
Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier? - _6cj7
Any book or set of books you wish you had read before a certain age, regardless of topic.
======
smaddox
Non-Fiction:

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, because it changed
my understanding of people for the better.

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" by Richard Feynman, because it gave me a
model for how to enjoy life.

"Models" by Mark Manson, because it helped shape my understanding of
heterosexual relationships.

"An Introduction to General Systems Thinking" by Gerald Weinberg, because it
illuminates the general laws underlying all systems.

Fiction:

"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A Heinlein, because it showed me a
philosophy and "spirituality", for lack of a better word, that I could agree
with.

"The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, because they showed me
how human systems break, and they provided human models for how to see and
live in, through, and past those broken systems.

"Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" by Eliezer Yudkowsky, because it
set the bar (high) for all future fiction, especially when it comes to the
insightful portrayal of the struggle between good and evil.

~~~
bradbatt
_" How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, because it
changed my understanding of people for the better._

Absolutely everyone should read this book. I wish it had a better title.
"Understanding People" would be an excellent one.

~~~
sngz
I've seen this book recommended many times. I read a few chapters and don't
feel like it was useful. Some of the stuff is obvious common sense like smile
don't criticize others, be a good listener etc. Then it tells you to be
genuinely interested in someone. How can you force yourself to be interested
in someone?

Does the book go into anything actually useful later on?

~~~
i336_
Some people are born communicators and find interaction with others completely
intuitive.

Others are born with a brain more ready to understand math, or writing
screenplays, or software engineering, or business management - and bumble
their way through communication, getting a lot wrong, not knowing where the
lines are between their successes and failures, and generally having a
miserable time.

Books like these define specific scopes to focus on as worth investing time
and energy in, with the promise that understanding in _these_ areas will
definitely bring reward, as unintuitive as this may seem [to these people].

I wouldn't mind similar ones that explain learning how to learn, on a related
note.

~~~
aisofteng
You imply that emotional intelligence and reasoning ability are a tradeoff.
They aren't.

~~~
i336_
Woops, that was unintentional.

Although... now I think about it... when I'm anxious (I have reasonably mild
but fairly broadly scoped anxiety), I can become more
emotional/instinctive/reactive to things, and my ability to reason can be
greatly impacted as well.

So I do think there is _some_ indirect correlation, in practice.

~~~
watwut
Emotional intelligence does not imply that you are driven by emotions. It
imply that you understand them, which makes it easier to control how you
react.

Someone who is emotional is not displaying emotional intelligence at that
moment.

~~~
i336_
I definitely agree with you there.

Often when I feel certain ways, I don't have reference points to mentally
articulate how I'm feeling - if I even have the ability to consciously
distinguish the feeling and highlight it. That shuts down a lot of internal
dialog and analysis before it has the chance to take place.

When I'm anxious, my thinking is clouded across the board, which makes this
weakness all the more apparent.

I wonder if there are any books out there that specifically help to instil an
understanding of the nuances in emotional processing.

------
Houshalter
_Rationality: from AI to Zombies_ really changed my way of thinking in many
ways. It's very hard to describe it or sell it in a few sentences. Partly
because it covers so many different things. And partly because I read it so
long ago and have already absorbed many of the good ideas in it. They no
longer seem exciting and new, and just feel obvious. But they certainly
weren't when I first read it.

I constantly see places where an idea from the book is relevant and I want to
make people read a chapter of it. Examples include insights into evolution,
artificial intelligence, morality, and philosophy. There's a short section on
how people tend to argue about the definitions of words and how unproductive
this is, that I always find relevant. There's a lot of discussion on various
human biases and how they affect our thinking. My favorite is hindsight bias,
where people overestimate how obvious events were after they know the outcome.
Or the planning fallacy, which explains why so many big projects fail or go
over budget.

The author's writing style is somewhat polarizing. Some people love it and
some people hate it, with fewer in between. He definitely has a lot of
controversial ideas. Although in the 10 years since he started writing, a lot
of his controversial opinions on AI have gone mainstream and become a lot more
accepted than they were back then.

~~~
Joeri
_Rationality_ is good, but I found _Harry Potter and the Methods of
Rationality_ to be a much more pleasant read about the same topics by the same
author.

Both books suffer from the same problem, the lack of an editor. They could be
half the size and it would make them a much more convincing and entertaining
read.

~~~
qb45
So there isn't much new stuff in _Rationality_ that one wouldn't already find
in _HPMOR_ , for those who have read the latter?

~~~
justinpombrio
_Rationality_ is much more technical and precise than _HPMOR_ , and covers
topics that you couldn't easily cover in fiction. I've read both, and would
recommend each even if you've read the other.

------
nindalf
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. It gave me a good understanding of where we, as
a species, came from. What did we do, why did we spread across the planet, how
did we replace other hominids? What I really appreciated was his ability to
explain some of the underpinnings of society like religion, nation states and
currency with a relatively simple idea. Afterwards I felt like "damn that's so
simple, I should have thought of that!" When you think that, you know you're
on to something good.

On Writing by Stephen King. This a biography masquerading as a book on writing
advice... Or its the other way around. Whichever it is, I think it's a great
book for any aspiring writer to read. King explains the basics on how to get
started, how to persevere and through his experiences, how not to handle
success. Full of honesty and simple, effective advice.

Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari. Most people agree that the War on Drugs is
lost and has been lost for decades now. But why did we fight it in the first
place? Why do some continue to believe it's the correct approach? How has it
distorted outcomes in society and how can we recognise and prevent such
grotesque policies in the future? This book offers some of those answers.

Only if you're Indian - India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. Sadly almost
every Indian I've met isn't well informed about anything that happened in
India after 1947, the year India became independent. History stops there
because that's the final page of high school history textbooks. An uninformed
electorate leads to uninformed policy, like "encouraging" the use of a single
language throughout the country. If I were dictator, I'd require every Indian
to read this book.

~~~
kesava
One doesn't have to be Indian to read the magnificent book by Guha.

~~~
nojvek
Yuval Harari's new "Homo Deus" is excellent. I had a blast reading it. It has
a number of things from Homo Sapiens but talks about possible future and
fundamental things that drive humans to create technology. Absolute one of my
top 5 favorite books.

~~~
nindalf
Reading that next!

------
cocktailpeanuts
The Master Switch : This really puts a lot of things into context, especially
if you're in tech industry. It's basically a history of the entire Information
Technology, and it's fascinating how same things happen over and over again,
pendulums swing back and forth over and over again, and people keep making
same mistakes over and over again. Also you can see the larger picture of why
some large tech companies make the decisions they make, and how to
successfully compete if you are into that.

You will become a pessimist for a while after reading this, just because it
feels like there's no meaning in all this since everything repeats itself and
nothing is forever, but when you recover from it you'll find yourself much
more insightful about the industry and can make better decisions.

~~~
mindcrime
_The Master Switch : This really puts a lot of things into context, especially
if you 're in tech industry. It's basically a history of the entire
Information Technology, and it's fascinating how same things happen over and
over again, pendulums swing back and forth over and over again, and people
keep making same mistakes over and over again_

OK, you sold me. Just ordered a copy. Thanks for the recommendation!

------
kristiandupont
<meta>

I love all the answers in here but please, _please_ answer with more than just
a title! I want to know why I should care about a book -- sell it to me, don't
just throw it out there and ask me to do the work.

</meta>

------
SirLJ
I wish as a kid I had access to the following:

"More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite"
[https://www.amazon.com/More-Money-Than-God-
Relations/dp/0143...](https://www.amazon.com/More-Money-Than-God-
Relations/dp/0143119419/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496525851&sr=8-1&keywords=more+money+than+god)

Market Wizards, Updated: Interviews With Top Traders
[https://www.amazon.com/Market-Wizards-Updated-Interviews-
Tra...](https://www.amazon.com/Market-Wizards-Updated-Interviews-
Traders/dp/1118273052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496526007&sr=8-1&keywords=the+market+wizards)

The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America's Top Traders
[https://www.amazon.com/New-Market-Wizards-Conversations-
Amer...](https://www.amazon.com/New-Market-Wizards-Conversations-
Americas/dp/0887306675/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496526007&sr=8-2&keywords=the+market+wizards)

Hedge Fund Market Wizards: How Winning Traders Win
[https://www.amazon.com/Hedge-Fund-Market-Wizards-
Winning/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Hedge-Fund-Market-Wizards-
Winning/dp/1118273044/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1496526007&sr=8-3&keywords=the+market+wizards)

~~~
travmatt
I'd also add "Reminescences of a Stock Operator", which is older but very
good.

~~~
rtx
Similar to this, [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21884038-phantom-of-
the-p...](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21884038-phantom-of-the-pits)

~~~
SirLJ
Thank you Sir, I constantly read, so will add it to the queue

------
gkya
The bible, cover to cover: if reading western literature or philosophy
produced in whatever year A.D., the bible is required reading for
comprehending many the references and various rhetorical modes. I'm
irreligious from a muslim background myself but I'm reading it now. Same goes
for the qoran, my family is not a practicing muslim family and thus I never
read it, but it's a part of the canon, must be read. I'm not sure if I would
like to have read these earlier tho, as now I have the _consciousness_ to not
be fooled by the stuff in these books.

Karen Armstrong's _A Short History of Myth_ is a very nice guide into
mythology and what that and religion are. It's like a vaccine for any sort of
fundamentalism or bigotry, if read with some accompanying knowledge of
mythological traditions.

~~~
jwdunne
Can you recommend a good English translation of the Qoran if it exists? I've
asked Muslim friends but they seem adamant that it must be read in Arabic or,
at least, only know of the Arabic text.

~~~
fmavituna
You can read this one from Muhammad Asad, it's very good. [http://muhammad-
asad.com/Message-of-Quran.pdf](http://muhammad-asad.com/Message-of-Quran.pdf)

> I've asked Muslim friends but they seem adamant that it must be read in
> Arabic

Not sure if these are practicing Muslims but that's simply wrong.

------
gmunu
The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt.

You hear 'ancient wisdom' on how to lead the good life all the time. These
ancient aphorisms came from a time before the scientific method and the idea
of testing your hypotheses. Tradition has acted a sort of pre-conscious filter
on the advice we get, so we can expect it to hold some value. But now, we can
do better.

Haidt is a psychologist who read a large collection of the ancient texts of
Western and Eastern religion and philosophy, highlighting all the
'psychological' statements. He organized a list of 'happiness hypotheses' from
the ancients and then looked at the modern scientific literature to see if
they hold water.

What he finds is they were often partially right, but that we know more. By
the end of the book, you have some concrete suggestions on how to lead a
happier life and you'll know to the studies that will convince you they work.

Haidt writes with that pop science long windedness that these books always
have. Within that structure, he's an entertaining writer so I didn't mind.

~~~
Joeri
This book is my favorite non-fiction book. It is hard to reduce it back to
what it is about, but it is filled with very useful insight into how the mind
works. The metaphor of the rider and the elephant finally let me explain
differences between what I consciously decided and what I actually did.

~~~
gmunu
It's a metaphor he also puts to good use in his later book, the Righteous
Mind. It's useful to seeing through your own righteousness and recognizing
patterns in others. I enjoyed that one too, but it didn't have the same life
impact as the Happiness Hypothesis.

~~~
travmatt
I'd also recommend 'The Righteous Mind' as a solid basis for understanding
political thinking.

------
vizvamitra
"The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman.

Technically this book is about how humans interact with things, but actually
it covers a lot more topics that one can think: how humans act, err, how they
make descisions, how memory works, what are the responsibilities of
conscious/subconscious. Also you'll start to dislike doors, kitchen stoves and
their disigners)

~~~
lorenzorhoades
My wife told me that this book turned me into a design snob and she constantly
pokes fun at me for it. One time, there was a pull handle for a door that
needs to be pushed, and i went on a rant about how that is terrible design,
and why wouldn't they design it this way, etc. (very similar to the arguments
he uses in the book. ) so lately every time she sees something that she knows
i think should be designed differently, she does the stupid spongebob mocking
meme and goes "tHis sHoUlD bE DeSiGned SoOoO muCh BEttEr!"

~~~
thisiswilson
I went on this rant on a day last weekend.

Nerdy by endearing is how she put it once I was done.

At least we have the high ground when they stumble over a stair with an offset
height.

------
tudorw
Man's Search for Meaning (published under a different title in 1959: From
Death-Camp to Existentialism) by Viktor Frankl who survived the concentration
camps to go on to develop logotherapy and existential analysis (considered the
third Viennese School of Psychotherapy). "lack of meaning is the paramount
existential stress. To him, existential neurosis is synonymous with a crisis
of meaninglessness", an interesting read, it does not focus on the horrors of
the event, instead recognising the human capacity to overcome and rise above.

~~~
patforna
One of my favourite books. Read it many years ago and re-read it a few years
later. One of the key take aways for me was that we always have a choice of
how we deal with adversity and it helped me get through some tough situations.

------
bor0
"How to Prove It" by D. Velleman. Introduces logical reasoning, set theory,
functions, relations, and proofs. It is the base for understanding any
mathematical subject.

~~~
myle
"How to solve it" because it encourages you to not just mechanically follow
steps, but think critically and solve a problem.

------
abalashov
I wish I had read _Real World Divorce_ , much of which can be found on
realworlddivorce.com. It's notable for the fact that Philip Greenspun is a
major contributor to it, which I found most surprising and intriguing.

I don't want to duplicate a lot of text, so I'll link to my Amazon review of
it:

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-
reviews/R2UKHDY7L4NPSV/re...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-
reviews/R2UKHDY7L4NPSV/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01MR4PV1P)

TL;DR it's the only bit of literature I've found that's got the real talk, and
in data-and-comparison driven ways hackers will appreciate.

Yeah, obviously I'm going through a divorce, but I really think this book
should be required reading for anyone before they get married in the US. I
don't say that lightly or confer that kind of veneration unto books at the
drop of a hat.

~~~
tutufan
Haven't read this specifically, but agree with the concept. Also recommend The
Psychopath Code by Pieter Hintjens (the ZMQ guy). Most books are ultimately
quite abstract. A few are useful when the shit really hits the fan.

------
CamperBob2
Borges: Collected Fictions ([https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Fictions-Jorge-
Luis-Borges/...](https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Fictions-Jorge-Luis-
Borges/dp/0140286802))

IMO you won't really understand the nature and limitations of fiction until
you've read JLB. His work won't _change_ your life, as such, but it will
divide it into two parts: the part that took place before you read him, and
the part that comes after. You'll always be conscious of that division.

------
beagle3
Philosophy/Psychology:

The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind, / Julian
Jaynes. Hard to tell if crazy or genius, but well worth a read. Read at 38,
wish I had read this at 20 or so. Most of us take our inner voice for granted,
but should we really? And what if there was evidence supporting the idea that
there's another inner voice, but our modern upbringing suppresses it (but it
does reappear with some illnesses, under duress, etc)?

Fiction:

Different Seasons / Stephen King. A collection of four stories, NOT your
usuall King horror genre; one of which became the movie "Stand By Me". another
became "The Shawshank Redemption", the third became "An Apt Pupil", and the
fourth will likely never become a movie. All are excellent. I actually read it
at 16, which was the right time, but I'll list it here anyway; if you've seen
the movies and liked them, it's worth reading - the stories are (a) much more
detailed than the movies, in a good way, and (b) related in small ways that
make them into a bigger whole than the individual stories.

Management (software/hardware oriented):

Peopleware / Demarco & Lister - read after I was already managing dozens of
people. Wish I had read it long before. This book is basically a list of
observations (with some supporting evidence and conclusion) about what works
and what doesn't when running a software team. Well written, and insightful.

The mythical man month / Fred Brooks - wish I had read this before first
working in a team larger than 2 people. Written ages ago, just as true today;
A tour-de-force of the idea that "man month" is a unit of cost, not a unit of
productivity.

~~~
fsiefken
Regarding Julian Jaynes, I also read the book, do you know that the Westworld
series touches on his views directly?

For more about inner voices, you might like this article
[http://nautil.us/issue/40/learning/a-mental-disease-by-
any-o...](http://nautil.us/issue/40/learning/a-mental-disease-by-any-other-
name) and the books by Malidoma Patrice Some.

~~~
schemathings
Snowcrash also plays heavily with Jaynes' ideas, as does Embassytown.

------
faragon
Eye-opening/shocking books:

"Science et Méthode" (Henri Poincaré, 1908)

"The Conquest of Happiness" (Bertrand Russell, 1930)

"The Revolt of the Masses" (José Ortega y Gasset, 1930)

"Brave New World" (Aldous Huxley, 1932)

"Reason" (Isaac Asimov, 1941, short story)

"Animal Farm" (George Orwell, 1945)

"Nineteen Eighty-Four" (George Orwell, 1949)

"Starship Troopers" (Robert A. Heinlein, 1959)

"The Gods Themselves" (Isaac Asimov, 1972)

"Time Enough for Love" (Robert A. Heinlein, 1973)

~~~
lorenzorhoades
Great list! I love alot of the books you put on this list. I see Brave New
World on alot of book lists. I get that it is a groundbreaking work at the
time of its publication, but is it really that great nowadays? I've tried to
read it on multiple occassions and i find it almost impossible to completely
get through the book. his writing style is absolutely maddening (I think its
partly because of my OCD, but at certain points the author is carrying on
multiple conversations at one time, line by line. Nothing is Particularly
surprising to me about this book, and I found it rather boring. I understand
that it kind of predicted classical conditioning, but thats all obvious now. I
understand that it inspired 1984, but i read 1984 before i tried to read brave
new world, so nothing was suprising. Am i missing something here?

~~~
faragon
In my opinion, Brave New World is still groundbreaking now. Not because of the
writing style, but because of the ideas and messages of warning for the
Mankind. From my point of view, being both great novels, Brave New World is
very different to Nineteen Eighty-Four (e.g. [1])

[1]
[http://www.pensnest.co.uk/A-Level%20Pages/mod5compare.html](http://www.pensnest.co.uk/A-Level%20Pages/mod5compare.html)

------
mindcrime
_The Four Steps To The Epiphany_ by Steve Blank. I've learned more about "what
goes into building a startup" from reading this book than any other book I've
read.

 _The Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand. One of the most inspirational stories I've
ever read. A strong reminder to remain true to yourself in the face of all
sorts of challenges and adversity.

 _Mastering The Complex Sale_ by Jeff Thull. I don't claim to be a great, or
even good, salesman. But if I ever become any good at selling, I expect I'll
credit this book for a lot of that. I really like Thull's approach with is
"always be leaving" mantra and focus on diagnosis as opposed to "get the sale
at any cost".

 _The Challenger Sale_ by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon. Like Thull, these
guys deviate from a lot of the standard sales wisdom of the past few decades
and promote a different approach. And like Thull, a core element is realizing
that your customer aren't necessarily fully equipped to diagnose their own
problems and / or aren't necessarily aware of the range of possible solutions.
These guys challenge you to, well, challenge, your customers pre-existing
mindsets in the name of helping them create more value.

 _The Discipline of Market Leaders_ by Fred Wiersema and Michael Treacy. A
good explanation of how there are other vectors for competition besides just
price, or product attributes. Understanding the ideas in this book will
(probably) lead you to understand why there may be room for your company even
in what appears to be an already crowded market - you just have to choose a
different market segment and compete on a different vector.

 _How to Measure Anything_ by Douglas Hubbard. It's pretty much what the title
says. This is powerful stuff. Explains how to measure "things" that - at first
blush - seem impossible (or really hard) to measure. Take something seemingly
abstract like "morale". Hubbard shows how to use nth order effects, calibrated
probability estimates, and monte carlo simulations, to construct rigorous
models around the impact of tweaking such "immeasurable" metrics. The money
quote "If it matters, it affects something. If it affects something, the
something can be measured" (slightly paraphrased from memory).

I wish I'd read each of these much earlier. Each has influenced me, but I'd
love to have been working of some of these ideas even longer.

------
chegra
Mini Habits - It gave me a new perspective of how to go about making changes
in my life, that aren't so burdensome.

I have developed several habits:

a. Writing a Gratitude Journal

b. Going to Gym in the morning

c. Programming in the morning

d. Reading in the morning

I copied some of my highlights here:

[http://www.chestergrant.com/26-highlights-from-mini-
habits-b...](http://www.chestergrant.com/26-highlights-from-mini-habits-by-
stephen-guise)

~~~
camillomiller
How long is your morning?! :)

~~~
chegra
I get up around 4:30. Work isn't until 8:30.

~~~
camillomiller
Oh wow. May I ask how long do you sleep every night?

I tried to have a morning routine more than once, but the trade-offs where two
big to keep it going. Two things stand out for me:

\- It works only in the summer. The absence of natural light at 4.30 in the
morning is a big no-no for me. I can't get productive on artificial lights
only. Sounds weird, I know.

\- Social life goes to hell. I live in a big city. Keeping up with friends,
even if it's just a small circle of those I really want to keep around me, is
basically a evening side-job. To get up at 4.30 every day I would probably
have to cut this drastically, and I'm not sure the balance would be positive
for me. I'm also single, so you know, some nice encounters are usually a
matter for the nights.

From my experience, this is a daily schedule that may fit a family person, a
short sleeper, a monk or a hermit.

~~~
thisiswilson
It doesn't sound weird, sounds human.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm#Biological_cl...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm#Biological_clock_in_mammals)

------
chadcmulligan
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and
Organizing
[https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KK0PICK/ref=kinw_myk_...](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KK0PICK/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title)

It's about tidying up, but also about making your living space harmonious
without clutter. It's not one of those get a box and put your pencils in it
and then label it.

------
nscalf
The Art of Learning by Joshua Waitzkin. I was definitely in the right place to
take in the topic, but it was, more or less, a book on how you can be "good"
without much effort, but to be great or the best, it takes a lot of hard work
and time. This book helped me learn that lesson.

On top of that, some of Tim Ferriss' stuff on accelerated learning. Learn how
to learn first, then learn everything else.

~~~
travmatt
I'd second Waitzkin, that was an amazing book.

------
lowpro
Mans Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, especially good if you're feeling
down or disallusioned.

~~~
bradbatt
_Mans Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl_

Amazingly powerful read. It is simultaneously completely saddening to read
what some humans are capable of doing to others, but also inspiring to see
those who were victims of the holocaust and how they looked out for their
fellow man during times when they themselves had absolutely nothing.

A tale of the absolute worst and best of humanity.

------
zem
i discovered 'the phantom tollbooth' in grad school (for some reason, it was
pretty much unknown in india when i was growing up). i'm pretty sure kid me
would have loved it even more than adult me did.

~~~
pixelperfect
I remember telling my parents this was my favorite book when I was 10. I'm
currently reading the Chinese translation since it matches my current Chinese
reading level, and it's been quite enjoyable, even though a lot of English-
specific word play is lost in translation.

------
williamstein
"Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream
Customers" by Geoffrey A. Moore and also his recent "Zone to win". His books
explain some of the "deeper structure" to tech business, and is one of the few
business-related books I've read that has any _depth_. By "depth", I mean in
the sense that I'm used to from research mathematics (I'm a number theorist by
training), where you learn something about a problem that lets you think about
problems in a more detailed way.

------
JSeymourATL
_How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams._

Turns out the creator of Dilbert was at one time a mid-senior level manager in
Corporate America, who attempted several failed entrepreneurial ventures over
the years. He's also a brilliant writer. Totally hooked by Chapter 3: Passion
is Bullshit > [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17859574-how-to-fail-
at-a...](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17859574-how-to-fail-at-almost-
everything-and-still-win-big) 

------
huac
A non-tech, non-business recommendation: "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"
by Milan Kundera. A beautiful story, told with equal parts philosophy,
psychology, and humor, and honestly heartbreakingly beautiful.

~~~
barking
Around the time that came out a widely criticised portrait of the late writer
Brendan Behan was unveiled in some gallery and someone came up with 'the
unbearable likeness of Behan'

------
minouye
Flow [https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-
Perennial-...](https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-
Classics/dp/0061339202)

Antifragile [https://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-
Ince...](https://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-
Incerto/dp/0812979680)

High Output Management [https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-
Grove/d...](https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-
Grove/dp/0679762884)

The Master Switch [https://www.amazon.com/Master-Switch-Rise-Information-
Empire...](https://www.amazon.com/Master-Switch-Rise-Information-
Empires/dp/0307390993)

Thinking Fast and Slow [https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-
Kahneman/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-
Kahneman/dp/0374533555)

~~~
jamestimmins
Upvote for The Master Switch. It's one of the few books that manages to
brilliantly cover a large territory within a small number of pages (<300).

------
WillPostForFood
Getting Real - got me out of the corporate grind SICP - got me out of the OO
grind

Each one had a significant positive impact on my life. And both a free online!

[https://gettingreal.37signals.com/](https://gettingreal.37signals.com/)

[http://sarabander.github.io/sicp/](http://sarabander.github.io/sicp/)

------
queeerkopf
_To Have or To Be?_ by Erich Fromm.

I did read it fairly early and it had an quite an impact on my life and
thinking. It put into words a lot of my discomfort with a life focused on
materialistic success. And it was inspiring seeing an intelectual combining so
many of the thoughts and topics he developed during his lifetime into one
coherent and approachable book.

------
tjalfi
Autobiography/Memoirs:

    
    
      Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! - Richard Feynman
      What Do You Care What Other People Think? - Richard Feynman
      Crime and Guilt: Stories - Ferdinand von Schirach
    

Fiction:

    
    
      The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
    

Technical:

    
    
      Bulldog: A Compiler for VLIW Architectures - John Ellis

~~~
SirLJ
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov - this is a great book, I am lucky
my Mom gave it to me when I was a kid...

~~~
sthielen
+1. An absolutely wonderful read. I've found myself constantly gifting copies.
To anyone looking to purchase, the Alma Books[0] translation is the one I
would recommend.

[0] - [https://www.amazon.com/Master-Margarita-Mikhail-
Bulgakov/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Master-Margarita-Mikhail-
Bulgakov/dp/1847492428/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496547526&sr=1-6&keywords=master+and+margarita)

~~~
SirLJ
Thank you for the link and the idea, I will follow your lead and start gifting
to friends and coworkers...

------
habosa
Don Quixote. Specifically the translation by Edith Grossman.

In high school I was assigned this book but I didn't read it all, it seemed
like a waste of time to read 1000+ pages about a silly knight.

A few years ago I got into reading a lot of fiction translated from Spanish
and Don Quixote got back on my radar so I decided to give it another try. I
was blown away. It's astounding that a book from 500 years ago is still so
funny and engaging today. Grossman's translation makes the book accessible and
very enjoyable. If you didn't know the history you'd believe it had been
published in the last few decades.

I recommend this because it's the best example of how literature can be time
travel. When I smile at one of the adventures in the book I know that I'm
sharing an experience with readers across centuries. There's almost no other
way to get that feeling.

------
paraschopra
_The Beginning of Infinity_ changed my worldview from thinking progress is
slowing down or problems in the world are overpowering to a more hopeful one
where problems always be there for humans to solve, and that through human
activity we can keep making progress. It also gave hope that one day in
future, we might be able to clearly see that good, bad, evil, love, beauty
might be fundamental aspects of universe, just like gravity, atoms, and
radioactivity is. It also walks through philosophy of science (v/s pseduo-
science). All in all, I wish I had read it earlier.

_Feeling Good_ because of the tools it contains to battle self-defeating
feelings that lead bouts of sadness or depression. I wish everyone would read
that book so that they can build mental immunity against circular, depressing
thoughts.

------
satwikhebbar
"The Self-aware Universe" by Amit Goswami. Opened my eyes to a new way of
looking at the world around us, and finding new ways to react to events that
affect us. Wish I'd read this when I was much younger - before I had decided
with a high level of confidence that I am completely in control of everything
I do, all that happens to me and how I react to events. Seeing yourself as a
minuscule part of a whole you perhaps will never fathom, allows you to simply
focus on doing your best when you can and not get overly possessed with
results. One of the many mystic-physics books that were very much in fashion
for a while, but the one that stuck to my consciousness the most.

------
kabdib
_The Art of Electronics_. As a software guy who sometimes is involved in
embedded systems, having a good understanding of what's going on at the
resistor/capacitor/transistor level would have helped a lot. I did a bunch of
hobby electronics as a teenager, but never had circuit theory. I knew a lot
about digital design, but not the analog stuff that the whole world ultimately
rests on.

So now, when I hear a switching power supply whine in protest, I will think of
it as the squeals of pain of the engineers whose life I turned into a living
hell because of my lack of appreciation for P = IV. I’m truly sorry. I wasn’t
thinking. (And this is just the first chapter of that book).

------
henrik_w
How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie - a timeless classic
for people skills, useful in almost all circumstances.

------
tmaly
4 Hour Work Week, it gave me some perspective on the 9-5 job I wish I had
given more thought to earlier in my life when I had more time.

80/20 principle, while mentioned in the 4 hour work week, it really has a lot
more to offer in the book. How you should go about leveraging your time. There
was a real gem in there about how books are really the best way to acquire
knowledge and a great way to approach reading in the university.

There was a speed readying and studying book I came across from a friend that
owns a book store that really helped me. I wish I had that book before I
entered high school. I can never recall the name, but I will try to find it.

~~~
kahlonel
I was going to mention this book. Glad you did it :)

Totally changes your perspective towards success.

~~~
raybb
Is this this book you guys are talking about?

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368593.The_4_Hour_Workwe...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368593.The_4_Hour_Workweek)

The reviews seem pretty mixed but I might pick it up just to see for myself.

~~~
tmaly
Yes, but there is a revised edition with bright orange colors on the dust
cover of the hardbound version.

The first part of the book on productivity is still very relevant. There are a
few dated parts in the book regarding testing an idea.

I still recommend it to all of my friends who have not read it as the bigger
picture message is one that is still very relevant today.

------
Joeri
_The left hand of darkness_ , by Ursula Le Guin.

I found it by working my way through the list of joint nebula and hugo award
winners (which is a really fun project, because all of them are amazing
books). It is my favorite sci-fi book. It changes the way you look at gender,
especially if you haven't questioned the concept much before.

~~~
edanm
Completely random tip: The Left Hand of Darkness is today's "Audible Daily
Deal", so you can get the audiobook version for $3.95. This is true for
2017-06-04.

Just happened to notice the email today and thought it might be relevant to
someone... if so, enjoy :)

------
rwieruch
Deep Work + Flow [0]

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

~~~
tedmiston
Thanks for sharing the summary. Deep Work was recommended to me recently so
this is super helpful. It seems consistent with common thinking that attention
is a muscle to be strength trained regularly.

I've been gathering my own book notes in a GitHub repo [1] and added a link
back to your post for when I read the book.

[1]: [https://github.com/tedmiston/notes](https://github.com/tedmiston/notes)

------
lorenzorhoades
I always found this question pretty impossible to answer. There are so many
books that i find myself wanting to recommend, and the list soon becomes
unmanageable. So, instead i'm going to provide a different resource - Patrick
collisons whole library. He color coats the books he thinks are great, and
lists hundreds of books.
[https://patrickcollison.com/bookshelf](https://patrickcollison.com/bookshelf)

------
dinosaurs
On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

I read it at 18 and I wish I had read it way earlier. It taught me to be mad,
to live life, to get out and see the world. But looking back at it, it also
taught me how to be responsible and how to not to be a jerk.

It, above all, showed me what beautiful writing is.

------
widowlark
Metamagical Themas by Douglas Hofstadter. This book has taught me more about
thinking differently than any other.

~~~
radicality
Isn't that mostly a book of math problems? I've read some of his other books
(GEB, The Mind's I, I'm a Strange Loop) - how does it compare to those?

~~~
nemo1618
It's a collection of columns that Hofstadter wrote for Scientific American. It
explores a lot of topics, but personally the one I found most interesting was
"superrationality:"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superrationality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superrationality)

------
alexilliamson
"The Silk Roads: A New History of the World" By Peter Frankopan. This book
tackles essentially all of human history, tying together the world's major
cultural shifts with the socioeconomic forces that brought them to pass. For
readers who have implicitly come to believe that the center of the world has
always been Western Europe (I had), this book will greatly shift your
perspective (Eastward). I've never learned so much from a book, and damn is it
entertainingly written.

"Getting Things Done" by David Allen. I'm sure everyone here is familiar with
bits and pieces of GTD methodology, but I encourage you to check out the full
text. There are a lot of great ideas in there there that I didn't find reading
online about GTD. I have been a serious GTD user for more than a year now, and
I feel amazingly more in control of my life. Everything I've done in that time
- from planning my wedding, to projects at work, to completely organizing my
house - has gone smoother than I can remember projects going ever before.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
I would strongly recommend people read both GTD and The life changing magic of
tidying up by Marie kondo and, and this is the important bit, draw parallels
between them. This is a pedagogical technique that takes knowledge out of the
domain of specificity and into general applicability. In this case, it will
help point you to _the general move_ David Allen and Marie kondo are trying to
point at and allow you to apply it fluidly.

~~~
vldx
Which one of the both would you recommend starting with?

------
nihonde
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer. You will see applications for the principles
in this book in all aspects of society and politics. Easy to read and
unassailable insight into what makes people join a common cause.

------
ssohi
Fooled By Randomness & The Black Swan by Taleb

~~~
skdotdan
I was going to say the exact same thing!

------
tedmiston
A popular recommendation here, but Getting Things Done by David Allen.

~~~
gjstein
This. I learned to use Emacs' built-in org-mode at the same time, and they've
helped me survive grad school.

------
edpichler
On the shortness of life, by Seneca.

------
galfarragem
The book that I should have read (and re-read) earlier:

 _No more Mr. Nice Guy_ \-- Robert Glover

~~~
cproctor
ingenuousness? English is such a mess!

------
ozovehe
Animal farm by George Orwell: a revelation of the beginning and end of
revolution and 'change'. Jewish wisdom for business success. Call of the wild
by Jack London: it shows how possible it is to adapt in order to benefit
maximally from change -- using a dog's (Buck) life.

------
davidgh
How We Got to Now, Steven Johnson. Walks you through a half dozen foundational
inventions and the process through which they came to be. Fascinating to see
what the inventors were trying to solve vs. how the world ended up applying
their technology.

Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. If you haven't read the book don't judge it by
the (awful) movie.

The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army. Really opens your eyes to the
problems and realities of communism. I love the author's dry sense of humor as
he witnesses the absurdity of many of the things he encountered.

Sniper on the Eastern Front, Albrecht Wacker. A view of WWII through the eyes
of a German sniper.

Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, Miklos Nyiszli. A view of the
holocaust through the eyes of a Jewish doctor in the Auschwitz concentration
camp.

------
Schwolop
_How to Become CEO: The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization_ by
Jeffrey J Fox

I found this book in a library's junk pile, evidently unread. It has one of
those bad 80s covers that suggest it'll be terrible, but to my great surprise,
it's great! It's 80 or so one page missives/dictums/edicts that'll take barely
half an hour to read through - I re-read it every time I have a job interview
coming up or a some kind of major life choice. The author's tone is abrasively
direct; this is how it is, not how it should be. And the advice isn't just for
wannabe CEOs, it's accessible and attainable for everyone.

------
ebcode
"Out of the Crisis" by W. Edwards Deming. The author was one of a handful of
people who helped the Japanese apply methods of statistical control to their
manufacturing processes, which in turn helped them to become an economic
superpower after their country's occupation by the Allies. In the book the
author takes a deep look at the problems of management in the United States,
and provides a list of reforms that would lead businesses "out of the crisis".
I only recently learned of W. Edwards Deming, and I wish that I had known
about him much earlier.

------
perfmode
A People's History of the United States

~~~
jauzeyimam
Yes absolutely. Howard Zinn—rest in power—is one of the few historians who
could 1) detail political arguments and rationales 2) without becoming obtuse
in language or overly complex in reasoning and 3) without diminishing in any
way the academic integrity of his work. Read this in 9th grade, and it truly
did grant a focus to my life that I still carry.

------
miqkt
Rollo Tomassi – The Rational Male

If my younger self had read this, I think my course of life would be very much
different than it is right now. Just a caution that it might come off as
misogynistic ramblings for some readers.

------
tripu
• “On Liberty” (John Stuart Mill) for political enlightenment and an
impeccable defence of [classical!] liberalism. It's packed with simple but
enormously powerful ideas that are also timeless, thus applicable today and to
so many aspects of life.

• “Don Quixote” (Cervantes): unanimously considered the best work of fiction
in the Spanish-speaking world… and on many lists, even #1 of world literature,
ever (!). Often overlooked (at least in Spain) by young folks as it is long,
the language is archaic, and its themes appear quaint and silly today at first
sight. But there's a reason it has been praised for centuries. It's funny and
tender. Themes are also modern, and Cervantes' style is playful and
innovative, making use of devices such as meta-references, alternative pasts,
removal of the fourth wall, etc. I'm not sure how much non-native audiences
can enjoy translations, though.

• “The Lord of the Rings” (Tolkien) for the original epic and touching
fantasy. (I know many people devour it in their teens, or in their early
youth… But I read it as an adult; quite late. Mainly because it seemed to be
the only “difficult” book that many of my friends bothered to read, and that
predisposed me negatively towards it. Also, my family hadn't read it, and
there was no copy of it in our house.)

• “Brief History of Time” (Stephen Hawking): mind-boggling introduction to
(astro-)physics, modern cosmogony, etc.

~~~
tripu
Oh, and don't waste your time with “How to Win Friends and Influence People”;
it is definitely overrated! The whole book would fit in a sheet of paper if
you took out unscientific anecdotes, redundancy, and obvious instances of
common sense...

------
jxub
Think and Grow Rich. Amazing, though maybe simplistic, insights.

------
d0mine
"A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science" by Oakley
[http://barbaraoakley.com/books/a-mind-for-
numbers/](http://barbaraoakley.com/books/a-mind-for-numbers/)

Despite the title it is useful for learning how to learn in general (not just
math). Simple techniques supported by the research. I wish I didn't had to
reinvent them in high school, college.

------
xparadigm
A Short History of Nearly Everything -- Bill Bryson

------
Razengan
Below The Root [0], by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.

A highly imaginative, original, and _underrated_ , world setting.

Also had the distinction of having a sequel in the form of a video game, with
the game's story written by the book author herself. [1]

The game (for the PC, Apple II and Commodore 64) was _way_ ahead of its time
in 1984: [2] and I only just heard of it and the books last month! It
definitely needs more recognition.

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

[1] [http://blog.stahlmandesign.com/below-the-root-a-story-a-
comp...](http://blog.stahlmandesign.com/below-the-root-a-story-a-computer-
game-and-my-lifelong-obsession/)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdUBefQ1cT4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdUBefQ1cT4)

------
joeclark77
"Shop Class as Soulcraft", by Matthew Crawford

It discusses the intrinsic characteristics of work that lead to satisfaction,
growth, mastery, and ultimately happiness. The author is a PhD, worked at a
think tank, and quit the white-collar life to go work on motorcycles. He
discusses how white-collar work has been hollowed out, transforming
"professionals" into "clerks", why so many of us "knowledge workers" feel
unsatisfied with our work. The book has helped me figure out how to change my
work to be more intrinsically rewarding, and as an IT developer whose
technology affects other people's work, it also helps me think more about how
to make the end user's life better.

Another great book along these lines is Joanne Ciulla's (2000) "The Working
Life", which is a bit more academic and has less motorcycles but is
nevertheless very readable.

------
gingerjoos
The Human Zoo - Desmond Morris (
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/333063.The_Human_Zoo](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/333063.The_Human_Zoo)
)

Morris uses his background as a zoologist to examine human beings as a regular
animal; many books have come out of this approach. In this one he draws
parallels between the city-dwelling human and the caged animal. This sort of
perspective gives you self-awareness about your own tribalism and how we as a
species deal with the opposing forces of individuality and longing to belong
to a group. Also some ideas on the urban-rural divide that has consequences
that leave people on either side puzzled (Brexit, Trump etc.)

------
real-hacker
Books that are mentioned multiple times in this thread: The master switch;
Sapiens/Homo Deus; How to Win Friends and Influence People; The animal farm;
The lean startup; The Bible.

Ctrl+F these names in this page for rationale.

Is there an "awesome books" repo on Github? I wonder.

~~~
real-hacker
There is: [https://github.com/hackerkid/Mind-Expanding-
Books](https://github.com/hackerkid/Mind-Expanding-Books)

~~~
wowsig
I've started to maintain a list of awesome books from HN on my profile here.

[http://shelfjoy.com/sia_steel/non-technology-books-that-
have...](http://shelfjoy.com/sia_steel/non-technology-books-that-have-
influenced-hn-readers-the-most)

Currently noting down the ones on this thread.

~~~
xaedes
Oh yes. Siddhartha was really a good read!

------
CodyReichert
1) Superintelligence. This is a really great read about the implications of
AI, or general intelligence. It's really intriguing and brings up so many
scenarios I've never thought about. Anyone interested in AI should definitely
read this.

Similarly, On Intelligence is an absolutely brilliant book on what
'intelligence' is, how it works, and how to define it.

2) Hooked. Although it's very formulaic, Hooked provides a lot of good ideas
and approaches on building a product.

3) REWORK. If you're a fan of 37 Signals and/or DHH, this is a succinct and
enjoyable read about their principles on building and running a business.

Currently I'm reading SmartCuts and The Everything Store - both of which are
great so far.

------
xaedes
"The Hero with a Thousand Faces" from Joseph Campbell.

It opened my mind to understand metaphors and analogies in literature. It
allowed me to peek under the surface of text. Seriously, every written piece I
read after that was different for me than before.

It also gave me more insight in the human mind and psyche.

Being able to read and understand more literature also gave me more
perspectives and deeper understanding of the world and place of mankind in it.

Some other nice reads:

"The Way of Zen" \- Alan Watts

"The Book" (On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are) - Alan Watts

"Demian" \- Hermann Hesse; but I wouldn't want to read it earlier. I think I
read at the exact best time for me (in my late 20s).

------
pedrodelfino
Hackers and Painters from Paul Graham. I wish I had read that when I was 14
years old.

------
Amogha_IO
There are some books I keep coming back to when I am "feeling lost and/or
hopeless", when my "back is up against the wall and/or feel cornered", when I
feel like I have "hit rock bottom" or I just need to "escape reality"... This
list contains books I have read/listened to more than a couple times:

!For inspiration:! 1\. Loosing my virginity (Richard Branson) \- Richard
Branson's Autobiography. From student magazine to Virgin to crazy ballooning
adventures and space! I keep coming back to this when I feel like I need a
morale boost. There isn't an audible version for this book, but there is a
summary-type version on Audible "Screw it, Let's do it"\- does a good job
curating the exciting parts.

    
    
      2. The Everything Store (Brad Stone) 

-AMAZON and the man leading the massive team behind it. Jeff Bezos is quite easily one of the most important and influential people in the world. His relentless pursuit to build Amazon (& it's various products) amid constant setbacks, losses and naysayers... I personally use Amazon and their products every day. It's a really interesting view of how things are run backstage.
    
    
      3. Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson) 

\- One of the most popular books in the Valley. Almost all startup founders I
have met has read this. They usually have a very polarized view of Jobs after
reading this. Take the good stuff and leave out the bad/crazy. Jobs was a very
polarizing person and so is his biography...This is a very long book. "The
second Coming of Steve Jobs" by Alan Deutschman is another really good book
and a much shorter read and not super-polarizing (leaves out some of the crazy
stuff from early life). Other notable Steve Jobs books I have read & highly
recommend: Becoming Steve Jobs & The Steve Jobs Way.

    
    
      4. Elon Musk (Ashlee Vance) 

-Another polarizing book. I am a Spacex & Tesla Fan-boy. I picked this up in 2015 the day it was launched! I have read this at least half a dozen times by now. Hard-work, perseverance and creativity to the max. A must read for every entrepreneur.
    
    
      5. iWoz (Steve Wozniak) 

-If you are a technical-founder, this is a must read! Gives a very interesting view of- behind the scenes at Apple during its inception and early years. I was really moved by how humble Woz was/is and I am inspired by his problem solving approach.
    
    
      6. How Google Works (Eric Schmidt, Alan Eagle & Jonathan Rosenberg) 

\- A very good book to read after/before this: "In the Plex" by Steven Levy.
Hands down the two most important / influential books while you are starting
something new. I read these while I was contemplating conceiving my startup
and giving up the "safety" (illusion of safety) of a "normal-job". A must read
for anyone planing to start a company and want to take it to the stratosphere
(or higher)!

    
    
      7. Dreams from My Father (Barack Obama) 

\- Another polarizing personality. A short but powerful memoir by Obama. This
gives a unique insight into Obama's thought processes. Most people can relate
to this and every "Leader" must read this. It really helps clear some of the
fog on- what makes an effective leader.

!Business & Management:!

    
    
      1. The Upstarts (Brad Stone) 

-An amazing story about AirBnB and Uber. Culture is key and culture is defined by the Founders and the first few hires. The two companies are extremely similar in many ways (timing, shared economy, disruptive) but radically different in the way they are run. This came out earlier this year and is probably one of the best "startup-books" of 2017!
    
    
      2. Zero to One (Peter Thiel)

-A very short book, a must read for every entrepreneur. Dives into "first principal" thinking & execution. A very good read after/before "Elon Musk" the biography by Ashlee Vance.
    
    
      3. The power of Habit (Charles Duhigg)

-I have always wondered how successful people get so much done. They have the same amount of time as everyone else, but they are able to get so much more done...how? This book answered that question. Ever since, I have been using "Habits" as my ultimate personal tool. Day & night difference when you figure out how habits are formed how they are broken and how you can influence the process. A good companion book (from the same author) "Smarter Faster Better".
    
    
      4. How to win friends & Influence people (Dale Carnegi)

\- I bought this book freshman year in college. I tried reading it then and
gave up / got bored after the first few pages. I really wish I had actually
made an effort to read the whole thing. It sat on my shelf collecting dust.
Luckily I picked up the book again and gave it another shot. I read this
during a particularly "rough-patch" at our startup- really helped me cope with
the "situation". What was once a boring book is now scribbled with notes,
bookmarks and highlights. A very useful life-guide.

    
    
      5. How to win at the Sport of Business (Mark Cuban)

\- A very entertaining yet eye-opening book. It is very short, finished it in
a couple hours. A must read for every entrepreneur. I keep coming back to this
when I feel like things are going dreadfully slow and I need a boost. If you
follow Mark Cuban's blog, skip this. It is mostly a summary of his blog posts.

    
    
      6. Finding the next Steve Jobs (Nolan Bushnell)

\- Finding good talent and retaining it is probably the single most important
thing you will do as startup founders (especially if you are the CEO). Many
things in this book seem obvious (if you are familiar with the Silicon-valley
culture). A good read before you set out to hire your dream team of
"rockstars". A good companion book: "Outliers" By Malcom Gladwell.

    
    
      7. The hard thing about hard things (Ben Horowitz)

-Are you in a startup? If the answer is YES, then read this NOW. Ties well with "Finding the next Steve Jobs". I wish I had read this before I started my company. I have lost track of how many times I have listened to this audio-book.
    
    
      8. Start with the Why (Simon Sinek) 

\- Mid-late 2013 I came across Simon Sinek's ted talks on the golden-circle
and my mind was blown. I bought the book the very next day and I keep coming
back to my notes whenever we are starting a new project. Get the "Why?" right
and the product will define itself. This is true for building companies as it
is for building great products. A must read for every entrepreneur.

    
    
      9. Art of the Start (Guy Kawasaki)

-Getting ready to pitch? read this! Also watch Guy's many presentations/talks on YouTube. A good companion book- "Pitch Anything" By Oren Klaff

!Escaping Reality! 1\. Hatching Twitter (Nick Bilton) -Sooooo much drama!
Definitely learnt what not to do! Very interesting read.

    
    
      2. The accidental Billionaires (Ben Mezrcih) 

-I have heard that not everything in this book is "completely-true" (more distorted than others...) but still a great read!
    
    
      3. The Martian (Andy Weir)

\- Hands down the best science fiction book I have read. I have lost count how
many times I have listened to the audio-book (probably >15). I want to go to
MARS!

    
    
      4. Harry Potter Series. 

-My go-to "background noise". I read the books as a kid. I use the audio-books to tune out the world when working on stuff that does not require my full attention (Listening Goblet of Fire as I type this)...
    
    
      5. Jurassic Park || The Lost world (Michael Crichton)

\- Read the books as a kid. I usually listen to it while I am traveling. Still
gets me as excited as it did when I first read the book. (The movies are
nothing compared to the book...)

    
    
      6. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) 

\- I am looking forward to reading the entire series. Read it once, listened
to it many times (lost count). I love Space!

    
    
      7. Ready Player One (Ernest Cline)

-I picked this book up while I was working on a VR project back in 2014. An excellent book for re-reads and a nice place to get some inspiration.

!Other honorable mentions:! Actionable Gamification (Yu-Kai Chou) I invented
the Modern Age (Richard Snow) Inside the tornado (Geoffrey Moore) Jony Ive
(Leander Kahney) Sprint (Jake Knapp) The lean startup (Eric Ries) The selfish
Gene (Richard Dawkins) Titan (Ron Chernow) The inevitable (Kevin Kelly) The
Innovators (Walter Isaacson) Scrum (Jeff Sutherland)

!Most if not all have an audio-book version!

If you are in a startup or plan to start one soon, reading/listening to books
should become a routine. I try to get through at least one book a week,
sometimes two.

Good luck!

~~~
zeroer
Don't bother with the rest of the Ender Quartet. While they're not terrible,
they don't hold a candle to Ender's Game. There's just better uses of your
time (like any other book on this page).

------
deepnet
"From Bacteria to Bach the evolution of minds" by Daniel Dennet.

Should be called How Minds Evolve as Heirarchies of Darwinian Turing Machines
( analagously to Deep Neural Nets (Dennet cites Geoff Hinton and Edinburgh's
Andy Clarke).

"working computer models have been developed that can do a good job
identifying handwritten—scribbled, really—digits, involving a cascade of
layers in which the higher layers make Bayesian predictions about what the
next layer down in the system will “see” next; when the predictions prove
false, they then generate error signals in response that lead to Bayesian
revisions, which are then fed back down toward the input again and again,
until the system settles on an identification (Hinton 2007). Practice makes
perfect, and over time these systems get better and better at the job, the
same way we do—only better" p.178 [1]

"Hierarchical, Bayesian predictive coding is a method for generating
affordances galore: we expect solid objects to have backs that will come into
view as we walk around them; we expect doors to open, stairs to afford
climbing, and cups to hold liquid. These and all manner of other anticipations
fall out of a network that doesn’t sit passively waiting to be informed but
constantly makes probabilistic guesses about what it is about to receive in
the way of input from the level below it, based on what it has just received,
and then treating feedback about the errors in its guesses as the chief source
of new information, as a way to adjust its prior expectations for the next
round of guessing."

Which echoes Richard Gregory's concept of vision (or perception) as a
hypothesis continually tested against input.

This is Paradigm shifting; weltanschauung shattering stuff. Dennet very
clearly lays out a methodology for how all aspects of minds can evolve using
heirarchical compositions of wetware robots or :

"Si, abbiamo un anima. Ma é fatta di tanti piccoli robot! (Yes, we have a
soul, but it’s made of lots of tiny robots!)" p.24 [1]

[1] [https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/253900/from-bacteria-to-
bach...](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/253900/from-bacteria-to-bach-and-
back/)

------
vecter
How To Be A 3% Man by Corey Wayne [0]

I'm 30 now. I wish I had read this when I was 20. It would've made dating in
my 20s so much easier. I came across it last year and it's probably the single
most important book I'll ever read in my entire life, for the sole reason that
understanding women will allow me to have a successful marriage one day. I
cannot recommend this enough.

[0] Free online: [https://www.scribd.com/doc/33421576/How-To-
Be-A-3-Man](https://www.scribd.com/doc/33421576/How-To-Be-A-3-Man)

------
balladeer
Anna Karenina, A Suitable Boy, and the like. Excellent books but after college
it's been difficult to start and keep at them in a acceptable period of time
given the time (or lack of it) is an issue now. I also wanted to read Ulysses.
I am stuck around the ~20% of Dostoyevsky's Idiot since a long time. Off late
I've had better success with shortner ones.

For me the reason is simple - it's just the daunting number of pages and it is
a shame that I have not read/finished these books.

------
ankitank
A wild sheep chase by Haruki Murakami

~~~
mindcrime
You can never go wrong with Murakami. I haven't read that one but it's on my
list for Real Soon Now.

~~~
aisofteng
Murakami never manages to keep my interest and halfway through I just want it
to be over. I've always attributed it to losses in translation.

~~~
mindcrime
Interesting. I had exactly the opposite experience with my first Murakami. I
was at Barnes & Noble one Sunday evening, grabbed one of his titles ( _After
Dark_ ) off the shelf, intending to flip through a few pages; and next thing
you know the store is about to close and I'm halfway through the book. I
bought the copy, drove home and finished reading it that night. I was hooked
pretty much from the get-go.

------
Lordarminius
__A History of Western Philosophy __by Bertrand Russell

------
arjmandi
the hard thing about hard things(Ben Horowitz): This book is mostly
recommended for managers but I found it very useful to adjust my estimations
about life. Also, you will learn about silicon valley history and it's
dynamics.

The fifth discipline (Peter Senge): This book is one of the systems thinking
references and it helped me to learn more about hidden dynamics in the world
around me. I truly wish I've read this when I was junior in college.

~~~
vldx
Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline is great. Related, I would also recommend
"Thinking in Systems" by Donella Meadows and "An Introduction to General
Systems Thinking" by Jerry Weinberg.

------
feignix
Fiction:

1\. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes because it's so beautifully written
and made me experience a flood of emotions.

2\. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Again, a very touching,
charming book about a little kid's world(universe?) view, told through his
adventures.

Non-fiction:

1\. The subtle art of not giving a F*ck - Mark Manson Opened my eyes to what I
was possibly doing wrong with my life.

2\. Radical Acceptance - Tara Brach Still currently reading it, but I wish I'd
found it earlier.

------
rachkovsky
No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy. It's so good. I keep
rereading it. Does wonders to my motivation and productivity.

------
novalis78
"How to get what you want", by Raymond Hull. Everything else follows, like a
bootstrapping process. Wish I had found it 10 years earlier. Changed my life
forever. I could recommend dozens other books, my walls are lined with shelves
of books, but you and me are different and all you'd need is this one book to
find everything else you'd need to read or do.

------
pmoriarty
I wish I'd read some good books on fitness and nutrition when I was younger.
It could have saved me a whole host of health issues.

~~~
joshschreuder
Starting Strength is an excellent book for getting started with lifting.

[https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-
Train...](https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-
Training/dp/0982522738)

------
shivrajrath
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do
Before It's Too Late

This book is a detailed research on what's wrong with the world and what can
be still done. The chapter II brings inputs from various culture on approaches
that could improve from ground up. Must read book for us and future
generations.

Can someone suggest something similar to this book?

------
imsodrunklol
A little late to the game but this book changed my perception of reality.

Saving the Appearances: A study in Idoltary by Owen Barfields

You won't regret it.

------
wowsig
Discovered a lot of fresh books and reasons for reading them.

I've collated the ones with interesting reasons for reading them here -->
[http://shelfjoy.com/sia_steel/books-hn-wished-they-had-
read-...](http://shelfjoy.com/sia_steel/books-hn-wished-they-had-read-earlier)

------
architek1
Nature of Order Volumes 1-4, Christoper Alexander. <30 yrs old, as I believe I
would be able to understand the organization of life and how to make better
art. Even though I'm only on volume 1, as soon as I started it I wish I
would've read this sooner.

I would add more but I think these volumes will keep you busy for awhile ;)

------
peternicky
In no particular order:

\- So Good They Can't Ignore You \- Deep Work \- Hackers by Steven Levy
(perhaps my favorite book) \- Learning How To Learn \- The Person and the
Situation \- The Art of Money Getting \- Make It Stick \- The Algorithm Design
Manual \- Moonwalking With Einstein \- Extreme Ownership

------
pombrand
"Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise" because I've been learning
ineffectively my whole life not knowing that I was. Should be required reading
for every 15 year old. The best, most science based book I've ever read about
learning effectively.

------
ThomPete
"The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by Julian
Jaynes

It was the first time I read someone who was thinking about the mind like I am
and was able to put into words some of my own more vague thoughts.

It's definitely going to leave you thinking.

------
Entangled
"Anatomy of the State" by Murray Rothbard.

We live in a world of thieves masqueraded as leaders.

------
BJanecke
Software

The Mythical Man Month && Design Of Design by Fred Brooks

Everything else

Hitchhikers Guide (Existentialism does not have to be edgy) The Foundation
Series (Bureaucracy and Institutionalization will never undermine Ingenuity)
Dune Series (Plans within plans)

------
mattbettinson
The power of now changed my life. Hard to describe without sounding hokey

------
ctdavies
Das Kapital. You know why.

------
makeset
_Code Complete_ by Steve McConnell
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735619670](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735619670)

~~~
Safety1stClyde
I bought this book based on the endless internet recommendations. After
reading it, I was mystified, completely mystified, why people recommended it
so strongly.

~~~
travmatt
How experienced were you? It was really the first thing I read after beginner
type tutorials, and helped me a great deal.

------
CamTin
/Cannery Row/ by Steinbeck. It's a short read, but it packs in a lot of
insight about the human condition. I re-read it every year or so, and still
learn new things.

------
du_bing
The Art of Computer Programming series, by Donald Knuth. They are so well
written and full of humor, I can not think of any technical book(or any kind?)
written as good as these.

------
egonschiele
Evicted. Showed me how racism is still alive today, how bad it actually is to
live in poverty even in a wealthy country in the USA. Tore down a lot of
assumptions I had made.

------
wdr1
A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Helped me understand investing.

------
Anand_S
1\. The One Thing. ~ Gary Keller 2\. Mini Habits. ~ Stephen Guise 3\. Learned
Optimism. ~ Martin Seligman 4\. Spark. ~ John Ratey 5\. Miracle of
Mindfulness. ~ Thich nhat hanh

------
razzaj
The upside of irrationality. Ariely

Germs guns and steel. Jared Diamond

Influence, the psychology of persuasion. Cialdini

Justice: what's the right thing to do. Sandel

QED. Fyenman

All of Feynman lectures on physics

The hard thing about hard things. Horowitz

Al muqqadimah. Ibn khaldun

------
febin
The Holy Bible

Start With Why

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Think Like a Freak

SmartCuts

~~~
innocentoldguy
I really liked The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck as well. I realized, while
reading, that I give far too many, and working on not doing that has made me
happy.

Edited for fat-finger syndrome.

------
mbrodersen
"How Not To Die" by Dr Michael Greger, Gene Stone. It really changed my mind
about how to achieve long term mental and physical health.

------
akulbe
The Personal MBA.

Deep Work.

How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Think and Grow Rich.

The E-Myth Revisited.

The Science of Selling.

(stuff about stoicism)

~~~
akulbe
Why the downvote???

------
palerdot
The slight edge

This is a very interesting book that emphasises how small persistent things
matter in life. Changed my worldview for good.

------
cmmn_nighthawk
Metaprogramming Ruby by Paolo Perrotta

------
gtirloni
The Denial of Death (Ernest Becker)

------
jinxedID
The Effective Executive. My company did not prepare me very well for being a
team lead.

------
K0SM0S
_Meditations_ by Marcus Aurelius.

Stoicism is by far the best philosophy I've ever encountered. Some people call
it "the best operating system for the mind", and I very much agree with that
statement.

It changed my life more than any other corpus of ideas. I can't overstate how
much better I feel now that my brain is running on a 'Stoic OS', especially on
an emotional level --which was the hardest to deal with as I'm rather hyper-
sensitive; now my emotions have truly become an almost entirely positive force
in my experience of life, regardless of their nature, good or bad, of said
emotions; in fact I no longer even qualify emotions on this scale; and the
same goes true for an overwhelming majority of my thinking.

This book is the personal journal of one of the greatest roman emperors,
leader of the (western) world at the time. A rare enough occurrence in the
history of leaders, he was deemed 'worthy of his position' on a human and
philosophical level by most people who knew him.

A couple remarks: "philosophy" as seen by ancient authors and thinkers is not
a strictly intellectual or abstract endeavor, not a scholarly matter, at least
not at its core. Philosophy is the closest equivalent they had to what we'd
call "self-development" today. It's very down to earth, 'life recipes' of
sorts, simply to educate and help people deal with this elusive brain of ours.
Seneca's and Epictetus writings are also excellent food for thought, food for
one's mind. Imho, philosophy, litterally the "love of wisdom", is something we
should deeply reappropriate, both as individuals and whole societies.

Relatingly, Stoicism used to be taught from childhood throughout most of human
history in the western world (and it could be argued that Asia has its own
equivalent philosophies). For some reason, we ceased teaching philosophy to
children around the turn of of the 20th century, which leaves most people with
a lack of means to deal with their emotional circumstances. I'm one of those
who consider this to be a dire pity, especially in our day and age. I think it
sorely shows in public discourse and interpersonal relationships, and the end
result is too much suffering that is entirely preventable.

 _Meditations_ is easy enough to read, but if you want something more modern,
I found _The Obstacle is the Way_ by Ryan Holiday to be a very good
introduction to Stoicism.

____

 _As A Man Thinketh_ by James Allen. It's as short as it is good for the mind,
the building/making of one's persona. Well worth a read at least once in your
life, there are many 20th and 21st century self-development books (e.g. _How
to Win Friends and Influence People_ ) that I believe drew some of their
teachings from this 1903 classic.

____

 _The Power of Now_ by Eckhart Tolle. Regardless of where you find the
information contained in this book (there are many works on the topic, both
modern and throughout history), this book helps understanding that living in
the present moment is critically important, and a key to happiness.
Notwithstanding the 'wu-wu' aspects of Tolle's particular take, it just works.
If you find yourself constantly dwelling on the past, or being a 'nostalgic of
the future' (as I both used to do), knowing the value of living 'in the now'
may be the difference between chronic depression and a fulfilling experience
of life. It certainly is for me.

------
zedshaw
How to See Color and Paint It -- It taught me how to see color and paint it.
Also how to use a palette knife which makes my paintings very different and
fun.

Remembrance of Things Past -- I'm still reading this, as it's a massive stream
of consciousness book, but I wish I'd started it when I was younger so that
I'd be done with it by now. It's just so weird to read it and experience the
writing that I enjoy it for simply being different. As you read it just
remember that every ; is really a . and every . is really \n\n.

Van Gogh: The Life -- I absolutely hate the authors. They're great at
research, but I feel they had a vendetta against Van Gogh of some kind.
Throughout the book, at times when Van Gogh should be praised for an
invention, they make him seem like a clueless dork. Ironically, their attempt
to portray him as a dork who deserves his treatment ends up demonstrating more
concretely how terrible his life was because he was different. I think if this
book were around when I was younger I might have become an artist instead of a
programmer.

A Confederacy of Dunces -- Absolutely brilliant book, and probably one of the
greatest examples of comedic writing there is. It's also nearly impossible to
explain to people except to say it's the greatest example of "and then
hilarity ensues".

Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar -- After a terrible guitar
teacher damaged my left thumb I thought I'd never play guitar again. I found
this book and was able to use it to learn to retrain how my left hand works
and finally get back to playing. Mickey Baker's album also brought me to the
Bass VI, which got me thinking I could build one, and then I did and now I've
built 6 guitars. I play really weird because of this book and I love it. This
book _also_ inspired how I wrote my own books teaching programming and without
it I'd still be a cube drone writing Python code for assholes. If I'd found
this book when I was younger it most likely would have changed my life then
too.

Reflections on A Pond -- It's just a book of this guy painting the same scene
365 times, one for each "day of the year" even though it took him many years
to do it. All tiny little 6x8 impressions of the same scene. I learned so much
about how little paint you need to do so much, and it's also impressive he was
able to do it. I can't really think about _anything_ I've done repetitively
for every day of a year. I've attempted the same idea with self-portraits but
the best I could do was about 3 month's worth before I went insane and started
hating my own face.

Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting -- Instructionally this book
isn't as good as How To See Color, but as a reference guide it is about the
most thorough book on painting there is. It's so huge it's almost impossible
to absorb all of it in one reading, so I've read it maybe 5 times over the
years.

~~~
knopkop
> How to See Color and Paint It

Ordered a copy, thanks!

------
zabana
Pretty much everything ever written by William Gibson should do.

------
BevanR
The lean startup. How to win friends and influence people.

~~~
edpichler
This book changed my life.

~~~
gjstein
Which one of these, out of curiosity? The post above references two books :)

~~~
edpichler
Lean Startup.

------
booleandilemma
"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.

------
bonhasgone
The compound effect - Darren Hardy.

------
rom16384
The bible

~~~
underyx
Why?

~~~
cconcepts
Personally, because a thorough understanding of the Bible shows that its
teaching is quite different to what is often portrayed in media and in the
assumptions of people like myself who had not previously read it.

You can take many individual parts of the Bible out of context and make it
sound like madness but reading the whole in its entirety has a narrative that
many miss.

For those raised on the internet and faster gratification (like me), try The
Jesus Storybook Bible which I personally think is a great effort at
paraphrasing the original.

EDIT: clarity

~~~
Sunset
If you're already christian, I'd recommend not reading the bible cover to
cover. I did, and it made me an atheist.

~~~
innocentoldguy
Do you mind explaining why? I'm not looking for a heated argument. I'm just
curious what aspects of it drove you away.

~~~
dreistdreist
Same here. For one it's full of inconsistencies and even if it all were true,
I would not want to believe in such a neurotic, angry god.

~~~
qb45
> I would not want to believe in such a neurotic, angry god.

I'm under impression that people may have created gods in their own image so
to speak, which immediately makes me wonder if there will come a time that you
will eat these words. Denial much?

------
1S9C8G4
metaphors we live by

------
adekok
The Gift of Fear (Gavin Debecker) - how to deal with bad people

The War against Women (Marilyn French) - the underlying premise is wrong, but
reading it is a good way to learn how to deal with semi-rational, but insane
theses. And yes, I can defend this position with quotes / paraphrases from the
book, with rational explanations as to why it's insane

How the Police generate false confessions (James Trainum) - former cop
explains why harsh interrogation techniques are counter-productive, and how to
defend yourself

Get the Truth (Philip Houston et all) - how to tell when people are lying, via
simple techniques you can remember

------
Profragile
The Richest Man in Babylon.

~~~
ozovehe
A 'must' read indeed

------
johnsmith21006
The Goal and then the Phoenix project.

