Ask HN: What books fundamentally changed the way you think about the world? - gtrevize
======
MichaelGG
Perhaps because I had terrible schooling that never taught this kind of stuff:
The Selfish Gene.

Getting a solid grounding in how life can arise without, well, magic, shifted
my thinking quite a bit. At a low level, life has no inherent meaning, so it's
whatever we make of it. For many this is probably obvious, but if you grew up
in a rather fundamentalist religious environment, it's quite the change!

~~~
jwillis57
Before you downvote this comment and dismiss it, consider it a valid
discussion. What are your thoughts on folks that believe in a God that created
the laws of nature that are consistent with our scientific models? This is to
say a person 1) believes in God and 2) believes that God put forth the laws of
nature that are consistent with teachings in the scientific community.

~~~
tptacek
This is what most educated Christians believe, and basically what I was taught
in 12 years of Catholic school; it's a thoroughly mainstream position.

~~~
altern8tif
How do Catholics (or Protestants) reconcile evolution with the Creation of Man
then?

Did God create Man or did he create the laws of natural selection that created
Man?

~~~
wolf550e
Unlike evolution, abiogenesis has never been demonstrated in a Petri dish.
Same for the Big Bang. In my understanding, some theists believe God
"instantiated" a universe with certain parameters which we perceive as
physical constants, that naturally led to hydrogen transforming itself into
consciousness after 13.7 billion years. If God is all-knowing and all-
powerful, he did it on purpose fully knowing how it will develop. So physics,
geology, biology, etc. are all true and also the Genesis creation myth is
kinda true (they believe genesis is a metaphor for people lacking the
education to understand the full story).

------
d33
On the quick I could think of two:

"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman - essentially a book about "bugs"
in our minds that lead us to bad decisions,

"The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman - changes the way you look at
human-made things, makes you better appreciate examples of design that take
functionality into account.

~~~
otalp
+1 for The Design Of Everyday Things. Unlike perhaps other books in this
thread, it _literally_ changes the way you look at the world, or at least the
objects around you.

~~~
twoodfin
Beware, though, as it may lead you to get unreasonably upset every time you
encounter a misleading door handle.

------
yesbabyyes
_Fundamentally changed_ are so big words but these were pretty cool:

\- Douglas Hofstadter's GEB: An Eternal Golden Braid

\- Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber

\- Ursula K. LeGuin's The Word for World is Forest

\- Propaganda by Edward Bernays

\- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

\- Empires: The Logic of World Domination from Ancient Rome to the United
States by Herfried Münkler

\- Smedley D. Butler's War is a Racket (more of an exposé)

\- In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell (ditto)

\- Neuromancer by William Gibson

~~~
xitrium
Going along with this sort of fundamentally changed worldview theme - I loved
Debt: The First 5,000 Years but for me it was equally important to read a book
called The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great
Economic Thinkers by Robert L. Heilbroner. This book summarizes the entirety
of major paradigms in the history of economic thought, complete with great
little biosketches of the authors and their times, from Adam Smith to Joseph
Schumpeter. Highly recommended, especially as a counterpoint if you are
already a little much in the David Graeber camp as I was.

------
mattlody
"Walden" by Henry David Thoreau. Truly did change the way I think about the
world, the fundamentals of what is required for a free life, and how humankind
so often tethers itself to a life of misery. Consider, for example, this
quote: "The farmer is endeavoring to solve the problem of a livelihood by a
formula more complicated than the problem itself. To get his shoestrings he
speculates in herds of cattle. With consummate skill he has set his trap with
a hair spring to catch comfort and independence, and then, as he turned away,
got his own leg into it."

Or perhaps this: "I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have
inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more
easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open
pasture and suckled by a wolf [...] Why should they eat their sixty acres,
when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they begin
digging their graves as soon as they are born? They have got to live a man's
life, pushing all these things before them, and get on as well as they can.
How many a poor immortal soul have I met well-nigh crushed and smothered under
its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-
five feet by forty, its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres
of land, tillage, mowing, pasture, and woodlot!"

I loved it, and I thank him constantly for reminding me of what it is to be
born free.

~~~
lcall
In defense of those ~"poor ignorant slaving farmers": I'm descended from some
poor dirt farmers who are revered and admired by their multi-generational
families, and were admired by their fellow townspeople (largely of a different
culture and language), for the start they gave the children and the influence
they had on everyone around them. Everyone knew they were honest, people liked
the free seasonal watermelons, and enjoyed their humor (back in the days of
poetry recitations etc). Though passed on for many years, they impact me and
others to this day. Extended family reunions still talk about them (there's
one in a couple of weeks, in fact, full of people I'm connected to but don't
know them all). I think they chose their life more than Thoreau thought, and
what kind of legacy they wanted to leave, and to whom. Many hundreds are
grateful they did not live self-centeredly.

~~~
rak00n
Thoreau didn't condemn being a farmer. He pointed out how it doesn't go along
with his values. Like an empty room you can fill in with thousand different
things, we all have the liberty of choosing different values to fill our lives
with. Bear in mind Thoreau never got married or had sex, which probably is
almost everyone's recipe for a happy fulfilled life.

------
rm_-rf_slash
I hate to say it, but _The Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand.

The book itself is largely dull, overwritten, and characters are afflicted
with "Ayn Rand Syndrome" \- where the protagonists are always perfect and the
world around them is fundamentally flawed and can only be fixed with free
market capitalism. It's like "Joss Whedon Syndrome" without the smarm.

BUT, I did glean an appreciation for following a path of one's own creation,
committing to your goals even as the world sets out to discourage you and
undermine your work at every twist and turn. It was quite inspiring and
invigorating to read this book in my late teenage years.

But then again, I have recently found the same theme to be more accurately and
entertainingly portrayed in a Japanese anime: _Gurren Lagann_

~~~
Malic
Everyone else can down-vote me because this really doesn't contribute to the
conversation but I have to say it: Gurren Lagann is a better inspirational
substitute for The Fountainhead?! The geek in me understands completely and I
think that is SO awesome!

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
Fundamentally, both stories were about working very hard to carve one's own
path at all costs lest the world twist you into conforming to its desires.

Except Trigger went on to make a fascinating story about clothing and the
power it has had for all of history (Kill La Kill), while Ayn Rand made an
even more unreadable whinefest where every person in government is solely on a
spectrum between incompetent and evil, and the only solution is to give up,
take your ball, and go home. (Atlas Shrugged - somewhat undermining the point
of The Fountainhead in the first place).

~~~
metaphorm
I found Kill La Kill to be an amazing little story. Campy and farcical but
also really profound in a certain way. Total deconstruction of a whole genre
of fiction as well as a fascinating social commentary on one of the defining
aspects of human society (clothing/fashion/social status).

Another anime that really surprised me with its depth and sophistication was
Puella Magi Madoka Magica. KyuBey still gives me nightmares just thinking
about it.

------
xemoka
\- Ishmael and Story of B by Daniel Quinn

His thoughts on religion and interpretation of religion as propaganda and how
we've framed our taker society very much influenced my young mind.

\- 1491 and 1493 by Charles C. Mann

The way we look at the new world and how vastly different standard teachings
and what actually happened are.

\- A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine

Put to words what I already mostly practise, it identified my issues I had
with buddhism.

\- A Dictators Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

An interesting flip on politics, it made me stop worrying so much about the
here-and-now of it, and quelled my anger with the (further?) realisation that
it is a game. If we want to fix what's happening we need to fix the rules, not
the players.

~~~
simongray
> A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine > Put to words what I already
> mostly practise, it identified my issues I had with buddhism.

Could you elaborate a bit on this? What issues did it identify?

~~~
xemoka
One of the problems I have with buddhism is the withdraw from society and the
world around you, it behests you to focus on your internal mindfulness at all
costs. The way Irvine describes Stoicism (and the tenets set forth elsewhere)
puts the stoic into the world for their own and everyone else's betterment.

There's nothing wrong with the way buddhism says to withdraw, it's just one of
the reasons I don't fully jive with it—then again, you don't exactly have to
love it or lump it, you can pick and choose for sure. It's just an
observation.

------
jcoffland
SciFi has definitely changed my world view. The most influential, by far, has
been the Culture series by Ian M. Banks, especially _Excession_ which deals a
lot with the AI minds from the series. Other influential scifi include
_Blindsight_ by Peter Watts and Ursala Le Guin's _The Dispossessed_.

------
metaphorm
\- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

\- Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts

\- The Tao Te Ching

\- The Gateless Gate (Koun Yamada translation/editing)

\- The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World) by
Neal Stephenson

\- The Invisibles by Grant Morrison

\- Incerto (Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, Antifragile, The Bed of
Procrustes) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

\- Iron John by Robert Bly

\- Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

\- The Character of Physical Law by Richard P. Feynman

\- Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges

\- 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

\- Pharmakon by Dale Pendell

\- The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss

\- Greek Mythology by Edith Hamilton

\- The Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual by Gary
Gygax et al

\- Introduction to Algorithms by Charles E. Leiserson, Clifford Stein, Ronald
Rivest, and Thomas H. Cormen

~~~
Vaskivo
I'm curious. How did the DnD books changed you? Was it the books in particular
or the roleplaying "activity"? (or, could any other RPG book have the same
effect?)

~~~
metaphorm
several different ways. I'll try to keep it brief, though each of these could
be a whole essay unto itself

1\. a presentation of many archetypal themes, characters, monsters, gods, and
demons pulling from a wide variety of sources and mythologies that I had not
previously been exposed to. this was horizon expanding. encouragement to go
out and actually learn about the source cultures that the D&D material was
inspired by.

2\. a fascinating system for dealing with moral and ethical judgments. the
"alignment system" with its two orthogonal axes of Good<->Evil and
Law<\-->Chaos, and the interesting distinction between various kinds of
neutrality (apathetic/passive vs. actively balanced, for example).

3\. introducing me to the premise that play and socialization are primarily
_creative_ and _imaginative_ activities. being raised on a diet of television
and video games made this part particularly important as a counter-balance to
all the passive entertainment that was being done to me.

~~~
gknoy
Agree. The lawful/chaotic distinction is something I'd not encountered before,
and really helps one look at behavior in a new lens. For example, am I lawful
out of convenience, fear, or true belief in it? It was a bit jarring to
realize that I was Lawful Good (as far as I can tell) despite having Robin
Hood (chaotic good) as a hero for most of my childhood.

~~~
metaphorm
you may not be as lawfully aligned as you think you are. here's an
appropriate, if somewhat forced, test that is relevant in contemporary
America:

what is your position on adult use of marijuana in states where it has not
been legalized?

as a followup, what is your position with respect to state vs. federal law
disagreeing with each other in states that have legalized medical and/or
recreational marijuana?

------
kineticpayload
Rationality: From AI to Zombies by Eliezer Yudkowsky

This book changed the way I approach problems in my personal and professional
life. It has helped me to reflect on any given thought and understand where
the thought comes from and where is could be leading me. It's been really
enlightening to reflect on my own cognition through the tools and examples of
Yudkowsky's book. It's long and dense, but is by far the best book I've read
in the last few years.

~~~
majewsky
Looks like I got to check this out. I read Yudkowsky's "Harry Potter and the
Methods of Rationality" [1] a few years back. It made me want to pursue this
line of thinking further, but being a work of fiction, it doesn't really offer
a clear set of tools. (I wouldn't say that this book _fundamentally_ changed
the way I think though. It's mostly the continuation of a path that started
with a brief, but intense study of Descartes in teenage years.)

[1] Available for free in all formats at
[http://www.hpmor.com/](http://www.hpmor.com/)

------
lcall
The Book of Mormon (with the Bible). Together, they affect everything about
how I see the world, what matters, peace amid problems, hope for the future --
everything. (And the related columns by Daniel Peterson and books by Hugh
Nibley. Fascinating stuff, given all the ramifications.

[https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm](https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm) |
[http://www.deseretnews.com/author/22746/Daniel-
Peterson.ase](http://www.deseretnews.com/author/22746/Daniel-Peterson.ase) |
[https://bookofmormoncentral.org/](https://bookofmormoncentral.org/)

Also, now that I think of it: Asimov's robot and Foundation books (to a lesser
degree), and videos by Milton Friedman (years ago).

(FLOSS, fast personal knowledge organizer for touch typists:
[http://onemodel.org](http://onemodel.org) )

[edits: added Asimov & Friedman.]

~~~
mkaziz
Any reason in particular for Foundation? I'm reading it right now and I love
it, but it doesn't strike me as a life changing kind of book.

~~~
lcall
Maybe life-changing is a strong way to put it, but I think of the stuff every
time I read about SpaceX etc. I read the trilogy when I was a youth, and in
recent years re-read it and a few others in the series. It just makes
exploration seem exciting, which hovers in the back of my mind. Maybe like the
"wild west" did for earlier generations. Plus the ideas on government,
managing populations subtly or brutally or otherwise, unity vs. individualism
(one entire planet had explicitly decided to have one mind, in a way, shared
by the whole ecosystem). Then the robot stuff has another whole set of ideas &
interactions, which spurred thinking on individual agency and what is a
"person" and why. (And some content which I wish I had not read as a boy,
though it's mild compared to other sci-fi. It wasn't the right time for such
thoughts.)

I gather that some ideas for the Foundation series came from Asimov's reading
about the Roman empire. And I admire his sheer abilities in writing both so
prolifically and enjoyably.

(Edit: I could have mentioned in my original post about books: The Little
Schemer (Friedman et al) and another, fat, textbook on Scheme (also Friedman
et al; he was the professor) changed, somewhat, how I thought about
programming.)

------
F3L
Atlas Shruggd by Ayn Rand - turned me into a little shit. Ragged Trousered
Philanthropist - restored my empathy and created a depth of understanding that
has not left me in the 25 years since I read it. (I recommend the second and
not the first).

The Poisonwood Bible - turned me into a (troubled) atheist and (untroubled)
feminist.

~~~
qntty
I've been looking for a reason to read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, I
think I'll check it out.

------
ssully
Fahrenheit 451: first book that really made the idea of fascism real to me. It
sounds crazy to say this, but before reading Fahrenheit 451, I learned plenty
about ww2 and the rise of Nazi Germany, but it seemed like a different world.
But then something like Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 comes along, and it just hit
me. Not only that, but it just gave me a whole new perspective on the power of
literature and how important a genre like Sci Fi can actually be.

------
mmozuras
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

My favorite book in 2013
([http://codingfearlessly.com/year-2013](http://codingfearlessly.com/year-2013)).
After reading it, I accepted my introversion and learned how to better use it,
view it as a strength instead of weakness.

~~~
rak00n
Curious, how did you start using your introversion better?

This book gave me insight on who I am and why am I like this. It didn't change
any of my behaviors.

~~~
mmozuras
That insight gave me more confidence. Before 'Quiet', I wouldn't allow myself
to act a certain way or would feel bad if I did.

One simple example: as an introvert, I would get tired at parties or
gatherings of bigger groups. Before 'Quiet', I would try leave unnoticed
(slightly embarrassed from leaving so early). Or I would stay and feel
increasingly worse. Now I'm better aware of what's going on inside me. I feel
more confident and leave. Or I find a quiet corner, read a book on my iPhone
for 20 minutes, and get back to the group.

~~~
rak00n
That's nice. They call that introvert hangover -
[http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/08/introvert-
hangovers.htm...](http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/08/introvert-
hangovers.html).

------
habosa
Just a few off the top of my head:

    
    
      * The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander - changed how I think about American racism from an abstract concept to reality.  Should be required reading.
    
      * The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - the book I've read more than any other, a beautiful parable about finding one's place in the world.
    
      * Ishmael by Daniel Quinn - although it has many flaws, this book was very effective in making me question some basic assumptions about human behavior.
    
      * House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski - I can't exactly pin down what changed in me, but this book shook me in a way that no other book ever has.  In the right situations reading this book can be like meditation.
    

There are many other books that changed the way I think about literature, but
I wouldn't say they affected my worldview.

------
ragnarok451
"Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl.

It's written by a holocaust survivor who was also a psychologist - totally
changed my philosophy on what matters in life.

------
upquark
Strange not to see Nietzsche here. Twilight of the Idols was his first book I
read, then I ended up reading all the others without taking a break. Can't
agree with everything he says, but it definitely resulted in making a 180
degree in my views on religion and morality.

~~~
loxs
Yeah, I read "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in High School. It had quite an impact
TBH. It really made me more confident with women and helped me to follow the
"if you want something, go out and claim it" philosophy.

------
dj168
The Holy Bible. It will not only change the way you think about the world, but
also your entire life.

~~~
bgun
A world-changing book, to be sure; though perhaps better to understand it in
its cultural context, than to read it literally. In either case, for mature
audiences only.

------
jmstfv
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

~~~
nojvek
I loved this book. I read it on a plane and giggled

------
SilasX
Could posters please elaborate on how the books changed how you look at the
world? A recommendation by itself doesn't say much or explain what you would
get by reading it.

------
otalp
1984/Homage To Catalonia by George Orwell

Manufacturing Consent/Necessary Illusions by Noam Chomsky(Possibly even more
relevant today than it's ever been)

The Selfish Gene/The Extended Phenotype by Richard Dawkins

The Republic by Plato

The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions by Kuhn

------
Entangled
\- Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard

\- What has government done to our money? by Murray Rothbard

\- For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard

\- The Law by Frederick Bastiat

The world is a rotten place thanks to politicians, and at the same time the
world is a beautiful place in spite of politicians.

~~~
unlmtd
Rothbard was pretty good, but his student, Hans Hoppe, is even better. One of
the greatest minds alive today.

~~~
Entangled
Absolutely. Hoppe is the greatest philosopher alive.

------
cgh
I'm not sure what "fundamentally" means in this context, but these certainly
made a lasting impact upon my young mind:

Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter

Dune by Frank Herbert

Post Office by Charles Bukowski

V. by Thomas Pynchon

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Pretty much everything by JL Borges

------
superplussed
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse had a big impact on me when I was a teenager. The
message I took from it is to not depend on teachers, mentors, or answers-from-
above, and instead forge your own path in this world.

------
simplehuman
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams

Right go Jeeves by Wodehouse

~~~
evincarofautumn
The Hitchhiker’s Guide series was formative for my absurdist sense of humour
and outlook on life. What a strange, hilarious, sad, and beautiful world we
find ourselves in.

------
skilesare
The Nature of Order by Christopher Alexander (also The Timeless Way of
Building)

Lila by Pirsig (If you've read ZMM and left Lila unread you've left a lot on
the table)

The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutch

Antifragile by Taleb

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Yudkowski. Particularly Chapter
39.

The two Political Order and Political Decay books by Fukuyama

Life's Ratchet - Hoffman

~~~
hyperbeing
Im currently reading the Beginning of Infinity, i liked the way the author
criticises almost all "ism"s and explains what they are in the process. Im in
chapter 5 now and i just read about how he believes beauty/aesthetics and
morality are objective akin to something like laws of physics, but its
explained in ch11.Excited :D

~~~
skilesare
If you like that stuff, check out Alexander's Nature of Order. The books are
expensive, but are also beautiful books, and the content is great as well.

------
ChicagoBoy11
"Evolution of Cooperation", by Robert Axelrod.

He investigates the question of why is it the case that we see so much intra-
and inter-species cooperation -- how does it arise if we start from the
premise that we are genetically engineered solely to care about our own well
being?

This book is utterly fascinating on many dimensions, but it is a tremendous
look at how to think about a problem so creatively and poke at it in ingenious
ways to get amazing insight. Also notable is the fact that his paper (which
preceded the book), is one of the most cited papers in academia and is highly
influential, yet you won't see anything higher than basic arithmetic in the
entire book, and really everything he does is accessible to a normal high-
schooler!

------
magic_beans
"The Metamorphosis" by Kafka and "Self-Reliance" by Emerson.

Both offer some pretty significant challenges to one's notion of self.

~~~
mattlody
+1 for Self-Reliance. Made me see the strings that bind us from the day we're
born to a life of obsequiousness and bowing to authority.

------
hoodwink
Fooled by Randomness, Antifragile, and A Guide to the Good Life

------
Glench
Non Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg.

I find in these conversations people say a book changed their life but they
have trouble naming any concrete examples of how it did so. So in that vein,
the techniques in Non Violent Communication changed a particular breakup I
went through for the better by making it clearer to me what the other person's
feelings were, radically changed the outcome of a fight I was having with a
friend (from what would normally be yelling at each other to a deep tear-
filled tenderness), and has otherwise changed how I listen and express myself
with my romantic partners. This book is amazing.

------
graycat
Jacques Neveu, _Mathematical Foundations of the Calculus of Probability,_
Holden-Day, San Francisco.

Random variables and the associated probability theory and conditional
probability theory are surprisingly relevant, especially now with computing,
in the real world. That the set of real valued random variables X such that
E[X^2] is finite forms a Hilbert space, e.g., is complete, is astounding. So
is the martingale convergence theorem.

Erich Fromm, _The Art of Loving_.

Heavily about how what people do is in response to the anxiety they feel from
the realization that alone they are vulnerable to the hostile forces of nature
and society.

------
e_tm_
Understanding Media - Marshall McLuhan

The Book: on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are - Alan Watts

The Limits to Growth - Donella Meadows

Ishmael - Daniel Quinn

~~~
09bjb
Huge +1 on The Book: on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. I keep re-
reading that book hoping that I'll be able explain things half as well as
Watts does...never seems to work but I still venerate this book. I cried when
I read him explain beautiful concepts to a T that I figured I'd never be able
to convey convincingly to anyone else.

------
jlongr
Peace Is Every Step - Thich Nhat Hanh

One of the most influential books on meditation I've ever read. Quote from the
Dalai Lama about it: "This book has the capacity to change lives."

------
narrator
I read the Bible cover to cover. I liked the bible because it dealt with fear
a lot. Fear of the guy coming over the hill and slaughtering your whole tribe
on a moment's notice. Fear of your whole legacy being destroyed and lost when
people you've never heard of show up. I also liked the view of god that he's a
jerk, but that's all that there is. It was like they were trying to put
together a worldview that corresponded to a reality where terrible things
happen all the time, so they made god a jerk. I just think back to what people
in the old testament had to deal with on a daily basis and think my life is
really not that bad.

"Prices and Production and other Works" which is a compilation of F.A Hayek's
work by Joseph Salerno. It contains a lot of great criticisms of Keynes
theories during the 30s. I used to really think I could understand mainstream
economics, but Hayek totally demolished it in my mind and I can't have
productive discussions with academically trained economists anymore because I
have to start over from first principles with them.

"The Edge Effect" by Eric Braverman was a great book for understanding my
mind. I got a lot out of it and it changed my understanding of my personal
psychology.

------
hashslingrz
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon (1973). The Platonic ideal of the Postmodern
novel that combines a deep understanding of modernity with deep understanding
and pessimistic view of technology. Purgatory, Dante (1320). No other work so
elegantly grasps Christian Sanctification and it's true difficulties.
Philosophical Investigations, Ludwig Wittgenstin (1953). Like Pynchon,
Wittgenstein understood quite well the exhausting pedantic nature of modern
life. A book that can stand on it's own without having read much philosophy,
this work attacks the foundations of most of "Modern" (I would label this as
post Medieval philosophy ). Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs,
Abelsson, Sussman, Sussman (1985). For me, the definitive "Programming is what
exactly?" book. Computer Systems, a Programmer's Perspective, Bryant &
O'Hallaron (2012). The Concrete Systems yin to SICP's abstract yang. BattleCry
of Freedom, McPhearson (1988). The best Civil War history in the past
generation that also lays bear how much of what we view as modern crisis in
the U.S. ( partisanship, horrendous propagandized media coverage, etc ) is as
old as the country itself.

------
mcintyre1994
The Dictator's Handbook, by Bruce Bueno De Mesquita & Alastair Smith. - a
fascinating take on how and why governments with varying levels of democracy
behave the way that they do.

You might've seen CGPGrey's video based on it, the rules for rulers:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs)

------
yatsyk
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

------
nappy
"The Essence of Decision" \- Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow

The easy way to think decisions is with the rational actor model. "The United
States didn't sign the TPP agreement because..." "Apple removed the headphone
jack because..." When the reality of large organizations is that decisions are
made in the interaction of many people suborganizations. Allison and Zelikow
are political scientists who massively advanced academic understanding of
organization decision making... to illustrate their theories, they did
original research into the Cuban missile crisis using it as an example of
various models. Very accessible. It changed the way I think about how
companies, governments, and the world works.

"Infinite Jest" \- David Foster Wallace

It changed my life. This book taught me empathy and the truth in ordinary
things... It's brilliant and amazing and worth making your way through 1000+
pages. RIP DFW.

------
doc_holliday
"On the Shortness of Life" \- Seneca.

More an essay, but profoundly impactful.

~~~
simplehuman
Guide to stoic living is great as well. It makes Seneca a little digestible.

------
ranko
_Guns, Germs, and Steel_ by Jared Diamond: why, for example, did the Spanish
conquer South America and not vice versa?

------
dorait
\- SciFi - Foundation Triology, 2001 Space Odessey and Ring World \- Atlas
Shrugged - Ayn Rand - I never read anything like that before \- Leon Uris'
books (Qb VII and a host of others) showed how scary humanity can be \- The
Magic of Thinking Big was a breath of fresh air \- Edward De Bono's books

------
qntty
The God Delusion made me an arrogant atheist

Manufacturing Consent made me anti-authoritarian

Feeling Good by David Burns made me less pessimistic

------
mtalantikite
The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It should be required reading for high school
students in the United States.

------
PaulAJ
* John Wyndham: The Day of the Triffids.

One of the minor themes is the relationship between morality and society. I
read it as a teenager, and it made me think about the issue in a way I'd never
done before.

* Adolous Huxley: Brave New World.

Similar reason as for the Triffids. If this is a dystopia then what, exactly,
is wrong with it? To answer that you need to first define what society is for,
and to do that you need to confront deep questions about what humanity is for.

* Desmond Morris: The Naked Ape

* Robert Axelrod: The Evolution of Co-operation

* Matt Ridley: Nature Via Nurture

These three changed the way I think about human nature.

* Douglas Adams: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

There were all these ideas in my head that I didn't have words for, and
suddenly here was someone making jokes about them.

* James Burke: Connections

A book as well as a TV series. History suddenly became interesting, as well as
making a lot more sense.

------
Karunamon
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect - Roger Williams

As someone who seems themselves as a technologist (all this stuff we're
working on will eventually work out for the best, warts be damned), this story
was an existential-crisis-inducing wake-up call.

Basically, what happens if tech progresses to the point that humanity becomes
a species of bored gods?

This is a trope that I've grown to really enjoy, and one that doesn't get
played with near as much as it should. The next closest thing I can think of
is the movie Zardoz, but that one is so abstruse that it turns people off
unless they really think about it.

If you go check it out, keep in mind the story gets rather grotesque in
places. Imagine what depravity people would get into if death were impossible,
and you're on the right track.

------
ninly
_The Reenchantment of the World_ by Morris Berman. Assigned in a college
course and it raised a ton of still-important questions about the foundations
that our scientific and materialistic worldview(s) rest on. I'm "over" this
one in a lot of ways, but it was huge at the time I read it.

 _Mind and Nature_ by Gregory Bateson. Bateson was mentioned in the other
book, and by the professor who assigned it. This is his most comprehensive
piece of work (really his _only_ comprehensive work -- pretty much everything
else is topical papers, collaborations, interviews, etc.). It introduces
systems/cybernetic thinking in an accessible and applicable way, such that
they become relevant in basically any context.

 _Edit: wrods._

------
keithnz
I got "the emperors new mind" by roger penrose when it first came out as I was
graduating high school. I found it really good and eye opening.

Various books by Tony Buzan ( memory, speed reading, mind mapping ) and six
thinking hats (and others) by edward de bono really got me to see our minds
are very versatile and, like our bodies, can be pushed in prodded to do lots
of things

Puzzling through many philosophy books has probably given me some my more
dramatic changes in the way I see the world. But not one in specific, each
provided little "ah hah!"s

All of Calvin and Hobbes

The art of war,book of 5 rings, and the prince, all made it clear that
strategy and winning are quite different from the sanitized western middle
class life I was brought up in.

------
csbartus
The Phenomenon Of Science: A Cybernetic Approach To Human Evolution, by V.F.
Turchin.

It made me realize everything is about Control and today we are living the era
of the Control of Culture.

The subject so fascinated me I've started to write about back in 2006 and
still writing today.

Amazon: [https://www.amazon.com/Phenomenon-Science-Cybernetic-
Approac...](https://www.amazon.com/Phenomenon-Science-Cybernetic-Approach-
Evolution/dp/0231039832)

Online:
[http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/POSBOOK.html](http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/POSBOOK.html)

Gust: [http://metamn.io/gust/](http://metamn.io/gust/)

------
ishtanbul
The Economic Growth Engine: How Energy and Work Drive Material Prosperity by
Ayers and Warr

Describes the economy in thermodynamic terms, as a materials processing
machine, in contrast with neoclassical models of abstract "factors of
production". Does a deep dive on examining what technological progress is and
how it happens. I don't agree with everything in it but the perspective is
unique and highly thought provoking.

[https://www.amazon.com/Economic-Growth-Engine-Prosperity-
Int...](https://www.amazon.com/Economic-Growth-Engine-Prosperity-
International/dp/1849804354)

------
antisocial
Sapiens. It has been helpful on two levels - 1\. For my limited historical
knowledge, it's a good crash course. 2\. On a higher level, it explains why
culture is a glue that keeps the wheels of any civilization spinning.

Finding Flow

------
unlmtd
\- Character analysis (W. Reich)

\- Meetings with Remarkable Men (Gurdjieff)

\- Courage to Stand Alone (UG Krishnamurti)

------
W4n
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Written by a senior researcher at
MIRI, it distills all the cogsci and pop psychology books you can think of
(Kahneman, Freakonomics, Gladwell) into a smart, funny, engaging, book-length
book-quality fanfic. Plus it's available freely online. Seeing these methods
applied by a protagonist helped me internalize them far more than any number
of rereads of other books could have.

If that's too frivolous for you, Rationality: From AI to Zombies is the
textbook format of all this information, from the same author.

------
mathoff
Heidegger: Sein und Zeit [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21477742-martin-
heidegge...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21477742-martin-heidegger)
(translation:
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/92307.Being_and_Time](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/92307.Being_and_Time)
). Great philosophy, and, alas, nazi author. But you can't choose your family
either.

------
simonturvey
\- Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

\- V for Vendetta - Alan Moore/David Lloyd

\- Heat: How we can stop the planet burning - George Monbiot

These are the books that quite literally changed my world view and
interpretation of our place/purpose in it.

------
kageneko
"Only Yesterday" by Frederick Lewis Allen.

I first read it in history class in high school and have gone back and reread
a few times since then, when society and politics began making me nervous.
It's really fascinating to read about day-to-day things from a hundred years
ago and find out just how little things have really changed.

[https://www.amazon.com/Only-Yesterday-Informal-
History-1920s...](https://www.amazon.com/Only-Yesterday-Informal-
History-1920s/dp/0060956658)

------
MaxfordAndSons
_Finite and Infinite Games_ by James P. Carse.

 _Being and Event_ by Alain Badiou (translated by Oliver Feltham).

 _After Finitude_ by Quentin Meillassoux (translated by Ray Brassier).

 _Spring and All_ by William Carlos Williams.

------
tbirrell
Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

------
bynkman
Average is Over by Tyler Cowen. About educated middle class workers working
with collaborative automated systems vs non-educated and a changing society.

Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson. An allegory about how our modern jobs
are changing.

Mindset by Carol Dweck. About the belief of fixed mindset vs a growth or
learning mindset, and the effects of both.

The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. How our industrial (conformity) economy
has evolved into a connection (post-industrial) economy, and what it takes to
survive in this new world.

------
zbarnes757
"4 hour work week" and "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"

~~~
magic_beans
Can I ask how these books fundamentally changed the way you look at the world?

~~~
sagivo
in my case - it changed how i think about "buying things" and how to
priorities spendings that will yield return over just immediate pleasure.

~~~
sergiotapia
This sandwich doesn't cost $5, it actually cost me $179 over a 20 year
timeline!

------
Taylor_OD
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid

[https://smile.amazon.com/How-Filthy-Rich-Rising-
Asia/dp/1594...](https://smile.amazon.com/How-Filthy-Rich-Rising-
Asia/dp/1594632332?sa-no-redirect=1)

I encourage people to read it. It's perspective changing. I know its a
fictional novel but it made me realize that other countries have their own
version of the American dream.

------
coverclock
MEASURING AND MANAGING PERFORMANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS by Robert D. Austin

Austin, who is now on the faculty of Harvard Business School, wrote this
seminal book on measurement dysfunction and how incentives in the information
age drive misbehavior while he was an IT executive with Ford Motor Co. Europe.
This very readable book was derived from his dissertation in operations
research at CMU. It completely changed my world view, and continues to do so.

------
thecity2
Not really a book per se, but Shakespeare's writings had a profound effect on
me when I was younger. The idea that the English language could be used to
such mind-blowingly-brilliant effect is something I've never forgotten. In
many ways, I still believe virtually everything we read and write in Western
literature and entertainment is likely just stealing something Shakespeare
wrote much more profoundly centuries ago.

------
rwieruch
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Maybe not fundamentally changed the way I think about the world, but the way I
think about myself and others regarding my and their fulfillment in life.

It inspired me on many levels, that I had to write down my personal notes and
lessons learned. [0]

\- [0] [https://www.robinwieruch.de/lessons-learned-deep-work-
flow/](https://www.robinwieruch.de/lessons-learned-deep-work-flow/)

------
baron816
Thinking Strategically. A great primer on game theory. Everything changed
colors for me after I read this. Definite required reading for everyone.

Abundance. Problems of economic scarcity are really about access. Technology
can solve those problems, and we're getting close to solving a lot of the
biggest ones.

Borderless Economics. Immigration has a lot of huge benefits. But really, it's
the best humanitarian tool advanced countries have.

------
mike128
Free to Choose - Milton Friedman

Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman

------
LanguageGamer
Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein

------
kazishariar
Awakening: A Sufi Experience: Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

-I found it for $2 at a STRAND Bookstore wilst out for a stroll in the city. Best $2 spent on a book, EVAR. @a tme whn I didn't know how to explain the utter crystallization of something fascinating but grand, though obtruse happening in my innards, this book shone light on alot of what I was waking up to, hence - Awakening!

------
williamstein
"Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream
Customers", marketing book by Geoffrey A. Moore.

------
macawfish
_The Poisoning of Eros_ by Raymond Lawrence Jr.

 _The Phenomenon of Science: A Cybernetic Approach to Human Evolution_ by
Valentin Turchin

 _Paul 's 1st letter to the Corinthians_

 _History, Guilt & Habit_ by Owen Barfield

 _The Prophet_ by Khalil Gibran

 _Dawn_ by Octavia Butler

 _Snow Crash_ by Neal Stephenson

 _You Are Here_ by Thich Nhat Hanh

 _The Art of Loving_ by Erich Fromm

 _Nonviolent Communication_ by Marshall Rosenberg

 _The Little Prince_ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

------
tptacek
Galeano's Memory Of Fire books, also Saul Alinsky's _Rules For Radicals_ (one
of the best marketing books ever written).

------
itchyjunk
Probably not a title someone would bring up on HN, but the whole Carlos
Castaneda was really great for me. I actually read the "Art of Dreaming" first
then went back and read all the 15 books or so in the series. Considering i'm
not much of a reader, pretty proud of myself for getting through those even
though it took me years.

~~~
entropyneur
I am with you on this one. I've read and liked quite a few books mentioned
here, but I'm hard pressed to find one that fits the "fundamentally changed
the way I think" criteria. It was all fairly incremental. Except Castaneda's
writings. That stuff was explosive.

------
tmblwd
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

After reading this book, I started living with a lot more gratitude for
everyday things that I'd previously been taking for granted.

That might sound like a cliché, but frankly -- reading visceral accounts of
decent folks having to eat leaves and grass in order to survive?

Yea, that changes the way you think about the world.

------
ranko
_The Psychology of Computer Programming_ , Gerald M. Weinberg. We write code
to be read by humans as well as machines.

------
ravishi
Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa. I still can't put into words how this book changed
my world view, but it was one of the most impacting books I've ever read. From
religion to arts to personal goals, everything changed with this book. I'm
pretty sure I left the church while/right after reading it.

------
abakker
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Persig Why We Make Things, and why
it Matters, Korn Ahead of the Curve, Broughton Hell's Angels: a strange and
terrible saga, Thompson]

All changed my thinking about things for different reason, but shared the
common theme of making me think _more_ about every idea I have.

------
fdupoo
At 14 The paradox of god and the science of omniscience At 17 Sidhartha (H.
Hesse) Started meditating At 18 The Upanishads The Tao te Ching Chuang tzu At
19-21 Zen Flesh and Bones At 23 The Tao of Physics and The Web of Life by
Fritjof Kapra At 28 Black Swan by N. Taleb At 30 Accelerando by C.Stross

------
miguelrochefort
_Getting Things Done_ by David Allen

------
Insomn3ak
The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

~~~
RachelF
A brilliant overview. I wish he'd update it.

------
ravenstine
The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene.

------
e15ctr0n
* _The Bhagavad Gita_ [http://amzn.com/1586380192](http://amzn.com/1586380192)

* _On Managing Yourself_ [http://amzn.com/1422157997](http://amzn.com/1422157997)

* _The Dilbert Principle_ by Scott Adams [http://amzn.com/0887308589](http://amzn.com/0887308589)

* _The Peter Principle_ by by Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull [http://amzn.com/0062092065](http://amzn.com/0062092065)

* _How to Manage Your Boss_ by Christopher Hegarty [http://amzn.com/034531817X](http://amzn.com/034531817X)

* _Time Management_ by Veronica Hurst [http://amzn.com/1537560700](http://amzn.com/1537560700)

* _The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People_ by Stephen R. Covey [http://amzn.com/1451639619](http://amzn.com/1451639619)

* _The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up_ by Marie Kondo [http://amzn.com/1607747308](http://amzn.com/1607747308)

* _The Complete Sherlock Holmes_ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [http://amzn.com/0553328255](http://amzn.com/0553328255)

* Alistair MacLean's best novels:

++ _Night Without End_
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++ _Fear Is the Key_ [http://amzn.com/0006159915](http://amzn.com/0006159915)

++ _The Dark Crusader_ or _The Black Shrike_
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++ _The Satan Bug_ [http://amzn.com/B002RI9DAQ](http://amzn.com/B002RI9DAQ)

++ _Ice Station Zebra_
[http://amzn.com/B0046A9MO0](http://amzn.com/B0046A9MO0)

------
sonabinu
The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant

------
jabv
Because a representation of this can be published as a book, I'll say the six
cello suites by JS Bach.

After a strange, 15-year journey, I eventually understood one of Peter
Kreeft's proofs for the existence of God, "There is the music of Bach,
therefore God exists." ;)

~~~
liamconnell
Many muslims also believe that the beauty of the Quran's poetry is proof of
the existence of God. Although they believe it is explained by the prophetic
status of Muhammad, I've always found the belief to be surprisingly humanist
for such an old religion, in the same sense as Kreeft's quote.

------
kabalweg
1\. Mindset - changed how I view new things/ideas I encounter or things I want
to learn. I have introduced this to my wife and she loved it. She has now
adapted the growth mindset (what the book teaches about).

2\. e-Myth Revisited - changed how I view and run business.

------
gpetukhov
\- How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region

Changed the way I look at economic development and government's involvement in
it. To make country's economy grow, it's not enough to just take the laissez-
faire approach.

------
cgopalan
The graphic novels - "Watchmen" and "The dark knight returns". Fundamentally
altered my perceptions of the modern graphic novel. Now I constantly look out
for best-sellers, top-x lists and run to the library to rent them.

------
villmann
The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins; Red Queen, Matt Ridley; Sperm Wars, Robin
Baker;

Read in that order, the books explain much of what is going on in our society
and lives. This has enabled me to to analyse my own, and others, actions and
motives.

------
dkarapetyan
[https://www.amazon.com/Evolutionary-Psychology-
Introduction-...](https://www.amazon.com/Evolutionary-Psychology-Introduction-
Christopher-Badcock/dp/0745622062)

------
palerdot
The Slight Edge - Jeff Olson

This is the book that suddenly hit me like a lightning. Give it a try if you
haven't. It will fundamentally change the way you plan and execute things,
from short-term immediate stuffs to your ultimate dreams.

------
nosuchthing

      Codemasters - Game Genie NES Codebook
      Aldous Huxley - Collected Essays
      Guy Debord - Society of the Spectacle
      Antonie de Saint-Exupery - The Little Prince
    

Also worth mentioning, is everything by Dr Seuss.

------
rootsudo
The art of deception / spies among us.

Entrylevel infosec stuff. But, really put the mindset that if you ask for
something in a specific way, you'll always get it.

It's not the request, it's how you form the request.

------
snake_plissken
When Corporations Rule The World - David Korten

Neuromancer - William Gibson

Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy

------
entropyneur
It's rather remarkable that for some people "world" means universe or nature
while for others it means human society. And the latter group is an
overwhelming majority here.

------
keeler
A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

Representations by Jerry Fodor

A number of essays published by Chomsky over the years (a recent, small
compilation book called What Kind of Creatures Are We? is a handy start).

------
jonbaer
Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall

The Revenge of Geography - Robert D. Kaplan

Prisoner's Dilemma - William Poundstone

The Master Algorithm - Pedro Domingos

Zero-Sum Future - Gideon Rachman

The End of History and the Last Man - Francis Fukuyama

Entanglement - Amir Aczel

~~~
lappet
Thank you for Prisoners of Geography. I just bought it and it seems very
insightful, judging by the first few pages.

------
amk_
Quite relevant given the meta-topic - "The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions" by Thomas Kuhn. It's where the term "paradigm shift" comes from.

------
fnl
Quite some overlap with others here, but to add some of my own favorites:

\- The Shock Doctrine by N. Klein

\- The Anarchist Banker by F. Pessoa

\- Collapse by J. Diamond

\- Thinking, Fast and Slow by D. Kahneman

\- a few books by Noam Chomsky

EDIT: nearly forgot:

\- Brave New World by A. Huxley

------
boris2293
"We the Living" \-- by Ayn Rand. This novel, unlike Orwell's 1984, shows that
one does not have to loose his identity under oppression of communism.

------
dmccunney
The biggest worldview changer for me was probably the work of the late Edward
T. Hall.

Hall was an anthropologist attached the the University of New Mexico. He and
his research partner, linguist Norman Trager, were doing research in
comparative culture. Hall discovered they would need to provide a
comprehensive _theory_ of culture to define what they were comparing and make
it possible to _do_ meaningful comparisons.

The results of that effort are documented in Hall's books _The Silent
Language_, _The Hidden Dimension_, and _Beyond Culture_.

Culture is normally thought of as "Everything we know and do", but Hall
demonstrated it was broader and deeperl Like the proverbial iceberg, 90% of
culture takes place on an unconscious level, handled by reflex. We aren't
aware may things we do _are_ done by reflex, unless we find ourselves in a
culture that does things differently.

As an example, you are at a gathering of some sort. (What sort doesn't
matter.) It's not crowded, and there's room to spread out comfortably. You are
talking to someone you just met. How far apart are you standing? Why _that_
distance instead of nearer or farther away?

If you live in the US, the answer to "how close are you standing?" is "about 3
feet". The dominant culture here derives from northern Europe, where that is
the correct social distance to maintain with folks who aren't family or close
friends. No one ever explicitly _tells_ you "Thou shalt stand three feet away
from strangers and folks you don't know really well!" You absorb it by osmosis
beginning in early childhood, by observing and mimicking what you see the
adults do. By the time you are old enough to be out on your own, it's embedded
reflex you do without thinking.

Now plunk yourself down in a culture with a different notion of correct social
distance, like Greece, where the default is about a foot and a half, and watch
the fun. Someone from our culture will think the Greeks are "pushy" and "in
your face". The Greeks will think we are cold and standoffish. Each side is
simply attempting to maintain the social distance correct for their culture.

 _Many_ things fell into place when I read Hall, and my notions about _why_
various things occur changed radically. A lot of current international
problems can be considered clashes between cultures with differing underlying
elements. Religion, political structure, and economic system are overlays on
top of underlying cultural patterns, and differences in the overlays may mask
the deeper underlying issues. ______ Dennis

------
ConnorLeet
"The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

------
divbit
Permutation City (Greg Egan), or Diamond Dogs (Alistair Reynolds)- have to
read it in the right mind frame as some sort of moral analogy

------
donaldiljazi
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Not because of his life. But because of his
thinking (and other people's thinking in the book).

------
hrodriguez
George Orwell's _1984_ and Isaac Asimov (just about everything he's written,
especially love his shorter stories).

------
jcslzr
Reading Shakespeare has been the most useful with my shyness and it also let
me understood how society or the adult world, works

------
lostphilosopher
Generally:

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn

The Apology of Socrates, Plato

Professionally:

The Pragmatic Programmer, Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

The Best Interface is No Interface, Golden Krishna

------
corny
Mad Magazine Super Special, Fall 1981

Was quite young when I read this and it was maybe my first (or at least
strongest) exposure to satire.

------
c0nducktr
_A People 's History of the United States_, by Howard Zinn.

Edit: Also, David Graeber's _Debt: The First 5,000 Years_.

------
alabamamike
Legacy of Ashes - Tim Weiner. Pulled the wool from my eyes as to what my
country is capable of performing in my name.

------
LeicaLatte
Chromosome 6 by Robin Cook. Fascinated me for some reason. It gets very
technical and I like the rigor, detailing.

------
numinary1
The Triumph of Politics by David Stockman - totally changed the way I
understand the operation of government.

------
noir_lord
The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett.

------
nbardy
A last chance to see - Douglas Adams

I didn't understand the importance of conservation efforts until reading this
book.

------
sergioschuler
For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto by Murray Rothbard

It presents a clear vision of a society without government

------
eddof13
The Game - Neil Strauss \- eye opening, influenced me to focus on self
development and social skills

------
jimnotgym
The Plague and The Outsider by Albert Camus. Taught me my place in the world

~~~
scandox
I second The Plague. A book everyone ought to read.

------
infosample
American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund Morgan

Best American history book I've read.

------
kross
The Goal - Eliyahu Goldratt

------
forkandwait
"Language in Thought and Action" by S. I. Hayakawa.

------
pizza
Capitalist Realism

Flow

Neuromancer

Snow Crash

What is Life?

The Stranger

special mention: David Pearce's archipelago of paradise engineering manifesto-
websitelets

------
lamerman
Max Born: Einstein theory of relativity

------
mdekkers
The Player of Games - Iain. M. Banks.

------
fdik
Saul Kripke, “Naming and Necessity”

------
Meltdown
Awareness by Anthony de Mello

------
dominotw
selfish gene, fountainhead

------
sunstone
Consilience by E.O. Wilson

------
zardo
The Big Orange Splot

------
Myrmornis
The Selfish Gene

------
embarassed_toss
Throwaway since this is a bit embarrassing.

How to Win Friends and Influence People. Crucial Conversations. 5 Love
Languages. The Way of the Superior Man.

I'm 37 and I'm a stereotypical geeky, low-social-capability guy. Coasted
through life on being smart, to the exclusion of much else. I'd get pedantic
and into pointless arguments, but justify it because I was right -- sorta
being a dick though not intentionally, just emergent behavior. I did poorly on
romantic relationships despite being married a decade. I'd stumble around
conversations awkwardly or interject stupid facts and just overall sucked at
the personal side of life.

Learning to talk to people, to deal with people, learning the give and take of
conversations and to try to be interested in people -- this has completely
changed my life. It works in business, it works in personal relationships.
People that I'd usually mock (think homeopathic hippy type folks), the kind of
folks that'd usually dismiss me, they have actually said glowing things about
me to other people, and I now have friendships with such folks. Even with guy
friends: I'm constantly surprised how powerful a simple "How are you doing?"
or "Did you get home OK?" \-- just small displays of interest, really can
strengthen relationships.

The last book I mention, The Way of the Superior Man, I hesitate. Some of it
is a bit silly. And it comes off VERY macho/chauvinistic. In fact, the first
time I looked at it I tossed it in disgust. But damn, it'd have saved me so
much grief. There are feminine/masculine differences (as personalities, not
just sex or gender.) Just basic stuff like "held and heard": you don't need to
try to solve her every problem[1], just listen and support her in what she
does -- stuff as an engineer I wouldn't do at work and that bled over into
personal life. Not attacking people when they say silly things... I've had a
girl tell my family I'm the kindest guy she's ever dated. They all went silent
and looked back and forth "... him?" 3 years ago I could never, ever, have
imagined anyone saying that about me in any situation, let alone romantically.
When people blow up and want to fight with me, I recognize the words don't
really matter and it's just emotion and try to respond to that. Even my ex has
ended up apologizing after yelling at me and saying I'm a good guy - another
timeline I never thought I'd be in.

And I know, this sounds like manipulation. But the bizarre thing is that after
you set out to be like this and try to care, you actually end up caring and
it's totally sincere. Life isn't C, being "lenient" on people and trying to
think about them instead of picking at the specifics of what they said won't
get you into trouble.

[This might be relationships 101, but I know a lot of guys in a similar social
situation and a few of them tried the same approaches and are way happier too.
So maybe this will help someone.]

1: [https://xkcd.com/306/](https://xkcd.com/306/)

~~~
andreasklinger
"How to Win Friends and Influence People" is easily one of the most important
books out there for anyone working in any professional env that involves other
humans.

No need for throwaway - awesome selection

------
notliketherest
On The Road - Jack Kerouac. How to live in the present moment and have a
voracious appetite for travel and new experiences.

------
MK999
"Streets are for People: A Primer for Americans" -Bernard Rudofsky "The Bible
Proves the Teachings of the Catholic Church" -Bro Michael Dimond

