
Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models? - baran
It&#x27;s ok to &quot;forget&quot; what you read (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;medium.com&#x2F;the-polymath-project&#x2F;its-okay-to-forget-what-you-read-f4ef1c34cc01) as books update our mental models or how we perceive the world.  What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?
======
austenallred
Fantastic question.

The selfish gene - for understanding human behavior

Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - for understanding how to be content

Debt, the first 5,000 years - for understanding money and finance from the
ground up

Wright Brothers - for understanding how technological breakthroughs happen

Snowball (Warren Buffet), Andrew Carnegie and Rockefeller biographies - for
understanding the mental mindset to win in business (it's not what you think)

Hackers and painters - for understanding startups and how/why they work

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - for understanding beauty in the
routine

Essentialism, the disciplined pursuit of less and Walden - for understanding
how "stuff" gets in the way of happiness

Les Miserables - for understanding love

~~~
yodsanklai
> Debt, the first 5,000 years

It's often cited on HN, but I've found it very dense and difficult to read.

~~~
mashmac2
I've had the audiobook version recommended for this exact reason - easier to
listen to than to read :)

~~~
thefuzz
I've heard exactly this about the book, audio book > text

------
RealityNow
Debt, the first 5,000 Years (David Graeber) - Learned that most of history has
been communist (eg. hunter gatherer societies), shops of the past were run on
credit (eg. tally sticks), money/capitalism tended to emerge with the rise of
the state, taxing to feed soldiers for war, and that the drive to pay off
one's debt fueled a lot of the cruelty of mankind (eg. Hernan Cortez,
Casimir).

21 Things they don't tell you about Capitalism, Bad Samaritans (Ha Joon Chang)
- Learned that free trade is generally bad for developing countries, countries
need to build out high productivity industries to grow their economy in the
long term and avoid a balance of payments deficit (unless blessed with oil or
something), manufacturing is vital to a country's economy and its service
sector, "free markets" are a constantly evolving political definition with
numerous inherent double standards, the only reason most of us in first world
countries are paid well has nothing to do with our own superior ability (eg.
bus driver in India vs. Norway), but due to immigration control and the
institutions we inherit.

Also looking for more book recommendations, so feel free to send some my way!

~~~
cgmg
> Learned that free trade is generally bad for developing countries

The consensus among experts on the matter is that protectionism has a negative
effect on economic growth and welfare, while free trade has a positive effect.

There are challenges to be sure, but free trade is most definitely a net
_positive_ for developing countries. Countries whose governments prevent their
citizens from engaging in international trade tend to be much worse off.

~~~
RealityNow
Well read "Bad Samaritans" to see why the consensus amongst economists is
wrong.

There isn't a single first world country that developed under free trade. The
US and the UK were highly protectionist with steep tariffs, and it was only
after they gained world dominance that they started opening their borders and
demanding free trade from everyone else.

The economic "miracles" of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were all highly
protectionist, and their now world-renowned industries were heavily subsidized
by the government over decades. Toyota took 30 years to make a profit and 60
years to become a dominant player in the auto industry. Had these countries
adopted free trade policies, these industries never would have developed due
to being unable to compete with foreign competitors, and Korea and Japan would
still be third world countries exporting textiles and refined sugar.

The developing countries that did adopt free trade policies (at the behest of
the IMF/World Bank/WTO) all grew slower than they did before those policies
were in place. Latin America's growth rate since the 80s has been a third of
what it was prior, in Africa's case I believe it went from like 1-2% to .2%
(don't remember the exact numbers).

The analogy in Chapter 3 titled "My six-year-old son should get a job" is
brilliant. If a child is told to get a job and fend for himself, then he'll
likely end up working low-productivity dead-end minimum wage jobs for the rest
of his life. However if he's able to focus on his studies, get parental
support, go to university, maybe do research for a professor on the side -
then this insulation from the free market via parental subsidies will pay off
in the long run as the child will end up doing much greater higher
productivity work. Similarly, developing countries need to invest in high
productivity industries to develop.

Highly recommend the book, it's a quick read. I took the same Econ 101 classes
where I was taught that free trade is unequivocally good. This book changed my
mind, while also helping me realize that much of economics is completely
divorced from reality. Even if you ideologically can't let go of the theory
that free trade is good, history and the data clearly say otherwise.

~~~
binarray2000
The point you make about protectionism is a very good one. But it doesn't tell
the whole story.

Isn't it interesting that in books about the economic development of the
"first world" you never read about imperial politics? It boils down to how
looting of other peoples resources and selling/keeping these people as slaves
is the key reason for the riches in the "first world" (particularly its
western part). And how protectionism came after (or in parallel, in later
phases) to protect the looted. And how the West still does the looting of
other peoples resources today and (thanks to that) keeps and grows its riches.
And how the only thing that has changed is that it doesn't do the slave trade
anymore, but how it still uses and profits greatly from the slave labour.

Maybe someone can recommend a book on this.

~~~
gras
What about science and technology? It seems to me like the Western world has
always been more developed in those senses, even back in the time of the
Romans.

It's also not like Westerners are the only people who ever had slaves;
"intrarace" slave trade was and still is alive and well in Africa. It's just
the logical step forward from slaughtering enemy tribes, it's humanitarian
relative to the alternative.

I'm saying this because of the recent trend of white guilt, which I think is
unproductive like any group-based guilt; in a way it's a tool of warfare, a
psychological/social weapon and an excuse to persecute individuals for things
they did not do themselves.

I'd also like to read more on this, I think I definitely could be better
informed.

~~~
binarray2000
(1) I'll clarify myself: When I write about imperial politics, I mean the
western oligarchy, not the people in the west. Yes, the people in the west
have been made complicit in the crime of the oligarchy, but they are also (in
a sense) a victim. For example: The oligarchy in England was not able to
conquer India alone. Nor would they have risked their lives in the process.
For that they have used the people. First they gave more money and power
(military grades) to soldiers who would go to another side of the world and
risk their lives to fight some foreigners who didn't pose any threat to their
families or their country. After these soldiers have done their part, using
the same scheme ("more money and power"), administrative officers were sent to
administer the looted and to secure the power position of the oligarchy.
Again, both groups (soldiers and administrators) were victims as well, risking
their lives for a tiny bit of money and power compared to the profits and
power gain of the oligarchy. And that pattern continues to be used today. Look
for example at the testimonies of US soldiers who were in Iraq (on YouTube [1]
[2] [3]). These guys are now physically and psychically sick from the war they
were sent to wage for the US oligarchy and the system has no purpose for them
(prior to them entering the service and now), but they are still humans with
compassion.

(2) The argument about science and technology is a complex one. Yes, there
were Romans but we don't know sources for their scientific and technological
advancements. We do know that, after the Romans, the west fell behind burning
books and "heretics", and that the Islamic world was leading in science and
technology during that time. We also know that when the west (the western
oligarchy) came back with trade, it was followed by the imperial politics. And
that continues to exist today as well. Look at the USA: It has made a system
where it offers free information on US universities in their embassies. Then
the young bright people, many from countries the US oligarchy has destroyed
economically, so see no future in them and they come and study in the US.
Later, in universities, research facilities and companies (as employees and
[co]founders) they become (known) sources for scientific and technological
advancements in the US. By doing that, he US is robbing already robbed
countries: (a) of their future elite that would build a home country again;
(b) their home countries have paid for their pre-tertiary education. And other
western countries (oligarchies) do the same.

(3) Considering what I wrote under (1), it were not all "Westerners" but the
western oligarchy who was the driver of the slave trade. Also, even thou there
was (and still is) slave trade in Africa, the sheer scale, brutality and
profit extraction out of slaves by the western oligarchy is not comparable
with "intrarace" slave trade.

(4) Yes, white guilt is wrong. You are right that it is a tool of warfare, a
warfare between poor people in the west and poor people in other countries,
staged by the western oligarchy. No rich people fight in a war, not in the
past, not now. And you are right that it is "a psychological/social weapon and
an excuse to persecute individuals for things they did not do themselves".
There is only the guilt of the oligarchy. If (and only if) the people in the
western world say no to being peons in this game their oligarchy plays with
their and the lives of other people, then they would do more for the peace in
the world than all UN programs for the "third world".

[1] [https://youtu.be/gdn3bIfP7fk](https://youtu.be/gdn3bIfP7fk)

[2] [https://youtu.be/VwwMF6biCJU](https://youtu.be/VwwMF6biCJU)

[3] [https://youtu.be/SOqPBC3ZMn8](https://youtu.be/SOqPBC3ZMn8)

------
lackbeard
Masters Of Doom - The value of an unbalanced life and focused hard work. Also,
how to start a startup. A really fun read, to boot.

Fooled By Randomness - a) Survivorship bias. b) If you look at revealed
preferences, people choose regular small gains with a rare huge loss over
regular small losses and a rare huge gain even though that choice is -ev. c)
Much more!

Hackers and Painters - One of the most insightful, subversive, and surprising
texts out there.

C Interfaces and Implementations - Great examples of good API design and how
to build clean modular code.

The Paleo Manifesto - Explains how the origin of religion was probably as a
set of models for coping with the transition from hunting/gathering to
civilized agriculture. The part of the book where he points out that the story
of the fall of man in the Bible is probably the story of this transition is
super interesting.

The Game - Made me realize that the narrative told by boomer and gen-x parents
about how to attract a woman is probably doing young men (and women) more harm
than good. I would not try to treat this as a how-to manual, though. A fun
yarn.

Starting Strength - After years of fumbling around in the gym this cut through
a lot of bad ideas about fitness, exercise, strength, and health. It lead to
the first real (and lasting) progress I've ever made physically.

Understanding Comics - Understanding art and visual communication.

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! - Up there with Hackers & Painters in its
rate of insight & surprise per page.

Fail Safe Investing - Thought provoking ideas about why we invest and how best
to go about doing that. (The ideas stand up, IMO, but some of the concrete
advice on how to implement those ideas is very dated.)

Good Calories, Bad Calories - It turns out that even scientists can be
dishonest and corrupted by politics.

~~~
orthoganol
Wow, The Game I had totally forgotten about. Along with the 4 Hour Work Week,
those are two books that gave me totally new measuring devices for success and
attractiveness when I was in my early 20s. 4HWW redefined 'elite' as young
entrepreneurial globe trotters (location freedom), and was probably the main
igniter of the digital nomad movement, while The Game redefined attractiveness
(for men) as a predominantly behavioral thing - boldness, non neediness,
confidence etc. - not a wealth, credentials, or even primarily physical
attributes thing (and pretty much ruined going out to bars for half a decade).
Agree or disagree, those books really, really impacted thinking for
millennials.

------
autarch
In no particular order ...

I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter - strongly influenced my beliefs
about how consciousness works

Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter - made me think more deeply about so
many topics

Animal Liberation by Peter Singer - made me both an animal advocacy activist
and strongly influenced me towards a consequentialist moral

Neuropath by R. Scott Bakker - more on how consciousness works, this time
through a work of fiction

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin - strongly influenced my beliefs about
political systems

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins - changed how I thought about animal
behavior and what living things do

Republic, Lost by Lawrence Lessig - strongly influenced my beliefs about US
government

Manufacturing Consent by Herman & Chomsky - made me rethink my view of the
media and news

~~~
austenallred
Great list. Stealing the ones I haven't read.

~~~
autarch
I will warn you that reading Neuropath left me feeling depressed for a couple
weeks. It's a great book, but the conclusions it might lead you to may not
make you happy.

~~~
alphapapa
What kind of conclusions do you mean?

~~~
autarch
That humans are just machines and there's no such thing as free will. I
already knew that to some degree before reading the book, but it frames it in
a particularly bleak way.

------
vpribish
Goedel, Escher, Bach -- If you're reading this page you will dig this book.

Guns, Germs, and Steel -- how circumstance drove civilizations. Fun
storytelling even if it's a bit too "just-so". definitely trains you to look
at any situation and seek it's origins with less initial judgement.

The Visual Display of Quantitive Information -- gets at the essence of
communication and medium. more than it seems!

The Alchemy of Finance -- "reflexivity", but if you're also interested in
Soros or some finance storytelling it's worth it.

The Selfish Gene -- as everyone else has said.

The Prize -- the history of oil. huh? yeah. Likely to change how you look at
the history of technology, government, power, the saudis, and geopolitics.

~~~
enkid
By the way,Guns, Germs, and Steel, while an interesting book, and brings an
interesting perspective, is largely discredited from what I've read.

~~~
vpribish
yeah, i was trying to allude to that. I found the way of looking at things
compelling, regardless.

~~~
CPUstring
One of the key things that the book does is say, "Hey, you're probably looking
at history with fundamental attribution bias goggles on. Take those off." The
civilizational features that go into its namesake may not be sufficient or
necessary features of wealthy civilizations, but they are important things to
consider.

------
xtiansimon
Hmm. Not to repeat, I think I must dig deep into the archives...

Korzybski, Alfred. Science and Sanity. Institute of GS, 1958. [1]

The Institute of General Semantics has a current website [2], is on Facebook,
and has several articles on Wikipedia.org [3].

One of the mind-bending premises (Wikipedia.org):

"Non-Aristotelianism: While Aristotle wrote a true definition gives the
essence of the thing defined ..., general semantics denies the existence of
such an 'essence'. [...] In general semantics, it is always possible to give a
description of empirical facts, but such descriptions remain just
that—descriptions—which necessarily leave out many aspects of the objective,
microscopic, and submicroscopic events they describe. According to general
semantics, language, natural or otherwise ... can be used to describe the
taste of an orange, but one cannot give the taste of the orange using language
alone."

[1]:
[https://books.google.com/books/about/Science_and_Sanity.html](https://books.google.com/books/about/Science_and_Sanity.html)?
[2]: [http://www.generalsemantics.org/](http://www.generalsemantics.org/) [3]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_General_Semantics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_General_Semantics)

~~~
taurath
That seems really interesting from reading the abstract - I wonder if its
possible that by training non-verbality it could become easier to think on the
various levels without confusing them?

------
maxprogram
Poor Charlie's Almanac -- can't beat Charlie Munger when it comes to
explaining how the world works.

Fooled by Randomness, Black Swan, Antifragile -- Nassim Taleb reviles lots of
new ways to think, first in finance, then everything in later books.

The Origin of Wealth -- Similar to Antifragile with a lot of mental models
packed in on many different subjects: economics, business, biology, ...

The Design of Everyday Things -- the bible of design. Read it to know why
everyday frustrations with tech are probably not your fault. His book
Emotional Design is a good compliment.

The Essential Drucker -- "essential" reading for anyone in management or
scaling a startup.

History, and why the world is the way it is today:

Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari

Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond

The Birth of Plenty, William Bernstein

They Made America, Harold Evans -- fantastic history book with each chapter
telling the detailed story of a businessperson or inventor in U.S. history

~~~
thedevil
This list is close to mine.

I would also add:

\- Influence: the Psychology of persuasion

\- Selfish Gene

\- Emotional Design

\- Antifragile

\- How To Fail At Everything And Still Win Big

------
schlagetown
Mindstorms, by Seymour Papert - for understanding the relationship of learning
and technology; a smart, humanist, empathetic approach to education [See also:
The Children's Machine; Deschooling Society]

Clock of the Long Now, by Stewart Brand - for the concepts of deep time and
the long now; appreciating a sense of how we experience time and our place in
history [See also: Time and the Art of Living]

Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbott - creative parable that's very helpful for
conceptualizing abstract concepts of topology and higher dimensions

Thinking in Systems, A Primer, by Donella Meadows - great introduction to
systems thinking, which is a useful lens for appreciating the complexity of
all sorts of complex phenomena

A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander - great work of urban design,
useful framework for looking at design systems and how pieces fit together on
different scales [See also: Death and Life of Great American Cities]

Oulipo - A Primer of Potential Literature - nice introduction to the Oulipo
and ideas of constraint as creative / poetic device [See also: Exercises in
Style; Eunoia]

Impro, by Keith Johnstone - great primer on improvisation, really made me
appreciate its impacts beyond just the theater, for example the importance of
status in social relations

The Power Broker, by Robert Caro - unbeatably rich and compelling look at how
power and politics actually work, for better (power gets things done) and for
worse (power blinds and corrupts)

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard - beautiful, meticulously observed
study of the natural world close at hand; made me appreciate the power of
looking deeply and persistently

Le Ton beau de Marot, by Douglas Hofstadter - remarkable exploration of
language and translation, in all its magic and complexity…both deeply personal
and deeply researched, a must-read for lovers of language

The Library at Night, by Alberto Manguel - turned me on to the various lenses
through which we can conceive of and appreciate libraries; their vast power
and potential

Moby Dick, by Herman Melville - for really hammering home the grand, powerful
potential of great literature and well-wrought language [ See also: Don
Quixote; Infinite Jest]

------
andrewb1
Poor Charlie's Almanack. It's a compilation of talks and essays from Charlie
Munger, Warren Buffet's business partner. This book has single-handedly
changed my invest strategies and mindset. Instead of trying to buy low and
sell high, Berkshire Hathaway holds a large cash position, until they find
something they consider to be a sure bet, take a large stake and hold. I now
have the quote "Be right and hold tight" written at my work table.

~~~
MarkMc
Poor Charlie's Almanack is a fine book, but as it's just a collection of
speeches and short stories the content is somewhat unstructured. I prefer
"Seeking Wisdom from Darwin To Munger" by Peter Bevelin:
[https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Wisdom-Darwin-
Munger-3rd/dp/1...](https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Wisdom-Darwin-
Munger-3rd/dp/1578644283)

~~~
supershobu
This is one of the most powerful books I have read.

~~~
makerleader
This is the best "reference" book out there in my opinion.

My algorithm for making decisions now boils down to:

Filling out this: [https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/02/decision-
journal/](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/02/decision-journal/)

and referencing applicable models from Seeking Wisdom and
[https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/mental-
models/](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/mental-models/)

------
orthoganol
An anthropology textbook in college called "Culture as given, Culture as
choice" \- basically the good parts of Sapiens minus the preachy, questionable
aspects.

Another college textbook, "Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the
Twentieth Century", I think is the best book you can read if you want to
understand our capitalistic societies today.

"Incognito" was great for exploring models from cognitive neuroscience, in
same vein as Hofstadter works.

French Enlightenment thinkers - esp. Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, who are not
only awesome but in my opinion articulate the core of what's actually worth
defending in Western civilization, not to mention are formative of actually
good political views.

German idealism, really starting with Kant to lay groundwork, and working up
through Hegel, has hands down been the most wild and impactful philosophical
journey I've taken. I don't recommend it unless you have some formal
background or unusually strong appetite for philosophical reasoning, or (not
including Kant) you'll probably just dismiss it or simply not be able to meet
the exorbitant time demands required to reach a satisfying level of
understanding.

Writers like Borges, Calvino, theater of the absurd - just plain,
intellectually stimulating fun.

Disclaimer, I like contemporary 'critical theory' tinkers too, because they
make you think outside the box.

------
jventura
No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover. Raised as a peaceful kid whose
introversion taught me to try to control my world and keep things to myself, I
am now more aware of how much healthier it is to set boundaries and just let
the world run its own course. Immensely happier!

------
nitrogen
The _Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality_ fanfic by Eliezer Yudkowsky
provides an interesting introduction to some ways of thinking that may be new
or surprising.

 _Schild 's Ladder_ by Greg Egan is interesting for considering models of
reality (also his other books).

------
BeetleB
Bargaining for Advantage : Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Lies my teacher told me : everything your American history textbook got wrong

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life

Thinking, Fast and Slow

------
jeffersonheard
Getting More - Stuart Diamond. I still think this is the best book on the art
of negotiation.

Getting Things Done - David Allen. If you have adult ADHD like me, and you
haven't read this, it's the first system that's really worked for productivity
for me.

Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl.

Living Buddha, Living Christ - Thich Nhat Hanh.

Cosmos - Carl Sagan.

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin.

The One who Walks Away from Omelas - U.K. LeGuin.

Wild Seed - Octavia Butler.

The Heike Monogatari - (tr. Helen Craig McCullough) “The sound of the Gion
Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the
sala flowers reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall. The proud do not
endure, like a passing dream on a night in spring; the mighty fall at last, to
be no more than dust before the wind.” If you need a comparison. this is the
Japanese historical equivalent of Game of Thrones combined with a bit of
MacBeth. The rise and fall of two shogunate families, and an analysis of the
tragic flaws of character that brought their fall about.

Les Miserables - Victor Hugo.

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett.

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad.

The Guide - R. K. Narayan.

Evidence - Mary Oliver.

All of Us - The Collected Poetry of Raymond Carver.

Silence - Shusaku Endo.

The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Murakami Haruki. This and the next four are odd
choices, perhaps, since it's a surrealist book, but IMO books that force your
imagination to work hard do as much for creativity and fresh ideas as any of
the more popular methods.

The Well-Built City (The Physiognomy / Memoranda / The Beyond) Jeffery Ford -
Surrealist novellas best described as about the protagonist living and
achieving agency within the constructs, dreams, and nightmares of a "Great
Man's" mind.

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson.

Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon.

Dhalgren - Samuel L. "Chip" Delany.

~~~
camwiese
Nice to see Heart of Darkness on here. In what way did it shape your mental
model of the world?

------
i_dont_know_
Two that I almost never see on these kinds of lists, but really think they
should get more acknowledgement:

"Crucial Conversations" \- breaks down how to have what might otherwise be an
uncomfortable conversation about anything. I really think everyone should read
it.

"The Enchiridion" \- A stoic guide, boiled down, short, and very very
relatable even in the modern age.

------
scottlocklin
"Money: whence it came from and where it went" by John Kenneth Galbraith
-title is self explanatory.

"Darwinian fairytales" by David Stove -the antidote to Selfish Gene; funnier
too.

"Prediction, Learning and Games" by Cesa-Bianchi and Lugosi -the right way to
think about sequential machine learning -a toss up with "Conformal Prediction"
by Shafer, Gammerman and Vovk

"Decline and Fall of the Roman empire" and "Italy and her invaders" (by Thomas
Hodgkin) have had huge impacts on my understanding of civilization. Couldn't
help but; it took years to read them all.

Recently "The Attention Merchants" by Tim Wu -how advertising has screwed up
humanity since snake oil merchants, and how we're on the cusp of another
revolution in this field.

I actually strongly disliked Hofstadter's book.

------
TheAceOfHearts
A few weeks back I read "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by
Politics and Religion". It was very insightful. I enjoyed it so much that I
ended up immediately recommending it to many of my friends.

The author does a good job at getting the main points through. He ends each
chapter with a summary of the discussed points, and at the end of the book he
sums em all up again.

Not a book, but I've been consuming many Jordan Peterson videos on YouTube. He
has presented me with many new arguments and ideas which I hadn't previously
considered.

~~~
travmatt
If you liked the righteous mind you'd similarly enjoy "The Dictators Handbook"
by Bruce Burna De Mesquita - he explores how rulers looking to maintain power
are all driven by similar incentives, and similarly provided a clear framework
for analyzing political or business strategy.

~~~
TheAceOfHearts
Thank you for the suggestion, the premise sounds really interesting. I've just
added it to my queue.

~~~
afarrell
This CGPGrey video is a decent summary of parts of it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs)

------
phugoid
I'm bracing for a serious downvote... I have to admit that Anthony Robbins had
a big influence on my thinking, particularly with "Awaken the Giant Within."
The message was - you can control how you feel.

Nearly twenty years later, I can see the limitations of his ideas - the danger
of creating an arbitrary belief system for yourself and the selfishness of
simply deciding what you want and rigging everything in your existence to get
it. I also came to believe it's OK to not be happy all the time. But I will
always respect Robbins' direct explanations of human motivation and how it can
be nudged.

That and 'Single Variable Calculus; Early Transcendentals'; the universe is
about change and math can model nearly all of it.

------
tinsilver
The Republic - Plato - why societies form the way they do

Either/Or - Kierkegaard - as a father of Existentialism his views on society
helped put things in perspective for me

It's All About Time - John Furey - surprised I don't see this mentioned more -
how people organise their thinking based on a time-based motivational model
[https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-About-Time-
Companies](https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-About-Time-Companies)

~~~
tinsilver
On the topic of mental models, others have mentioned Feynman - but here's a
discussion on why he was such an unusually effective scientist partly because
of his use of less common mental models [http://jamesclear.com/feynman-mental-
models](http://jamesclear.com/feynman-mental-models)

------
mmmpop
I'm in the middle of the biography of Robert Moses, "The Power Broker" by
Robert Caro and just finished re-reading "A Portrait of Dorian Gray" by Oscar
Wilde. As a fairly successful yuppie that came from Not A Whole Lot, it's
really knocked me down a few pegs and made me realize that being a pompous ass
about my exercised social mobility isn't all that special.

~~~
dave_sullivan
> "A Portrait of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

Don't you mean "The Picture of Dorian Gray"? (Google it, it's Picture but
everyone says Portrait for some reason)

~~~
unfunco
I've known people to confuse the title with a portrait of the artist as a
young man, by Joyce.

------
dwaltrip
"Godel Escher Bach" and "I am a strange loop".

I only made it half way through GEB, however the latter is a bit easier to get
through.

For me, these books marked the beginning of a lifelong journey of "self"
contemplation and intellectual/philosophical exploration.

~~~
patrickdavey
I might have to "Godel Escher Bach" again after reading these comments. I
found it incredibly dense and hard to read..

My own pick for a book that made me think differently is "crucial
conversations".

~~~
dwaltrip
I might try out "I am a strange loop". It's more approachable.

------
maaaats
From AI to Zombies by Yudkowsky. Interesting framework and thoughts about
knowledge, perception and how we deal with biases.

Can be downloaded for free/pay what you want here
[https://intelligence.org/rationality-ai-
zombies/](https://intelligence.org/rationality-ai-zombies/)

------
pbhjpbhj
The synoptic gospels and NT, but to choose one book from the NT, ...

 _The Epistle of James_ \- as it has some strong counterpoints to other parts
of the NT particularly the contrast of Pauline notions of grace with
charity/works.

 _Emperor 's New Mind_, Penrose - probably my biggest take away from it was to
consider how human perception works alongside, and co-mingles with, physics.

 _Web of Life_ , Capra - considering holistic nature of life, one's connection
to the World at large; emergent patterns, complex structure birthing from
simplicity (goes well with what I recall of Gleick's _Chaos_ ).

 _Zen and the Art ..._ \- what is value, what is valuable to me,
whither/whence/wherefore value; how should I relate to my children (long
before i had any) and how to challenge them philosophically.

 _Republic_ , Plato - the first book that really set me thinking about the
structure of society, about inequalities. And of course about stepping out of
The Cave.

Koran & Hadith (partial readings, ie whole sections; couple of major hadith
only) - [redacted]; but greater understanding of Islam and of religion in
general; taught me to watchfully avoid being tainted by the labels people give
themselves and look instead to their actions.

 _Mein Kampf_ (partial reading) - ideas have intrinsic moral value, that we
should judge ideas on their merits and not by who has them; we should be
careful about tarring people by simple association.

 _Art of War_ \- preparedness, looking to supply lines, avoiding conflicts,
not entering "battles" you know you'll lose (which I'd take as 'learn nothing
from').

 _Christianarchy_ \- what it means to be a Christian, who is and isn't "in".

 _Agrarian Justice_ , Paine - what is my place politically and economically in
the world, whence do I derive the 'rights' to own what I do, whether such
ownership is good.

Worth noting here that the ideas and impressions I got are unlikely to be what
you will get, we react to books based on who we are, our frame of mind, moods,
etc.. Most of these books I read as a late teenager, that at least in part
boosts their impact. The impact is not necessarily the purpose of the book,
quite the opposite in some cases.

------
spookyuser
What is a Mental Model? I've heard this word tossed around so much recently
and I still don't feel like I understand what it means.

~~~
ismail
Have been reading and researching for my postgrad and in some cases
"Perspective" & "Mental models" are used interchangeably.

However i like to think of it in this way:

Perspective: The point of view from which something is looked at

Mental Model: A mechanism or thought pattern to make sense of something or
understand something about some situation

You can never break out of your perspective of looking at the world. So a
mental model is always confined within a specific perspective.

Example:

Supply&Demand is a model that helps you understand pricing in markets. The
point of view/perspective is that of an economics/economist perspective. You
could just as easily look at the same situation from a different perspective
such as sociology or even psychology.

In other words, mental models are like a short cut to look at situations,
solve problems and understand the world from different perspectives.

~~~
spookyuser
Very interesting, thank you.

------
andrei_says_
I am That by Nisargdatta Maharaj. Shifted my perception of who/what I am.

Not a book but Marshall Rosenberg's many lectures, audiobooks and workshops on
nonviolent communication. I am now able to set boundaries in a peaceful way,
and see myself and everyone, no matter what their actions, through eyes of
effortless compassion.

------
mck-
[1] Balthasar Gracian, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom"

Timeless classic, 300 short maxims containing sage advice, written in
beautiful prose. One of those books you can read just a few pages whenever you
feel like. Currently re-reading it for the third time since I first read it 10
years ago. Still updates my mental model.

[2] James Allen, "As a man Thinketh"

At 21 pages, by far the most impactful piece of work on an impact-to-effort
ratio. Very simple, yet very true. Changed my mental model completely, also 10
years ago, and also a book I'm re-reading for the third time.

[3] Nassim Taleb, "Black Swan"

A much more modern business book on the now-mainstream concept of "Black Swan"
events. But the true value of this book goes beyond the concept – it changed
my view of statistics, knowledge, empirical scepticism, philosophy, cognitive
biases, societal dynamics, and sure, made me quit investment banking.

[4] Brian Greene, "Fabric of the Cosmos"

Mind-blowing primer on physics, all the way from Newtonian physics, to General
Relativity, to Quantum Mechanics, to String Theory (and beyond). Concepts
explained without a single equation.

[5] Douglas Hofstadter, "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid"

What a unique masterpiece. Covers a wide range fascinating concepts through
the three geniuses in Math, Art, and Music. Most mind-blowing is his meta-
writing style, using short fictional dialogue interludes (sprinkled with
easter eggs) to convey each concept in very subtle manner. The joy when you
see it.

[1] [http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/aww/index.htm](http://www.sacred-
texts.com/eso/aww/index.htm)

[2]
[https://wahiduddin.net/thinketh/as_a_man_thinketh.pdf](https://wahiduddin.net/thinketh/as_a_man_thinketh.pdf)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan_(Taleb_book)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan_\(Taleb_book\))

[4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabric_of_the_Cosmos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabric_of_the_Cosmos)

[5]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach)

UPDATE: format

------
xutopia
The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. I come from a very religious background
and it helped shape my way of thinking around superstitious thoughts of all
kinds.

------
invalidOrTaken
_Complexity: The Emerging Science At The Edge of Order And Chaos_ was a good
read. I strongly recommend reading _Jurassic Park_ at the same time, as the
two were both influenced by the recognization of complexity as a "thing" in
the late 80's/early 90's. The two are really about the same thing, but JP
tells it through dinosaurs.

While I have the floor, I've mused lately that _Jurassic Park_ is like the
perfect scary morality tale for young researchers. You hear cautions about
endogeneity and omitted variable biases, simultaneity...but the worst that
will happen if you mess these up is your paper is wrong. Crichton described a
world where lack of scientific discipline led to _getting eaten by dinosaurs_.

~~~
colechristensen
You'd like Chaos by James Gleick

------
mrmyers
Modeling the world generally (as in, why mathematics works and can apply to
the real world):

    
    
      =Bertrand Russell=
      * An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth
      * A Theory of Knowledge
      * Logic and Knowledge
      =W.V. Quine=
      * Word and Object
      * Mathematical Logic
      =Norbert Weiner=
      * Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
      =Smullyan=
      * Diagonalization and Self Reference
    

Squishy Human Things:

    
    
      Thomas Kuhn      - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
      Norbert Weiner   - The Human Use of Human-Beings
      Bertrand Russell - A History of Western Philosophy
      Karl Popper      - The Open Society and Its Enemies
      Daniel Dennet    - Consciousness Explained
      E. Abbot Abbot   - Flatland

------
marcrosoft
Almost all books by Harry Browne. Specifically "How I found freedom in an
unfree world".

~~~
NumberCruncher
Could you recommend something non investment related from him? How I found
freedom is one of the books I re-read every year.

~~~
marcrosoft
His "how to sell anything" book is great if you are into marketing or sales.
It basically boils down to: ask what they want, summarize their needs and ask
them if your summary is accurate, tell them how you can deliver on their
specific needs, if you can't tell them and move on. If your summary is
accurate and fits their needs ask if they are willing to pay for your
solution.

This advice seems incredibly simple and obvious yet people tend to do the
opposite.

------
majewsky
"The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman describes mental models that
I apply all the time when designing products or processes.

------
brudgers
_Critique of Pure Reason_

 _Philosophical Investigations_

 _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_

 _Foucault 's Pendulum_

 _Snopes_ == _The Hamlet_ , _The Town_ , _The Mansion_.

 _A River Runs Through It_

 _Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World_

 _A Pattern Language_

 _The Analects_

 _Bhagavad Gita_

 _Apology_

 _The Republic_

 _Touch the Earth_

 _The Pity of War: Explaining World War I_

 _The Civil War: A Narrative_

~~~
etplayer
>Foucault's Pendulum

What's this about?

>Critique of Pure Reason

What did you find particular challenging to your worldview? As a side note,
you may be interested in _Critique of Pure Tolerance_ which has an essay by
Robert Wolff and Marcuse. Have you seen _The Dialectic of Enlightenment_?

~~~
lolive
Foucault's pendulum is Dan Brown power 1 billion. A super story about the
secrets of history. I never managed to read it (it IS dense). But as a
audiobook, it was superb.

~~~
selimthegrim
I read it during a particularly horrendous stretch of my first stint in grad
school, mostly in my car outside the DMV in Goleta. A very effective set and
setting for finishing it.

------
surak
Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy was the best sci-fi I've read. Then there are
a lot of other types, e.g Porter mgmt theories.

~~~
demircancelebi
I really liked Asimov's short story Profession when I read it a few years ago.
Here is a link:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9568027](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9568027)

------
BrandiATMuhkuh
hitchhiker guide to the galaxy: it taught me how small the earth is. And
therefore we should use the limited time we have wisely. Also, Don't Panic.

~~~
ozim
I would say not even earth but life, everything and universe is insignificant
but it does not matter. So does using your time wisely does not matter, just
try to have fun (in a nice way) and don't panic. I am reading it again this
week.

------
omnibrain
Fiction: Peter Watts - Blindsight Nonfiction: Gödel Escher Bach CS: David West
- Object Thinking

------
mikesabat
I'm on a streak of reading Neuromarketing/behavioral economic type books. 1\.
Predictably irrational is particularly good. Especially the first half. 2\.
The Confidence Game explains the steps of how con trick people to fool
themselves. 3\. Buyology is very focused on purchases/retail. 4\.
Brainfluence. I'm halfway through it. Mostly bite-sized chapters and it's
similar to Buyology, but I prefer this book.

------
whalesalad
Influence by Robert Cialdini. Models by Mark Manson. Eloquent Ruby by Russ
Olsen.

------
luckyt
Our Marvelous Native Tongue by Robert Claiborne. This book tells the history
of the English language, from its Indo-European roots to the Anglo-Saxon
period to Shakespeare until the modern language it is today. It's the book
that initially got me interested in language and linguistics, and now 10 years
later I'm doing a master's in Computational Linguistics / NLP.

------
ambletron
The Urantia Book[1]

There's a peculiar richness, depth, and inventiveness to it that has kept me
coming back to it on occasion for over 20 years of intermittent reading. I
haven't come across another book quite like it. Of the few people who have
heard about it, most bounce right off after skimming it, very understandably
so.

But taken as a human project it's really quite an extraordinary piece of work.
Having written short fiction and most of a novel before, I feel like I have a
sense of the hard work it takes to master the craft of writing, and I have a
lot of respect when I see not just good writing but writing that innovates,
keeps pushing. The Urantia Book is like a fractal in its simplicity vs the
narrative spun out from the seed ideas. The mental model is to merge both a
science mindset and spirituality.

Recommend the iPhone app of it (is free, and has a quotes collection
included).

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Urantia_Book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Urantia_Book)

------
drited
Here's some: with why I like them

Thinking, problem solving related:

Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock: accurate forecasting

Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman: how to avoid bias

Misbehaving: like thinking fast and slow but more hilarious

The checklist manifesto by Atul Gawande: the power of simple process

From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin: lots of mental models to add to your
latticework

Business management:

The Outsiders by William Thorndike: capital allocation

The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz: some mental models for
managers facing the real-life struggles of startups

Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake masters: for the chapter on what kinds of
business are always going to be tough (i.e. ones in perfectly competitive
industries)

Worldview:

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why violence has declined

The making of modern economics by Mark Skousen (audiobook): explains various
economic ideas through telling the history of the fathers of those ideas.

Investing:

You can be a stock market genius by Joel Greenblatt: where to look for
undervaluation

The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham: Buffett's thoughts in
Buffett's words, neatly categorised by topic

Competition Demystified by Bruce Greenwald: how to identify a high quality
business

------
bengkoang
40 hours a week - tim ferris, this book, even though its dated and not
applicable in my life, there's a chapter that really boost my confidence about
what is the worse things that could happens, it really help me experimented
with new stuff, break out my conservative mind, realize its ok to be weird and
have made me perceive a different views on problems.

------
KirinDave
Predictably Irrational is essentially required reading for anyone who is
making decisions for a product.

The Information by James Gleick. Remember, Africa has had long range,
distributed, fault tolerant wireless communication networks since before
Europe had reliable clocks.

Euclid's Window by Mlodonow. The entire arc of history in a sweeping curve
towards, ultimately, machine learning.

Reading Doc Smith's lensmen series (particularly the chronologically first 2)
helped me recognize how very much pop science culture shapes perception. A
futurist in the 20s thinking about interstellar travel has delightfuly
different ideas. Wrong ideas, but hey.

Peter Hamilton's sci-fi, particularly the 6 Commonwealth Books: they're so
different and so surprising and very happy to present a glowing and balelful
view of capitalism in an expansionist universe.

Everyone in the west should.be required to read Ways of Seeing by Berger.

------
stinkytaco
Just a few that haven't been mentioned, because I cross over with several
others:

 _How to Cook Everything_ by Mark Bitman. Not so much my mental model, but
it's the only book I could ever say "changed my life".

 _Implementation_ \- ([https://www.amazon.com/Implementation-Expectations-
Washingto...](https://www.amazon.com/Implementation-Expectations-Washington-
Programs-Foundation/dp/0520053311)) This is a great discussion of how best
intention in government go awry once they are implemented. It explores how
each step makes sense, but something always seems to go wrong.

 _The Day the Universe Changed_ (slightly cheating since this was the
companion to the TV show, but stands as an excellent book) - How certain
innovations changed the way the world works and the way we see ourselves.

------
rkunnamp
Courage : The joy of living dangerously - by Rajneesh - for giving that extra
push to take risks and live on edge.

It is a highly opinionated work, with full of questionable arguments and
logic. And, I am not sure whether it resulted in good or bad, but certainly,
it has made an influence.

------
ellius
• The Prize

• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

• The Lean Startup

• Poke the Box

• The Elements of Computing Systems

• The Death of Common Sense

• Up the Organization

• The Personal MBA

• The Wisdom of No-Escape

• The Adapted Mind

• Brain Rules

• Getting Things Done

• On Writing

• Steal Like An Artist

• George Orwell: A Collection of Essays

And these are technically not books, but Glenn Greenwald's "Speech to the
Massachusetts ACLU" and the Christopher Hitchens speech criticizing the
proposed Canadian hate speech law.

~~~
drited
Loved Brain rules, and Brain Rules for baby is also wonderful :)

------
DonHopkins
Stanislaw Lem, Golem XIV.

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

[http://english.lem.pl/works/apocryphs/golem-
xiv](http://english.lem.pl/works/apocryphs/golem-xiv)

„Golem XIV” is one of Lem's most far-fetched intellectual adventures: for the
purpose of this book Lem constructs the character of a supercomputer of the
future that infinitely overshadows human intelligence. Golem, whose history we
follow from its birth until his inexplicable departure from the human world,
not only mercilessly criticizes humanity, claims of our culture and delusions
about allegedly refining mechanisms of evolution, but also creates a
breathtaking vision of further development of artificial intelligence – beyond
our cosmos and cognition available within its limits.

[http://english.lem.pl/works/apocryphs/golem-xiv/67-lems-
opin...](http://english.lem.pl/works/apocryphs/golem-xiv/67-lems-opinion)

"Mine is also the thesis regarding the relationship between genetic code and
various species in which individuals serve only as code's amplifiers - however
Golem's opinion is somewhat exaggerated. This concept - that Richard Dawkins
called "the selfishness of genes" \- I published three years before him."

[http://english.lem.pl/works/apocryphs/golem-xiv/69-a-look-
in...](http://english.lem.pl/works/apocryphs/golem-xiv/69-a-look-inside-golem-
xiv)

Instructions (for persons participating for the first time in conversations
with GOLEM)

1\. Remember that GOLEM is not a human being: it has neither personality nor
character in any sense intuitively comprehensible to us. It may behave as if
it has both, but that is the result of its intentions (disposition), which are
largely unknown to us.

[...]

------
Toine
By far :

Things hidden since the foundation of the world - René Girard

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/337517.Things_Hidden_Sin...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/337517.Things_Hidden_Since_the_Foundation_of_the_World)

------
michaelmcmillan
On Having No Head by Douglas Harding had a profound effect on my
introspection. It simply points out who you really are from your subjective.

It bypasses the religious mumbo jumbo that so often gets bundled in guides to
spirituality by using scientific experiements. Highly recommended!

------
beefman
– Economics / sociology –

A Farewell to Alms
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691141282/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691141282/)

Cartesian Economics
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616407395/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616407395/)

The 10,000 Year Explosion
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465020429/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465020429/)

The Righteous Mind
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307455777/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307455777/)

Mindstorms
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465046746/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465046746/)

– Philosophy –

Tao Te Ching
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060812451/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060812451/)

Meditations
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1545565678/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1545565678/)

– Autobiography –

Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393316041/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393316041/)

Recollections of Eugene Wigner
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738208868/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738208868/)

– Fiction –

Fahrenheit 451
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/030747531X/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/030747531X/)

Dune
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0441172717/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0441172717/)

~~~
_pmf_
> Dune

Do you mind explaining what's great about Dune (I have not read it yet, so
maybe without major spoilers ...)?

~~~
beefman
It's a Messiah story set in the far future. I included it here because it had
an impact on the way I understand history (I prefer to leave that a bit
cryptic).

As a work of fiction I'd call it good but not great. But at the moment I can't
think of a work of fiction I'd call great, so I'm probably not the best critic
on that point.

Everybody seemed to hate the 1984 film adaptation by David Lynch but I think
it's pretty good. The Syfy miniseries got much better reviews but I thought it
was only so-so. The film doesn't really spoil the book, which is kinda cool,
but may be easier to follow and more fun to watch after having read it. Last
but not least, I really enjoyed the recent documentary Jodorowsky's Dune...

------
callesgg
[https://www.amazon.com/Art-Reading-Minds-Henrik-
Fexeus/dp/91...](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Reading-Minds-Henrik-
Fexeus/dp/9187173107)

Learned how to read peoples emotions more reliably.

------
wizzerking
The Moon is a HArsh Mistress Robert A. Heinlein The Foundation Series Isaac
Asimov Both books provide macro economic examples, and sound philosophy such
as "There aint no such thing as a free lunch", and enlighted self interest

------
xtiansimon
Wolfram, Stephen. A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media, 2002. [1]

Wikipedia: "The thesis of A New Kind of Science (NKS) is twofold: the nature
of computation must be explored experimentally, and the results of these
experiments have great relevance to understanding the physical world. [...]
[Wolfram] argues an entirely new method is needed to do so because traditional
mathematics fails to meaningfully describe complex systems, and there is an
upper limit to complexity in all systems."

[1]:
[https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/](https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/)

~~~
robotresearcher
Caveat lector. This book inspired some juicy reviews:

A Rare Blend of Monster Raving Egomania and Utter Batshit Insanity by Cosma
Shalizi 21 October 2005

A Thirty-five Year Old Kind of Science by Juergen Schmidhuber, based on a
letter to Intl. Journal of High-Energy Physics, vol 43:5, June 2003.

looked up at
[http://shell.cas.usf.edu/~wclark/ANKOS_reviews.html](http://shell.cas.usf.edu/~wclark/ANKOS_reviews.html)

------
johnsimer
Innovator's dilemma & Innovator's solution- why big companies almost always
get beaten by startups and how to overcome this

10x Rule by Grant Cardone - you must take 10x more action than you think to
get success

Awaken the Giant Within - you can motivate yourself to do anything via the
"Pain Pleasure Principle"

Bold: How to go big, make wealth, and change the world - some strategies from
Musk, Bezos, Diamandis/Singularity U

The Art of Profitability - Coca-cola from a 2-Liter costs $.02/oz , Coca-cola
from a restaurant costs $.20/oz

my full list here: [https://goo.gl/9SD8b6](https://goo.gl/9SD8b6)

------
franze
Thinking in Systems: A Primer

[https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-
Meadows/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-
Meadows/dp/1603580557)

------
Hyperbolic
The Ender's Series - For the essence of xenophobia and subjective realities.

------
jrs235
Outliers - the 20 or so page epilogue at the end titled "A Jamaican Story" had
been the best writing I've read thus far that struck a chord and helped me
understand "white privilege".

------
ssivark
Among my recent reads:

1\. Finite and infinite games, by James Carse

2\. Antifragile, by Nassim Taleb (IMHO the book rambles on a little too much;
some of his hour long YouTube talks convey the ideas almost as well)

3\. Obedience to authority, by Stanley Milgram

~~~
kyoob
Finite and Infinite Games blew my mind. I re-read it every couple of years and
it recalibrates me every time.

------
holri
Essais - Michel de Montaigne
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne)

------
Tepix
I recently finished "The Singularity Is Near" (2005) by Ray Kurzweil. I'm
surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet.

Super optimistic author and indeed a great book to think about after reading
it.

------
ibigb
Theosophy: An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the
Destination of Man,
[http://www.rsarchive.org/Books/GA009/](http://www.rsarchive.org/Books/GA009/)

The First and Last Freedom, J Krishnamurti
[http://www.jkrishnamurti.com/krishnamurti-teachings/view-
tex...](http://www.jkrishnamurti.com/krishnamurti-teachings/view-
text.php?tid=30&chid=56839&w=)

------
fillskills
On Intelligence - taught me how our brains work

Sapiens - How the world works

Biographies of Steve Jobs and Einstein - Taught me that even geniuses dont
work in a vaccum

Lean Startup and essays from PG - taught me how to start a business

------
jesperlang
not going to repeat what's already been said so I will just add one:

The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler about human creativity. This was a
heavy read but mind-bending like no other, literally had to put it down every
now and then to contemplate/write/sketch what I just read. Fascinating!

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30676.The_Act_of_Creatio...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30676.The_Act_of_Creation)

------
kilian
The Dance of Gods novels by Mayer Allan Brenner, free download here:
[http://www.mayerbrenner.com/download/](http://www.mayerbrenner.com/download/)
They are like a Discworld where magic and programming are basically the same,
of sorts, with a large, sprawling world with overlapping storylines. It's a
great read and I came away with many interesting lines of thought whilst
reading a very fun story.

------
shadowtree
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations - David S. Landes

Agree or disagree with his findings, but it was the first book I read as a
teenager that tried to connect seemingly disparate things into a single
narrative - culture, technology, luck.

Jared Diamond had a similar, but more simple premise.

I still think of certain passages of Landes' book to this day. The impact of
clockworking, the start of the modern tech industry. The impact of protocol
and bureaucracy, especially the Spanish one.

------
LucianLMZ
In no particular order and probably not remembering all:

The signal and the noise - Nate Silver;

Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb;

Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb;

1984 - Orwell;

Man's search for meaning - Viktor Frankl;

Diplomacy - Henry Kissinger (not only international politics but also deep-
thinking strategy that can be used anywhere);

Meditations - Marcus Aurelius;

Superforecasting - Philip Tetlock;

Propaganda - Edward Bernays;

Pitch anything - Oren Klaff;

Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond;

How to win friends and influence people& Stop worrying (both by Dale
Carnegie);

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins;

Trust - Francis Fukuyama;

------
apo
Start with No

[https://www.amazon.com/Start-Negotiating-Tools-that-
Pros/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Start-Negotiating-Tools-that-
Pros/dp/0609608002)

Contradicts conventional wisdom about negotiation goals and tactics. Very
actionable advice about using interrogative led questions and avoiding the
pitfalls of making assumptions during negotiations.

------
adammcnamara
Food Rules by Michael Pollan - for understanding food and nutrition

Sapiens - for understanding what it means to be human

The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant - for understanding groups of
humans (civilization)

The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard
Marks - for understanding investing

Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin To Munger by Peter Bevelin - for understanding
mental models in general

------
yodsanklai
1984\. A very powerful book. It really made a strong impression on me and
definitely changed my views on politics, propaganda, governments and so on.

Capitalism and freedom. Helped me to understand capitalism and American right-
wing ideology.

The grapes of wrath. Actually, I haven't read the book, only watched the
movie. It puts into perspective what we see happening with refugees in Europe.

~~~
lolive
The book is a must-read. Did you read Propaganda (by Edward Bernays) after
that?

~~~
camwiese
This is a great suggestion. Thanks!

------
hirundo
The Origins of Order by Stuart Kauffman - Reality is autocatalytic of life.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - civilization as a struggle of producers vs.
looters; selfishness > altruism; the love of money is the root of mostly good.

A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram - Simple rules can yield arbitrarily
complex behavior. Therefore reality is inherently computational from the
lowest levels.

------
kelukelugames
The first is the Millionaire Next Door. Gave me a better idea of how to manage
my finances and what kind of spending habits to look for in a partner. If you
are a tightwad then don't marry a spendthrift. Vice versa.
[[http://amzn.to/2vAmbW8](http://amzn.to/2vAmbW8)]

The second is On Writing Well. This book changed my view regarding how to
write and how important it is to write well. As an engineer I regret how much
I avoided writing in school. Now I play catchup after realizing lawyers and
others with client facing jobs write much better emails.
[[http://amzn.to/2vTXu27](http://amzn.to/2vTXu27)]

And here are three other books that would be recommended by few on HN.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and
Organizing. I used to hate going home until I realized the clutter of stuff
made me miserable. [[http://amzn.to/2wwvS5h](http://amzn.to/2wwvS5h)]

Why Men Love Bitches. 100% serious. This book is over the top but I stopped
being a doormat in relationships and looked for partners with more self
confidence. [[http://amzn.to/2wwcYeZ](http://amzn.to/2wwcYeZ)]

The Low Down on Going Down. Yes the title is cheesy, but again I am 100%
serious. I think a lot of us have unhealthy expectations due to Internet porn
and this book sets the right attitude for the physical component in a
relationship.[[http://amzn.to/2vTSY41](http://amzn.to/2vTSY41)]

And companion book: [[http://amzn.to/2wwSpyY](http://amzn.to/2wwSpyY)]

~~~
subsubsub
Here are all of the books, without the affiliate links:

\- The Millionaire Next Door
[[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589795474](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589795474)]

\- On Writing Well
[[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0090RVGW0](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0090RVGW0)]

\- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
[[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607747308](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607747308)]

\- Why Men Love Bitches
[[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580627560](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580627560)]

\- The Low Down on Going Down
[[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMX939C](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMX939C)]

\- Blow Him Away
[[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WSV866](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WSV866)]

~~~
kelukelugames
I haven't seen anything about posting affiliate links on HN, but thank you for
giving people another option.

------
carapace
Early on I got into a box of my dad's old NLP books (not Natural Language
Processing, the other NLP.)

"Structure of Magic" vols I and II, "Frogs into Princes", "Trance-formations",
and a couple of others.

NLP grew out of the application of Chomsky's Transformational Grammar to
recordings of very effective psychological therapists. (Virginia Satir, Fritz
Perls, and Milton Erickson.) By the way, this is the same Transformational
Grammar that leads to the Chomsky Hierarchy of languages. Neat, eh?

Anyhow, the NLP people rapidly developed a powerful model of subjective
reality and replicable results in theraputic settings (e.g. the "Five-minute
Phobia Cure" algorithm, among many others.) The capability to reprogram belief
structures engenders a change of self-definition even if you don't use it.

"Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid"

"System design from provably correct constructs : the beginnings of true
software engineering" about Dr. M. Hamilton's Higher Order Software.

Everything by Robert Anton Wilson. (That's not a title, I mean everything he
wrote.)

------
xtiansimon
This is not book, but it has 'content' and an 'author'. A Coursera course:
"Model Thinking" by Scott E. Page

[https://www.coursera.org/learn/model-
thinking](https://www.coursera.org/learn/model-thinking)

------
grok2
The one book that has reconfigured some aspects of how I deal with people and
has helped me in day-to-day life is "Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be
Persuasive" ([http://a.co/0QoTla6](http://a.co/0QoTla6)).

~~~
subsubsub
Non-affiliate link:

[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416576142](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416576142)

~~~
grok2
The shared link wasn't intended to be an affiliate link -- just something I
got from the share link on the product page -- I was logged into Amazon at
that time, but the account I was logged in to isn't signed up as an Amazon
affiliate. The original URL that I saw was long, which is why I chose to go
with the shorter link provided me.

------
edpichler
\- The Lean Startup, by Eric Rives

\- The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson

\- The Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim

\- On the shortness of life, by Seneca

\- 1984, by George Orwell

------
alyx
Bernardo Kastrup - Why Materialism Is Baloney

Has a lot of impact on current AI theory.

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20543665-why-
materialism...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20543665-why-materialism-
is-baloney)

------
saturnian
Rational Meaning: A New Foundation for the Definition of Words

[https://books.google.com/books/about/Rational_Meaning.html?i...](https://books.google.com/books/about/Rational_Meaning.html?id=vHWY02aTgRsC)

------
RockyMcNuts
The Emperor's New Mind, by Roger Penrose

The Tao of Physics, by Fritjof Capra

Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukav

The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris

The Road to Serfdom, by Friedrich Hayek

The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert Heilbroner

The Story of Philosophy, by Will Durant

Grammatical Man, by Jeremy Campbell

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig

Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

~~~
maaaats
Not aimed at only you, but a trend in posts like these: When it's no
particular order and you don't comment on what a book is or why you recommend
it, I feel the list becomes kinda useless. And when a post is upvoted much
that contains a lot of elements, I don't know which book gained those votes.

~~~
polarix
One value of an unordered unannotated book list is in reinforcing books you've
already read, and providing a little extra push towards the action potential
on the ones you haven't.

~~~
mck-
Also known as Collaborative Filtering in recommender systems:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_filtering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_filtering)

------
galfarragem
I would add also:

The prince -- Machiavelli (to loose ingenuity)

The little prince -- Saint-Exupéry (to recover some ingenuity)

------
thefuzz
Most books by Robert Anton Wilson

------
nur0n
How to Design Programs. It helped make explicit the very concept of mental
models.

------
Exuma
[https://www.amazon.com/Six-Pillars-Self-Esteem-Nathaniel-
Bra...](https://www.amazon.com/Six-Pillars-Self-Esteem-Nathaniel-Branden-
ebook/dp/B007JK9BAY/)

Hands down

~~~
andrei_says_
What's the gist of the premise? 370 pages for a list of six items seems a bit
inflated (forgive my judgment but am a slow reader and love efficiency)

~~~
Exuma
All I can say is... I stopped reading self-help books 10 years ago because
they all bored me to tears. I HATE fluff. I hate repeated ideas and concepts,
I hate long intros... I usually will stop reading books 30% in because it's
like "I get it".

This book, however, is written by a guy who basically died at 87 and studied
self-esteem since he was very young. So basically he's studied the same topic
for 60 years, and his ability to convey certain concepts is absolutely
profound. He truly understands the concepts down to the core. And it's such a
hard thing to explain when you get past the 'surface level', but he repeatedly
does over and over throughout the whole book. I probably have over 100
passages highlighted on my Kindle, of particular sentences or paragraphs where
I put the book down and was like........... DAMN.

I've referred the book to 2-3 people and they all were blown away. It's a book
in a league of it's own. I heard of the book from my friend who mentioned it's
his #1 self help book out of his favorite 10, and I can definitely see why.

Basically it just comes down to how well he can talk about such an abstract
topic in many different ways, without repeating himself, and eventually one of
those ways will 'click' for you.

I find it's also affecting me day to day, in a positive way, which is
something books like this have never really done in the past. I tend to
like/absorb the info but I don't vibe with the author or their knowledge on
the subject enough to commit to whatever exercises they say to do, etc.

~~~
andrei_says_
Thank you. I'll definitely check it out.

------
1001101
Our Mathematical Universe - Max Tegmark

Being and Nothingness - Sartre

Chaos - Gleik

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

------
kornakiewicz
Yesterday I was reviewing answers in this thread. Some might be applicable:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14477851](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14477851)

------
decasteve
Marshall McLuhan's "Gutenberg Galaxy" and "Understanding Media". Buckminster
Fuller's "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth" (and other books and essays of
his).

------
kabdib
_The Innovator's Dilemma_ made me start thinking critically about the kinds of
projects large organizations attempt, and why they often fail. It's kind of a
depressing book, actually . . .

~~~
camwiese
Not sure if you follow Ben Thompson (Stratechery / Exponent.fm) but he bases a
lot of his business analysis around this book. If you liked TID then I highly
recommend Ben's writings.

------
andy_ppp
I’m really enjoying Open Andre Agassi’s autobiography. It’s beautifully
written and makes me think about what it really means to want something. You
can definitely get very far hating what you do.

------
lolive
Beyond Good and Evil, by Nietzsche.

A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson.

~~~
lolive
Oh, and Siddartha, by Hermann Hesse,

~~~
lolive
Oh, and Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes.

~~~
lolive
Oh, and Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand.

------
almost_usual
The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham

A Guide to the Good Life - William B. Irvine

------
sirspacey
The Diffusion of Innovation, by Dr. Everett Rodgers. He discovered the concept
of the Early Adopter in the 1950s. I would trade all the startup advice on the
internet for that one book.

------
sunwicked1

      1)Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

2)The design of everyday things 3) "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" In no
particular order.

------
diedyesterday
Reading a book by a human mind works pretty much like training a neural
network. You get tuned and change in a way that you might not see even if you
don't remember.

------
Ronsenshi
Blindsight (Peter Watts) - read it some time in university and it has
completely changed how I think about things. Figuratively speaking turned my
mind inside out.

------
germainemalcolm
Dao De Jing - Lao Tzu

A Thousand Plateaus - Gilles Deleuze + Felix Guattari

------
asddddd
The Divided Self (R. D. Laing). Bit dense at times, and perhaps not relevant
to many on HN, but a truly fascinating examination of the edges of sanity.

------
buddapalm
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
[https://g.co/kgs/PkoSGf](https://g.co/kgs/PkoSGf)

------
jaco8
Poor no more - Robert Chester Ruark A Coffin Full of Dreams - Frisco Hitt
Oblomov - Ivan Goncharov The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil

------
ignacio_gcaa
This cognitive science/cognitive linguistics books were a hinge point for me:

George Lakoff:

\- Philosophy In The Flesh [http://amzn.to/2xFTKU7](http://amzn.to/2xFTKU7)

\- The Political Mind [http://amzn.to/2vU9rF1](http://amzn.to/2vU9rF1)

Gilles Fauconnier, Mark Turner:

\- The Way We Think [http://amzn.to/2xFv4ep](http://amzn.to/2xFv4ep)

Benjamin K. Bergen:

\- Louder Than Words [http://amzn.to/2wwsMhv](http://amzn.to/2wwsMhv)

~~~
subsubsub
All the books, without the affiliate links:

\- Philosophy In The Flesh
[[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FSJAWK](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FSJAWK)]

\- The Political Mind
[[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017T0B2U](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017T0B2U)]

\- The Way We Think
[[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AAL62RO](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AAL62RO)]

\- Louder Than Words
[[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00918JOBI](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00918JOBI)]

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

Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman

------
preordained
Life:

The Disappearance of the Universe

Programming:

Effective Java - straight forward pragmatism

Learn You a Haskell for Great Good - took me down the rabbit hole of Haskell,
which is just a natural mindbender

------
emurs
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey- Particularly for
Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood chapter

------
r0brodz
[https://gitopanisadasitis.github.io/](https://gitopanisadasitis.github.io/)

------
torbjorn
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Antifragile by Nassim Taleb

------
thedeep_mind
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. The book tells you all there is to know
about ego and will change the way you see yourself.

------
outlace
\- The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch

\- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

\- Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark

\- Statistical Rethinking by Richard McElreath

------
sdfin
'I Am That' by Nisargadatta Maharaj

'The First and Last Freedom' by J. Krishnamurti: Mainly because of what he
says regarding Free Will. Later I read 'Free Will' by Sam Harris, and I think
Sam explains the same idea in more detail. Citing 'The First and Last
Freedom': "Thought is nothing else but reaction; thought is not creative."

'The Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinbeck

'The Little Prince' by A.S.Exupery: when I was a child it made me reflect
about society.

------
psadri
Antifragile - way to think about situations in terms of upside/downside
exposure

------
arc_of_descent
Mind is a myth - UG Krishnamurti

Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter

Unweaving the rainbow - Richard Dawkins

------
anishcharith
HC Verma concepts of physics

~~~
selimthegrim
Haha is this for JEE?

------
sguav
The Go-Getter by Peter B. Kyne and Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull

------
wolco
The Sugar Barons: Family, Corruption, Empire, and War in the West Indies

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

^ This book more than any other

------
yotamoron
'Deschooling society' by Ivan Illich.

~~~
andrei_says_
Could you elaborate on the concepts and effect they had on you?

------
batshitinsane
Ego, Hunger and Agression by Fritz Perls.

------
tomohawk
Paul's Letter to the Galatians

------
dmux
Object Thinking by David West

------
phatak-dev
Millennium series by Tejaswi

------
bo1024
The Black Swan. By far.

------
ntemposd
The mom Test

------
davidhariri
Sapiens

Desert Solitaire

Meditations

Walden

Meditations

Thinking Fast and Slow

------
marcuswestin
\- Deep Work

\- Sapiens

------
k__
Blindsight

------
mrdependable
Candide

------
observation
One book more than any other: The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.

Why?

Darwin opens up the door of Deep Time when he explained his discovery. An
appreciation of the immensity of time happens to be linked to explanations of
how and why things are. Wolfe also deals with Deep Time but in the context of
society.

What Gene Wolfe does is he creates books where you need to read between the
lines, you need to create hypotheses to understand what's going on. I won't
describe it further because it may lose some of the import, it's probably the
most important fiction book written in the 20th century.

What I'd like is a photograph of Peter Thiel's library, I'm fascinated by the
range of ideas, the meta-ideas he explores. Maybe @sama can smuggle in a
camera or we could hijack a roomba.

~~~
chris_st
This is an amazing set of books (it's four volumes). Possibly, what I
appreciate about it most is that he _doesn 't_ describe anything, like so many
other SF authors do. You just have to figure it out ("read between the lines"
is a good way to describe it).

The other astounding thing is how _incredibly bad_ all the rest of Wolfe's
work is. Really, it's night and day.

~~~
observation
Maybe he got too close to an Alzabo.

Suspect the format puts some people off, I understand it's publisher economics
but having 4 volumes paired into 2 books strikes people as complicated as they
try to work out how much book they're getting or not getting.

------
SomeStupidPoint
I think I may be stupid, in that I can only really get details of a model I
already sort of understand from most books -- I need it pretty short'n'sweet
to get a major model revision.

That being said, two _papers_ that have radically changed my mental model are:

Einstein's 1905 paper -- I'd never actually thought about what a _clock_ or
_time_ was before, or what it meant for two events to happen "at the same
time".

[http://hermes.ffn.ub.es/luisnavarro/nuevo_maletin/Einstein_1...](http://hermes.ffn.ub.es/luisnavarro/nuevo_maletin/Einstein_1905_relativity.pdf)

A 2007 summary of MS's approach to (topological) quantum computers
significantly changed my model of how physics worked -- likely because I
hadn't gotten particularly far in physics before, but also because topological
effects seem like they'd be more prevalent than I had initially conceived of
(and we might need to rewrite physics to include topological features more
explicitly).

[https://arxiv.org/abs/0707.1889](https://arxiv.org/abs/0707.1889)

------
ma91c1an
Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Non-Fictions, 1999.

I first encountered Borges as a 15 year old student in high school. I am now
56. The book was ficciones. It changed my life.

Borges read everything. What made him the genius that he was, is that he
remembered everything that he read, and he was consequently able to make droll
observations across cultures and epochs.

------
RodericDay
Ludwig Wittgenstein: Duty of Genius was a great ride, as well as a fantastic
introduction to powerful ideas about communication and non-scientific
disciplines' wish to imitate science.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X makes a brilliant case for angry speech, making
the mainstream portrayal of figures like Gandhi and MLK Jr. seem like
straight-up whitewashed propaganda.

Delusions of Gender is a fierce analysis of the nature/nurture discussion that
rears its head over and over, explaining various mistakes people when
interpreting results, both at the research level and at the journalistic
level.

Marx's Inferno reinvents Marx in a super clever way.

------
QAPereo
Trying to avoid repeats...

M.T.W Gravitation

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

------
ringaroundthetx
The Bible of Options Strategies

