Ask HN: Which two books were the most influential on you? - sillysaurus2
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PeterWhittaker
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. Should be read by all who wonder
how our minds work - and how much happens "behind the scenes", "under the
covers".

Darwin's Dangerous Idea, by Daniel Dennett. Should be read by all curious to
know the full implications of mechanistic evolution (hint: think about what
came before life).

The Mating Mind, by Geoffrey Miller. Must-read for anyone in marketing, or
anyone wondering why the other guy got laid and you didn't.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond. Why
are we rich and they poor? Why so few domesticated African animals? Why one
big China and a many-state Europe?

The Laughter of Triumph: William Hone and the Fight for the Free Press, by Ben
Wilson. Great read about an early 19th C. struggle against unjust laws used to
gag journalism. Relevant in today's age of bloggers, etc.

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shreyas-satish
1\. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (No pun intended).

This book really turned my head around and made me realize how there are
people (especially ones in the Sales & Marketing realm) out there waiting to
sneak one past you. Don't be surprised (not if you can help it), if while
reading the book you go "Oh my, someone actually used that trick on me!".

2\. The Mindbody Prescription

I understand that some people are skeptical about the theory (TMS) that Dr
John Sarno proposes (I was too at first). I'm no neuro-scientist to attest
anything in the book, but empirical evidence (experiences of mine and a few
others even on HN) seems to suggest the possibility of Dr Sarno getting it
right. Anyway, it seemed to help me overcome a problem I had with my wrists
and I'm thankful.

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brotchie
1) Diaspora - Greg Egan. Absolutely changed my world view regarding our place
in the universe, the nature of conscious minds, and the potential for post-
biological life.

2) Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance. Pulled this off the shelf at
random in a book store 3-4 years ago and found out that modern Finance
involves a bunch of mathematics and programming. Started me on a course of
learning everything I could learn about the subject and changed my "life arc"
very much for the better.

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arjn
1) Rockets, Missiles and Men in Space - Willy Ley ( side note: I rescued this
book from a friend who was using it for target practice with an airgun!)

2) Chaos - James Gleick

(I have to mention this one too) The Armchair Universe : An exploration of
Computer Worlds - A. K. Dewdney

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amorphous
Untethered Soul. Just finished it but I can already say it has influenced me
more than anything spirituality related I have read in the last 10 years.

The power of this book is it's clearity and simplicity. It's not a new age
book and not a how-to book. I feel I made a huge leap to a new level of inner
tranquility. Maybe it's just the right book at the right time and something I
needed to hear but it amazes me how direct the words speak to me.

There's also a short article of the same author on huffington post if you want
to get an idea of what is it about.

As the OP asked for two books and we're on HN I'd say SICP

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FurrBall
This is going to sound like sucking up on hacker news but....

Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham. It is the reason I looked into lisp. A
very entertaining read that made me change my opinion on several political
issues.

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mijustin
Definitely Getting Real (by 37signals). My bossed showed it to me shortly
after I started in the tech industry. I remember being inspired by their
process for producing products, and running a business.

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zura
0) The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup

1) Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson and Sussman

2) Kvachi Kvachantiradze by Mikheil Javakhishvili

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ryduh
Think & Grow Rich

How to Win Friends & Influence People

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nsp
1\. Naked economics. This is essentially a primer on Econ, I read it when I
was 17 or so and it taught me 90% of what I was taught getting ivy Econ
degree. Short, easy, intuitive read, can't recommend it enough. 2\. Innovators
dilemma. This is where the now-meaningless-buzzword 'disrupt' comes from.

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covgjai
The Startup Owners Manual by Steve Blank and Purple Cow: Transform Your
Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

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maxharris
Atlas Shrugged

The Fountainhead

(both by Ayn Rand)

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graycat
Halmos, 'Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces'

Rudin, 'Real and Complex Analysis'

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AtTheLast
1) The Burn Collector by All Burian 2) Getting Real by 37 Signals

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rk0567
1\. The Fountainhead

2\. The Power of Habit

3\. Think and Grow Rich

4\. The 4-Hour Workweek

5\. Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

