
Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade? - Anon84
Now that the decade is coming to a close, what where the most (personally) influential books you read? Which impacted you the most either personally or professionally? The ones you learned the most from?
======
palerdot
The Count of Monte Cristo - This is one breathtaking epic. I have been putting
off reading this novel for quite some time and occasionally see this name
popping up in HN too, but never gave a serious thought for giving it a go. Was
I wrong! This is an epic in its true sense, and you will feel a sense of
amazement as you progress through the novel. I'm quite a reader, and I have
not experienced such amazement when reading any other book (atleast in recent
times). Perhaps, I read this book when I was pretty down and kind of hopeless
where my life is taking me, because this book is all about HOPE. Even if you
are not a reader, the storyline itself will beat any of the entertaining
stories out there. But this book is more than its storyline. At the minimum,
you will learn to hope which is a big takeaway from this novel. If you are on
the fence reading this, just go for it.

Other books which I find interesting

\- The Slight Edge

\- Sapiens

\- The Master and Margarita (apart from the fact it is a great novel, this is
so wickedly funny )

~~~
loosetypes
Completely agree for the Count of Monte Cristo, but wanted to add that I had a
similar experience more recently with Shogun (James Clavell) which I found
equally inescapably immersive.

~~~
palerdot
Thanks for the suggestion. Adding 'Shogun' to my reading list

~~~
supersrdjan
If you are adding Shogun then surely you also must add Musashi by Eiji
Yoshikawa. A sprawling epic loosely based on history, with real historical
people as characters

~~~
palerdot
Thanks for suggestion. Added to my reading list ...

------
stocktech
[https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-
Lif...](https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-Life-
Changing-Relationships/dp/189200528X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk)

Nonviolent Communication.

I think it was linked on HN where it caught my attention. This book teaches a
great way to communicate, but for me, it has also helped me think about my
feelings and how I can communicate those feelings better. I feel more in touch
with my feelings and more empathetic as a direct result from following what
the book is teaching.

On the communication side, it has helped me put more structure around tough
conversations, personally and professionally. It has helped me understand
others more and vice versa. It's also helped me see toxic traits in others.
Such as people who aren't interested in understanding or people who struggle
to understand their own emotions.

~~~
jagrsw
The co-author of this book is (seems to be) Deepak Chopra who acquired quite a
fame for his liberal use of quantum physics terminology (quantum woo-woo) and
for producing thoughts and ideas which typically turn out be not very coherent
under a closer scrutiny
([https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra)),
i.e. for "sounding deep while saying nothing"

I wonder how his co-authorship affects contents of the book. I bought the book
(b/c of this thread, not even looking at the authorship), and I will judge the
book based on its contents, but suporting financially a de-facto cult leader
of a not very rational movement doesn't sound like a good move from my
perspective.

~~~
dave84
“Foreword by Deepak Chopra” is hardly co-authoring.

~~~
jagrsw
The amazon book page is confusing, it lists him as a co-author. The book's
cover says it's just a foreword, so I guess you're right.

Still, not to surrender in this thread completely, letting such type of person
to write a foreword for a book is not a very good initial signal in itself -
it casts doubt on the main author's judgement with regard to whom she
considers an authority in matters of communication (or, in any matter other
than producing confusing statements).

~~~
entropyneur
I haven't looked too closely, but the author was already dead by the time this
edition came out so it's quite possible he had no say in the matter.

------
emodendroket
From a few angles:

* I read the Bible out of curiosity and ended up joining a church, so that's pretty consequential.

* Moby Dick and Journey to the West were probably the most sheer enjoyment I got out of books

* Learning C# 3.0 by Jesse Liberty is extremely dated at this point, and was dated even when I read it, but was the first book that made me "get" many basic OO concepts and taught me a language I've gotten a lot of professional mileage out of

* Skiena's Algorithm Design Manual and Sedewick/Wayne's Algorithms. Most people do algorithms in school. I learned about it while I was already writing programs for money all day, which means it deeply impacted the way I think about my work.

* Discrete Math with Applications by Epp -- I didn't read it all the way through but gave me the foundations to actually understand what the hell the books in the last bullet were talking about

* Battle Cry of Freedom by MacPherson was the first really meaty historical book I read. Turns out I like those a lot.

So many more but this seems like a reasonable place to stop for this
discussion.

~~~
Zenbit_UX
> I read the Bible out of curiosity and ended up joining a church, so that's
> pretty consequential.

Is there a bigger story here? I'm not the type that would find reading the
Bible appealing but I can say without a shadow of doubt that if I would, it
would not awaken any latent desires for religion.

~~~
Intermernet
I've read 3 different versions of the bible and it converted me from an
agnostic to an atheist. I think GP may have been predisposed to religion (or
at least to the social aspects of joining a church) as the bible, as
interesting as it is, is only as interesting as any other selected and vetted
collection of philosophy and story telling. Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism and
Islam also have very interesting texts worth reading.

This isn't meant to be insulting or dismissive, I have nothing but good will
to GP, but statistically just reading the bible doesn't usually lead to
joining a church. If it did, you could lose the rest of the evangelism and
missionary practices and not really see a dent in the population of
Christianity.

~~~
ar_lan
> it converted me from an agnostic to an atheist

I don't think these are necessarily mutually exclusive, but treating them as
if they are, I'm curious why. I would presume your definitions, based on this,
that:

* agnostic = "I don't know if there is anything" * atheist = "I _do_ know that there is nothing"

I have mostly met agnostic atheists, being "I don't know if there is anything,
but I believe there's nothing", whereas it seems you are a gnostic atheist.

I'm curious because I somewhat took an opposite path in my life - reading
Godel's Incompleteness Theorem exposed myself to the idea that I can't ever
know what's out there, so it lead me to agnosticism.

~~~
therealdrag0
Philosophically I call myself agnostic. But colloquially I call myself an
atheist. Also while I'm agnostic about there existing _any_ powerful being
(god), I'm pretty dang confident that the gods described in religious texts do
not exist. So in that sense, I am atheist (towards human religions). And it is
in this last sense that I could see someone going from agnostic-to-atheist by
reading the Bible or in other ways learning more about
religion/psychology/history.

------
SirensOfTitan
Probably Robert Anton Wilson’s Cosmic Trigger or Prometheus Rising back in
2010. The “reality tunnel” concept has defined much of my personal and
intellectual exploration of the past 10 years.

“ When we meet somebody whose separate tunnel-reality is obviously far
different from ours, we are a bit frightened and always disoriented. We tend
to think they are mad, or that they are crooks trying to con us in some way,
or that they are hoaxers playing a joke. Yet it is neurologically obvious that
no two brains have the same genetically-programmed hard wiring, the same
imprints, the same conditioning, the same learning experiences. We are all
living in separate realities. That is why communication fails so often, and
misunderstandings and resentments are so common. I say "meow" and you say
"Bow-wow," and each of us is convinced the other is a bit dumb.”

~~~
pmoriarty
_Cosmic Trigger_ was great, but I must say it's hard to speak of Robert Anton
Wilson without mentioning his magnum opus, _The Illuminatus Trilogy_.

~~~
alasdair_
The Illuminatus Trilogy is my favorite book of all time.

A lot of people have a hard time with it, considering it nonsense and giving
up a fifth of the way through. I'd strongly suggest sticking with it. There is
a reason is seems like nonsense and the reason is given at the end of the book
- the whole purpose of all of it is to reprogram your brain. It's a journey
worth taking.

------
raamdev
Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina, because it made me a better father; Why
We Sleep by Matthew Walker, because it taught me of the importance of
something that I’d occasionally dismiss as a nuisance; Pain Free and Pain Free
at Your PC by Pete Egoscue, because it completely changed the way I understood
posture, pain, and how repetition influences my body; and Letters to a Young
Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, because it taught me how despite big changes in
technology and society and way of living, very little changes when it comes to
our personal struggles and concerns; Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor
Frankl, because it helped me realize that in any situation, my attitude is
what I always have control over; and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by
Stephen Covey because it greatly contributed to my mental framework for how to
be productive and for this quote, which is probably my favorite of the past
decade:

“In the space between stimulus (what happens) and how we respond, lies our
freedom to choose. Ultimately, this power to choose is what defines us as
human beings. We may have limited choices but we can always choose. We can
choose our thoughts, emotions, moods, our words, our actions; we can choose
our values and live by principles. It is the choice of acting or being acted
upon.”

~~~
w1ntermute
Re: _Why We Sleep_ by Matthew Walker, this critique of the book is worth a
read: [https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/](https://guzey.com/books/why-we-
sleep/)

~~~
Reedx
Disappointing... That book has been highly recommended ad infinitum on HN, to
the point that it was sounding like gospel. Maybe that should've been a hint,
heh.

Has Walker responded to that critique?

~~~
Gatsky
Another post:

[https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2019/12/27/why-we-
sle...](https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2019/12/27/why-we-sleep-data-
manipulation-a-smoking-gun/)

Now that looks quite bad.

------
lpolovets
Professionally influential:

    
    
      - High Growth Handbook (general company building tips)
      - Traction (the one by Weinberg and Mares; engineer-friendy guide to marketing and growth)
      - Understanding Michael Porter (great intro to business strategy)
      - Monetizing Innovation (pricing advice)
    

Personally influential:

    
    
      - Thinkertoys and Cracking Creativity (how to be more creative)
      - Atomic Habits (how to establish good habits)
      - A Guide to the Good Life (friendly intro to stoicism)
      - What Got You Here Won't Get You There (building self-awareness)
    

Fun:

    
    
      - Richard Feynman autobiographies
      - The Martian
      - Shadow Divers
      - Ready Player One
      - The Myron Bolitar Series (mysteries with a good sense of humor)

~~~
baristaGeek
Is High Growth Handbook for later-stage companies (say 1M+ ARR)? Or not
necessarily?

~~~
lpolovets
Part of what makes the book good, in my opinion, is that it has useful advice
across stages. Some of it applies to very early stage companies. The other
thing is that having a good sense of what to expect at 25 or 50 people will
have some influence on what you do when you're three people.

------
lukifer
Fiction: _Unsong_ by Scott Alexander. The funnest and funniest sci-fi yarn
since Douglas Adams, amidst tantalizing explorations of theodicy and
existential absurdicy. It's even free:
[http://unsongbook.com](http://unsongbook.com)
[https://github.com/moorederodeo/Unsong-In-Ebook-
Format/relea...](https://github.com/moorederodeo/Unsong-In-Ebook-
Format/releases/)

Non-fiction: _The Righteous Mind_ by Jonathan Haidt. Of all the books of the
last ten years, I can't think of one that more transformed my understanding of
(and compassion for) my fellow thinking, feeling, moralizing, tribal primates.
[https://righteousmind.com/](https://righteousmind.com/)

~~~
tryptophan
I can second The Righteous Mind. Currently almost done with it. Has given me
many thing to think about.

However, I feel like the author sometimes falls into the same biases/flawed
thought patterns he spends the book describing. Because of this, I'd rate it
as very good instead of great.

------
leoh
"Invention of Nature"; nonfiction; about the life of Alexander von Humboldt;
Darwin said of him "if it hadn't been for AVH, I would have never stepped foot
on the HMS Beagle"; profoundly important to modern science, an adventurer, yet
little known in modern times

"Stoner" by John Williams; fiction; this book knocked me on my butt and I read
it all in almost one sitting; about an English professor who refuses to
relinquish his integrity in the face of great adversity

"Light Years" by James Salter; fiction; inexpressibly beautiful novel that
takes place largely on the Hudson River above New York

"Narcissus and Goldmund" by Hesse; fiction; a fun yet literary adventure novel
about the importance and fun of living life with integrity

"When Things Fall Apart" by Chödron; non-fiction; Chödron proposes that
leaning into suffering, experiencing it as directly and fully as possibly and
without resistance paradoxically leads to profound relief from suffering

"Enlightenment Now" by Pinker; non-fiction; proposes, convincingly, that life
nhas drastically improved for nearly everyone on earth due to a shifting
philosophical orientation towards enlightenment values; proposes that although
much is problematic, there is reason for great hope, too

~~~
pmoriarty
_Narcissus and Goldmund_ is probably my favorite of Hesse's novels, but also
great is _The Glass Bead Game_.

------
pmoriarty
_On The Shortness of Life_ by Seneca.[1]

 _Man 's Search for Meaning_ by Viktor Frankl is also excellent.[2]

[1] - [https://tripinsurancestore.com/4/on-the-shortness-of-
life.pd...](https://tripinsurancestore.com/4/on-the-shortness-of-life.pdf)

[2] - [https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-
Frankl/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-
Frankl/dp/080701429X)

~~~
yesenadam
It seems Frankl has been somewhat exposed/debunked. I loved his book too as a
teenager; it pained me to read sources mentioned on his wikipedia page. Would
you believe he was at Auschwitz for only a few days, performed medical
experiments on Jews himself, and it appears his main thesis about attitude
mattering above all else for survival in the camps is simply false.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl#Controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl#Controversy)

~~~
609venezia
Wow. I'm shocked. I had never heard of these controversies, despite spending
some time interested in Frankl a while back.

They seem plausible at first read, and should receive more attention. Thank
you for highlighting them.

~~~
rbg246
Please be careful... Investigate these claims more fully than Wikipedia, these
claims can be exaggerated / out of context

~~~
WCityMike
As far as I can tell, these claims are backed up by Frankl's own autobiography
and interviews. See quotes:

[https://existentialstoic.wordpress.com/2018/02/18/victor-
fra...](https://existentialstoic.wordpress.com/2018/02/18/victor-frankls-
disturbing-book-mans-search-for-meaning-has-no-meaning/)

------
4NDR10D
_The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are
Setting Up a Generation for Failure_ [1] by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

I didn't necessarily agree with all of it but it helped me understand the
changes I've seen across workplaces, colleges and beyond. It was also a nice
way of thinking more "grey" in terms of the current political climate, and
trying to understand the reasons behind people's actions regardless of their
political stance.

[1] [https://www.thecoddling.com/](https://www.thecoddling.com/)

~~~
Reedx
Another Haidt book well worth checking out is "The Righteous Mind".

Great for grey thinking and better understanding. And I think it's one of
those books that if everyone read it, we'd all be better off. Like an antidote
or inhibitor to tribalism.

------
gjstein
I know "Getting Things Done" by David Allen is a book the HN crowd
occasionally loves to hate, but I came across it at the right time in my life
and was the impetus I needed to reorganize my life and put systems in place to
ensure that I ... well ... started to really get things done. Since then, I've
built up my Emacs ecosystem to support a GTD-derived workflow and I've never
looked back.

Also on my list are the already-mentioned "Getting To Yes" and "Nonviolent
Communication". I also really enjoyed "Good for You, Great for Me" by Lawrence
Susskind, which is a slightly more real-world take on the ideals put forth in
"Getting to Yes".

I also studied Physics in College and my course on Classical Mechanics was
really the impetus to continue down that path for a while. Textbook was
"Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems" by Thornton and Marion.

~~~
vowelless
Only reason I didn't mention GTD is because I read it more than 10 years ago.
It was very influential indeed. Probably the most important book I read in the
decade before this one.

------
briga
Out of Control by former Wired editor Kevin Kelly. This book was a labor of
love and it shows--every chapter explores some fascinating new topic on the
intersection of biology and technology. Even though the book was written 25
years ago it feels completely fresh. I'm sure anyone who reads this site would
enjoy it.

David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity. If you know him, it's probably
because Deutsch did some pioneering work in Quantum computing back in the day,
but this book covers everything from physics to biology to computing to art
with a grand sort of theory of everything. There are few popular science books
more densely packed with original ideas.

Borges' collected fictions. There probably isn't much that needs to be said
about this that hasn't already been said. Borges was a visionary.

Proust.

Stanislaw Lem's Solaris. Completely changed the way I think about sci-fi.

Nick Bostrom's Superintelligence. I think this is still the gold standard of
speculative AI books.

Sapiens. Like everyone else I loved this one.

~~~
digianarchist
Didn't care for Sapiens. Very pop-science with the author's opinion littered
throughout alongside wild predictions on AI, automation.

The only other book I read this year was Evicted by Matthew Desmond. It was an
excellent account of poverty cycles as it relates to housing.

~~~
jiscariot
I felt the same way. Romanticizing hunter/gatherer society and downplaying
positive effects of agrarian society or any notion of evolutionary psychology.
It started OK and about halfway through it seemed like he was just giving
thoughts and theories on various things, without any references.

Though more focused on cultural evolution, I much preferred Joseph Henrich's
"The Secret of Our Success".

------
mke
2010 - Outliers, Malcom Gladwell

2011 - In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan

2012 - Born to Run, Christopher McDougall

2013 - Four Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss

2014 - Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon

2015 - Awaken the Giant Within, Tony Robbins

2016 - Black Swan, Nicolas Taleb

2017 - Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman, Richard Feynman

2018 - The Prophet, Khalil Gibran

2019 - Three Body Problem (series), Liu Cixin

These aren’t publishing years, just the year these books transformed me.

~~~
ronyfadel
I’m finishing the Four Hour Work Week.. this book just reads like a “get rich
quick”/scammy collection of snippets. It’s conflicting at times (“money isn’t
the end-all be-all” v/s “how I made 10k$ a month sipping piña coladas”). The
only useful takeaway was not to waste your life 1) wasting time and 2)
working, which is fair.. but the message is wrapped with so much ego I ended
just being annoyed through most of the book.

~~~
mke
The title and intro is unabashedly “get rich quick” fodder. But hidden inside,
one can find practical applications of Pareto principles to work _and_ life
choices, in ways that made me question how I approach _everything_. Better
books have followed in this zeitgeist. This one found me first.

~~~
laurentl
> Better books have followed in this zeitgeist

Any suggestions?

~~~
mke
Deep Work (Cal Newport) and Strengths Finder (Tom Rath) helped me achieve far
more practical returns on work / lifestyle design.

I even found Tim’s later books (4-Hour Body, 4-Hour Chef) to be far better.

------
Insanity
The best books in the past decade, that's a hard one! It's also hard to
pinpoint what I learned where, but I'll just list the most memorable ones. I
read a lot of software engineering books to learn language X or technology Y.
But that's just o'reilly books and probably not that interesting to list here.

\- Jobs by Walter Isaacson. To learn about the Apple and Steve Jobs himself. I
thought it was great

\- Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's older than a decade (about
4 decades old actually) but I only read it a few years ago when I studied
philosophy and it left quite an impression on me, food for thought.

\- The Dip. It's motivational, I think back on it every now and then when
pushing myself through a rough patch in the gym or professionally.

\- Turing's Cathedral, it's a history of computers basically. Recommended if
you're into software/computers.

~~~
JoeMayoBot
Will have to check out Jobs. I enjoyed his Leonardo DaVinci.

~~~
Insanity
Now I'll have to go check out his DaVinci one :)

~~~
kp25
I'll have to read both of them in the coming year 2020 :)

------
ericzawo
Principles by Ray Dalio changed my life and really helped me better understand
that inwardly looking at and analyzing my emotional responses to problems at
work and home set me up for failure and since reading it I've had such
profound clarity of thought. I recommend that book to literally everyone.

~~~
JoeMayoBot
Felt like this was helpful from a personal perspective. Not sure how many
organizations could live up to this level of discipline.

~~~
alecbenzer
TBH having worked with some ex-Bridgewater folks I'm pretty skeptical how much
Bridgewater actually lives up to it.

------
Balgair
_Range_ by David Epstein [0].

It's a good middle point on the understanding of 'mastery' that Gladwell
started in the late oughts and whose meme of '10k hours' kinda infected a lot
of pop-psych and MBAs. Epstein argues that there are areas where 10k hours
work, but limits very much exist. His thesis is that you have to know your
environment and that most environments are too chaotic for just grinding out
hours. A larger Range of knowledge/experience is likely a better strategy for
many areas of life.

I gave copies of the book out as a thank you note/gift after an interview, as
I think the book is really good and that the firm could get something out of
reading it; that even if they did not hire me, it would help them.

I know that's a bit looney, but it worked. I got my _dream_ job and a hefty
pay raise, great benefits, and a short commute.

Literally, the book changed my life.

[0] [https://www.davidepstein.com/the-
range/](https://www.davidepstein.com/the-range/)

~~~
rustyshackleton
Econtalk had a good episode with David Epstein as a guest if anyone wants a
sampler. [https://www.econtalk.org/david-epstein-on-mastery-
specializa...](https://www.econtalk.org/david-epstein-on-mastery-
specialization-and-range/)

------
padraigf
My criterion is 'influential on me', they may not necessarily be the greatest
works of literature.

Mastery - Robert Greene

The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle

Peak - Anders Ericsson

The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy - William B. Irvine

The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning - Peter C. Brown

Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art - Stephen Nachmanovitch

Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari

~~~
loffa
Peak is a great book, strongly recommended for anyone that is interested in
the 10k hour concept that was 'glossed over' in Malcom Gladwell's Outliers.

------
ljm
Before I scan the thread for inspiration, these are mine:

1\. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; I have no words for this except
that it was profound and I was ready for it.

2\. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; a classic where history knows better than
we do.

3\. Special Topics in Calamity Physics; a fictional tale that shows you how
damn easy it is to get lost in conspiracy and speculation.

4\. House of Leaves; you can't beat a mind-bending horror like that. I live
for this stuff.

5\. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse; It's 50 pages long, just read it.

6\. Tantra Illuminated; A well researched and academic study into the history
and the beliefs of Tantra

7\. The King in Yellow and its derivatives; The Hanged King lore in the SCP
universe is obsessively fascinating to me.

~~~
DavidPiper
+1 for House of Leaves! Didn't expect to see that here. Bizarre and mind-
bending. Awesome experimental fiction. Really have to go back and read it
again sometime soon.

(And no, there's no eBook - that I know of. You'll err... understand why when
you see the physical copy.)

~~~
carte_blanche
I loved this book, and honestly it's one of the best books I read in the past
decade. There does exist an eBook, because I read it on Kindle and I remember
I used to wonder how amazing it would be to read it in hard copy. Well, it's
been almost 3 years now - time for a re-read in Hardcover!

------
akavel
Not sure if decade, as I don't have good memory for such stuff (sorry!), but
certainly at _least_ for last year, the following book that had a really huge
impact on me:

 _Gai-Jin_ by James Clavell

It showed me how different cultures can have very different "codes", how they
can see others as "barbarians" purely based on that; more specifically, helped
me look more critically on (part of) European culture and history through
"foregin eyes", and better understand some aspects of Japanese culture taking
them nearly all the way from "weird" to "natural". While at the same time
being just a super entertaining and engrossing story!

~~~
croo
Shogun by James Clavell is another great book with the same side effect.

~~~
sr3d
I read Shogun and Tai-Pan as recommendations from my dad and I thoroughly
enjoyed both.

------
antoviaque
As a Game of Thrones fan who likes history, I've _loved_ to read the Accursed
Kings from Maurice Druon. I just couldn't let go of the book once I started -
I wish schools taught history like that!

The series of books has largely inspired George R. R. Martin's novels, and you
will recognize many character traits, as well as the trademark realistic
scenario, where main characters also die a lot... Unlike A Song of Fire and
Ice, it is based on actual European history, and is fairly accurate - so no
nightwalkers or dragons, but it is every bit as epic a saga.

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

------
onlyrealcuzzo
The Black Swan by Taleb and Thinking, Fast and Slow by Kahneman are two books
that pretty much completely changed how I view the world, and have made me
much happier as a direct result.

~~~
sesuximo
I can't wait to read/listen to black swan

~~~
misiti3780
i suggest reading it, listening to it would be tough because there are a lot
of important illustrations of fractals, etc.

------
j1elo
I'm not seeing it mentioned here, also a good resource:

[https://hackernewsbooks.com/](https://hackernewsbooks.com/)

~~~
vmurthy
Thank you for this. Really intriguing how they do it: "All links to Amazon,
Safaribooks and O'Reilly get extracted once a week from Hacker News posts. We
then rank the links based on how often they are mentioned and the karma of the
user on Hacker News. So books mentioned several times by different people
having high karma tend to rise to the top." [0]

[0] [https://hackernewsbooks.com/about](https://hackernewsbooks.com/about)

~~~
j1elo
You can check the _Show HN_ :
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12365693](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12365693)

The author even shared the formula used to calculate those rankings

------
vowelless
* Elements of Statistical Learning - Hastie, Tibshisrani

* (Lot's of machine learning books to list: PRML, All of Stats, Deep Learning, etc.)

* Active Portfolio Management - Kahn, Grinold

* Thinking, fast and slow - Kahneman

* Protein Power (the Eades') / Why we get fat (Taubes)

* Why we sleep (Walker)

* Deep Work / So Good They Can't Ignore You (Newport)

* Flowers for Algernon (Keyes)

* Getting to Yes (Fisher)

~~~
pmoriarty
_Flowers for Algernon_ was great, but I'd strongly suggest reading the short
story and avoiding the novel.

The short story was lengthened in to the novel and was ruined, in my view, by
all the Freudian-influenced attempts to sexualize and psychoanalyze the
protagonist. It was a real let down after the brilliance of the short story,
which had absolutely nothing to do with any of that.

~~~
gapo
I felt the opposite - the attempts to paint the protagonist with run of the
mill human qualtiies led me to emotionally invest in him even more. This makes
you experience the gut-wrench even more.

------
wprapido
My 2010's read highlights:

\- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-21st-Century-Yuval-
Harari/d...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-21st-Century-Yuval-
Harari/dp/1787330672)

\- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Factfulness-Reasons-Wrong-Things-
Be...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Factfulness-Reasons-Wrong-Things-
Better/dp/1473637465)

\- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laws-Power-Robert-Greene-
Collection...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laws-Power-Robert-Greene-
Collection/dp/1861972784)

\- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-
Prosperity...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-
Prosperity/dp/1846684307)

\- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wealth-Poverty-Politics-Thomas-
Sowe...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wealth-Poverty-Politics-Thomas-
Sowell/dp/046509676X)

\- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noonday-Demon-Andrew-
Solomon/dp/009...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noonday-Demon-Andrew-
Solomon/dp/0099277131)

\- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Write-Thesis-MIT-
Press/dp/02625...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Write-Thesis-MIT-
Press/dp/0262527138)

~~~
nevf1
Fantastic list, and thanks for the links.

Personally, I would put "Sapiens - A brief History of Humankind"[0] in the
list rather than it's successor "21 Lessons for the 21st Century".

While some people have some gripes about The 48 Laws of Power and Robert
Greene's other books, in my opinion, they serve as a really valuable tool for
understanding how most medium and large companies work. And for anyone
interested, a great way to dip your toes into it is by having a look at Derek
Sivers' book notes -
[https://sivers.org/book/48LawsOfPower](https://sivers.org/book/48LawsOfPower)

[0] [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-
Harari...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-
Harari/dp/0099590085)

------
surfsvammel
\- Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style

\- Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are
Better Than You Think

\- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a
World Increasingly Full of Fake

\- Sherlock Holmes: The definitive collection

~~~
gpanders
Factfulness and Enlightenment Now utterly transformed my outlook on life and
the state of the world. These two books turned me from a cynical complainer
into an optimist. Cannot recommend them highly enough.

~~~
hliyan
Noticed multiple recommendations of Factfulness and decided to read a sample
from Amazon. While I'm fully onboard with the material, the writing style put
me off: it felt very egocentric and self-congratulatory.

~~~
surfsvammel
Strange. That’s not how it came across to me. Maybe checkout some of his ted
talks to get started:
[https://www.ted.com/speakers/hans_rosling](https://www.ted.com/speakers/hans_rosling)

------
sivers
Since 2007, I've taken detailed notes on every book I've read, then posted
them on my site with my top recommendations up top:

[https://sivers.org/book](https://sivers.org/book)

My top recommendations here for the Hacker News crowd - with a nudge for the
under-rated, are:

The Time Paradox - by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd

[https://sivers.org/book/TimeParadox](https://sivers.org/book/TimeParadox)

Profound idea that everyone has a primary time focus: either Future-focused,
Present-focused, or Past-focused. Fascinating implications of each. Because
I'm so future-focused, reading this book helped me understand people who are
very present-focused. Also great advice on shifting your focus when needed. I
read it 7 years ago, but still think about it almost every day.

\--

Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want - by
Nicholas Epley

[https://sivers.org/book/Mindwise](https://sivers.org/book/Mindwise)

Many new brilliant insights, especially about over-estimating the differences
between you and others, thereby separating into us-vs-them tribalism. Scan to
the end of my notes, to see. If you know more books like this, please
recommend them to me. I adore this subject.

\--

The War of Art - by Steven Pressfield

[https://sivers.org/book/WarOfArt](https://sivers.org/book/WarOfArt)

Have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you
could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer
who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never
starts a venture? Then you know what “Resistance” is. This book is about that.
Read it.

\--

E-Myth Revisited - by Michael Gerber

[https://sivers.org/book/EMythRevisited](https://sivers.org/book/EMythRevisited)

Absolutely everyone who is an entrepreneur or wants to be one needs to read
this book. I first read it after 10 years of successfully running my company,
and was still blown away and totally humbled by its wisdom. Re-reading it
today, I'm amazed how my view of business was completely changed by this one
little book. See my notes for examples, but definitely read the book itself to
get the real impact.

\--

The Courage to Be Disliked - by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

[https://sivers.org/book/Disliked](https://sivers.org/book/Disliked)

Wow. A profound little philosophy book from Japan, communicating the
psychology of Alfred Adler - a rival of Freud. Told as a conversation between
an angry student and a patient teacher. A little book so good that I rushed
home from other activites to keep reading it, and finished in a day. A
surprisingly fresh perspective on how to live. (The “disliked” part is not the
point, so don’t let the title distract you.)

~~~
mke
Didn’t expect to find Derek Sivers on HN. h/t for being awesome

Seriously HN, listen to this guy about books, and check out his site.

------
wry_discontent
Overthrow, by Stephen Kinzer really changed the way I perceive the US position
in the world and made me question a lot of things I learned in school.

I also really enjoyed Manufacturing Consent, which is prime reading right now
for anybody in the US because it's about media manipulation in free society.

~~~
emodendroket
I definitely second Manufacturing Consent! What a great book; how many books
of political theory hold up that well 30 years later? I would recommend
anybody who has any interest at all in current events read it.

------
tmaly
Getting Things Done - the 2001 version I read two years ago, I use the general
idea and it helps to have a clear head when your fighting fires daily.

Never Split the Difference - some very practical negotiation strategies.

Mini Habits by Stephen Guise - short book but awesome method. I am still doing
the one pushup habit since last March.

How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck by Steve Stockman - I wanted to improve
my video production for my programming course for kids. I am still learning
but this book has been a huge help.

The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking by Barbara Minto - huge
help with improving my written communication at my job.

The Coaching Habit by Michael Stanier - short book but huge help when your
transitioning to managing people.

Made to Stick by Dan Heath - was a huge help in planning how I would teach
elementary students last month about programming.

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch - aside from application of Pareto
principle, I took away the idea that books provide the best bang for your buck
for knowledge density.

The 4 Hour Work Week - great inspiration to start your own thing.

The $100 Startup - like the 4HWW but with more details.

~~~
Breza
Never Split the Difference was really useful. I don't apply the exact
methodology, but the general principles are useful in many different
situations.

------
lewiscollard
Steven Pinker's "The Sense of Style" is a fantastic book about effective
English writing. It helped codify some stuff I already did out of habit but
never really knew why, and taught me plenty of new things too. Recommended for
anyone whose job involves technical writing!

Alexander Watson's "Ring of Steel" is World War I seen from the perspective of
the Central Powers. OK, it didn't really help me personally or professionally,
so I'm not sure it counts. But it was definitely a huge perspective-changer,
and so beautifully written too.

------
brandonmenc
Finally got around to reading _The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of
the Bicameral Mind_ by Julian Jaynes.

It was on my list for the past like, twenty years, and after reading it I
really wish I would have read it back then.

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

~~~
Wildgoose
I loved this book as well. I am sure he "over-egged the pudding", but I am
also convinced that there are some genuine insights in what he was saying.

------
ErikAugust
The Myth of Sisyphus, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Meditations,
Walden

Born to Run - Chris McDougall

I had a chance meeting with this book at a newsstand in Logan Airport. I
purchased it on a whim. It converted me from a sometimes runner to a full-
blown run fanatic - marathons, and mountain, trail, ultra especially. It
changed the entire trajectory of my life.

------
theatraine
Some great books have already been mentioned but those which were the most
personally influential which haven't yet been mentioned:

\- Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger

\- Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

\- Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

\- Kochland by Christopher Leonard

\- Masters of Doom by David Kushner

I read a lot of "business consultant" books and began to be annoyed with them
since many of them can be summed up by the title and the first couple of
chapters.

I like the books above because they presented factual events that allow you to
draw your own conclusions.

I especially like Schwarzenegger's book and Bad Blood because of their depth.
It was interesting to hear about Schwarzenegger's crazy business ideas like
how he became a millionaire before becoming an actor and how he bought a 747.

I found the audiobook "Master's of Doom" (book is 2003 but audiobook is newer)
to be really entertaining as it was read by actor Wil Wheaton who did a great
job.

~~~
_conquistador
I've read all of these except Kochland (just ordered it now) and complete
agree. You have great taste! Check out American Kingpin by Nick Bilton for a
read somewhat similar to Bad Blood.

Do you have any other recommendations?

~~~
theatraine
Thanks! My only other recommendations of similar books but have already been
mentioned would be the Steve Jobs book by Isaacson and Surely You're Joking,
Mr. Feynman!

------
drngdds
Deep Work by Cal Newport was great.

If only I could actually apply its principles at my job in an open office with
an IM chat system.

~~~
kilroy123
I too struggle to apply the lessons from that book. Little by little I say.

------
keyP
_Bhagavad Gita_ for me, both, personally and professionally

[https://www.ancient.eu/Bhagavad_Gita/](https://www.ancient.eu/Bhagavad_Gita/)

~~~
pmoriarty
The _Bhagavad Gita_ is a tremendously beautiful and profound work, and it's a
tragedy that it (and the whole _Mahabarata_ , really, of which the _Gita_ is
only a small part) are not more widely read in the West.

However, I see its core messages as deeply problematic. The entire work is a
justification of violence, obedience, and traditional social roles. It's
simply amazing to me that Gandhi, the most famous advocate of non-violence in
history, was a huge fan of it.

~~~
keyP
It justified violence as the last resort which can be taken literally in the
story or as a metaphor for when someone hits rock bottom in their life. War is
one of the worst things to be a part of and personal demons can feel like a
battle. I actually praise it for choosing a topic that shouldn't exist in an
ideal world but it knows that that's not reality and war is sometimes required
(Vedic scripts would say we're in the age of "Kali Yuga", believing time is
cyclical, the utopian phase of world peace simply doesn't exist).

The Bhagavad Gita is a subset of the Mahabarata epic, albeit the most famous
one, so the preceding story was that peaceful negotiations were not possible
even though that was the route preferred. The idea is that if two sides are
willing to negotiate peacefully, that is the option that should be taken. But
if one side insists on war, action (karma) and inaction (akarma) are two sides
of the same coin - inaction is not avoiding doing something, it is a form of
action ("He who seeth inaction in action and action in inaction, he is wise
among men; he is a Yogi and performer of all actions"). In fact, Ghandi
actually wrote a letter to Hitler initially asking him "peacefully" to stop
WW2. This was followed up with a less peaceful letter [0]. It would seem he
was happy for violent war against Nazis because they were evil and it was
against injustice. (Naturally, this leads to discussions on what one would
consider evil but the idea is not to be the first to attack and provoke). The
ending of the epic is wasteland of emptiness caused by the war - both as a
symbol of the waste of war but also as an idea that everything and nothing
exists at all times; whether you chose action or inaction is on you, time
destroys all regardless.

Ghandi (and I guess Oppenheimer [1] to a degree but not sure) seemed to take
the concept of Dharma (duty) to strengthen his resolve and he accepted what he
considered his Dharma to keep going through the difficult times. The other
aspect is that Arjuna did not choose the war but his previous actions (karma)
have led him to be where he is. Just like what is said nowadays about how your
past makes you who you are today. Sometimes the battle is unavoidable given
past actions.

Sorry, probably too long a response :D but I genuinely had the same thought as
you when I first started reading about it but then did some further reading.
There's so much to dissect, from all sides, which is why I think it's one of
the greatest philosophical works written.

Interestingly enough, if you watch the first Matrix with the Bhagavad Gita in
mind, you'll notice _a lot_ of parallels in the hidden meaning of the Gita and
Hindu philosophy about what we consider 'real' and how life is an illusory. So
much so that the Matrix Revolutions soundtrack during the end fight is a
famous Sanskrit mantra from the Upanishads

asato ma sad gamaya

tamaso ma jyotir gamaya

mrtyor mamrtam gamaya

(From delusion lead me to truth

From darkness lead me to light

From death lead me to immortality) [2]

Imagine Neo is Arjun.... there is no spoon ;)

[0] [https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/when-
mahatma-g...](https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/when-mahatma-
gandhi-chided-hitler-and-called-his-actions-monstrous-1605346-2019-10-02)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb13ynu3Iac](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb13ynu3Iac)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A67OhOUoUsc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A67OhOUoUsc)

~~~
pmoriarty
Even if the war was unavoidable (which I don't think it was), Arjuna's
participation in it (which was the subject of the _Gita_ ) was not.

Arjuna had thrown down his weapons and refused to fight until Krishna
intervened with his godly arguments to make Arjuna fight despite his
disinclination to do so.

If Krishna had instead used his superhuman persuasiveness to argue for non-
violence to each of the war's participants, perhaps the entire war could have
been averted.

Regarding the Matrix and Hinduism, while there are undeniable parallels, and
while Hinduism might be able to lay claim to being the first major religion to
posit the illusionary nature of the world, there are also parallels to other
philosophies and religions.

For instance, one can see parallels between the Matrix and Plato's allegory of
the cave, and to Gnosticism.

Also, it's important to mention that Hinduism is not a single religion, but
might better be thought of as an umbella term for dozens if not hundreds of
different religions, some of which have radically different views.

~~~
keyP
Stopping the war was never the intention, that would betray the fundamental
lessons trying to be taught. In context of the story, the idea is that they
still have free will but it was a lesson to be learnt for both sides.

If there was a superhuman in real life who could avert all wars (literal and
metaphorical), that would be great, but we don't live in a world where we can
pray to fix away our problems (my humble opinion of course, not to offend
anyone). This sets a basis for the story upon which life lessons can be learnt
in the form of the Gita; fundamentally stating that time has no beginning or
end, therefore everything on the battlefield has come and gone, regardless of
your input in life (" I am death, the mighty destroyer of the world, out to
destroy. Even without your participation all the warriors standing arrayed in
the opposing armies shall cease to exist.").

I think it's why the book is so powerful, looking at a wiki list of people
it's influenced, a common theme is a day to day reference of spirituality more
than actual religion [0]

You're right, I didn't mean to imply it's the only philosophy or religion but
I would posit it's the largest. Also, the Matrix thing was just a flippant
offshoot but I never noticed until I heard them playing the Sanksrit shokla :D

Agreed, Hinduism is a catch all, often misunderstood. It's completely
different from Abrahamic religions from a fundamental point of view. You can
be any religion, or atheist, and still be a Hindu, in essence. Most (if not
all?) branches of Hinduism considers God to be the ultimate reality of which
we're all part of as opposed to an external entity, hence in the Gita,
Barbarika said Krishna was the one who one the battle despite not taking part
directly. Whether you use the Bible, or Vedic scriptures, to reach Moksha
(Englightenment) isn't prescribed, it's your journey.

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

------
f2000
"Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by Dr. David Burns.

If you've got even a hint of depression or anxiety this is a great resource.
Reading/understanding the "10 cognitive distortions" in this book is worth the
time for anyone, imho.

~~~
Dowwie
Burns said on his podcast that his sequel to this book, "Feeling Great", is
going to be published some time in 2020.

------
toomuchlove
Less, by Andrew Sean Greer. A really wonderful, light-hearted, hilarious novel
about self-worth. The writing reminds me of David Sedaris.

~~~
lsc
I read Less as part of my "read all the Pulitzer prize for fiction novels" and
I also enjoyed it quite a lot. "the road" might have been my favorite novel on
the list of pulitzer prizes in my lifetime.

------
kaycebasques
The Six Pillars Of Self-Esteem. Even if you think you already have high self-
esteem, there's no such thing as too much self-esteem. Someone here on HN
first made me aware of it. It's such a great framework for self improvement.
I've read it 3 or 4 times and did all of the exercises the first 2 times.

~~~
thomk
What was the result of doing so? I'm genuinely curious.

~~~
kaycebasques
I’m way more honest about my values and whether my actions align with those
values. When there’s an inconsistency between my actions and values I either
realize that the value is not actually a priority and I have the peace of mind
to let it go, or I’m motivated to change my actions to align with my values.

------
cynik_
I've been maintaining a list of books I've read over the past years at
[https://explog.in/books/list.html;](https://explog.in/books/list.html;) some
that come to mind –

1\. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett (this might actually be more than 10 years
ago, but I'll still list it) I really like this one because it emphasizes the
value of caring about the _core_ of anything instead of the _trappings_ that
will spring up around it. Keeping this book in mind reminds me to focus on the
thing instead of the appearance of the thing.

2\. On Writing Well, William Zinsser I'm a programmer, and I've often found
that improving my ability to write clearly translates directly to programming
well: On Writing Well is the best – and warmest – book I've read on writing
nonfiction.

3\. Incerto, NN Taleb This series forced me to revisit several assumptions.
Something that still resonates is valuing anything – particularly books – that
has aged well across several years, because it's clearly valuable; and to
discount the new shiny.

4\. The Pragmatic Programmer, Andy Hunt & David Thomas I started an open
source project in my 3rd year at college – as part of Google Summer of Code;
inevitably every release would break something and I started hungering for
skills that would let me create new releases _without_ breaking the world
every time. I stumbled across the pragmatic programmer in my 4th year, and
immediately started applying it on my project. This carried through to work
and helped me a lot early in my career.

5\. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering, Richard Hamming There are so
many gems in this book: from the emphasis on fermi numbers for quick
approximations, to a simple demonstration of the distance covered by a random
walk as opposed to the distance covered by choosing a direction, to asking the
question: "Am I working on the most important thing I could be? If not, why
not?". He also predicted that great programmers will have one thing in common
with great writers – clarity of thought.

There are some books I'm reading right now that I suspect will end up on this
list: Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (available at
[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-
intellig...](https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-
intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/psychology-of-intelligence-
analysis/PsychofIntelNew.pdf)) – for making better decisions with limited
data; and The Power of Choice – to allow me to pay attention to the non-
technical parts of doing valuable work.

~~~
kinow
Also a programmer, but have a copy of Zinsser's book next to me right now. Got
from local library a few days ago, and am really enjoying. My pull request
comments will hopefully become clearer, as well as company e-mails. Plus the
whole book is fun, especially when he talks about some writing style and you
realize he is starts using that style in the same paragraph/chapter.

------
navidr
The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Literally destroyed left wing
politics in my mind.

~~~
smitty1e
The whole left/right dichotomy is a bugaboo.

Politics is the continual friction between individuals and various groupings
of people.

~~~
dominotw
> various groupings of people.

why isn't left/right a valid grouping then?

~~~
mindcrime
Because there is no logical consistency to the attributes used to define each
grouping. They're just a hodgepodge of loosely related (at best) ideas. So a
lot of people simply don't fit in either category.

For example: I am absolutely pro-choice on the abortion issue. I am also
rabidly pro-gun on the second amendment issue. So do I fall into the "left"
bucket or the "right" bucket? The answer is "neither".

~~~
gherkinnn
You sound rather _liberal_ , in the literal sense.

~~~
mindcrime
To the extent that I care about, or claim any affiliation with any of these
terms, I could probably loosely be described as a "classical liberal". I don't
use the term much though, because most people don't appreciate the nuanced
distinction between that and the modern usage of "liberal" (at least here in
the US).

I'm also a little more radical than most people, and if I have to pick a label
for myself, I'm more likely to choose "voluntaryist", "anarcho-capitalist", or
"libertarian".

------
dinofacedude
Dune and Lord of the Rings. Both have such detail to their worlds that is
rarely done well in other works. On top of the world building, I enjoyed the
internal struggles that both Paul and Frodo had to go through to become better
people and achieve their goals

~~~
s_Hogg
It's amazing how Dune is becoming more and more relevant. Not because of any
dystopia thing, but because the fundamental issues it talks about (unstable
power systems, ecology and power, the right to sovereignty) are becoming more
and more mainstream. If they make another movie, I think it could potentially
do quite well.

~~~
seren
In case you don't already know they are actually working on a new version of a
Dune movie to be released in two parts, first movie at the end of 2020 IIRC,
directed by Denis Villeneuve

~~~
Havoc
Man I Hope that works out. The last attempt was just bizarre (the one with the
zebra striped starships)

------
nickburlett
I particularly enjoyed _Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity_ by
David Foster Wallace. It gave me a new appreciation of not only the last two
centuries of math, but also the english language and the abuse of sentence
structure, asides, and footnotes[1][2][3] for educational and entertainment
purposes.

[1] so

[2] many

[3] footnotes[a]

[a] Which, I must say, I found interesting and informative[b]

[b] If a bit excessively nested.

------
wvlia5
Introduction to Calculus Textbook, during 1st college year. Mindblown. True
enlightment. I got from it what I was looking for when researching religions
and philosophy as a teenager.

------
daxfohl
Nothing. I've read a bunch of them looking for some kind of enlightenment. I
can't say any of them were actually worth the time invested. I expect to be
downvoted, but this is truly what I feel. Read a couple of these books just to
confirm to yourself they're a waste, and go lead your own life.

~~~
daxfohl
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative
pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls
into lazy habits of thinking.

\--Albert Einstein

~~~
anoplus
Albert Einstein has some beautiful quotes. It reminds me the "imagination is
more important than knowledge" quote.

------
mrpotato
Fiction:

* Jack Reacher: I've read all but the latest one. I would recommend it if you liked the story in both movies.

* Discworld: I'm currently on The Truth. These books have been really entertaining and witty.

Non-Fiction:

* The Doors to Perception by Aldous Huxley: The book covers Aldous' thought about his experience while under the influence of mescaline.

edit: formatting

~~~
SamReidHughes
I'll add my opinion -- don't read Blue Moon (the latest one) as your first
Jack Reacher book. It's really bad, I want to pretend it's non-canon.

------
unlinked_dll
Nonfiction/history: Afghanistan, a Cultural and Political History

[https://www.amazon.com/Afghanistan-Cultural-Political-
Prince...](https://www.amazon.com/Afghanistan-Cultural-Political-Princeton-
Politics/dp/0691154414/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3MSSYMHHIVV6Y&keywords=afghanistan&qid=1577594094&s=books&sprefix=afghani%2Caps%2C204&sr=1-3)

The author is one of the leading American scholars on Afghanistan and provides
fascinating and pertinent insight into the history of Afghanistan. Highly
recommend if you want to understand how and why Afghanistan came to exist as
it does today, and to gain insight and respect for its people, culture, their
struggles, and the geopolitical significance of Afghanistan.

------
mustangerang
* Red Rising (series) by Pierce Brown * Stormlight Archive (series) by Brandon Sanderson * The Three-Body Problem (series) by Cixin Liu * Malazan Book of the Fallen (series) by Steven Erikson

Why all fiction? No matter how much I read about the human mind or current
affairs or computer science or quantum physics or ..., there is no deeper,
more lasting feeling in my soul than finishing an epic tale that has grabbed
every ounce of my attention. So much fun, so many characters and plot twists
and emotions and gains and losses. I loved every second reading these books
and they have restored my faith in modern writing. Well done.

------
void_nill
\- The Mysterium: David Bramwell, Jo Keeling

\- Digital Minimalism: Cal Newport

\- How Democracies Die: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt

\- How to Disappear: Akiko Bush

\- Bullshit Jobs: David Graeber

\- Its basic Income: Amy Downes and Stewart Lansley

\- Utopia for Realists: Rutger Bergman

\- Human Rigths and the uses of History, Samuel Moyn

\- Too much Stuff: Kozo Yamamura

------
sevensor
_Howard 's End_. From observations on the alienating experience of automobile
travel, to the nature of the corporation, to the precarious lot of the low-end
knowledge worker, _Howard 's End_ feels shockingly, jarringly modern. I'm
fascinated by the character of Leonard Bast and his almost self-destructive
pursuit of self-improvement. HN likes to recommend "The Machine Stops," but if
you think everything else Forster wrote is just costume drama, you're missing
out.

------
qznc
I read a lot of fanfiction in the last years. On the downside the writing is
less polished. On the upside it is free and non-mainstream.

I was influenced by Eliezer Yudkowsky and his take on rationality. His
fanfiction "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" serves as a nice
introduction. [http://www.hpmor.com/](http://www.hpmor.com/)

Worm by John McCrae is an epic superhero/villain story. Consider it Game of
Thrones in the superhero genre. With 16 million words it is a really long
story. For comparison, the Harry Potter series is 10 million words.

The Metropolition Man by Alexander Wales is also in the superhero genre, but
turns it on its head. Lex Luthor is the hero standing up against Superman.

The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov does the same to Lord of the Rings. It
effectively becomes a fantasy spy thriller.

These three are great stories that show how good and evil are a point of view.
An important lesson to learn in a time when US and China are increasingly
hostile. Since HN is american, China might be compared to Mordor and Xi
Jinping to Lux Luthor. Fiction stories may help you to at least imagine that
they consider themselves as the good guys.

Accelerando by Charles Stross turns the concept of technological singularity
into a well-written story. As the story spans a looong timespan and shows how
humanity antiquates itself, it makes you feel small in a good sense.

~~~
Wildgoose
I'd like to second the suggestion of "The Last Ringbearer" which is indeed
brilliantly iconoclastic, and I say that as someone who considers The Lord of
the Rings as my favourite work of fiction.

------
mansilladev
The Forum on KQED (radio) had a great program on this very topic — best books
of the decade, with a broad set of recommendations by panelists and callers.

Website link below has whole program for listening (I recommend), as well as a
published list of all recommendations:

[https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101874704/tell-us-your-
favori...](https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101874704/tell-us-your-favorite-
books-of-the-decade)

------
adamlangsner
JR by William Gaddis. It's about an 11 year old boy who creates and operates
multinational conglomerate from a phonebooth in the late 60s early 70s. This
book is a satire of capitalism. It has a unique writing style with no chapters
or even paragraphs. It moves fluidly between narration and dialogue even
within the same sentence. And it has no breaks between scenes, it's like
birdman: one long tracking shot with no jump cuts. The writing style is meant
to convey the chaos of capitalism and makes it really difficult to read (for
example you don't always know who's talking and people talk over each other a
lot). But it's totally worth it and really funny.

Despite it being a satire and taking capital allocation and tax avoidance to
absurd extremes it actually imparted on me a better appreciation of what it is
to run a business from a finance perspective (I have a software background and
find myself too focused on product at the expense of focusing on the entire
business)

I also recently read The Outsiders, that new book about 8 CEOs that are great
at capital allocation and created incredibly high returns for shareholders.
The Outsiders is almost like a real life serious version of JR.

------
rapper
I skimmed through the answers and didn't find anything to do with math. To
anyone interested in math, what math text/books and papers of the decade
seemed the most interesting to you?

As far as fiction, this decade I discovered Peter Watts, Ted Chiang and Clive
Barker. Now I am obsessed with horror and sci-fi in the style of these
authors. If you are into these genres (and possibly authors), who/what blew
you away this decade? Thanks.

~~~
andrewf
You may like Alastair Reynolds, he does hard scifi infused with elements of
horror and space opera. He doesn't tear down his characters' minds to the
degree Peter Watts does.

~~~
zwilliamson
I just finished Revelation Space and really enjoyed it.

------
CosmicShadow
These books really challenge your thinking or force you to think hard and/or
see things through another lens. They are also really good reads that are very
hard to put down.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality Firefall series by Peter Watts
(Blindsight & Echopraxia) Axiomatic by Greg Egan N.N. Taleb's books

These are all books I had seen written about in previous HN threads like this
and ended up reading, so glad I did!

------
Pelam
"The Known World" By Edward P. Jones, Historical fiction about former slaves
who own slaves, [https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/edward-p-
jones](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/edward-p-jones)

"Your Brain At work" \- Practical insight into how emotions affect thinking,
limitations of cognition, etc.
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6899290-your-brain-at-
wo...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6899290-your-brain-at-work)

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

Finally, if you happen to be Finnish: "Alastalon Salissa", A novel ahead of
its time. Not translated unfortunately, but should be.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastalon_salissa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastalon_salissa)

------
cs702
Let me add two books that are among the best I've ever read:

* "Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress Hardcover," by Steven Pinker -- even if you disagree with him about some things (for example, on principle), the book is really worth a slow, careful read.

* "The Better Angels of Our Nature," also by Steven Pinker -- in many ways, this is a precursor to the above book, and also worth a careful read. In particular, I found it eye-opening to learn how much everyday violence human beings have inflicted on each other throughout history, and how remarkably non-violent most lives are today, by comparison, in more developed economies.

~~~
JoeMayoBot
I enjoyed Enlightenment Now. In a world where people and news media
continually speculate or imply that things are getting worse, he makes a
strong case that the opposite is true and the world is actually getting
better.

------
yesbabyyes
I just finished reading Edward Snowden's Permanent Record. I'm really
impressed. So much of the first part about his youth had parallels to my own.
The writing was clear and honest, and he really hits home how the US, or
rather the "West", has changed.

It also made me curious to read Ellsberg–his "Limits of knowledge" chapter is
a marvellous read.

------
santa_boy
The Mind Illuminated (from HN), Non-Violent Communication, Antifragile, Atomic
Habits and The Growth Mindset come to my mind immediately

------
saurabhsharan
* The Origin of Wealth * Elephant in the Brain * A Random Walk Down Wall Street * Why Buddhism Is True * Digital Minimalism

------
jdkee
How to Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan.

Turing's Vision: The Birth of Computer Science, Chris Bernhardt.

The Peripheral, William Gibson.

Lila, Robert Pirsig. (re-read)

------
adampk
The Three Body Problem

Changed the scale I perceive existence

~~~
zwilliamson
An epic story that goes far beyond hard sci-fi. The 3 book series takes a bit
of time to finish, but is well worth it.

------
sneak
I’ve really come to love Banks’ Culture series. It’s from two decades back,
but I am just reading them this year.

------
dyukqu
Jane Austen was the first author to came to my mind as I saw this thread. I've
read two of her books (Sense and Sensibility & Pride and Prejudice) ~2 years
ago. What they made me realise was that people are not absolutely good or
absolutely bad. Human character consists of so many _gray areas_ (as americans
or... I don't know... english-speaking world puts it), it's not like
black/white.

The second one is _Science and Method_ by Henri Poincare. I'm not in a
position to fully understand and appreciate this book, but I just want to
share a few quotes[0] that stood out for me when I read it:

" _The subliminal ego is in no way inferior to the conscious ego; it is not
purely automatic; it is capable of discernment; it has tact and lightness of
touch; it can select, and it can divine. More than that, it can divine better
than the conscious ego, since it succeeds where the latter fails. In a word,
is not the subliminal ego superior to the conscious ego?_ "

" _Under this second aspect, all the combinations are formed as a result of
the automatic action of the subliminal ego, but those only which are
interesting find their way into the field of consciousness. This, too, is most
mysterious. How can we explain the fact that, of the thousand products of our
unconscious activity, some are invited to cross the threshold, while others
remain outside? Is it mere chance that gives them this privilege? Evidently
not._ "

" _All the difficulties, however, have not disappeared. The conscious ego is
strictly limited, but as regards the subliminal ego, we do not know its
limitations, and that is why we are not too loth to suppose that in a brief
space of time it can form more different combinations than could be comprised
in the whole life of a conscient being._ "

[0][https://archive.org/stream/sciencemethod00poinuoft/scienceme...](https://archive.org/stream/sciencemethod00poinuoft/sciencemethod00poinuoft_djvu.txt)

------
roadbeats
\- Orhan Pamuk - My Name is Red (Nobel Prize Winner, 2006)

\- Daniel J. Levitin - Organized Mind

\- Shunryu Suzuki - Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

------
icos
"Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting" by Noël Janis-Norton was the most helpful
parenting book for me. Includes the main principle to replace punishment with
descriptive praise and teaches lots of other methods to improve relationships
with your children.

------
fortran77
1\. Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to
the Politics of Meaning by Jonah Goldberg

2\. The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek

3\. Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell

4\. An American Life by Ronald Reagan

5\. The Rust Programming Language by Steve Kablink

~~~
richk449
Interested in why you consider liberal fascism one of the best books of the
decade - it left me very disappointed. He had me going with how Wilson and FDR
were fascists, but then he got to recent history, and used the same arguments
to make the case that Clinton was a fascist. I lived through Clinton - that’s
when I realized that Goldberg was telling one side of the story - it was the
usual partisan BS.

Such a shame to do that much research, and then use it not to inform, but to
score political points.

~~~
fortran77
It was tongue-and-cheek knock at Rust people and their fascism /
totalitarianism

~~~
richk449
Oh, ha. The joke went completely over my head. Now that I get it, I’m having a
good laugh.

Sorry.

------
jaxOLantern
Zen mind beginner’s mind: Highly recommended to anyone interested in
meditation. Helped me understand the non-goal aspect of the practice.

Gravity’s rainbow: Not the easiest read but immensely rewarding. For better or
worse some of Pynchon’s vivid descriptions are burned into my soul.

Crime and punishment: I’m not into literature but this one is worth it. A
great dive into human psychology.

Deliverance: intense story, read it in one night. Not sure it taught me much
but man it is good.

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Great insights on
the way ideology and politics work.

Wasted time on a bunch of self help books. Most tips contained in these
require you to accept yourself and the world to be applicable. And that’s the
hardest bit...

~~~
Kaibeezy
I read _Crime and Punishment_ last year and found it incredibly disappointing,
considering its massive reputation. Simpletons, idiots, caricatures, buffoons
and victims performing lots of hand-wringing, posturing, dithering, swooning
and assorted drama. Hard to identify with or care about any of them. Call it
entertainment, but I prefer Dickens.

~~~
jaxOLantern
I understand what you mean, the insight on the mind of a murderer is what kept
me going. I found the same unecessary drama/silliness while reading "The
Master and Margarita", maybe it's a Russian writing style.

~~~
Kaibeezy
_Master and Margarita_ was on my list, maybe it will stay there a while.

For insight into the minds of murderers x 4.5 billion + a few, I just finished
Iain Banks' _Look to Windward_. I didn't think I saw what was coming when it
came, but then at the end, I realized I knew it was there all along.

The Culture series is underrepresented on this thread. Hello, Contact?
Whenever it's convenient to send a module, I'm ready to go.

------
Jill_the_Pill
Winners Take All -- Anand Giridharadas

Weapons of Math Destruction -- Cathy O'Neil

Race After Technology -- Ruha Benjamin

------
thisisit
Two books: 1\. Straight Line Leadership:
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11556152-straight-
line-l...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11556152-straight-line-
leadership)

Still going through the chapters and it is illuminating.

2\. 12 Week Year: [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10009377-the-12-week-
yea...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10009377-the-12-week-year)

Some might find it very basic but I found that breaking my intentions to 3
months and tracking them has helped me see what I want and where I want to go.

------
zwilliamson
The Three-Body Problem series by Chixin Liu

* The Three-Body Problem * The Dark Forest * Death's End

Expanded my perception of life, death, love, time and our potential purpose,
via some very well written fiction (space opera style). Chixin Liu nailed it!

~~~
croo
My problem was with the books is the lack of depths of characters as the story
moves forward - at the end they become mere tools to tell the impossible
future. But there are astoundig amounts of fascinating ideas and theories in
the books it's well worth the read - it became one of my favourite sci-fi next
to Solaris.

If you can, read it without any previous info - there are big spoilers in
almost every description of the book.

------
memn0nis
Not that much fiction in this thread, so I will add A Fine Balance by Rohintin
Mistry. It's the saddest book I've ever read but incredibly beautiful. I
couldn't stop thinking about it for months

------
dlkf
Reference and Existence - Saul Kripke

These lectures were given in 1973 but they weren't properly published until 7
years ago. Kripke was probably the most influential philosopher of language of
the second half of the past century. Reference and Existence is largely about
how to talk about fictional entities and empty names. Kripke's philosophy is a
really nice demonstration of applying rigorous logical thought to domains
outside math/science, without getting mired in over-engineered abstractions
and mathturbation.

------
jrs235
The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product
Development [http://amzn.to/2DK6kVP](http://amzn.to/2DK6kVP)

~~~
jacobkg
Incredible book!

------
matwood
Musashi - This is _the_ classic Samurai novel. The lessons about life and
finding my path shaped me probably more than any book I've ever read.

Extreme Ownership - As I have advanced in my career, it became clear that
leadership and communication are the keys to success. EO (and related books by
the same author) provides so many varied benefits, but the largest for me was
to detach, check my ego, and control my emotions. Thinking in this manner has
literally changed every relationship I have for the better.

------
ikeboy
Lifecycle investing, for the core insight that one should include human
capital when determining how much of your capital you can risk, and why
leverage early in your career is advisable.

------
corbyn_james
It's for about 10 years. I think that I can highlight Chuck Palahniuk
"Ghosts", John Ajvide Lindqvist "Låt den rätte komma in" and "Människohamn".

------
cdr6934
Here are my favorites for the decade:

Never Split the Difference -
[https://amzn.to/2sAfLGj](https://amzn.to/2sAfLGj)

Bad Blood - [https://amzn.to/2F4IW71](https://amzn.to/2F4IW71)

The Alchemist - [https://amzn.to/356NRyV](https://amzn.to/356NRyV)

The Hard Thing About Hard Things -
[https://amzn.to/39mLs6t](https://amzn.to/39mLs6t)

------
textread
\- Hackers and Painters - Paul Graham

\- Masters of Doom

\- Mastering Emacs

------
catchmeifyoucan
I found The Alchemist to be pretty influential on following your “personal
legend”. Great book if deep down you want to do something and are putting it
off.

------
mjrbrennan
The best books I've read in the last decade (that I can remember, I've only
been keeping reading lists since ~2015) are mostly important because they have
contributed to my inspiration and style as a writer.

* The Road - Cormac McCarthy

* Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

* No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy

* On Writing - Stephen King

* 11/22/63 - Stephen King

* The Stand - Stephen King

* Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson

* East of Eden - John Steinbeck

* Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion

* In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

------
andersthue
The Anatomy of Peace, it has the power to change your mindset, it has helped
me and others getting out of being stuck, reconnecting me with a more true
purpose and helped me be a better programmer, father and friend.

Of course it is hard work, but the underlying principle it teaches is so
powerful, that as long as I keep practicing that, i seem to improve in all the
important areas of my life.

------
2color
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World

By David Deutsch

In the book he details his theory of everything. Quite ambitious and very
thought provoking.

------
orasis
Mating in Captivity - Esther Perel

She takes a post-modern stance on creating relationships that work rather than
just following society’s prescribed path.

------
draklor40
Fooled by Randomness. i picked it up from my friend's dad's bookshelf in
2010/2011 by pure chance. Best decision ever.

~~~
rantwasp
some may say that it was randomness

~~~
draklor40
It was. Just like how most Wall street traders make their money :P.

------
juddlyon
Essentialism - Greg McKeown

Deep Work - Cal Newport

Value-Based Fees - Alan Weiss

Technology Strategy Patterns - Eben Hewitt

The Road Less Stupid - Keith J Cunningham

The Business of Expertise - David C Baker

Atomic Habits - James Clear

------
alexcnwy
“Radical Markets” by Glen Weyl and Eric Posner

------
tripu
The first 26 books here (the ones I've given ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in Goodreads):

[https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/64930929-tripu?utf8=%E...](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/64930929-tripu?utf8=%E2%9C%93&shelf=read&sort=rating&title=tripu&per_page=26)

------
s3nnyy
Everything from Nassim Taleb, basically "the incerto", his four books are
basically one book ([https://www.amazon.com/Incerto-Fooled-Randomness-
Procrustes-...](https://www.amazon.com/Incerto-Fooled-Randomness-Procrustes-
Antifragile/dp/0399590455/))

~~~
gotoeleven
I'm not sure why everyone is so excited about Taleb. Whatever wisdom there is
in it is buried in page after page of bizarre chest thumping and silly
stories. Reading it gives me a constant feeling of "ok he's finally going to
get to his point.." but he never does. I'd recommend reading one book before
buying the whole stupid boxed set. If you want mine you can have it!

~~~
charliepinto
May I have your entire stupid boxed set, please?

~~~
gotoeleven
Sure let me know where to send it.

------
ddsea
\- _Sapiens_ by Yuval Noah Harari - I really liked his views on transformation
of happiness throughout history.

\- _Babi Yar_ (full version) by Anatoly Kuznetsov - after my discovery that
the version I've read earlier was heavily censored.

\- _The Checklist Manifesto_ by Atul Gawande

\- _Collapse_ and _The World Until Yesterday_ by Jared Diamond

------
vforissi
\- Hpmor, from Yudkowsky the guy who created the ML Research Institute, simply
one of the funniest and smartest book I ever read.

\- Martin Eden, a great tragic adventure from the late 19th century about a
poor smart guy from the slums who tries to make his riches as a writer

\- The Moon is Harsh Mistress, Elon’s favorite sci-fi books

\- Foundation by Asimov

\- Homo Deus by Harari

\- Principles by Ray Dalio

------
DoreenMichele
Salt Dreams

Water For A Thirsty Land

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/water-for-a-thirsty-land-
the-...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/water-for-a-thirsty-land-the-
consolidated-irrigation-district-and-its-canal-development-
history/oclc/36954078&referer=brief_results)

------
marcandre
Not yet mentioned: Come As You Are (Emily Nagoski). Sexuality book written for
women that should be read by all.

------
philefstat
Let my people go surfing - Yvon Chouinard

------
dustingetz
For founders: #1 is Oren Klaff Pitch Anything. Then: Crossing the Chasm, Zero
to One, Blitzscaling, Never Split the Difference, Oversubscribed: A Founders
Guide to Seed Fundraising, Exactly What To Say: The Magic Words for Influence
and Impact, Miracle Morning, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

~~~
steveeq1
"Never Split the Difference" is a negotiation book with what I feel are
manipulative and dirty tricks. HNer's should definately read it so you can
recognize the common techniques negotiators, salesmen, and lawyers use in
their jobs. It will help prevent you from being taken advantage of in a
situation like that.

But for god sakes, don't employ these techniques yourself.

------
FrankZappa42
Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, this book changed the way I relate to others
and made me more empathetic.

------
diego_moita
* Information: A history, a theory, a flood - James Gleick

* Sapiens - Yuval Harari

* Thinking, fast and slow - Daniel Kahneman

* Power of Habit - Charles Duhig

------
Klonoar
Habeas Data, by Cyrus Farivar. Examines the history of privacy-related law in
the USA - hard to put down once you start reading.

[https://www.mhpbooks.com/books/habeas-
data/](https://www.mhpbooks.com/books/habeas-data/)

------
type0
__Ishmael __by Daniel Quinn

------
martinrlzd
_80,000 Hours: Find a fulfilling career that does good_ by Benjamin Todd
definitely had the biggest impact on my life (and therefore hopefully on many
others as well). To know that I can save quite a few lives throughout my
career gave my life a somewhat deeper sens

------
sajonara
Bernard Werber‘s Trilogy of the Ants.

------
tony
I wrote a book on tmux, if you are interested in getting into the shell more:
[https://leanpub.com/the-tao-of-tmux/read](https://leanpub.com/the-tao-of-
tmux/read) (free to read online)

While it may not be the most important, if you've been meaning to up your
terminal game and want a bit more dexterity when shuffling between panes, tmux
and vim are a good area to invest time in [1]

Personality theories:

Textbooks in this area. Affordable on Amazon if you get them used, some are
also on kindle but pricey.

 _An Introduction to Theories of Personality: 7th Edition_ by Robert B. Ewen
is so good.

They can be used as sampler to springboard into areas of psychology you like.
The material in this space - normally in paper books - is fantastic. It's
totally normal to read through material from 50-70+ years ago.

[1] Not the configuration part, though. That's where the timesink is. Try to
be basic as possible with vim configs. `vimtutor` is nice to play with.

~~~
roydivision
I’ve yet to find a better workflow than tmux + vim + other terminal tools. The
work I put into it has paid off a thousand times. I’d really like the whole os
gui to work like tmux.

~~~
chubot
Yeah me too, I've been using tmux + vim + shell for 10-15 years and still
going strong.

Tiling window managers like i3 are supposed to make the whole OS work like
tmux. I tried i3 and a few others once but somehow never got into them.

I'm not sure why but maybe it's worth another try. On the other hand I think
there are 10% of tasks that are just easier to do with a mouse.

[https://i3wm.org/](https://i3wm.org/)

I think those window managers are much easier to use with a keyboard, but
harder to use with a mouse, which isn't always a win.

But yeah I think doing 90% of my programming tasks with the keyboard is
reasonable; it doesn't need to be 100%.

------
MayDaniel
I'm not too sure which books have influenced me the most this decade, but I
just wrote up my favourites from this year [https://danielmay.io/2019-in-
books](https://danielmay.io/2019-in-books)

------
DavidPiper
Lots of great recommendations here. I'll add the Wayfarers series by Becky
Chambers:

\- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

\- A Closed and Common Orbit

\- Record of a Spaceborn Few

(Her more recent "To Be Taught, If Fortunate" is unrelated to the series but
also a great read.)

EDIT: Formatting.

------
russdpale
_The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land_ by
Thomas Asbridge. A modern scholarly and critical look at one of the most
fascinating times in human history that even beginners can understand.

------
hellectronic
Bible - Beginning with the New Testament, because the teachings of Jesus are
inspiring every time I read them and show me everytime something deeper.

No it did and does not make me "religious" but gives me faith.

~~~
downerending
Don't miss Ecclesiastes. It's fascinating and heartening in a way to realize
that someone thousands of years ago was struggling with the essential
questions of our existence. Why is life hard, unsatisfying, and filled with
sorrow? How is one to deal with this?

(There are paraphrases available that might be more accessible for first-
timers.)

------
phkahler
Faith, Hope, and Fury by Laura Antonelli. It's an erotic psychological
thriller. I kept thinking it was partly based on the authors own experiences,
and then she ended her life in 2019.

------
axegon_
* The Brain by David Eagleman

* Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

* A Universe From Nothing by Lawrence Krauss

------
james_niro
Dare to Lead -Rene Brown

Fooled by randomness- Nassim T

Principle - Ray Dalio

Drive - D Pink

The Laws of Human Nature -R Greene

Influence- Robert Cialdini

21st lessons for 21st century - Y. Harari

Why we sleep -M. Walker

Skin in the Game - Nassim T. Social Animal - David B.

Einstein - Isaacson

Steve Jobs - Isaacson

Blink - malcolm gladwell

Outlier - malcolm gladwell

The tipping point - malcolm gladwell

Game of Throne series

------
sien
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are
Better Than You Think - by Hans Rosling.

Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933 - by Anne Applebaum.

Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Phillip Tetlock.

The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by
David Epstein.

~~~
wenc
Here's an update of the ideas found in Superforecasting

[https://commoncog.com/blog/how-the-superforecasters-do-
it/](https://commoncog.com/blog/how-the-superforecasters-do-it/)

------
sootville
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinburg, its a LGBTQ book about a trans woman
living in 1970s America, but I learned more about life and who I wanted to be
from it.

------
davidandgoliath
Second-most would be `this naked mind` by Annie Grace (wrt: alcohol).

Edit: Crud, `why we sleep` was easily my first, but I'm now digging into the
potential debunking of it.

~~~
guzey
If you're interested in the clearest example of deliberate data manipulation,
feel free scroll down directly to section 18: [https://guzey.com/books/why-we-
sleep/#appendix-what-do-you-d...](https://guzey.com/books/why-we-
sleep/#appendix-what-do-you-do-when-a-part-of-the-graph-contradicts-your-
argument-you-cut-it-out-of-course)

Once you have such an obvious example of Walker deliberately fudging the data,
all of the other points I make will read differently.

------
aprdm
Both sapiens and The art of happiness were great books I've read.

Sapiens made history very interesting, I loved the idea behind our species
being able to believe in the concept of a Created Myth( capitalism ,
companies, money, socialism, religion) as the main thing that made homo
sapiens thrive.

The view of empires as not something bad and how they shaped our world of
today and we essentially living in a global empire as well was a great point.

Buddhism is truly incredible and while I don't consider myself a Buddhist I
have very similar approach to life.

Having a western psychologist/ researcher having conversations on topics about
suffering, happiness, death, loneliness with Dalai Lama and how their separate
views of the world interacted was awesome.

------
undefined_user6
_Wherever you go, there you are_ by Jon Kabat-Zin

 _Meditations_ by Marcus Aurelius

Neither were written this decade but they influenced my worldview the most, by
far.

------
thunga
Decision Making : Decisive

Management & Leadership : High Output Management, Presence Based Leadership,
Leaders Guide to Story Telling & Dare to Lead

~~~
thunga
Personal Development : Power of Full Engagement

------
baristaGeek
Best business books:

-Secrets of Sandhill Road

-Hackers and Painters

-The Great CEO within

-Venture Deals

-Predictable Revenue

-Zero to One

-The Hard Thing About Hard Things

-Lean customer development

-Lost and founder

-Lean B2B

-From Impossible to Inevitable

-Traction

Best computer science books:

-Competitive programming 3

-Structure and interpretation of computer programs

Best for fun (non-fiction):

-Meditations

-Sapiens

-How to win friends and influence people

-A brief history of time

-Self-reliance

-Frente a la estrella polar

------
qntmfred
The Lights in the Tunnel by Martin Ford

Race Against The Machine by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee

The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang

------
elproxy
I feel _Oil, Power and War_ by Matthieu Auzanneau would deserve more
publicity. (Edit: italicized)

------
cordaciu
1.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

2.Looking for Alaska

3.Blindness

4.Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival

5.The Martian

6.Never Let Me Go

------
natmaka
"The Breakdown of Nations", by Leopold Kohr

It clearly shows why huge human groups aren't adequate.

------
gdubs
The Rise and Fall of American Growth

Sapiens

The Universe in a Single Atom

Reality is not what it seems

The Organized Mind

The Power of Habit

Zen Mind Beginners Mind

Restoration Agriculture

A Random Walk on Wall Street

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying-up

------
Maximus9000
Not much fiction in here:

* Ender's game

* Children of time

* Kingkiller Chronicle (series)

* Skyward

~~~
zwilliamson
Children of Time and Children of Ruin were excellent reads

------
benjaminsuch
Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince

------
slickrick216
The Troy rising trilogy by John Ringo. An excellent military science fiction
book with a Libertarian lean. My favourite is the first in the trilogy called
live free or die. Basically tells the story of how to bootstrap a whole world.
Pays homage to a lot of other science fiction. If you complete this trilogy
and are left wanting more then I suggest the legacy of the Aldenata and the
black tide rising series.

American nations by Colin Woodward. Great book to understand the historical
underpinnings of different regions in America.

Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons (who wrote Hyperion). Great horror scifi book
with a nice concept. Fairly long though.

Thwarting enemies at home and abroad by William R Johnson. If you like spy
novels or it’s text book albeit somewhat dated now likely on counter
espionage.

On technical books I read the Linux programming interface by Michael Kerrisk.
Really interesting incredibly detailed Linux book and always a great
reference. Find myself keeping going back to it.

Ready player one the book by Ernest Cline. Way different than the movie. I
actually preferred it as the movie justifiability leaves a lot out and
condenses the story.

------
tspike
Wisdom Sits in Places by Keith Basso.

If anyone knows similar books, please please point me to them.

------
charlietango592
Thinking fast and slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Sapiens - A short history of humankind, by Yuval Harari

------
photon_lines
\- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Great overview of how we got here
and how our shared 'delusions' keep us where where we are).

\- Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days (Great interviews by
incredibly successful start up founders. Lesson 1: determination was the
number one predictor of start up success. Lesson 2: most of the founders had
no idea on how huge some of the companies would become nor the huge amounts of
revenue their ideas would generate. Their number one focus was always grounded
in solving a problem or delivering something great; everything else was
secondary.)

\- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Great crime story. It shows how small
things can make a big difference. A seemingly inconsequential and small prison
event where a man spreads a rumor about a family having lots of wealth in
their household leads to a series of robberies which nightmares are made of.
Completely true story and incredibly well written by Mr. Capote. It convinced
me that life is ruled by chaos. Small things and seemingly small events play a
vital role in determining its outcome).

\- The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child
Psychiatrist's Notebook (Amazing book showing that a lot of personality
disorders stem from childhood trauma / experiences).

\- Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (Great
overall book on UI design which definitely had an effect on how I approach
designing user interfaces).

\- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Great thoughts from a great mind).

\- How to Develop Superpower Memory by Harry Loraine (Great advice on how to
drastically improve your memory using your visual cortex – as well as a great
general overview of the methodology current world memory champions use to
remember large volumes of information).

\- Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger (Worldly
wisdom from one of the world’s greatest investors).

\- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
(Great thoughts and advice from Carl Sagan. The last chapter had a profound
effect on the way I think of the US constitution).

\- The Things They Carried (Great novel about the hell of war, as well as
incredible prose writing).

\- Mindfulness in Plain English (Great book about mindfulness meditation).

\- My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson (Great
teachings and stories from the grand master of hypnosis).

\- How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and
Reverse Disease (Great book with great advice on healthy eating).

\- Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (It taught
me how incredibly important exercise is when it comes to brain development /
general health. If you could bottle its effects in a pill form, people would
pay hundreds of dollars to unlock the incredible stuff it delivers).

\- A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating
and Imaginative Art Form (Great overview of what’s wrong with the current
state of mathematics and the way that its taught. I completely agree with with
the sentiment and the message).

------
mcguire
_Zones of Control_ by Pat Harrigan and Matthew G. Kirschenbaum.

------
dr_j_
Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom -- truly inspirational

------
voisin
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

------
zaporozhets
A business and its beliefs by Thomas Watson Jr. Seriously great.

------
mindcrime
I'd have to go back through my Goodreads list to see exactly which books that
I read which fell into this decade versus another. But of the stuff that I've
ready pretty recently, the couple that jump to mind immediately are:

 _Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid_ by Douglas Hofstadter

 _Thinking: Fast and Slow_ by Daniel Kahneman

 _The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won 't Learn in College About
How to Be Successful_ by Michael Ellsberg

I'm almost sure it was slightly over a decade ago, but I'll go ahead and throw
in a mention of _The Four Steps to the Epiphany_ by Steve Blank. I consider it
one of the most influential books I've read, period.

Also, in terms of fiction, I'd add

 _Permutation City_ by Greg Egan, and the Foundation Trilogy by Asimov (that
one's cheating a little as that was a re-read, but they are still very good).

~~~
Rerarom
I also reread Foundation recently and realized an underlooked aspect of it:
beyond the psychohistory and the mentalics, it is perhaps the best look at how
the future of nuclear tech was perceived by the sci-fi mainstream before
Hiroshima.

~~~
evgen
The Foundation series was from the 50s, it was not pre-Hiroshima.

~~~
Rerarom
It was published in Astounding starting in 1942. It was later reedited in book
form in the 1950s.

------
lucb1e
Factfulness is the most impactful book I've ever read.

It's about making decisions based on facts rather than feelings and setting a
few common misconceptions straight. Such as that the world is going to shit
(we've been doing great in reducing worldsuck), violence is increasing (it's
not), that most people on the planet don't get vaccinated (globally, 90% of
one-year-olds have some vaccination), etc. It provides practical methods to
understand better how things work, for example the graph of world population
growing exponentially in the past century is something that looks
unsustainable, but the truth is that it's slowing down (I think many people
know this nowadays, the book is already showing its age two years down the
road) and that families are getting smaller when health increases,
irrespective of religion or geographical location.

Of course, we have an absolute emergency regarding our CO2 emissions and the
ongoing 6th extinction event, that's not what this book is about. The book
just shows we've been doing great and how to get a better sense of reality and
what's important. I think it's a positive and helpful foundation for putting
the current status of humans on this planet into perspective.

In fact I think it would be really good if everyone did read this book. I've
made a preview that includes part of the first chapter that you can use to
make a decision whether this book is something for you, send me an email if
you want to take a look (not sharing publicly because it's in the grey area of
fair use). I'm also willing to help with the purchasing price if you can't
afford it, somehow non English versions are twice as expensive. Note that I
have zero affiliation with the author or anything, I just think everyone
should read this material.

\-----

On the fiction side, The Martian is my all time favorite. It's very
entertaining, clever, and even educative if you like to learn about space
stuff.

If you enjoy that, you'll probably also enjoy The Expanse (last, 9th, book is
coming out next winter probably).

A little bit further out but also a similar genre are the books from Daniel
Suarez, all of which I can recommend as well, though not all of his books are
from the last decade.

Edit: just found another comment about factfulness, it's accurate:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21902411](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21902411)

~~~
emodendroket
This is the first I heard of Factfulness, but I have heard some similar
arguments before. My question though, is: does it really matter? Are people in
the Rust Belt going to be mollified by the revelation that, on average
globally, life is much better? Or are they going to compare themselves with
their parents and conclude that the world is going to hell regardless of what
the averages say? Is the latter response unreasonable? These questions seem to
be of urgent import in many democracies around the world.

------
nabeards
Tangent: doesn’t the decade end at the end of next year?

~~~
Balgair
Vertasium on YT has a good speil as to why, _technically_ , you are correct
but why you are not:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm9CQn07OjU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm9CQn07OjU)

1 min mark

------
entropyneur
_Rationality: From AI to Zombies_ by Eliezer Yudkowsky - Despite its many
flaws, it seems to be the single most intellectually empowering book I've ever
read.

 _The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are_ by Alan Watts - Gave me
spirituality without supernatural beliefs that I can lean on when all else
fails. (Someone else mentioned _The Wisdom of Insecurity_ by the same author,
it works just as well)

 _Atlas Shrugged_ by Ayn Rand - I don't necessarily endorse it either as a
work of literature or philosophy, but it gave me a little push that ultimately
sent me on a very deep journey exploring my ethical beliefs.

------
leet_thow
Earth Abides (50s post-apocalyptic set in the Bay Area)

Blood Meridian

Lord of the Flies

Deliverance

------
seymores
Being Happy, by Andrew Matthews.

------
aloukissas
A few stand out:

\- Vagabonding (Potts): made me travel more than ever

\- Steve Jobs (Isaacson): amazing life story, beautifully described

\- The Mom Test: required reading for any young founder/PM IMO, I've gifted
this more than any other book

\- It doesn't have to be crazy at work (DHH/Fried): best advice on how to run
a company in a sustainable way to maximize team happiness & output

\- Masters of Doom: epically entertaining, super nostalgic

------
larl
Why evolution is true. Coyne.

------
zwieback
Villette by Charlotte Bronte

------
look_lookatme
2666

------
iamthelord
Saga of the swamp thing

------
james_niro
The Laws of Human Nature

Love this book

------
anaphor
Most of mine are going to be books by philosophers or scientists (about
philosophy or other things).

\- The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell was a pretty good one. He has
a lot of ideas that were ahead of their time (positive psychology, etc). You
can see a lot of parallels between his ideas and modern Stoicism (although
Russell criticized it elsewhere, I think he came to some of the same
conclusions).

\- Introduction To Mathematical Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. Another
Russell one. I think this is probably the clearest and easiest to understand
explanation I've ever read of the underpinnings of mathematical foundations.
It's written in a style that should be accessible to almost anyone with a high
school education. He wrote it while he was in prison (for refusing to be
drafted) during WW1. Apparently he left a copy of it to the prison warden.

\- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume. This is worth
reading because it is the motivation for basically all of modern philosophy of
science (at least in the west). It's also pretty easy to read and if you read
it you'll be able to more easily understand other books and papers that are
responses to it.

\- Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson. This book should be required reading
for every programmer or aspiring programmer IMO. I learned so much about the
history of computing that I didn't know before reading this. You will not
regret buying this one.

\- I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. Obviously everyone knows about
GEB, but he also wrote a shorter follow up that in my opinion expresses his
ideas much more clearly. I think that even if you disagree with him, it's
worth reading because there are so many things you can take away from this
book. For example, he talks about his wife's death, and ties that into his
theory of mind and explains the unstated purposes of why we have
funerals/wakes for people.

\- An Introduction to Information Theory by John R. Pierce. For someone like
me who doesn't really have a very strong math background, this was a very
clear intro to the ideas behind information theory, and why they're important
historically. I would recommend this to anyone who feels like they need a
gentle intro to the ideas and motivation for them. Dover mathematics books in
general are great.

\- Borrow: The American Way of Debt by Louis Hyman. This is a _fantastic_
historical overview of personal credit in the US that covers the past 120
years or so. I learned a ton from reading this that I had no clue about.
Recommended to anyone who wants to understand the origins of credit cards /
loans, and how society came to embrace being in debt.

[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.222834/page/n7](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.222834/page/n7)

[https://people.umass.edu/klement/imp/imp-
ebk.pdf](https://people.umass.edu/klement/imp/imp-ebk.pdf)

[https://archive.org/details/humeenquiry00humerich/page/n7](https://archive.org/details/humeenquiry00humerich/page/n7)

[https://www.amazon.com/Turings-Cathedral-Origins-Digital-
Uni...](https://www.amazon.com/Turings-Cathedral-Origins-Digital-
Universe/dp/1400075998)

[https://www.amazon.com/Am-Strange-Loop-Douglas-
Hofstadter/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Am-Strange-Loop-Douglas-
Hofstadter/dp/0465030793)

[https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Information-Theory-
Symbo...](https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Information-Theory-Symbols-
Mathematics/dp/0486240614)

[https://www.amazon.com/Borrow-American-Debt-Louis-
Hyman/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/Borrow-American-Debt-Louis-
Hyman/dp/0307741680)

------
__s
The Fountainhead

~~~
ronyfadel
Any input as to how it compares to Atlas Shrugged? Currently reading A.S., a
looong read!

~~~
__s
They're both good. For a less lopsided plot We the Living is good

I think Atlas Shrugged is more likely to be what draws criticism to Ayn Rand.
It plays more on extremist ideas that the elite class should cull the weak.
The Fountainhead exemplifies the idea that one should master their craft, that
all good work is art, that there's a real beauty to "form follows function"
which requires one to actually think about what they're doing. Around the time
of reading The Fountainhead I got into a debate about the architecture I took
in writing nobox, a minimalist window manager

[https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=103499](https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=103499)

------
crimsonalucard
I'm also interested in books you hate but are for some reason very popular in
the last decade.

~~~
lubujackson
All the Malcolm Gladwell stuff, specifically Outliers. Pretty much everything
he writes falls apart with any intellectual rigor and is always presented in
the formula of: anecdote, anecdote, interesting fact, sweeping theory
presented as truth.

Like the "10,000 hour rule," which sucks from so many directions. So it
doesn't matter how you practice or with what regularity? Why are there so many
life-long musicians and only 4 Beatles then? How come EVERY task takes the
same amount of time to master? What exactly is meant by mastery? Doesn't the
precision of 10,000 hours seem suspiciously convenient? Is there ever a
noticable division between mastery/pre-mastery? And if the exactness of 10,000
hours is fuzzy and the concept of mastery is fuzzy, then isn't the "rule" just
saying "you will improve with lots of time and effort"? What is the useful
insight again?

The book seems to have found success as a kind of an earworm for people who
like sharing the interesting facts and neat anecdotes packaged into marketable
nuggets, but the sheen of genius insights and intelligent discourse is exactly
counter to the product being sold. It feels to me exactly like an intellectual
scam.

------
cairo_x
It was the decade of David Graeber for me:

Debt: The first 5000 years

Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory

All incredible mind expanding books.

------
lodgeda
why has nobody said superintelligence by nick bostrom yet? You all need to
read this because it describes what happens and how an AI will eventually
start taking over the world(s)

