I finally read Frank Herbert's "Dune" this year and I'm so happy about the
decision to finish the book. In the book are several references to what is
known as the "Litany Against Fear". You may have come across references to it
in pop culture, where the beginning is often cited. For instance, Elon Musk
references it often.

The Litany in its entirety:

> "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that
> brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass
> over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye
> to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will
> remain."

Learning how to manage fear is something I think we can all benefit by.

~~~
ivankirigin
I just read 1Q84, and decided that it was the worst book I've ever read.

Now reading Dune, for the first time since high school 20 years ago. There is
a solid argument to only read classic scifi until the reviews are so good that
you can't ignore it, or if you learn to trust the author.

Dune is an incredibly textured far future. Ecology, waves of anti-technology,
post-humanism, politics, and nuanced characters.

~~~
bathMarm0t
Apples and oranges though. Murakami writes symbolic surrealism. A far-cry from
down-to-earth (rome?), politically driven scifi. I think 1Q84 is possibly his
worst work. He aimed for the moon and the rocket blew up on the launch pad.
Normally I really like his works, but reading 1Q84 revealed his plot
mechanisms for what they are e.g. loosely connected rabbit holes with no
resolution. I think I ignored that fact in most of his other books because
there was emotional closure paving over the plot cracks, but it just didn't
happen for 1Q.

------
bhaprayan
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance :)

Favorite quote from the book —

“Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without
desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you
become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the
mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when
you’re no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn’t just a means to an end
but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks
loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are
things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow.
It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where
things grow.”

Other influential books: 1984, The Fountainhead, and Siddhartha

~~~
flyingfences
I finally got around to reading it about a year ago and the line that hooked
me was right in the beginning. "We want to make good time, but for us now this
is measured with emphasis on 'good' rather than 'time' and when you make that
shift in emphasis the whole approach changes."

------
DubiousPusher
The collected short stories of Jorge Luis Borges. Particularly: "The Library
of Babel", "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" and "The Immortal".

Italo Calvino's, "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller".

Melville's "Moby Dick" (I do not think this is a good book but it had a
significant impact.)

Cormac McCarthy's, "Blood Meridian".

Together these works revealed a vanity in traditional intellectualism that is
propped upon a facade of 19th century values which are easy to idolize. These
works also made me keenly aware of the folly of of reactionary anti-
intlectualism (which is easy to fall into once the shine has come off the
collegiate apple). I know a lot of my contemporary peers did not need this
same transition of values but I very much did.

It has become my life's philosophy to revel in the power of intellectual
activity to reveal and rejoice in the beauty and complexity of life but to
shun any intellectualism that will not connect itself to life in a fundamental
way.

~~~
pierremenard
Curious why you think Moby Dick is not a good book. I thought it was going to
be a long drag, but found the writing extremely enjoyable. Apart from the
obvious "literary merit", reading this book feels like being at sea, isolated
from the world, where life is subject to the rhythms of much more powerful
forces, and you can look around and study deeply the rich detail present even
in a closed system like a ship.

To those skeptical that "old books" can have aesthetic relevance even today, I
highly recommend reading the first chapter or even the first paragraph:

> Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little
> or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I
> thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It
> is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation.
> Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp,
> drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing
> before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet;
> and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it
> requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping
> into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account
> it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for
> pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his
> sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If
> they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other,
> cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

~~~
DubiousPusher
The language is great. Melville is definitely one of those 19th century
Americans who could work the run-on sentence for good. My complaints are
almost purely structural. I really enjoy the begining of the book which
establishes the unlikely relationship between Ishmael and Queequeg. I
especially enjoyed the speech that gets the Quakers to allow the pagan
Queequeg to join the voyage.

But around page 200 the book diverts for hundreds of pages to discuss
historical whaling voyages, whaling implements, whale anatomy and whale
processing methods. The book ramshackle bounces back into the narrative and
kind of takes for granted that you'll still be invested in the characters.

I enjoyed all this content and am not at all opposed to a 19th century
diversion or two. But the book just really drops the thread from Ishmael and
kind of comes back in hard on Ahab.

Les Miserables has quite the diversions (80 pages or so describing the battle
of Waterloo) but it returns consistently to the characters and resumes their
previous connections.

I just really felt that I was introduced to a great character driven narrative
then the book switched to become a technicalnmanual for several hundred pages
and then jumped back in to a wow finish presuming upon the fact that my
previous engagement with the characters would automatically resume.

Anyway, sorry to drag a book you clearly really enjoy.

~~~
mariodiana
I'm with you on _Moby Dick,_ though I always feel guilty about that. I was
loving that book, up until the whaling and "whiteness" chapters. I never got
past that. _Les Miserables,_ by contrast, I absolutely loved — even the essay-
digressions. Hugo is an absolutely genius at dropping what seems at the time
like the most inconsequential seed into the plot and then having it flourish
into a great reveal a hundred or so pages later.

------
lukifer
Robert Anton Wilson's "Illuminatus! Trilogy". I read it as an arrogantly
close-minded teenager, and it shocked my brain open, planting seeds of
heretical ideas and omni-directional agnosticism that blossomed over the
course of years.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy)

~~~
egypturnash
I was an arrogantly agnostic and intellectual young adult when I read it. It
had similar results.

I think the appendices may have been most important to me, ultimately. Some
more than others of course.

Every now and then I return to it and the painfully sixties parts get even
more painfully so - I suppose I shouldn’t expect an subtle treatment of women
from a couple of guys who were working at _Playboy_ when putting it together,
but it’s still grating, and makes it harder and harder to recommend to the
next generation.

Also it inoculated me against Ayn Rand with its parody of her extended paeans
to the joys of being fucked in every possible way by rich assholes who value
money over morals, and after seeing the damage done to society and people by
libertarianism, I cannot thank Wilson and Shea enough for that.

------
ryan_w
Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi - I recently started reading manga again
and had heard about the series. It's an amazing feat of visual storytelling,
jumping genres all the time, an incredible and vast world, and complex
characters you can't help but love or hate. On the surface it looks fun and
lighthearted but that facade is quickly thrown out to explore mature themes,
ultimately culminating in an exploration of the morality of humanity and
depression.

Others would include:

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series - I read this when I was a kid,
even got all of the books autographed by the author! It was the first series I
read that I remember deeply moving me. The books subvert the traditional
"chosen one" protagonist, and even the hero questions this. It's fun reading,
he has a huge ego that constantly gets taken down. As a kid reading along
wanting him to be this epic hero, almost self inserting myself into the
fantasy, I fell in love with all the Greek mythology and characters. It's been
a long time since I re read them, but I still think back with nostalgic
glasses. It probably won't hold up as well going back, but I think they're
timeless enough.

Sherlock Holmes - I've always been a fan of mysteries and well...it's Sherlock
Holmes. Between all the copies and collections I own I either have them all or
multiple copies of the same stories. I know I definitely have duplicates from
different publishers with slight variations. But loved it as a kid and made me
interested in science.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

~~~
Cyph0n
For those who are not up to reading manga, the 2011 anime version is an
amazing adaptation and a decent introduction to anime in general.

~~~
Cyph0n
By the way, it’s on Netflix and Hulu.

------
SamBoogieNYC
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hašek - this book is pee-in-your-pants
funny. A Czech satire about WWI. Definitely shines a light on the absurdity of
war and various institutions - a lot still applies today. There is profundity
in the dark humor, and at the same time it is a great mood-lifter. The
character Svejk stays with you as a sort of idiot-genius-rebel, a cool
archetype

~~~
jerzyt
This is a fantastic book, unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a good
English translation. I've read it in Polish, which is close enough to Czech to
stay much closer to the original. The English translation loses a lot of the
cultural character.

~~~
SamBoogieNYC
Interesting - I read in Polish but not as well as English. I imagine there
could be a lot of good wordplay that is missing. Maybe one day I’ll try and
pick up the Polish version

~~~
jerzyt
I don't know if I can give justice to it but there are scenes, like the pub
owner explaining that he had to remove the portrait of the emperor, because
the flies were crapping on it. There's just something that's missing in the
translation. Many jokes rely on language and cultural references. This book is
like that.

------
zokier
I feel many if not most responses are missing the latter, key part of the
question, namely "had a positive impact on your life". Everyone is piling up
to list their favorite novels, but very few explain how it has impacted their
life.

------
NateEag
Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books are not nearly as well known as his
Hitchhiker's Guide "trilogy", but they are better books.

The Lord of the Rings is spectacular. The movies were remarkable feats, but
they missed the trilogy's heart (and ruined some great characters). It's dense
reading, but the prequel The Silmarillion is perhaps the only successful epic
mythology written in modern times.

C. S. Lewis' "Till We Have Faces" is a remarkable adaptation of the Cupid and
Psyche myth, from the perspective of Psyche's sister.

I loved Spider Robinson's Variable Star, based on an unfinished outline by
Robert Heinlein.

~~~
edanm
If you haven't seen it, the new Dirk Gently tv adaptation is awesome. Not
super connected to the books though.

------
Cro_on
Ulysses.

Surprised I haven't seen it mentioned yet, as it normally is in book threads
on HN.

The reason that it had, and still has, such a positive influence on my life is
the plethora of literary tools which it possesses. It allows for infinite play
and imagination, while still being the apparent product of extreme dedication
and earned mastery.

In fact, I prefer Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man as a novel, and I'm
sure that the Wake is a perfect encyclopedia of language, cryptography,
history, et al. But Ulysses takes it as an (humerous, profound, tricky,
psychoanalytic, poetic, radical) example of the process of artistic
experiment, the practically infinite range of the possible, and the
unforgiving merit of deep study and eclectic knowledge.

I go back every so often to bounce my own ideas and troubling sentences off of
it, more often than not just to get a little bit of validation.

Next would be Hesiod - Theogany, a 900 line 'epic' poem from the dawn of
written literature. He is considered to be the first economist, though at that
point of course it is simply philosophy. It explained for me the concept of
emergent consciousness in a very biblical way, and let me realise the notion
that religious works are just misunderstood metaphors; products of an
imperfect language. It's unsurprising I suppose that something so short, that
was written almost 3000 years ago, has such incredible lessons and timeless
human value.

~~~
mariushn
This one?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_\(novel\))

------
hprotagonist
see my nick, but in addition to stephenson, the books i come back to over and
over again for comfort and wisdom include:

\- Lord of the Rings: The other bible. Not even the very wise can see all
ends; be of good cheer.

\- A Wrinkle In Time: 9 year old me, there is such a thing as a tesseract, and
there is also Mrs. Beast.

\- The Master and Margarita: apocalyptic reading from someone who knew, and a
cat who always pays his way.

\- the Discworld series: Sir Terry knew our hearts better than most, and sin,
young feller, is treatin’ people as things.

\- If On A Winter’s Night, A Traveler: a perfect joke that you can tell once,
plus a love story.

\- Good Omens: Gaiman and Pratchett team up, what’s not to love?

\- Moby Dick: And so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should
rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.

\- Lucky Jim: grad school, a survival guide. Come in on the fa la la las,
there’s a good chap.

This doesn’t include poetry, which is also in my head constantly.

~~~
thaumasiotes
> Good Omens: Gaiman and Pratchett team up, what’s not to love?

It's a good book, but aesthetically it suffers in my mind because it's a
rewrite of Pratchett's earlier book _Sourcery_.

~~~
armenarmen
Damnit. I had somehow missed that for years, but you are right.

------
sdedovic
\- Anna Karenina: Tolstoy knows people better than they know themselves

\- Brave New World: Aldous Huxley is a genius and a wordsmith

\- Dune: a sci-fi masterpiece, highly recommended to anyone into sci-fi

\- Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: not _purely_ fiction but an
amazing book I will surely re-read during my lifetime

~~~
dreamer7
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is really a perspective expanding
book. It just took a lot of persistence to get through as, at times, it was
quite frustrating to read.

Perhaps I should read it again to get a deeper appreciation for it

~~~
Jkol
Same for me, I loved it for the lessons I learned and I've gifted that book to
friends but boy it is a slog to read through.

------
thaumasiotes
I don't really see why book recommendations can't just be "books you enjoy".

But if you're specifically looking for "books that affect your outlook on
life", you might try reading through Peanuts. It's a comic strip, but there's
a lot going on in there.

~~~
stevekemp
Agreed. No specific book has every "changed my life", or specifically been the
source of positive impacts.

But reading stories is fun, and something I do constantly. Currently I'm re-
reading Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Every year or two I re-read
Dune, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Amber, and Steven Brust's Taltos
series. Always a pleasure.

My recommendations would probably echo those already posted, with the addition
of small random stories that I remember fondly because they were just fun,
interesting, or surprising (e.g. H. G. Wells: The Door in the Wall, or the
original Mary Poppins books recently completed after finishing the Dresden
Files for the first time.)

~~~
throw1234651234
Anything by Sanderson and The Chronicles of Amber are horrible. Sanderson has
no understanding of real life. Zelazny does, but CoA were a grind.

------
ellius
"East of Eden." Steinbeck draws beautiful vignettes of human life and emotion,
and I think the book's main idea about human motivation is largely correct and
explains a wide variety of behavior. It helped me see both myself and others
with more clarity.

~~~
randomsearch
Greatest book I’ve ever read. Timshel.

~~~
eliben
Funny coincidence - I'm just rereading this book now, and I think I like it
more than the first time (~11 years ago). Getting older makes me appreciate
Steinbeck even more.

But I'm not entirely sure about his discussion of the word "timshel" in the
original Bible. I'm a native Hebrew speaker, and I don't read any "may" into
it - it's more of a declaration of the future like "you will rule/control it"
rather than "you may rul/control it".

~~~
randomsearch
That's interesting. Steinbeck researched his books extremely thoroughly, so
you'd expect for something so central it'd be correct. Would be good to follow
this up with experts now that we have the luxury of the internet.

------
kidintech
A lot of friends that I respect and people on HN recommended "Master and
margarita". I have only got back into reading ~4 years ago, so I haven't gone
through all the great literature, but this felt different right after its
midway point (starting with Satan's ball). My advice is to look for a
translation with plenty of footnotes, because historical context plays a big
part.

It's different to anything I've ever read, and definitely stays with you.

~~~
hprotagonist
The burgin and o’connor translation is by far the most excellent english
version.

chapter end-notes that tell you all the soviet jokes you missed.

~~~
gpanders
Any familiarity with the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation? It's the only one
available at my library, but if the Burgin/O'Connor translation is truly
superior I'll just get it on Amazon.

~~~
hprotagonist
my russian relatives and peers swear up and down that the burgin is the only
one that’s even close to accurate in tone. So it’s the only one i've read.

there’s a kindle version too.

------
drclau
Kurt Vonnegut's works: The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Cat's Cradle,
Slaughterhouse Five, Player Piano, Jailbird, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater...

Find the time to read Vonnegut.

~~~
topaz0
My favorite Vonnegut was Bluebeard.

~~~
karatestomp
That and Deadeye Dick are the two outside his big, famous works
(Slaughterhouse 5 and Cat’s Cradle being the big two, followed probably by
Breakfast of Champions) that I like best. Bluebeard in particular manages to
cover most of the themes and ideas from the rest of his books all in one,
which doesn’t _necessarily_ mean it’s better than the rest but does make it
interesting.

------
_anastasia
I really enjoyed the Martian and have found it to be a nice distraction if I'm
bored - it's not too heavy and short enough to read in one sitting, but has
plenty of entertainment nonetheless.

Otherwise, the Hitchhiker's Guide is always a great read.

Anything by Dostoevsky.

~~~
robertlf
I loved "The Martian". Self-reliance and ingenuity. A great read!

------
bigbossman
Remains of the Day.

Here's a quote for the OP's original question.

> He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there,
> he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim
> that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lordship’s wisdom. All those
> years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can’t even
> say I made my own mistakes. Really – one has to ask oneself – what dignity
> is there in that?’

~~~
zbobet2012
Remains of the Day is incredible, but I will say I think ishiguro's best work
is Never Let Me Go.

The story line is enrapturing but ultimately not what the book is about. I'll
leave two quotes.

> We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived
> through, or feel we've had enough time.

> All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma

------
satyajith
Zorba the Greek - this book is an enjoyable, seemingly light read but a
beautiful contrast of intellectual understanding, and wisdom that's made
manifest through living. Thought vs action.

The author is a "philosopher" who finds the company of Zorba and sees in this
simple man the result of the philosophy in everyday living.

Zorba is uneducated and is unable to explain the why in meta physical
arguments but to the author he seems to be effortlessly living the truth that
the author is an "expert" in but unable to emulate.

It affected me because I identified with being a "seeker" and a "philosopher"
and this made me realize that understanding something intellectually is very
different than being able to use/live it. That I wasn't somehow "superior"
because of the thoughts in my head.

~~~
abnercoimbre
> [...] made me realize that understanding something intellectually is very
> different than being able to use/live it. That I wasn't somehow "superior"
> because of the thoughts in my head.

Out of all the reviews, this one exemplifies the power of fiction (and books)
the best. Your candid thoughts will stick with me.

------
fossuser
I have a list here with a lot that I like (some with links that are free to
read online): [https://zalberico.com/about/](https://zalberico.com/about/)

To pick a couple though:

\- The Nix (best novel I’ve read in a long time):
[https://www.npr.org/2016/08/31/490101821/the-nix-is-a-
viciou...](https://www.npr.org/2016/08/31/490101821/the-nix-is-a-vicious-
sprawling-satire-with-a-very-human-heart)

\- Lake Success

\- Permutation City

\- Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality
([https://www.hpmor.com/](https://www.hpmor.com/))

\- True Names

\- Any of the stories by Ted Chiang, but specifically “Liking what you See: A
documentary” and “The life cycle of software objects”

~~~
egypturnash
HP&TMOR is kind of terrible on many levels but it may have saved my life; I
was mindlessly reading it in the depths of a long, gloomy Seattle winter when
something it said about the way the Dementors work made me look up from my
tablet and go find a garden shop, from which I got a two foot square sun lamp
that kept the suicidal urges at bay for most of the rest of my winters in that
grey, gloomy town.

~~~
fossuser
I also really liked that scene you're talking about.

Not sure you think it's terrible though, I really liked it all the way
through.

For people that don't know about it, it started off as a blog post on less
wrong so the first chapter or so is a little different in style.

If you want to see if you'd like it I suggest people read Chapter 10 (the
sorting hat chapter) and if that appeals to you to go back and start from the
beginning.

~~~
fossuser
[Edit] * Not sure _why_

------
jkcorrea
The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged of course), it really rose my bar for
great storytelling.

 _Also the sandwich is pretty good._

~~~
palerdot
I came here to just recommend 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. Such a profound,
breathtaking novel.

~~~
ulisesrmzroche
Three Musketeers is my favorite but Monte Cristo is definitely the best one

------
p_l
\- Hobbit, followed by Lord of the Rings.

The selection might seem trite, but I suspect that there wasn't a book with
bigger impact on me than Hobbit, for very simple reason. It made me into
voracious reader, put me on a path of reading, actually reading. All because
my father prodded me to read out loud first few pages so that I could show off
how well I read. That was enough to get me hooked and probably nothing
compares in impact. Then there was LOTR, later on Silmarillion, and to this
day I remember sometimes surprising amounts of trivia from them. A definitive
positive impact.

\- Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Had an impact mostly unrelated to its
sci-fi content but related to more down to earth things mentioned. Whether it
was positive impact remains an unanswered question, over 18 years later.

\- Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. A book series that, now that I think of it,
fed probably disturbing amounts of growth of my personal morals. Unclear on
how positive that impact was, but I think it was? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

~~~
thorin
The Hobbit was important for me too. I wouldn't have read it without the C64
adventure game (same with Color of Magic). I was probably only around 7 years
old so it was a big book and took me a while to get through and kicked off a
love of reading. Around the same time I read the whole Narnia series. Then
next came the Lord of the Rings which was a multi-year epic for me.

Strangely, the Fighting Fantasy series was also a big influence - a cousin
gave me Citadel of Chaos just after it came out and it really pushed my
interesting in books and a an only child I tracked down almost every solo
roleplaying booking I could find.

I also loved Eric the Viking ( the Terry Jones version ), which I now read to
my children and The Odysseus books that Tony Robinson wrote that kicked off an
interest in mythology.

~~~
p_l
Heh, we were close in age when we read The Hobbit then :)

I don't remember exact age, but I think I was 6yo, and I _think_ I was already
in first year of primary school, very early into it.

The rest is history, Hobbit was a big book and now I devour million-word epics
for light weekend reading.

I also encountered the 8bit game, but much, much later, during my first forays
into retrocomputing as 12yo :)

------
SergeAx
"The Mysterious Island". It was my first book by Jules Verne, and it striked
me with it's utter realism. Most his other books, like "20000 leagues under
sea" or "Journey to the center of the Earth" are based on a fictional devices
or exceptional characters, but Cyrus Smith became for me a realistic exemplar
of a man using his engineering skills and knowledge to change his life and
world around him.

~~~
BenjiWiebe
When I read the mysterious island for the first time, I thought of Jules Verne
in terms of Journey to the Center of the Earth, or Around the World in 80
Days. The Mysterious Island absolutely bowled me over with the science and
engineering.

------
DoreenMichele
Some Heinlein book mentioned a minor medical procedure that helped me resolve
a very painful minor medical issue when medical staff sort of shrugged and
moved on.

I'm sure there's lots more, but that's particularly memorable.

~~~
heavyset_go
If you don't mind sharing, what was the procedure?

~~~
DoreenMichele
Nothing of any relevance to the mostly male audience here, but, sure, I'll
bite.

I was breastfeeding my newborn and one breast was hurting like a bitch. A
nurse checked me, which involved looking at my breast, announced I didn't have
an infection and shrugged and walked off.

I was in my twenties and had a lot of baggage from being molested as a child.
I felt humiliated showing her my tits and then got zero help.

But Heinlein had written something about blocked milk ducts and opening them
with a needle. The book description sounds pretty dreadful, but that's not
what I did. I sterilized a needle and used it to gently brush dead skin from
my nipple, clearing away the blockage from the milk duct.

Problem solved. In like five minutes.

My sister also had some breastfeeding challenges. I don't think I was actually
helpful in terms of telling her how to fix it, but I told her my story and
encouraged her to keep looking for a solution because the medical
establishment not knowing fuck all about supporting breastfeeding moms isn't
evidence that it can't be solved. She did find solutions and successfully
breastfed instead of throwing in the towel and bottle feeding.

The US completely sucks at supporting breastfeeding. It's awful.

~~~
snegu
How long ago was that? I had my son three years ago, and breastfeeding was
pushed pretty heavily at the hospital, with lactation consultants galore.

~~~
DoreenMichele
Long ago and far away.

Glad you have seen better.

------
stepbeek
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway.

You'll finish it in an evening. I didn't get how it impacted me at first, but
I knew that I was deeply affected by it.

It was what made me internalise the idea that struggle doesn't necessarily
lead to external reward.

~~~
bookworm3827482
I don't get that book. He couldn't get the fish in the boat because it was too
big, right? But then sharks started to eat it. They were making the fish
smaller. At some point before it was completely eaten it could have fit in the
boat! At least then he would have had _something_ to sell.

~~~
abdullahkhalids
You are thinking about it wrong. Suspend your disbelief about the
practicalities of what he did (pretend he was tired and not thinking at all).
The story is a metaphor about life, the struggle, and a cruel world. Every
person will interpret it differently. Think about how his story is a metaphor
for some part of your life, and you might get the emotional import of it.

~~~
bookworm3827482
The guy was a professional fisherman... but didn't know how to fish? I get the
point of the story and what the author was trying to do. It just seems silly
to have such a huge flaw in the plot. It's like Lord of the Rings - the eagles
could have flown the ring over to Mordor. I just can't enjoy books (or films
for that matter) which require a suspension of, I dunno, basic reasoning.

~~~
tlear
How many could face the Eye of Sauron and be themselves still..

Aragorn? Some of the council maybe. Great Eagle, quite likely not.

They come to save ringbearer once Sauron is overthrown. If they tried to do it
when he was bending his whole being on finding the ring and possessing it they
would fail and deliver it straight to him.

------
ASVVVAD
Surprised how no one mentioned Little Brother[1] by Cory Doctorow and the
sequel Homeland[2]

It's near-future Sci-Fi and since it was written in 2008, it's more or less
present now. It dives into a lot of topics that are relevant nowadays

1\.
[https://craphound.com/littlebrother/](https://craphound.com/littlebrother/)

2\. [https://craphound.com/homeland/](https://craphound.com/homeland/)

~~~
cdoctorow
Thanks, that's awfully kind of you. The third Little Brother book, Attack
Surface, is out on Oct 12. We're recording the audiobook this week (fully
remote - I'm in my garage, the director is in her house, and the actor, Amber
Benson, is in her basement studio and we're all vtc'ed together -- Amber's
amazing, but the process is...weird).

[https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/13/21177769/cory-doctorow-
att...](https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/13/21177769/cory-doctorow-attack-
surface-new-book-interview)

There's also a new edition of LB/Homeland coming on July 7 with an
introduction by Ed Snowden.

~~~
ASVVVAD
how I didn't see this, I am so happy right now! You're my favorite writer this
is an honor, I'll definitely recommend it to everyone

I'm looking forward for the new book and editions, especially the
introduction. Since seeing a copy of Homeland on Ed's mattress in the
documentary is what got me to read the books!

Best of luck on the recording process and publishing ^^

------
weavejester
Accelerando by Charles Stross. It's an early work and not his best book, but
it came at turning point in my life. It made me reconsider my definition of
success, and is probably the one book that's had the most impact on my life.

------
Maro
Catch 22 (resisting the system), Ayn Rand books (role of self-interest, role
of Elon Musks in society), Asimov's Foundation books (predicting the future
with integrals), Ishmael (man vs world), Dragon's Egg (best hard scifi book,
how our environment shapes us)

------
rtkaratekid
“The Things They Carried” a haunting book about American soldiers in the
Vietnam war. It’s helped me understand the horrors of war and life, the
significance of a person’s perception of an event rather than pure facts, and
appreciate life in general.

~~~
erikbye
How does it compare to Dispatches?

~~~
rtkaratekid
Never read it, sorry :/

------
billfruit
John Fowles, French Lieutenants Women, really gets the details of how society
has changed from the 19th century to the twentieth century.

I would recommend 19the century great novels, that really was a golden age of
literature, so many great works came out in the period near the mid of the
century.

Also George Eliot, in the current context, would recommend her novel Romola,
set in Florence, perhaps the finest treatment of Savanarola in the whole of
fiction.

~~~
robertlf
Most definitely read Flaubert's "Sentimental Education." The ending still gets
to me.

------
__john
The Culture Series by Iain Banks, quite a good scifi series in my opinion.

~~~
KSteffensen
Player of Games is amazing.

~~~
The_Colonel
Serious question, what is so amazing about it?

Based on recommendations (I'm a scifi fan) I bought it and read it. It was an
OK read, not boring or anything, but also hardly extraordinary. For me easily
forgettable. I don't have the feeling I missed some important part since it
wasn't really very complex.

So I'm curious why people think it's so good.

~~~
KSteffensen
Not sure, I'm not really a literary critic. I guess Banks does a good job of
setting up the bad guys to be real arseholes, then knocks them down. The
pacing had me reading this book in just two days, which is unusual for me.

This sprinkled with cool ideas like the giant brush fire, the whole empire
being based on a game, the ship names. I also like board games which probably
doesn't hurt the book.

I like most of the Culture books. My other favorite is Use of Weapons which is
very different from Player of Games, much slower.

------
awinter-py
esp this week, vernor vinge's 'fire upon the deep'

it perfectly captures the weird information environment surrounding a global
crisis

(people communicating via letter, people closer & farther from the crisis
having different skews and perspectives and beliefs)

and the house of cards effects around collapsing civilizations

~~~
nnlsoccer
His other book A Deepness in the Sky is amazing as well

~~~
AlexCoventry
Those two books of his, and in addition his earlier books _The Peace War_ and
_Marooned in Real Time_ , have all had a huge influence on me.

~~~
amanaplanacanal
I enjoyed Marooned in Real Time so much. A great murder mystery set in an
anarcho-libertarian far future society.

------
herghost
Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath - really spoke to me about what 'poverty' means
and how it affects people and perceptions of people.

Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea - a gorgeous tale that brings to life the
beauty of struggle and suffering.

------
Balgair
Though not my life _per se_ , I find the fiction in the USMC's reading list to
be very .. interesting. It's a strange mix of more popular titles and super
niche books. It's all focused on war-fighting, but it gives a great look into
the Marines:

GATES OF FIRE: AN EPIC NOVEL OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE by Steven Pressfield

STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert A. Heinlein

ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card

READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline

GHOST FLEET: A NOVEL OF THE NEXT WORLD WAR by P. W. Singer; August Cole

THE KILLER ANGELS: THE CLASSIC NOVEL OF THE CIVIL WAR by Michael Shaara

The whole 2019 reading list is _great_ stuff, top notch reading for any hacker
or c-suite, especially the discussion guides: [https://grc-
usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/discussion...](https://grc-
usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/discussion-guides)

~~~
throwanem
Ready Player One? _Why?_

~~~
screaminghawk
In a word, Nostalgia.

~~~
throwanem
Sure. But my question had less to do with why it was popular generally, and
more with why it's on the USMC commandant's reading list specifically.

That said, the USMC Research Library [1] places it in, among other categories,
"Regression (Civilization)", which may cast a glimmer of light on why it's
where it is.

[1]
[https://usmc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?d...](https://usmc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991001097589705241&context=L&vid=01USMCU_INST:USMC&search_scope=MyInstitution&isFrbr=true&tab=LibraryCatalog&lang=en)

~~~
Balgair
Nearly every time the USMC list goes up on HN, the reaction is the same: Why
the heck is _Ready Player One_ on the list?

Thanks for diving a bit deeper into the selection.

To add a bit more context, the USMCRL has this in addition to the
categorization:

"2044\. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by
spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia
where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall
in love on any of ten thousand planets..."

As the selection is in the 'Primary Level - Enlisted' alongside _Ender 's
Game_ and _Rifleman Dodd_ , I think it is there to showcase initiative and
intelligence for young enlisted marines.

Still, I'll admit, it is a strange choice.

------
dvh1990
\- War and Peace - Life changing book for me. Tolstoy is a genius. You'll find
a piece of yourself in every character, and maybe even get an answer to some
profound questions.

\- Dune - Came for the sci-fi, stayed for the politics.

\- A Song of Ice and Fire series - You know GoT. The books are better.

------
tomspeak
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace has been the most impactful, but due to
the length of the book it's hard for others to compete on the impact-per-page
metric. I wrote about it in detail here [https://speak.sh/posts/infinite-
jest](https://speak.sh/posts/infinite-jest)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera showed me another
perspective of love I had never considered. Gave me insight into
vulnerability.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes showed me how by looking through the
world via a lens of intellect, you can often miss the point.

The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God by Etgar Keret a collection of some of my
favourite short stories. Highly recommend.

------
pierremenard
Calvino, Invisible Cities — human life is so rich in complexity and detail
that an infinite number of projections can be constructed to study slices of
it, that are each worthy of their own story

Hesse, Steppenwolf — read this at an angst-filled time; the way this book
builds and reconciles the conflict between two personalities that goes on
within the main dude's head was extremely cathartic to my own life

Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — introduced me to the inherent
absurdity present in the modern world, technology, the scale of the universe,
the condition of our own existence, etc, and how making light of it helps you
grapple with it and live with it

~~~
juliemecca
+1 for Invisible Cities, and just about everything else by Calvino. Also, is
your HN name a Borges reference?

~~~
pierremenard
It certainly is! :)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Q...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Quixote)

------
svieira
Young Adult

* _The Chronicles of Prydain_ ([https://www.goodreads.com/series/40371-the-chronicles-of-pry...](https://www.goodreads.com/series/40371-the-chronicles-of-prydain))

* _The Chronicles of Narnia_

* _The Hobbit_

* _John MacNab_ ([https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161001.John_MacNab](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161001.John_MacNab) / [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300621.txt](http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300621.txt))

* _The Postman_ ([https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/889284.The_Postman](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/889284.The_Postman))

Adult

* _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_ ([https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20058/20058-h/20058-h.htm](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20058/20058-h/20058-h.htm)) - what is the right size for things in this world? A gentle introduction to the romance of the small and distributism.

* _A Leaf, by Nigel_ ([http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Leaf_by_Niggle](http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Leaf_by_Niggle)) - Tolkien's allegory.

* _The Space Trilogy_ by C. S. Lewis - the adult version of _The Chronicles of Narnia_

* _All Hallow's Eve_ ([https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/All-Hallows-Eve/978150400668...](https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/All-Hallows-Eve/9781504006682) / [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400061.txt](http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400061.txt))

* _The Eschaton Sequence_ ([https://us.macmillan.com/series/theeschatonsequence/](https://us.macmillan.com/series/theeschatonsequence/)) - if you like Neal Stephenson's imagination of future society, if you are amazed by Iain Banks' scope, if you think that Asimov is brilliant ... you'll want to read this 6-book sequence.

Excellent, recommend by others in this thread already:

* _The Lord of the Rings_

~~~
wwweston
> _The Chronicles of Prydain_

Always happy to see Lloyd Alexander get a mention these days -- somehow it
seems in the recent YA explosion he's gotten almost criminally neglected.

~~~
bob818
Yeah, his books were my favorite in junior high. It's so rare for him to get
mentioned anymore.

------
raintrees
Much of Neal Stephenson's work provides me inspiration, similar to William
Gibson's work. It envisions future tech/life that stirs me to see if I can
create some of it.

~~~
The_Colonel
I kind of fell in love with the Anathem's monastic world.

Stephenson is awesome, I love some of his books, but others are for completely
lost on me.

~~~
AlexCoventry
I loved Anathem, too, though I've only read it once (several books of his I've
read many times.)

------
zabil
Stories of your life and others - Ted Chiang, this book taught me about
compassion.

Animal Farm - George Orwell The character Boxer made me rethink about
authority, change in view for the better.

------
totalperspectiv
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Adams Discworld series - Pratchett
Foundation - Asimov American Gods - Gaiman Snow Crash - Stephenson Next -
Crichton 1984 - Orwell

~~~
elpakal
+1 1984 especially around modern political times and doublespeak

------
hansvs
I've really enjoyed lurking through the comments and seeing everyone's
suggestions (thanks! my reading list just increased by 25 books, lol!). Out of
fiction, I read mainly fantasy/sci-fi. Here are a few of my picks (which I
don't think have been mentioned yet).

\- The Worlds of Chrestomanci and _everything_ else by Diana Wynne Jones; it
was this and 'Chronicles of Narnia' which first introduced me to fantasy as a
child. Really great fun, have re-read most of her books over the years.
There's something there for everyone.

\- Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix; read this in my youth, deals a lot with
death, undead things, and magics concerning death. Its not depressing, rather
it gave me the feeling of being life re-affirming!

\- The Riddle-Master trilogy Patricia McKlippet; refined high fantasy series,
lacks the prosaic good v. evil, instead focuses on rationality and chaos.

\- The Incal series by Alexandro Jodorowsky; when I first read this, I kept
finding all these crazy parallels with other stories (books, film, tv, etc.)
and then I realized that _this_ was the source (e.g. The Fifth Element is
based on this). An absolutely mouth dropping, eye-popping, mind-bending tale!
Great pencil/ink to boot as well.

\- The World of Edena by Moebius (because of course!); amazing, along the same
vain as 'The Incal', but much 'finer' \- less mind-bending, more more
contemplative.

\- The Dark Knight trilogy by Frank Miller; an epic right up there with
Beowulf IMHO.

\- Watchmen by Moore and Gibbson; genre setting with an amazing story; and
'Before Watchmen' omnibus adds to it as a modern contrast.

~~~
egypturnash
I feel you should be giving credit to Moebius for L’Incal as well! IMHO the
prequels Jodo did with other artists suffered greatly for the lack of Gir’s
delicately crystalline transcendence in both art and script, no matter how
beautifully they were drawn.

------
reddog
I've been striking out with my fiction lately with one dud after another.
Thanks for these excellent suggestions. I'm ready to dive back in.

Three books that I haven't seen listed, but were impactful on my life:

Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita -- Incredible writing, maybe the best ever. And
english was Nabokov's second language. Don't miss this just because of the
creepy subject matter or because you saw one of the movies. This is an
incredible read and one of the English languages greatest books.

Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses -- I initially put off reading this by
McCarthy's singular use of punctuation and his long, spare sentences. But I
picked up the audiobook from Books on Tape (pre Audible) and fell into it.
When read by a talented narrator its like poetry (and I mean that in a good
way). When I finished it I immediatly rewound the tapes and listened to it
again.

Rudy Rucker, White Light -- I read this 38 years ago and still think of it
often. Think Alice in Wonderland written by William Burroughs and Kurt Godel.
Giant cockroaches, absolute infinite, the devil harvesting souls, Albert
Einstein, the Banach–Tarski paradox: its a wild ride. Hard to find but
available on Kindle.

~~~
devchix
I've gotten rid of most of all my paper books a long time ago, I had too many
and was always tempted to buy more. I even got rid of my beloved Austen
anthology that's how seriously I was paring down. I figured I can get
everything I love on e-format. I kept three physical books I'll never be
without: _Lolita_ , _Madame Bovary_ , _Les Misérables_. Merely looking at the
words does something to me.

"\-- and I looked and looked at her, and knew as clearly as I know I am to
die, that I loved her more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on earth,
or hoped for anywhere else. She was only the faint violet whiff and dead leaf
echo of the nymphet I had rolled myself upon with such cries in the past, an
echo on the brink of a russet ravine, with a far wood under a white sky, and
brown leaves choking the brook, and one last cricket in the crisp weeds ...
but thank God it was not that echo alone that I worshiped (...) I insist the
world know how much I loved my Lolita, _this_ Lolita, pale and polluted, and
big with another's child, but still gray-eyed, still sooty-lashed, still
auburn and almond, still Carmencita, still mine;"

------
klenwell
I've been thinking a lot about Camus's The Plague lately, for obvious reasons:

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

I read it years ago (in translation). I didn't especially enjoy it. But it
made an impression and insofar it's stuck with me, I'd say the impact was
positive. Or maybe "profound" is a better way to put it.

------
scandinavegan
The first fiction that I remember really changed my outlook of life was The
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. It's a fantasy novel that I read as a
young teenager.

The king in the book has the head of a dragon mounted on his wall as a trophy,
and one of his sons finds out that he can enter the wall and look out through
the eyes into the throne room. I don't want to spoil the main thing that he
sees, but before that he watches his father pick his nose and eat it when he
thinks he is alone.

It made me realize that adults are people too, and that you shouldn't idolize
anyone to the level of imagining them without any negative traits. It's a bit
like realizing that even the most beautiful people in your life or in the
media have to sit down and poop like everyone else, and that we all have sides
that we don't want others to see. It made me feel more equal to everyone else,
and made me feel sympathy with every other human.

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

------
eyegor
Stranger in a strange land, by Robert Heinlein.

~~~
number6
I read it far to early in my life. About 14 or so. definitely loved it.

~~~
bloudermilk
Funny you mention this–my dad bought me this book at that age. I read it over
a couple of days and loved it, but I don't think I really "got it" until I re-
read it in my 20s. I've read it three or four times since then. Some beautiful
concepts in this book if you can get past the sexism typical of sci-fi novels
from this era.

------
dreamer7
Harry Potter!! The writing is simple but the wisdom is profound. Everytime I
have reread one of the books in the series, I discovered something new.

One particular scene made such a strong impression on me about being calm in
difficult situations. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Harry
is flinging Dumbledore's precious instruments around, Dumbledore remains monk-
like still.

~~~
RandomBacon
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

If you like Harry Potter, and you read HN, chances are you'll _love_ HPMOR.

The premise is that Harry Potter was raised by people who cared and taught him
the Scientific Method. He then uses that approach to solve and understand
things.

I never thought I would like fan fiction until I came across HPMOR being
recommended so many times elsewhere.

~~~
furyofantares
I loved HPMOR even though I have a difficult time reading fiction generally.
And I have no familiarity with the Harry Potter universe.

------
basementcat
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. This is a book for children but I don’t
think I fully appreciated the second half until I was an adult.

Also, there’s a cute attempt at a stack overflow crash in the middle :)

~~~
alexilliamson
This is my favorite book and I'm so excited to see someone else mention it!

------
invalidOrTaken
_A Wizard of Earthsea_ is still one of the wisest books I've ever read. Mostly
because it cares enough to want to be.

------
walterbell
Isaac Asimov's _Profession_ (1957) with the "House for the Feeble-Minded". The
surprise conclusion has shades of China Meiville's _The City and the City_ ,
about two virtual cities inhabiting one physical city. Our modern world
includes public, non-public, national, extra-national, cyber and fictional
worlds overlaying geographical spaces.

[https://www.abelard.org/asimov.php](https://www.abelard.org/asimov.php)

 _> For most of the first eighteen years of his life, George Platen had headed
firmly in one direction, that of Registered Computer Programmer. There were
those in his crowd who spoke wisely of Spationautics, Refrigeration
Technology, Transportation Control, and even Administration. But George held
firm. He argued relative merits as vigorously as any of them, and why not?
Education Day loomed ahead of them and was the great fact of their existence._

------
pipogld
The World of Null-A: A. E. van Vogt

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_of_Null-A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_of_Null-A)

~~~
Eliezer
Reading that as a kid definitely helped give me my image of what a master of
the Art should be able to do.

------
torotonnato
Riverworld by Philip José Farmer. It was a magnificent adventure and
exploration of different philosophical ideas, especially for a teenager. It
left me with the impression that even simple things can be mysterious and part
of a bigger plan.

The star rover by Jack London. It helped me put in perspective some difficult
moments and be a little bit more resilient. I also liked how much humanity and
dignity the main character has, despite being held in jail in horrible
conditions. I can say the same things about Papillon by Henri Charrière.

Neuromancer by William Gibson. Fueled my imagination and even gave me a semi-
fantastical narrative to live by.

Ficciones by Borges. Like others said was mind opening.

Poésies by Arthur Rimbaud. A bit to play it off - and get laid - but on a more
serious note I liked the rebelliousness and the romantic sense of infinite in
his poems. I can still recall some bits of that "infinite".

------
tlear
Lord of the Rings. My mother bought first two books(translated into Russian)
randomly because she heard it was good(it was one of the books that Party did
not approve of before the Perestroika). I saw it lying around when I was 14. I
proceeded to read both first and second basically non-stop skipping school
next day. Then figured out that we could not find the third as it was not
printed in Russian yet(at least could not find it where we lived), had to wait
couple month to read Return of the King. I read it in English about 7-8 times
since and as I became fluent the book only became better.

Besy/Demons, Dostoevsky. I read it after I finished Archipelago Gulag I was
15. It is potent stuff, the most powerful thing I ever read by far. Highly
recommended. The more you know and read about Russian revolution and what
followed the better.

------
dpflan
In highschool, John Fowles' _The Magus_ [1.] really hit me: its twisting plot
and content really opened up the world of fiction and writing for me. Great
departure from the typical books in highschool English/Literature classes.

William Gibson's _Neuromancer_ [2.] was excellent in providing an escape from
reality, very engrossing, and fascinatingly prescient of the some societal
trends extrapolated into the future.

1\. _The Magus_ \-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magus_(novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magus_\(novel\))

2\. _Neuromancer_ \-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer)

------
cnorthwood
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed - not strictly fiction but it could be read as such.
Opened my mind to areas of society I wasn't aware of.

~~~
stepbeek
Flowers for Algernon is an incredible book. I read a lot of it on a flight and
cried my eyes out.

~~~
RBerenguel
Likewise (also the flight part). I'd also add Canticle for Leibowitz on that
"bucket".

------
barnabee
William Gibson. The Bridge trilogy and the Sprawl trilogy, at a minimum. They
still feel like maps to the future even now. You have to work at it, the map
is not the territory after all, but the realisations about the impact of
technology, progress, and the choices we make when we let society work a
certain way have been profound, for me at least.

Also The Peripheral, and Gibson’s essay in Wired about undersea cables, and...
yeah. Having read Gibson feels like a superpower.

As others have said:

\- The Hitch Hiker’s Guide

\- Stepehnson’s Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Seveneves, Anathem (aside: totally
surprised how much love there is for Anathem, I remember it not being received
very kindly at the time by people around me, though I liked it.)

\- The Culture series (special shout out to The Player of Games.)

~~~
jtms
I think the essay about undersea cables is actually by Stephenson, not Gibson
(unless he happened to write one too)

~~~
barnabee
You are 100% right! I remembered that essay right at the end of writing the
reply and wanted to mention it, because it’s excellent. Got that totally
wrong!

~~~
jtms
I ran into it in my printing of Cryptonomicon at the end of the book... indeed
extremely excellent!

------
libraryofbabel
It's interesting seeing how many of my touchstone books turn up in other
people's lists. Here are some I didn't see yet:

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness. My favorite Le Guin (the
Dispossessed is pretty good too). Shockingly original when it was published in
1969; the portrait of the society and culture on Gethen still feels unique. A
slow burn at the beginning, but builds to a dramatic conclusion.

Patrick O'Brian, Aubrey-Maturin series. Probably the best historical fiction
ever written. Rich tapestry of life during the Napoleonic Wars. Set in the
Royal Navy during the Age of Sail, but that description doesn't do it justice;
O'Brian's great inspiration was Jane Austen, and the focus is on characters
and people, particularly the brilliantly contrasting personalities of the two
main characters.

Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate. Like Tolstoy's War and Peace, but set in
Russia during WWII. Explores the dark heart of the 20th century (the Battle of
Stalingrad, concentration camps, the gulag) through the eyes of a wide cast of
characters from different walks of life. Grossman wrote about Stalingrad from
firsthand experience as a war journalist, and is able to uncover moments of
hope and human kindness amid horrifying world-historical events.

Books others have already mentioned:

* Tolstoy, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. * Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (interesting how several people mention this one; I used to think it was my own private discovery). * Neal Stephenson, especially Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle

And the obligatory Tolkien and Douglas Adams that I read and re-read as a
teenager.

~~~
tkamphefner
How would you describe your experience with the Baroque cycle?

~~~
libraryofbabel
It's been over 10 years since I read it, but it was very influential at the
time - got me hooked on 17th century history. I'm sympathetic to people who
say it's too long or "needs an editor", but I actually liked how the book was
packed with random digressions geeking out about episodes from the history of
science or economics or alchemy or 17th-century political machinations. It's
probably the ultimate example of Stephenson's "maximalist" style and, if you
look at Baroque or Rococo art, that style kind of matches the spirit of the
age.

------
gautamcgoel
Surprised no one mentioned any of Haruki Murakami's books. Norwegian Wood made
a big impression on me as a young man in my late teens. Kafka on the shore and
the Wind-up Bird Chronicle are both trips. A Wild Sheep Chase is hilarious.

~~~
e12e
I greatly enjoyed "Norwegian Wood" \- and even more (the much shorter) "South
of the border". I read some newer books, stopping, I think, with "Hard-boiled
wonderland and the end of the world"... They didn't give me much.

His non-fiction book with interview of victims, witnesses and perpetrators of
the Tokyo underground gas attack ("Underground") made a strong impression.
Absolutely recommend - it's not fiction, but it does speak to the human
condition in an understated and profound way.

------
rohith2506
Three body problem. I couldn’t recommend this trilogy enough.

~~~
psychometry
Probably the worst novel I've ever read. The author has no feel for character
development, dialogue, pacing, etc. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but anyone who
thinks this is a decent novel has never read anything good.

------
shanecleveland
Anything from Salinger. Go beyond Catcher in the Rye. Nine Stories; Raise High
the Roofbeam, Carpenters; Franny and Zooey.

Hemingway's short fiction really kicked off a lot of reading for me. Men
Without Women is a nice little collection.

A couple others to go deeper on ... Stephen Kind and Roald Dahl. King has many
incredible novelas: The Body (Stand By Me); Rita Hayworth and Shawshank
Redemption (Shawshank Redemption); Hearts in Atlantis. Likewise, Dahl, known
more for his children's books wrote some adult fiction, short stories.

I think it is less about the book and more about when in your life you pick it
up.

------
jrumbut
I can't avoid mentioned Boccaccio's Decameron here. A group of young men and
women flee to the countryside during the bubonic plague (it was written
contemporary to the plague), and begins with an introduction where the author
describes his experience (read the intro if nothing else).

From there, it's got a variety of stories that interact with a framing story
of the people playing a story telling game. I find it a very relaxing book,
the stories feel low stakes somehow, and are a mix between familiar chestnuts
and others that are very strange for a modern reader.

------
bjelkeman-again
The Millennial Project, Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millennial_Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millennial_Project)

Not a fiction book as such, but the subject matter border on science fiction.

It did make me think of how to start contributing to humanity in better ways
than I was doing. It took some time for me to change my trajectory, but
eventually I did.

Through several steps partially parallel to step one in the book I ended up
doing what I do today.

------
Eliezer
"So You Want To Be A Wizard". I don't know if it's too late to read it as an
adult, but make sure any kid you know has a chance to read it early.

In life's name, and for life's sake.

------
daxfohl
None really. I've tried to read all the "must reads" and classics, searching
for something that added some meaning to life.

100 Years of Solitude is my favorite modern classic (had to read it twice to
get it), and Middlemarch is my favorite classic. I'm happy to recommend
reading them. But even these I cannot call life-impacting.

Interestingly the fiction books I'm reading to my first grader may ironically
have more punch that anything written for grown-ups. But, they're all lessons
grown-ups already generally know.

------
humaniania
Asimov's Foundation series helped me to think on longer timelines.

------
matt_morgan
White Noise, by Don Delillo. It's a great story in general and reading it
helped me acknowledge my fear of death and how it affected me.

Edit: oh, and since I don't think anyone else has mentioned them yet ...
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, and Grendel by John Gardner. Their impact on
me was less specific so harder to explain, but they're great books that get
mentioned on HN now and then. Another one that kind of blew my mind is The
Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann by Angela Carter.

~~~
mitchellst
It’s interesting— I would say white noise had a positive effect on my life,
but I’m not sure i would recommend the book. Part of the reason it was good
for me was how powerfully I disliked it— and needing to question the reasons
for that dislike at the time.

------
Fnoord
Some things I'd mentioned are already mentioned, so I upvoted these instead of
double mention.

I'd like to add if you like SF and Star Wars, you'll enjoy The Thrawn Trilogy
[1]. I read them as kid, somewhere in the 90s. Not sure if they're still
relevant.

[1] [https://www.goodreads.com/series/42348-star-wars-the-
thrawn-...](https://www.goodreads.com/series/42348-star-wars-the-thrawn-
trilogy)

------
oceanghost
Zenn and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -- It was the first time I'd heard
someone speak about values that mattered to me personally.

The Diamond Age: Or, A Ladies Young Primer -- A fantastic book about a future
where computation and construction of devices is _nearly_ free. It was about
25 years ago but predicted so many things. The story meanders a little but is
full of amazing ideas and revolutionary thoughts.

I try to read both these books once a year.

------
criddell
Michael Ondaatje's _The English Patient_. It's the first book I read that left
me awestruck with an author's ability to write beautiful, meaningful prose
about wonderful characters doing fascinating things. Up until that point I
knew some writers were very efficient with their words, but Ondaatje's words
held so much beauty.

I'm tempted to read it again to see if the impact is the same now that I'm 25
years older.

------
cpr
Soldier of a Great War, Mark Helprin: "a lush, literary epic about love,
beauty, and the world at war" \-- an incredible, life-changing read.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Soldier_of_the_Great_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Soldier_of_the_Great_War)

The Cornerstone and The World is Not Enough, by Zoe Oldenbourg -- an epic
duology (?) about the life a Norman knight. I've never read a more vivid (even
that's too weak a word) historical novel.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zo%C3%A9_Oldenbourg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zo%C3%A9_Oldenbourg)

The Master of Hestviken by Sigrid Unset -- the most moving account of one
man's life struggles I've ever read. Unset was a Nobel prize-winning author of
the 30's/40's who has been nearly forgotten. I read this tetrology straight
through without stopping (about 18 hours). Couldn't stop.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_of_Hestviken](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_of_Hestviken)

------
topaz0
Howard's End, EM Forster, is one, along with all of Forster.

Arcadia, a play by Tom Stoppard, is fantastic. Good for many re-reads (and re-
watches).

Ursula Le Guin (maybe The Left Hand of Darkness is my favorite?) might be the
best sci-fi/fantasy ever written, as much as I love Lois McMaster Bujold
(three worlds to choose from, each offering many more or less independent
novels and novellas), who is also great.

A few more:

Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey.

My Antonia, Willa Cather.

Bluebeard, Kurt Vonnegut.

~~~
floathub
Am intrigued by the mention of "re-watches" for Arcadia. Is there some filmed
production of the play which is available on video? Have never been able to
find one ...

~~~
topaz0
Not that I know of. I just keep an eye out for nearby theaters performing it.

------
genjipress
"Kokoro" by Soseki Natsume. (What is inside you matters above all things)

"The Accidental Tourist" by Anne Tyler. (There is a crack in everything;
that's how the light gets in)

"Dom Casmurro" by Machado de Assis (also his "Epitaph of a Small Winner") (The
narrower the life, the more intense the obsessions)

"The Count of Monte Cristo" (get the Robin Buss translation from Penguin)
("Wait and hope")

------
SZJX
A relatively unconventional choice but the highest-rated visual novel of all
time, Muv-Luv Alternative, is insane. It is without any exaggeration the only
piece of actually "life-changing" media that I've consumed. I felt myself to
be mentally much more mature and tougher afterwards, and able to face
challenges head-on instead of procrastinating or shirking away. It really is
something that shakes you from your soul and leaves an everlasting emotional
impact, which is very different from the non-fiction books (which are also
indispensable of course).

I would summarize core ideas as "To live is to suffer, but you have to carry
on no matter what. This is what everybody does." and "an ode to humanity", but
it really is so hard to put the experience into words. You have to feel it
yourself.

Link on VNDB: [https://vndb.org/v92](https://vndb.org/v92) There are also
various streamers who streamed the whole story on Twitch after its popularity
blew up.

------
petrosx
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

It gives a glimpse in the mindset of how the Spartans viewed life and how
disciplined they were. Its a really inspiring book in the sense that it gives
you a view of how they (supposedly) viewed life while knowing they will
probably die in battle.

edit: I should note that while the battle of Thermopylae is real the
characters and the story is fictional hence this is categorised under
historical fiction.

~~~
scandinavegan
I already knew a lot about the Spartan philosophy and outlook on life before I
started reading it (both from 300, comics and movie, and non-fiction books),
but I was really surprised how well he described the combat scenes, with all
the feet churning in the dirt of shield wall, and so on. It had the risk of
becoming repetitive due to the static nature of the combat situation, but the
book always felt like it was moving forward quickly. I really liked it!

I've read both good and bad things about The War of Art by Pressfield, but I'm
at least very curious to some day read it.

------
elorm
The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Eriksen

The entire series is an amazing meld of epic fantasy and philosophy that
delves deep into topics surrounding human nature and human existence. We had a
similar discussion on reddit[0] a few months ago and i'll summarize it here.
You'll find topics like violence and its relation to power,civilization as
violence against nature, phenomenology, existentialism versus essentialism.
Arguments for anarcho-primitivism, arguments against anarcho-primitivism.
Mutualism versus individualism versus collectivism. Class struggle and class
consciousness.

The entire series is a piece of art. It also happens have a myriad of badass
characters appearing and disappearing throughout the novels, so there's always
something to look forward to in the next book.

[0][https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/d1vfs3/philosophy_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/d1vfs3/philosophy_in_the_malazan_series/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x)

------
TheNetEffect
Legend by David Gemmell. If you live your life by the morale code embodied in
this (and other) Gemmell books you won't go far wrong in life.

------
etrautmann
Cryptonomicon got me interested in programming and engineering when I was
young.

~~~
AlexCoventry
Yeah, this had a huge impact on me in my twenties/early thirties.

------
johnchristopher
1\. A patchwork Planet: A Patchwork Planet is a novel by Anne Tyler. Published
in 1998, it tells the story of Barnaby Gaitlin, anti-hero and failure who
suffers from more than the usual quota of misfortune. The book is noted for
its complement of old people and eccentrics, and its sharply ironic humor.

As a teenager/young adult (can't remember), the ending left me puzzled until
someone older tipped me about what was going on.

2.

edit (this was my first answer before I could remember the title of two other
books which aren't as famous but left a mark on me):

Steppenwolf could be a good candidate.

Wind, sand and stars.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind,_Sand_and_Stars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind,_Sand_and_Stars)

There's something in it about going on.

I can't say they had a significantly positive impact on my life though.

I think reflecting back on events, trying to put things and traumas into
perspective has had a positive impact.

What I am trying to say without knowing where you are coming from: there's no
magic pill and books are not magic pills either.

------
amh1619
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. One reviewer wrote there are two types of books:
those you read before reading Ishmael, and those you read after.

------
syndacks
\- Underworld, Don Delilo

\- A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James

\- NW, Zadie Smith

\- The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen

Multiple narrators, sweeping plot, not always easy to follow, not too
postmodern.

------
tonetheman
Illusions Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

An amazing book about choices. And what you can and cannot control in your
life. I read it in college and have re-read it over the years.

[https://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Adventures-Reluctant-
Richar...](https://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Adventures-Reluctant-Richard-Bach-
ebook/dp/B008IU9ZXW)

~~~
vivekf
Jonathan Livingston seagull by the same author is also an amazing book

------
L_226
Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke.

It helped me understand that all things must end eventually, and that it is
okay. I must admit I was pretty depressed for a few days after finishing it
though.

The City and the Stars, also by Clarke.

This one encouraged me to explore as much as possible, and also that people
sometimes cognitively isolate themselves, and only come out of this isolation
if they personally want to. They cannot be externally motivated, e.g. you
cannot convince a truly zealous religious person that their religion is
flawed, they need to realise it themselves.

There is also a curious anecdote involving this novel - as Clarke had
rewritten the story some years after the inital publishing. The anecdote
involves two people discussing the novel without realising that each had read
a different version of the story [0].

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

------
janbernhart
I really liked Animal Farm. Phrasing things you already 'know' in way simpler
forms, made me understand it way better.

------
gdubs
We just read “Where the Mountain Meets The Moon”, by Grace Lin, to our
kindergartener. We all enjoyed it. Despite being a kids book, it had some
really great themes — lifted my spirits and changed my outlook.

I realize the question was targeting adult books, but with everyone at home
with their families right now I figured I’d throw this out there.

------
krupan
Several have mentioned Terry Pratchett's discworld books, which are awesome,
but I have a special place in my heart for one of his non-discworld books,
Nation. Inspiring story about survival, helping others, finding truth,
breaking down barriers, and with some great humor too of course. "Does not
happen!"

------
robryk
The Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein and many of the stories by Greg
Egan and Hal Clement. They show people who are curious about the world, care
about the fate of others and try to be open-minded. They also show (perhaps
somewhat idealizedly) how patient adherence to such principles can spread in a
society.

~~~
AlexCoventry
Yeah, Greg Egan had a huge influence on me, too.

------
c-smile
"Hard to be a God" of Strugatsky Brothers.

"Monday Begins on Saturday", circa 1965, of the same authors. That is a
satiric story full of brilliant humor about programmer (main hero) in
Scientific Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry. This book is literally
the reason why I am a programmer now.

------
noddingham
I started reading R.A Salvatore's Forgotten Realms books when I was around 12
or 13, starting with the Crystal Shard and eventually working my way through
the next dozen or so as they came out.

Growing up in rural Texas, I perceived themes related to stoicism, equality,
and racism, that, while probably not intended by the author, still made me
think about the way I'd seen people treated, and how I wanted to treat people
in the future.

In addition, there were a few quotes in some of the chapter titles that stuck
with me for whatever reason: "Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends,
but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.”

I doubt I would see the same things in those books if I read them now, but
perhaps for the right audience at the right time there might be something
there.

------
SeanBoocock
A couple immediately come to mind: “A Prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving
and “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. When I first encountered “A Prayer for
Owen Meany” I was struggling with my religious faith and my identity. A lot of
the relationships and events in the book mirrored people and experiences in my
own life. Beyond being a great work of literary fiction, it helped me work
through what I was dealing with and has been cathartic to return to in the
years since.

“The Awakening” has been one of the more empathy expanding things I’ve read.
The protagonist’s perspective and plight are resonant today. The tragedy of
that story - both in its specific outcome and as generalizable for society at
large - affected me a lot and has stayed with me for decades.

------
mirimir
I'm an old man now, so I'm especially interested in books about getting
complete with life. I'm also into amusing and distracting.

Top on my list are William S. Burroughs' last trilogy (especially _Place of
Dead Roads_ and _The Western Lands_ ) and Matthew Stover's Caine series
(especially _Caine Black Knife_ and _Caine 's Law_). Burroughs published that
trilogy when he was about my age, and there's some amazing stuff about how
memory shows up. The Caine series is basically a contemplation of "What if you
could undo the worst thing that you've ever done?".

I could go on about many other authors whom I've loved, over the years, but
there's other stuff that I gotta do now.

------
SolaceQuantum
NK Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy, which has won a hugo for every book in the
trilogy.

Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon and Who Fears Death are also excellent books.

I also highly recommend Jeff Vandermeer's Sourthern Reach trilogy, of which
the first book Annihilation was adapted into a movie.

------
acrophiliac
"Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet" is a children's book I read when I
was about ten years old that had a huge impact on me. It opened my eyes to the
whole genre of science fiction and kindled a life-long love of space and
science in general.

------
drakonka
The Color of Distance by Amy Thomson. I read it in middle school, although
they later removed it from our library as it had some explicit themes. It was
an amazing escape into an alien world, and an amazing alien
species/civilization that I could not have imagined had I not read about it
here. A human crash lands on this planet and is forced to live with and adapt
to this bizarre species and their way of life. Reading this in my mind was
more like living it. Eventually I bought a copy second hand for myself. It was
one of only two books that I brought with me when I moved to the other side of
the world years ago and now I have trouble finding it. I wish there was a
Kindle version.

------
b3b0p
All my others have been posted already, except:

Shadows of the Empire [0]

When I read it the intriguing parts were that it took place between Empire
Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Also, I still play and love the game on
N64 (also on PC and on GOG). I never thought I would read and actually enjoy a
Star Wars book. Dash Rendar is eternally burned into my memory and my favorite
Star Wars character of all time now. I think I need to read this again after
typing this. Even my dad liked it and he is not into Star Wars.

[0]
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9549.Shadows_of_the_Empi...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9549.Shadows_of_the_Empire)

------
muzani
The original short stories of Conan the Barbarian. First, I liked the high
energy way they were written. I was raised to write long and eloquent in
school, and Conan proved how short writing can be fun to read.

They're a little philosophical - the author hated civilization and possibly
committed suicide over it. I wouldn't say I agree entirely with it, but there
is a point that civilized society is unhappier because people can no longer be
beheaded for being rude. It made me question whether order and civilization
are great end points and whether we might just be happiest somewhere with a
mix of chaos and order, like Thailand.

------
perl4ever
The novel that imprinted itself on me the most when I was a teenager was
described by Publisher's Weekly as follows: (though I didn't run across this
until recently)

"Writing with a pretentious, almost adolescent sensibility and a bad case of
logorrhea, --- whines unremittingly in a single-pitched, overwrought stream of
consciousness that will probably alienate most readers...

...premise is interesting enough, her characters are one-dimensional
monomaniacs engaged in a disturbingly simple-minded, voyeuristic search for
altered states in bona fide pathology"

Or, as some reviewer on Amazon said, this book sucks because the characters
are all losers.

------
kirbmart
Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire - captures the beauty and importance of our
natural world. Reminds us we can live simply and the idiocracy of trashing our
own planet. (often compared Thoreau's Walden - also a must read)

------
eyegor
Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card.

The movie didn't even come close to doing it justice, the book presents so
many cool problems and solutions that it just failed to convey. The book is
phenomenal for sparking out of the box thinking.

~~~
smichel17
I will add _Ender 's Shadow_, by the same author. It is a parallel novel --
the same story retold from the perspective of a different character (Bean).
They are very well integrated: both books stand alone (I read _Shadow_ first),
but are not repetitive when read together.

I read both books in my childhood, and they have shaped my view of children.
Specifically, I think children are mostly just small humans, who appreciate
being treated as such. Please note that I do not recommend the later books in
each of the series'.

Aside, it has always surprised me that someone as homophobic as Orson Scott-
Card was able to write those two books, that have strong themes of
compassion/understanding for those different than you (intentionally vague
here to avoid spoilers).

------
hypertexthero
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse

The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

------
maremmano
Hands down: Papillon by Henri Charrière. If you think you are going through a
difficult period. If you don't know what resilience means. If you really want
to change the way you see life. Read this book. Really.

~~~
harshalizee
Wasn't this book proven to be completely made up and the author was never
actually in prison?

~~~
maremmano
In my opinion, even if it was invented in some parts, this does not detract
from the great power of this book. Apart from this, I have read that some
events have been invented and, it is said, but it is not proven, that some
events have not happened to the protagonist but to his fellow prisoners. Even
if it were true I would still suggest reading this great adventure.

------
powerset
I saw Siddhartha recommended a couple times here. It's a good one. If you like
Siddhartha, I highly recommend reading Hermann Hesse's other books as well. My
favorites are The Glass Bead Game (Nobel-winner) and Narcissus and Goldmund.

What I love about HH's books is that I feel as if I've lived the lives of his
characters vicariously, passing through their struggles with them and coming
out with hard-won wisdom and character. I feel like a better, wiser person for
those books, with the kind of perspective on life that otherwise would have
taken me a lifetime to achieve.

------
kabacha
Naoki Urasawa's work if we are allowed to include japanese comics. Monster
being probably my favorite work of his with Pluto being close second. I
especially recommend Pluto if you like Asimov's robot series.

Urusawa is quite famous for character development and most of his characters
are _good_ - sometimes even the villains. It kinda helped me appreciate human
contact more even if it's something completely simple or fleeting. You don't
need to be best friends with someone to appreciate them or go on an adventure.

------
bloudermilk
Island by Aldous Huxley

It's basically the opposite of his better-known Brave New World. It offers a
fresh take on how a small isolated society can live, largely inspired (as I
see it) by indigenous culture.

------
baxtr
Siddartha by Hermann Hesse

------
noufalibrahim
Round the world in 80 days.

I moved countries and schools abruptly in '94 and the new place was too
different from what I was used to. This really caused a lot of damage. I got a
copy of the Verne classic from my school library and read through it. I was
already a Sherlock Holmes fan by then but Phogg gave me the idea of imposition
of order in my life as a way to create a semblance of control and to manage
the chaos. I didn't think of it in those terms then but that's really what
happened.

------
majjam
Lord of Light - Zelazy

Dosadi Experiment - Frank Herbert

~~~
RBerenguel
Also a vote for Lord of Light, I re-read it (or Chronicles of Amber) yearly
after my first read some years back.

------
cjmcqueen
Winter of our discontent - Steinbeck

Amazing piece of work, specifically the book he won the nobel prize for
literature. Great story of a normal man trying to be good in the face of great
temptation.

------
varunarang
Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathy, Second book - Secrets of Nagas. I read about
the cycle of life and why it's important to keep moving. It talks about the
water cycle, water starts from Ocean and ultimately meets the ocean, but it's
movement from clouds to rain to mountains to river and then to ocean generates
and nurtures life. Nothing else came close to simplifying why one should keep
moving for me. It is simply beautiful.

------
georgelyon
It is a bit newer than many of these suggestions, but the Broken Earth trilogy
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin))
is a really compelling fantasy and tells a really human story amidst an
inspired though familiar world. If you’ve felt like you’re reading the same
fantasy story over and over, I highly recommend giving this one a try.

------
elliotpo
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges. Especially great if you enjoy seeing
mathematical concepts kind of bent into the background texture of rigorous yet
fancicful stories.

------
coldcode
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. It's a biographical novel about
Michelangelo. It made a profound statement to me when I was young that "an
artist must leave a body of work" \- it's not enough to just do one thing one
time, but devote your life to being continuously creative and never be
satisfied. I've tried to do that in everything I've done, whether as a
programmer, musician, writer, or lately, artist.

------
zenkat
LeGuin's _The Lathe Of Heaven_ and _The Left Hand Of Darkness_. Both taught me
there are more ways of knowing (and being) than my scientific brain had
realized.

------
norswap
The Wheel of Time series. I came to identify with the three main male
characters (Perrin, Mat and Rand) at different periods of my life, and the
story of them tackling their own personal struggles really inspired me.

The female characters in that series are also fantastic, and there's a lot to
learn from them.

One quote that has stayed with me for a long time: "There is one rule, above
all others, for being a man. Whatever comes, face it on your feet."

------
shortgiraffe
_Grendel by John Gardner - The epic of Beowulf from the perspective of the
monster._ A Clockwork Orange - Dystopian novel following a twisted youth named
Alex.

------
drannex
Foundation by Isaac Asimov — that book has reignited my passion and intrigue
for life every time I read it and had a fundamental impact on how I view my
existence.

------
danbmil99
Philip K Dick. Everything he wrote

~~~
jamesrcole
I find his works a mixed bag. I thought “A Scanner Darkly” was quite good. I
really liked the crazy, out-there nature of “Ubik”. But then I found “Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”, and some short story collection I read, to
be pretty ordinary.

~~~
The_Colonel
His ideas were good, but his writing style did not really click with me.

~~~
frabbit
Completely agree. As a stylist he is crude and clunky. But his plots and ideas
are transcendental and have been mined by others for decades since he
developed them.

~~~
danbmil99
He's sort of like punk rock or Van Gogh. He's definitely not about the polish.

Interesting biographical note. He wanted to be a serious novelist, and wrote
an unreadable Tome I think called Confessions of a crap artist.

Meanwhile, the science fiction novels he dashed off to make a little money
were becoming popular. When he was in dire straits financially, he would agree
to write another book for a few thousand dollars to make the rent.

He would drink himself into a Fugue State and dash another novel or story off
in a couple of weeks. He never took that part of his career very seriously,
except maybe towards the end of his life when he integrated more of his
novelistic ideas into books such as Valis and the Stigmata book.

He died before his name had anywhere near the status it has today.

------
sjdegraeve
The Mote in God's Eye (sci-fi, first contact story) helped me accept sudden
and drastic changes in my life and the impermanence of the world around me.

------
ravoori
Neal Stephenson's Anathem I found mind-expanding.

------
gthole
Gotta second where it's been said before: \- Middlemarch by George Eliot \-
War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I read both of these aloud with my partner over long nights of bringing up our
small children and it was the best bonding experience I could hope for. Both
are packed full of observations about life and wit and wisdom, both pull for
kindness and sincerity, and are unexpectedly funny in many ways.

------
emit_time
I read "The Rosie Project"[1] and the sequel and it made me realize I have a
number of similar patterns to the main character.

Made me more aware of how I should act in a relationship.

[1]: [https://www.amazon.com/Rosie-Project-Novel-Graeme-
Simsion/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Rosie-Project-Novel-Graeme-
Simsion/dp/1476729093)

------
SJMosley
\- Harry Potter and methods of rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky Great intro to
rationality, so fun to see a different take on a world you likely already
know.

\- Kindred by Octavia Butler Such an interesting perspective on the psychology
of what it takes to break a human being. In the worst way possible.

\- The Humans by Matt Haig Being outside of the human race, the language is so
jarring and alien.

------
yters
LOTR, Narnia series, Planet Trilogy, Back of the North Wind.

LOTR and Narnia awaken my imagination to something beautiful beyond this
world, which set the course of my life. Back of the North Wind's meditation on
death somehow put me at ease during a very depressed time of my life, that in
the worst of my pits everything will be ok.

Planet Trilogy helped me understand the modern worldview.

------
ZeroClickOk
\- Brave New World

\- 1984

\- Fahrenheit 451

Basic kit to understand the world today.

------
CGamesPlay
OK, bear with me here. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Yes, it’s
a fan fiction, and yes, it’s silly at times, but it does a great job of
putting cognitive biases in a digestible format. It’s really a great piece of
literature that stands up with its own merits.

[http://www.hpmor.com/](http://www.hpmor.com/)

------
poma88
Roberto Bolaños, any of his books will blow your mind and make you see
unexpected corners of yourself.

2666 and The Savage Detectives are must reads.

------
fdavison
Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine. Changed my eight year old life in 1962. I
wanted to work with computers and electronics from that moment.

Oh, and all the Tom Swift Jr series.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Dunn_and_the_Homework_Ma...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Dunn_and_the_Homework_Machine)

------
inson
"The Ruler of the World" by Alexander Belyaev talks about the future where
everyone can be controlled by radio waves.

------
shantara
Blindsight by Peter Watts

~~~
etrautmann
I loved this book too - curious how it impacted you?

~~~
shantara
It made me reconsider my previous assumptions about the nature of human mind
and consciousness. It also helped me realize that many of the things we think
we perceive through our senses are in fact the the objective reality, but our
brain's reconstruction of it, and the brain can sometimes lie "for our own
good".

~~~
etrautmann
Great points, thanks! I also appreciated considering alternate forms of
intelligence and communication.

------
kjaku
Harry Potter and methods of rationality. Great read on applied rational
thinking. Smart and fun - one of my favorites

------
4x5-Guy
There are so many. Just a few.

\- Flatland - An old book, but opened up the other dimension idea for me a
lot. \- The Mote in Gods Eye - The idea that you can't always count on your
preconceptions to be true, and some people will always look out for themselves
first. \- Dune - For all the reasons others have mentioned.

------
avip
Who has time for books nowadays? Some lovely tales so short u can read'em over
coffee:

\- Asimov's _Profession_ , his best short story IMHO

\- _Mimsy Were the Borogoves_ \- just reread it, it's as great as it was when
I was a teen!

\- _Flowers to Algernon_ is sad, but a must

\- Everything from Lem's _Cyberiad_

\- Everything from Borjes` _Fictions_

~~~
cgrealy
>> Who has time for books nowadays?

Leaving aside the fact that _right now_ , a lot of people have a lot more time
to read... my answer is: Everyone. Just depends on what your priorities are.

------
nazgulnarsil
For those who enjoyed Good Omens try Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of
Trauma
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20177950/chapters/47807593](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20177950/chapters/47807593)

------
meerita
I loved Josep Philip Farmer saga "The Riverworld". Amazing story. Each book i
just ate it in days.

------
hatmatrix
Robert Heinlein's character Friday uses something akin to the internet to do
her research (this book came out in 1982).

While the internet comes with its problems (toxic communities, digital
addiction), I'm reminded of that book and how it can be a wonderful for self
education when used properly.

------
tekknolagi
Anathem by Neal Stephenson. It raised the bar 2 or 3 times higher than it was
previously. Brilliant novel.

------
krupan
As an engineer raised by a doctor and a nurse, I've never been into art, but
somehow I found "My Name is Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok and that totally helped
me understand art and artists better. Also a very interesting look into
Judiasm and Jewish culture for me.

------
0_gravitas
The Culture Novels, though that may not come as a surprise, given my username.

Obviously the Culture is not the total ideal to strive for, but it did give me
a vision of where we could go culture-wise (with a lowercase 'c') which was
notably brighter than what I had maintained prior.

------
bsenftner
The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse, it probably one of the easiest Nobel
Literature winners to read.

~~~
kidintech
YMMV. I'm a big Hesse fan, and I tried reading The Glass Bead Game twice;
couldn't get past 30-40% of it in either try, it was just too boring.

~~~
ctchocula
Same here. I was surprised, because Siddhartha was very easy reading, but I
couldn't get past 60% of The Glass Bead Game either, because it was so dry.

~~~
bsenftner
I wonder if this is a pre-Internet generation / post-Internet generation
assessment of story pace. Because I, born in '64, do not find the prose dry or
slow at all. Other readers I've discussed the novel, I've noticed people born
after the "jump cut edit" revolution that refaced entertainment media
(basically MTV) have a harder time getting into the flow of earlier
entertainment.

~~~
kidintech
I don't think so, at least not for this case.

I'm a sucker for slow burns in cinematography and books, but you can't just
have no pace or structure and then say "yeah, these kids have no patience".

My completely uneducated opinion of the glass bead game was that Hesse was
describing what could be a very interesting concept in a very poor manner,
always high-level, and abstract enough that at times I thought he didn't flesh
it out in his mind either and couldn't convey it properly.

------
telegrammae
Anything by Tolstoy.

------
yobert
Red Mars Trilogy - Kim Stanley Robinson

These books gave me a very hopeful outlook for humanity's future.

~~~
aaron695
They also explore many political systems.

I thought they were quite good at learning to not demonise politics that are
not yours.

------
janeshmane
JM Coetzee - all, but Disgrace and Waiting for the Barbarians are good
starting points.

~~~
rufius
Same. Disgrace sticks with me to this day.

------
KerryJones
Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

It's _based_ on a true story (but added to it), but the concepts of living in
the moment and philosophy for how to treat loss and our reaction to it has
made both the movie and book one of my favorites.

------
DantesKite
The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

It’s one of the few books I can read over and over again without feeling
bored.

I’m not sure why I like it. I wish I could give some kind of all-encompassing
philosophy about it. I just read it and feel understood.

And that’s more than enough for me.

------
vivekv
Illusions - adventures of a reluctant messiah by Richard Bach

Jonathan Livingston seagull. Same author

------
grayed-down
If by positive impact you mean most enjoyable, then:

The Godfather, Mario Puzo (Film good, Novel excellent) Anna Karenin, Leo
Tolstoy (Best novelist ever IMO) Rendezvous With Rama Series, Arthur Clarke
(Great) Replay, Ken Grimley? (Cool story)

------
igammarays
Crime and Punishment. So many others over here have already recommended
Dostoevsky, but he deserves even more praise. Taught me the meaning of "sin"
in the modern world. Taught me to find love in suffering.

------
Tade0
The Paul Street Boys by Ferenc Molnár - it's a classic tale about honor,
brotherhood and loyalty.

It made a great impression on me as a boy and, later in life, helped choose
what kind of people I want to associate with.

------
samyounon
lately I've been reminded that The Plague by Albert Camus had an influence on
me. I was unfamiliar with existentialist philosophy before reading that (in
translation, for a high school English class).

------
palerdot
The Count of Monte Cristo

If you find yourself HOPELESS (which whole world is experiencing right now),
just read this. Because this book is all about HOPE.

Edit: Go for the 'unabridged' version to truly experience this novel.

~~~
jrziviani
The way Edmond escapes the prison was the best thing I've ever read.

------
sebosp
Sanderson - Mistborn series, not only is an extremely entertaining author, but
the end of the series really changes your mind forever, I'm not really sure
how to portray this without spoilers.

------
smarri
When I was young, the Wilbur Smith novels dealing with the Courtney's,
especially When The Lion Feeds. Also around that time, the WWII novel series
by Sven Hassel. Great adventure stories.

------
noema
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust and the short stories of Borges

------
drobert
Dubliners by James Joyce

A collection of short stories united by the fact that characters have
epiphanies.

Often my life has changed not gradually but in moments of epiphay and this
book made me more aware of such occasions.

------
bsg75
Blood Music by Greg Bear

Read a _long_ time ago, but I recall it being a very interesting thought
experiment about "nano tech" before nano tech was a thing (?)

The metaphysical aspects were also intriguing.

------
frabbit
The Bible (Old and New Testaments), An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of
the Wealth of Nations, The Constitution of the United States of America and
Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.

~~~
downerending
Read Ecclesiastes, and you'll wonder what such a seemingly modern/timeless
take on reality is doing among the other books. It's a bit hard to parse, but
read a paraphrase to get started.

(Also recommend Heinlein's short story _Ordeal in Space_ , on the subject of
fear/phobia/duty.)

------
aazaa
The Martian Chronicles is worth reading, especially as an allegory.

------
dbattaglia
Strongly recommend “Rant” by Chuck Palahniuk. It takes a little effort to get
into the testimonial style writing but unfolds into an epic tale of dystopia,
time travel and traffic.

~~~
torotonnato
Loved that book! The car salesman gave plausible description of sales
techniques. I don't know how effective they are, but Chuck goes to great
lengths to absorb little "professional" hacks in the real world to give life
to his characters.

------
foobiekr
Roadside Picnic. The third part, where the main character has grown old and
his young practical cynicism has turned into cynicism by habit, and is
upturned, really got to me.

------
agustinl
I started in the world of sci-fi books with Nightfall from Asimov, short but
extremely interesting. Then I followed with Ubik from Philip Dick, I recommend
it 100%.

------
lamby
> I suspect that it doesn’t very much matter what one reads in the early years
> once one has acquired the essential ability to read for pleasure alone.

— Christopher Hitchens

------
ReedJessen
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera taught me that every person
is really a construct of many other people. We are all one and I am everyone.

------
blankton
The Discovery of Slowness Its not necesseraly a fictious book, but pleas give
it a try. It really helped me understand myself and also other people better.

------
jerzyt
"Horn of Africa" by Philip Caputo. Story of an accidental mercenary in the
deserts of Ethiopia. I now will have to re-read it, thanks to the OP.

------
wrycoder
Very influential in my teens:

Absalom, Absalom by Faulkner

USA by John Dos Passos

Cache Lake Country by Rowlands

First adult book I read all the way through (I was fascinated! Re-read it
recently and enjoyed it.):

The Mysterious Island by Verne

------
temny
Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game

Robert M. Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Robert M. Pirsig: Lila - An Inquiry Into Morals

Eliezer Yudkowsky: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

~~~
tkamphefner
Pirsig has a way of writing that appeals to people of an engineering mind.
Don't know much about the others.

------
bwb
It is a series, but Killer of Men by Christian Cameron. Just helped me
understand a lot of things about myself and how I grew over the last 20+
years.

------
ilammy
When They Cry novels by Ryukishi07 have taught me the importance of truth and
trust, plus countless other minor observations on miscellaneous topics.

------
andreilys
Demian by Herman Hesse.

Taught me to not rely on logic/rationality alone. Sometimes you have to trust
in intuition and the unconscious to guide your decisions.

------
zeouter
Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

I read it first as a teenager. I would say it helped me learn more about race,
empty, systems, terrorism and young love.

------
arkanciscan
The Alchemist hits right when you need encouragement.

------
gooseus
Siddhartha, Hesse

Foundation, Asimov

1984, Orwell

Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky

Enders Game, Card

Jurassic Park, Crichton

Still waking up, so not going justify beyond saying these all changed how I
see the world in some way at the time I read them.

------
cgrealy
All of Terry Pratchett's books, but especially "Reaper Man".

Read it at a young age, and it has informed my general life philosophy ever
since.

------
nbardy
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

Written from a psychologist who survived the concentration camps. A wholly
unique perspective on human life.

------
whatsmyusername
The Hannibal Lector series. I’ve found the world building Thomas Harris did to
have a lot of parallels to real life (especially now).

------
samsaga2
I'm surprised that anybody talks about Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann). It's an
incredible book. It changed my life (really).

~~~
lordgrenville
Ah, I'm of two minds about this, because I felt like there maybe 30-50 pages
of amazing, incredibly deep discussions, but then so many hundreds of pages
where it felt like nothing was going on and I was just masochistically
slogging through it. I actually feel this about quite a number of classics,
especially those considered more "novels of ideas" ( _The Brothers Karamazov_
and _War and Peace_ come to mind). But even more so with Magic Mountain. I
think Mann was trolling people when he said one has to read it a second time
to "get" it. ;)

------
trumbitta2
Jonathan Livingston Seagull: no limits

Accelerando: open source, open ideas, as a way of life

Silmarillion: shout at the gates of hell, if that's what it takes

------
hungryroark
Harry Potter series.

Albus Dumbledore changed my Outlook on life.

------
anikan_vader
Cory Doctorow's Little Brother

Still my favorite book of all time. I ended up spending a few years doing
crypto research after reading it.

------
elec3647
The Gulag Archpelago Brave New World 1984

------
saheb37
All the fiction books that have left a lasting impact on me have been long...

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
([https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22822858-a-little-
life](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22822858-a-little-life))

It is emotionally intense, beautifully written, and is a hypnotic read. Larger
than life characters centered around one enigmatic protagonist, Jude. It's
about pain, friendship, love, and the brutality of memory and experience.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
([https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33600.Shantaram](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33600.Shantaram))

An Australian gangster escaping his home country and falling in love with
India (Mumbai). Lots of philosophy. A moral tale. Plenty of drama. And a love
story with deep, dark characters.

Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
([https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2122.The_Fountainhead](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2122.The_Fountainhead))

A novel on idealism for the irrational, real world we live in. Centered around
an ideal man, Roark, who struggles to survive despite being a brilliant
architect; he doesn't give up on his principles and never conforms. Not a
typical novel, disliked by many.

------
thebetrayer
the feed: A Novel had a big impact on me as a teen, it's a relatively short
read

Amazon has turned it into a Prime Video Original, which I have yet to watch
since Episode 1 didn't strike me as great.

Edit: I think the best sci-fi fiction book I have ever read is Red Rising, it
is a newer book.

~~~
AlexCoventry
There's a lot of better stuff out there than _Red Rising_. It's very stilted,
the characters are flat, and the story is predictable.

~~~
eatwater123
Man, the negativity in this thread is hilarious

------
jacobush
Kallocain scared me shitless as a child. I'm sure it has influenced how I view
technology.

------
drobert
Dubliners by James Joyce

A collection of short stories united by the fact that characters have
epiphanies.

------
andrei_says_
In today’s times I can not recommend The Fifth Sacred Thing enough.

Lilith’s Brood - nothing like it.

------
dorchadas
Les Misérables was one for me.

~~~
rodjomatic
For sure! My favorite "epic" novel.

------
diehunde
By Irvin Yalom. Great if you also want to learn bit of philosophy:

\- When Nietzsche Wept

\- The Schopenhauer Cure

\- The Spinoza Problem

------
sdegutis
Someone I know really liked The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton.

------
egfx
The Alchemist. Positive impact because I’m reminded to pay it forward.

------
gebt
The Library of Babel

Voltaire's Candide

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Karamazovs

Orwell's 1984

Lem's Solaris

------
pge
The Once and Future King - TH White

In particular, his telling of the story of Lancelot

------
kpatrick
1) The Pilgrim's Progress, and 2) The Holy War - John Bunyan

------
ctrager
Portnoy's Complaint taught me certain...skills...

------
morphle
\- Ringworld - Larry Niven

\- Robot and Foundation series - Asimov

\- 1984 - George Orwell

------
lazylizard
Dispossessed. le guin.

Mon. Grass by the wayside. And then. Soseki.

~~~
AlexCoventry
I loved _The Dispossessed_ , as a teenager. Had a huge influence on me.

------
aestetix
"The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann.

------
KhoomeiK
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

It makes you feel like you have an innate duty to do productive work.

------
kbradero
i learn from Dune to never ever trust blindly any kind of leaders.

Great leaders should be come with a warning on attach to their heads.

~~~
spats1990
similarly from dune re leadership... it's just a simple thing but the idea
that once you tell a group of people under your leadership to do something
once, you have to tell them to do the thing every time. Thus good leaders give
as few commands as possible. I've found this broadly applicable any time i
have to tell more than one human at a time what to do and in assessing
leadership in other people (mostly bosses I've had. The best ones have been
hands off but approachable when what needs to be done is obvious and very
hands on when teaching/introducing something new until everything is clear,
then back to hands off). It even works when you're trying to train a dog.

------
elguap0
Einstein's Dreams - Alan Lightman

------
Noos
Cordwainer Smith, Norstrilla and his short fiction. The Dead Lady of Clown
Town especially, as well as Scanners live in Vain.

He's an amazing writer. He actually criticized transhumanism before it
existed. What good is it to have a 300 year old perfect body when you feel
middle-aged and unwanted on the inside, and man secretly being taken care of
by the animal-humans that he made is so poignant. His works were startling to
me, really not like a lot of science fiction of the time.

------
joflicu
east of eden.

------
jsilence
The Futurological Congress by Lem.

~~~
jojoo
What did you get out of it?

I read "His Master's Voice" as a teenager and was deeply touched by it. Every
other Lem Book was downhill from then.

~~~
jsilence
The main character being cast into diferent bodies over the course of the
story making me contemplate what makes us the person we are and the final
monologue at the end, reflecting on whether it is ethical to betray people
even if it makes them happier. The value and importance of being honest and
true to yourself, even if the truth is hard and hurts.

------
JoeAltmaier
Snowcrash

Doorways in the Sand

------
millettjon
Man's Search for Meaning.

------
6nf
The Alchemist of course!

------
gordon_freeman
I'd have to say The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand! The books
taught me to stand up for my ideas and vision and not agree on inferior
outcomes or decisions.

------
oliv__
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

~~~
yobert
Atlas Shrugged was wonderful for me as a young adult. It helped me break free
of a religious upbringing that was filled with guilt.

And then it was good for me in my middle age when I realized how flawed other
parts of Rand's philosophy are and how much I disagreed with them and why, and
got to move past it to even better places. :D

~~~
KhoomeiK
People always talk about the flaws in her philosophy but no one has ever
actually pointed them out to me. I'm a young adult now so maybe I don't have
the perspective to see these flaws, but please do enlighten me.

------
BOOSTERHIDROGEN
the course of love - alain de botton

------
dirtylowprofile
The Alchemist

------
praveenpenumaka
I'm surprised no one mentioned "Atlas Shrugged" by "Ayn Rand". It's not a
typical fiction book but really made me think

------
xtiansimon
Great? Well, I'm not going to suggest _all_ of these are masterpieces of
social/personal observation. I'm going to error on the side of entertainment--
books which were moving and memorable to me on the drop of a hat (or HN post
:^)

(here are a few in no particular order)

\--

Palahniuk, Chuck. Diary (2003).

Horror genre. Artist in a community conspiracy--not the 'social machine' sort
of conspiracy, but the more personal and creepier 'family horror'. EWWW.

\--

Stephenson, Neal. The Baroque Cycle (2003, 2004).

This is a story of the dawn of science through the network of scientists
surrounding the Royal Society of London. I read these non-fiction books around
the same time, so the total effect was very moving:

\- Berlinski, David. Newton's gift : how Sir Isaac Newton unlocked the system
of the world (2000) [its surprising just how many books have the same theme of
'the system of the world']

\- Aczel, Amir D. Mystery of the aleph : mathematics, the kabbalah, and the
search for infinity (2000) [this largely concerns Georg Cantor]

\- Swetz, Frank J. From five fingers to infinity : a journey through the
history of mathematics (1994) [This is a collection of short essays, primarily
for and by teachers. I don't have formal training (past some college courses)
in mathematics, so YMMV].

\--

Jong, Erica. Fear of Flying (1973).

From Wikipedia: "Fear of Flying is a 1973 novel by Erica Jong which became
famously controversial for its portrayal of female sexuality and figured in
the development of second-wave feminism." (thanks to my GF Martina for that
recommendation back in the day).

\--

The entire works of Willian Shakespeare. When I don't feel like suffering
anything too personal or too timely, Bill just connects.

++

PLUS1 Not fiction, but frack it. They're good

\- Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential (2000)

\- Buford, Bill. Heat. (2006)

++

PLUS2. I read an article (New Yorker? 2005?) by a retired professor who had
the habit of writing a brief review/book report after finishing each book (and
he would grading it, too!).

I adopted a similar practice, because I wanted to remember my thoughts of each
book in more specific terms. And I was practicing my touch-typing skills. I
can say after 15 years I have a good collection of grep searchable text files
and much better typing skills.

++

Plus3. Astronaut Scott Kelly recommends keeping a journal as a means of
wellbeing during this time of self-isolation [1].

I can't think of a better way to start than writing a few sentences about a
moving reading experience.

[1]: [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/opinion/scott-kelly-
coron...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/opinion/scott-kelly-coronavirus-
isolation.html)

------
insulanian
\- Qur'an

\- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

------
lumensce
The fountainhead - Ayn Rand

------
voska
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

------
UnbugMe
Hyperion by Dan Simmons (the whole cantos, all books).

The finale in the last book really touched my heart and let me think about
love and how much to value the time you have with each other.

\--- no spoilers ---

I never thought to find this in a science fiction space opera - I was shocked.

The idea in the book I am talking about is crazy and I cannot fathom how one
would feel if something like this really happened. It is wonderful and sad at
the same time.

That said and totally apart from it, the whole thing is a masterpiece. You
have to read all books of the canon, even if the first book with the unique
stories seems strange - I could not put it down though. Apart from that it
also has great storytelling, wonderful language, crazy ideas (a house with
rooms on different... no spoiler :) and more.

~~~
volfied
Just re-read the entire cantos after 10 years. Totally agree, it's one of my
favorite epics and the ending was extremely touching.

If you haven't I recommend Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. It's a completely
different kind of book, but it's a really good horror thriller that shows his
range.

~~~
UnbugMe
Thank you for the recommendation, will look into it.

Do you know of any epics close to Hyperion? I have been searching for a long
time and have not found anything on par with it.

Dune (often named) and The Expanse were not meant for me and have been ruined
for me by the movies/TV shows. The old Asimov stories are... old.

I read many larger volumes such as the Commonwealth Saga, Three Body Problem
etc. but nothing caught the way Hyperion did for me.

Funnily, from the many books and series I read, the ones I remember most
fondly were on the other end of the spectrum of Hyperion: Bobiverse and The
Murderbot Diaries - both short, much less beautiful language and more on the
funny side but original and thought provoking.

------
lumensce
The fountainhead

------
Poems
Someone already said Vonnegut, so I’ll offer Kerouac.

Also, Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray is something beyond.

