
Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift? - schappim
What book have you found so amazing that you have given it as a gift? This could be a tech book, biz, self help or other book.
======
ComputerGuru
_The Count of Monte Cristo_ , by Alexander Dumas. I'd read thousands of books,
novels, and other literature and never had an answer to "your favorite book?"
and thought I just wasn't meant to ever have one... Until I read it. Since
then, I've bought copies solely to have on hand to gift to people I actually
care about.

To drive home the point of just how much I loved this book, I went on to learn
French just so I could read it in the original print.

Make sure it's the full, unabridged edition (1200 or 1400 pages), though!

(Just to throw in a nonfiction title as well, Bill Bryson's _A Short History
of Nearly Everything_ is a great gift for scientifically-inclined minds (esp
younger ones) looking for a first foray into the world of nonfiction, wittily-
written and well-narrated.)

~~~
wallflower
> I went on to learn French just so I could read it in the original print.

That is one of my mom's favorite books! Can you please elaborate about the
process of getting there/how much practice it took to get you towards the
point where you could enjoy The Count of Monte Cristo in its native French?

Right now, I am studying Spanish and my reading comprehension in Spanish is
low. It is not enough to understand something like 'The Little Prince' (in
Spanish) to enjoy it.

~~~
rukuu001
I used Harry Potter as my first Spanish book :) I recommend it!

~~~
rsfern
I'll second the Harry Potter books -- I've been reading the Sorcerer's Stone
(electronically) in Portuguese after working through Duolingo. It's nice
because I am familiar with the story and there's loads of new vocabulary,
which I look up (after guessing) by switching to a translation app.

If you're on iOS, the built-in dictionary app will give you Spanish->English.

~~~
tomp
What translation app do you use (unless it's the built-in one)?

------
peckrob
I read a lot of Science Fiction for fun. These are a few of my favorites that
I've given to other people:

1\. _Vacuum Diagrams_ by Stephen Baxter. When I think of epic hard science
fiction, the Xeelee Sequence books spring to mind. With a story line that
spans millions of years (and a few dozen books), this collection of short
stories is a good introduction to one of the best and most underrated sci-fi
series out there. Baxter's _Manifold_ trilogy ( _Manifold: Space_ , _Manifold:
Time_ and _Manifold: Origin_ ) are also fantastic.

2\. _Foundation_ by Isaac Asimov. The whole Foundation series is wonderful,
but this book is a landmark of sci-fi that should be on any fan's bookcase.

3\. _The Martian_ by Andy Weir. This book is what I've been giving the last
couple years to people who don't think they like sci-fi. Everyone I've given
it to has loved it.

4\. _Rama_ by Arthur C. Clarke. Another hard sci-fi staple. The rest of the
Rama books he "co-wrote" with Gentry Lee are decent but become more space
opera than hard sci-fi. I enjoyed them but many sci-fi fans find them
polarizing.

5\. _Silver Tower_ by Dale Brown. More of a military thriller than sci-fi (
_Flight of the Old Dog_ is another favorite of mine by him) and terribly dated
by modern standards (it was written when the Soviet Union was still a thing).
But it's the first "adult" sci-fi book I ever read as a kid, so it'll always
have a special place for me.

EDIT: Another one:

6\. _Coyote_ by Allen Steele. I _love_ stories like this one: primitive,
longshot interstellar exploration and primitive, first generation
colonization. Especially for desperate reasons. The first two _Coyote_ books
were good, but I just can't get into any of the subsequent ones.

~~~
stdbrouw
Foundation is a great story, but am I the only one who thought the prose to be
absolutely awful?

~~~
sevensor
By the standards of the pulpy SF magazines _Foundation_ was published in,
Asimov was a pretty brilliant prose stylist. He's a little clunky by literary
standards, but that's a pretty high bar. The man could tell a story, though.
And he had more _ideas_ than ten other SF authors put together.

------
qwertyuiop924
I don't have any friends who haven't read it who would appreciate it, but
Clifford Stoll's _The Cuckoo 's Egg_ is both a highly entertaining thriller, a
fascinating look at how computer security was, and is, viewed, and a highly
personal story about a man trying to figure it all out. It's very funny,
entirely true, and taught me a lot.

Oddly, a lot of people hated the various more personal aspects of the book, as
you see Cliff's friends, and his life as a whole. While that's valid, calling
it a flaw in the book is, I think, inaccurate. The book as much a story a
story about Cliff as the shadowy hacker on the other side of the wires, and
that's a big part of its charm, IMHO.

 _Ghost in the Wires_ , and _Exploding the Phone_ are also good, and true
stories.

~~~
joshschreuder
I thought I recognised the name... turns out Cliff is the guy from the
Numberphile videos who loves klein bottles. He is such an enjoyment to watch.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3mVnRlQLU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3mVnRlQLU)

~~~
vmasto
Oh dear I have no idea how and why I just spent 2 hours watching videos about
Klein bottles and Mobius strips. Fascinating.

------
mindcrime
_The Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand is one I've given adults. For kids, every year
a local group called Book Harvest does a thing with Barnes & Noble where if
you go in a B&N store, you can donate a book straight to Book Harvest which
gives books to disadvantaged kids. For them, I usually grab a few books like
_A Wrinkle in Time_ or some Choose Your Own Adventure books or something.

I also semi-frequently buy (by accident) a second copy of a book that I
already own. Usually instead of returning those to the store, I keep them and
just give them to somebody as a gift, where the "who" depends on what the book
is.

~~~
teekert
I'm still looking for the discontinued Dutch version of Atlas Shrugged (also
Ayn Rand for those who don't know) to give to people around me (many don't
regularly read in English). It changed me, I think it can do wonders for
insecure people that tend to efface themselves for "the good of the group" and
that may be less happy than they could be because of it. Also it may very well
provide people with unbalanced marriages the motivation to speak up and teach
them that lesson that if someone loves you, you can make them happy by stating
what you want and doing it (together). I often tell people to read it, hardly
anybodies does.

I find the ideas in the Fountainhead equally powerful. Find something that you
love, do it the way you love to do it, stay true to yourself. I don't
understand how Ayn Rand always seems to trigger down votes here.

~~~
mindcrime
_I don 't understand how Ayn Rand always seems to trigger down votes here._

Me either, but I'm used to it. Whatever. The downvoters are probably the
people who thought Ellsworth Toohey was the hero in _The Fountainhead_.

~~~
stevenwiles
Actually, its because Rand readers tend to have mentalities like yours -
"Anyone who doesn't agree with me just doesn't get it because they don't
recognize how supremely intelligent I am".

You aren't the first and you won't be the last Rand fanboy with this attitude.
:)

~~~
mindcrime
_Anyone who doesn 't agree with me just doesn't get it because they don't
recognize how supremely intelligent I am_

Where in the world did you get the idea that I think anything remotely like
that??? Nothing could be further from the truth. But downvoting a post simply
for _mentioning_ Rand or one of her works? To me that's very clearly just
ideological bias, which is what I was referring to above.

~~~
stevenwiles
Haha, are you serious? You said:

"Whatever. The downvoters are probably the people who thought Ellsworth Toohey
was the hero in The Fountainhead."

You just look at your downvotes and you make some pretty ridiculous
assumptions about the people who disagree with you - that anyone who disagrees
with you is an idiot who didn't understand who the hero of the book was.

If you expect to be taken seriously in discourse, you would do well to be
mindful of how you present your views.

~~~
mindcrime
_You just look at your downvotes and you make some pretty ridiculous
assumptions about the people who disagree with you - that anyone who disagrees
with you is an idiot who didn 't understand who the hero of the book was._

I'm not making an assumption that anybody is an idiot. What I am doing is
suggesting a measure of ideological bias on the behalf of those people... that
is, the people who see Toohey as the hero of the story because they share that
ideological outlook. Of course I might be _wrong_ to say that, but I'm not
calling anyone's intelligence into question, or comparing it to my own.

 _If you expect to be taken seriously in discourse, you would do well to be
mindful of how you present your views._

Of course, that's pretty much a tautology. That said, there are times when one
doesn't care whether the others take you seriously or not.

------
gooseus
This is the sort of thread that hits me right in the wallet.

Here are some books I've given as gifts recently:

* The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Civilization in the Aftermath of a Cataclysm, Lewis Dartnell[1]

* The Black Swan, Nassim Taleb[2]

* Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse[3]

* The Happiness Trap, Russ Harris and Steven Hayes[4]

* Code, Charles Petzold[5]

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Rebuild-Civilization-
Afterm...](https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Rebuild-Civilization-Aftermath-
Cataclysm/dp/0143127047/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470613401&sr=1-1&keywords=the+knowledge)

[2] [https://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Improbable-Robustness-
Frag...](https://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Improbable-Robustness-
Fragility/dp/081297381X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470613378&sr=1-1&keywords=the+black+swan)

[3] [https://www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Hermann-
Hesse/dp/161382378...](https://www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Hermann-
Hesse/dp/1613823789/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470613352&sr=1-1&keywords=siddhartha)

[4] [https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Trap-Struggling-Start-
Livin...](https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Trap-Struggling-Start-
Living/dp/1590305841/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470613328&sr=1-1&keywords=the+happiness+trap)

[5] [https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-
Softw...](https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-
Software/dp/0735611319/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470613285&sr=1-1&keywords=Code)

~~~
Frogolocalypse
The Black Swan is on my list too.

~~~
nl
Is it really that good?

I've started it a few times. Nassim Nicholas Taleb seems to make sure never to
use one word when ten could possibly be used, especially if some of them about
himself.

~~~
sundarurfriend
Yep, I haven't been able to finish the book either, and what I've read didn't
stand up to all the hype.

Taleb's _Antifragile_ I did, unfortunately, finish, and it's way, way worse.

Now that I think about it, both books have a similar pattern: the first dozen
or so pages present an interesting idea, which does give you a fresh and
useful mental model in understanding the world. The rest of the book,
unfortunately, meanders off into superficial redundant applications of it and
pounding into the reader's head how anti-establishment Taleb is.

------
SwellJoe
_The Elements of Style_ by Strunk and White. I've given it to just about
everyone I've known who seriously wanted to be a writer, journalist, etc. as
well as some folks who just wanted to write better. It's a small, beautiful,
book about writing better. This is the book I've gifted the most.

Several scifi books have also been gifted to friends, mostly Asimov (both the
_Foundation_ and _Robots_ series), Herbert's _Dune_ , and Clarke's _Rendezvous
With Rama_.

Also, gifted a copy of _Our Band Could Be Your Life_ by Michael Azerrad, which
is my favorite book about my favorite bands (and the American punk scene of
the early 80s). The recipient was too young to remember the scene from that
era, but was open to understanding why "punk" isn't so much a style of music,
but an ethos.

Every book I've gifted is because I really love the book, and really like the
person I'm giving it to.

~~~
omaranto
With Strunk & White I think you should ignore their advice which is often
confused or nonsensical and just imitate their prose which is delightful. This
review explains it better than I could:
[http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-
Grammar/2549...](http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-
Grammar/25497)

~~~
SwellJoe
Is there a more correct book that is similarly concise and similarly well-
written? I would love to read it, if so.

Edit: I found this blog post that lists some alternatives
[http://thewritingresource.net/2011/09/22/forget-
everything-s...](http://thewritingresource.net/2011/09/22/forget-everything-
strunk-white-told-you/)

About half of the titles are punny or plays on words, which I'm somewhat
suspicious of (even though I like puns). And, all are at least twice the size
of Strunk and White. I understand that some subjects are bigger than a ~100
page book can cover, but despite having spent a lot of my life writing (and
having published a book), I've never been able to plod through a big grammar
book. I can read _Elements of Style_ in an afternoon without feeling like it's
a chore. As noted in some of the reviews, if it's wrong it's not worth even
that much effort. But, I never thought it was predominantly wrong or
predominantly misleading. And, it usually reminds me about one or more of my
negative writing habits, and I correct it for a while until I forget again.

~~~
nabusman
On Writing Well by William Zinsser was a great book on writing. Though it's a
bit more conceptual than Strunk and White.

~~~
d4nte
I was looking to see if someone had suggested On Writing Well! I agree that it
is an excellent resource, especially for those who are already familiar with
basic grammar rules and are interested in improving their style.

------
davewasthere
The most: Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Think I've bought almost a dozen
copies over the years. Although that book wasn't really a gift, more a loan I
never got back.

Others:

Lord of the Rings - I gave this to the guard who detained me in Russia. I
thought it was the best revenge.

The life changing magic of tidying - to my partner. We're both messy. I've
read it, she hasn't... neither of us have changed.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami to the friend who lent me Wind up Bird Chronicle all
those years ago and started me on the path.

~~~
joshstrange
Searched the page for Ender's Game, I've always really enjoyed that book. I
never had to read it for school but an older friend of mine did and told me to
read it. I did and then a few years later was able to use it for a "pick your
own book" report in school. I was always embarrassed to lend out my copy as it
had writing in the margins that I had to do for school so I just bought it and
gave it away whenever I was going to lend it. Really great book and this
reminds me I still need to read the rest of the Ender series, I read all of
the Bean/Shadow story line but somehow never got around to the continuation of
the Ender line.

~~~
mcphage
> I still need to read the rest of the Ender series, I read all of the
> Bean/Shadow story line but somehow never got around to the continuation of
> the Ender line.

They go in a very different direction. The Bean/Shadow books are still
military fiction, and the Ender ones are... not. I do recommend reading them,
but just don't go into them expecting anything similar.

~~~
joshstrange
This is what has kept me from reading them, I greatly enjoy military fiction
(especially when you add sci-fi into the mix, I semi-recently read the whole
Honor Harrington series and loved it).

------
funkaster
"Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams"[1]. Even if you're not in a
management track, it's a great read to learn and better understand how to
structure teams for a happy, productive and successful path.

[1]: [https://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-
Teams-...](https://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-
Teams-3rd/dp/0321934113)

Edit: add Amazon link.

------
cure
Fiction, because it is so funny:

* Good Omens, by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman [1]

I wish Pratchett and Gaiman had written more books together.

[1]
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060853980?ref_=sr_1_1&pld...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060853980?ref_=sr_1_1&pldnSite=1)

~~~
RegW
I gave this to one son when he was about 18, along with a pretty much complete
set of Discworld: [http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/discworld-reading-
order/](http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/discworld-reading-order/). These
were collected over many years, so a bit of a wrench. The best of which might
be: "Wyrd Sisters" (Shakespeare), or "The Truth" (Newspapers). He can make fun
of pretty much anything, while still showing it great affection.

Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" is a great book for reading to younger
kids. Weird, creepy, but strangely uplifting, even if it does begin with a
triple murder. I can't remember which kid took that.

I bought Robert Silverberg's "Nightwings" in the 80s and read it several
times. I was going to give away but couldn't find it, so I had to buy a new
copy and read it again first. This seems to anticipate a lot that followed,
from genetic modification to drastic climate change, but it is essentially
about a character trying to cope in a mad world.

~~~
captn3m0
I recently read the graphic novel version of Graveyard Book. Would highly
recommend that as well, it is quite well done.

------
anonyfox
Rich dad poor dad. It's not the most professional book on the topics, sure.
But the content is written in a very accessible manner and I give it to young
friends that are about to throw away their life because they were never
exposed to any other mindset but "underclass".

It is really shocking to me, that bright young people (with a bachelors
degree) choose to go for a crappy paid hamsterwheel job, barely make ends
meet, feel miserable at work, begin drinking/TV to cope with these
frustrations and complain all day.

A few years ago I discovered that it isnt a choice for them at all. Many can't
even imagine that life can could be any different than this suffering. Once
you're trapped in the hamsterwheel a few years, your life is basically wasted
and you're a slave to the paycheck forever. But being exposed to very basic
lessons like kiosaki's early on can spark _just_ enough curiosity to break
out. Just invest a little time in yourself aside of work goes a long way to
improve life situations over time. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity,
not a lottery ticket.

Going entrepreneur isn't even required, but just getting paid adequately for
something you actually like doing, and the confidence by being quite good at
it, does work wonders to improve your daily quality of life. You just have to
"get" some basic ideas and invest a little effort in yourself.

~~~
dsr_
It's worth noting that this is a work of fiction.

[http://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-
inv...](http://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-investment-
blog/61651011-john-t-reeds-analysis-of-robert-t-kiyosakis-book-rich-dad-poor-
dad-part-1)

------
Jemaclus
"I Will Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi
([http://amzn.to/2aF1vjF](http://amzn.to/2aF1vjF)). It's a fantastic, easy
read that takes you step-by-step into automating your finances and making
smart decisions toward not necessarily being rich, but being rich _er_ and
having some financial security on a month to month basis.

Every once in awhile, I'll have a conversation with friends about finances,
and they'll complain about how much work it is to manage money, and I'll go
home and order them this book. It's an easy $10 gift, and they've all told me
it changed the way they approach finances. Good stuff. Cannot recommend it
enough.

~~~
sooper
How much of this book applies in a non-US context? Is it worth reading anyway?

~~~
Jemaclus
I don't know how finances work in the rest of the world, but at least the half
that deals with bank accounts, savings, and automating your finances should
still be applicable. There's a sizable chunk that has to do with stocks and
retirement stuff that may not be applicable to you, but the rest of it should
be!

------
old-gregg
"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" by William
L. Shirer. It's a classic history book of our century which, despite its
title, primarily focuses on Hitler's raise to power in the early 30s and the
long, painful and ultimately futile international attempts at avoiding WW2 in
the late 30s.

It's a book I wish everyone would read, particularly everyone in a public
office and the media. It's a shame that comparing politicians and their
actions to Hitler has became a cliche everyone now is quick to ignore.
Meanwhile there's plenty of stuff happening in the world straight from the
Nazi playbook of the 30s.

~~~
noinsight
There's a new trilogy by Richard J. Evans about the same subject. I have them
sitting on my bookshelf but have yet to read them.

Apparently Shirer's book has drawn some criticism because he was a journalist
and not a historian whereas Evans is a historian.

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

~~~
madao
This is true, however I think its safe to say that most of his work was from
primary sources, he kept extensive journals during the period and was also
lucky enough to talk to several generals of OKW and get access to their
journals. Not to mention that he also gained access to the Nuremberg trial
records and German records (very well documented) after the war. Well worth
the read.

------
taylodl
I give _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ to High School graduates.
It's a good book for that time in a person's life.

~~~
Dowwie
+1, but gave it to a someone who was quitting his job and about to take on an
entirely new career

------
chenster
"How to read a book" should be the first book gift you ever give. It changed
my life. [https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Intelligent-
Touchstone/...](https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Intelligent-
Touchstone/dp/0671212095)

------
justifier
i play a game where i have duplicate copies of some books to give to anyone
interested who has yet to have heard of one

here's a incomprehensive list in alphabetical order:

a people's history of the united states; howard zinn

a rebours; joris-karl huysmans

alcestis; euripides

apology; plato

belaya staya; anna akhmatova

die verwandlung; franz kafka

elements; euclid

epic of gilgamesh; unknown

ficciones; jorge luis borges

fractals: form, chance and dimension; benoit mandelbrot

fragments; sappho

gospels of mary and judas; unknown

i ching; unknown

la vida es sueno; pedro calderon de la barca

leaves of grass; walt whitman

letters of vincent van gogh

meghaduta; kalidasa

my life; isadora duncan

nightwood; djuna barnes

oku no hosomichi; basho

one piece; eiichiro oda

poems; emily dickinson

relativity: the special and general theory; albert einstein

saga; fiona staples and brian k vaughan

the brothers karamazov; fyodor dostoyevsky, translated by constance garnett

the first third; neal cassady

the power of pi; stickman lagrou graves

the secret life of salvador dali; dali

the way of a pilgrim; unknown

twelth night; william shakespeare

thing explainer; randall munroe

ulysses; james joyce

women, race, and class; angela davis

if you want a quick description of any i enjoy talking about them, and i
appreciate suggestions

~~~
krisdol
Someone stole a A People's History of The United States from me at a party I
hosted, and I don't mind at all. Hope they read it or gave it to someone who
would.

~~~
justifier
one of the wildest first read throughs you will ever experience

especially if you come from an us educational upbringing where songs about
oceans being blue(o) are historical place holders stead primary sources

the elucidation is immediate.. zinn's first paragraph has an excerpt from
christopher columbus' log:

They ... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other
things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They
willingly traded everything they owned... . They were well-built, with good
bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them,
for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of
ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... . They would
make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make
them do whatever we want.

fuck you chris

if you like zinn check out angela davis, her ability as a historian to find
substantial sources is incredible

(o)
[http://www.teachingheart.net/columbus.htm](http://www.teachingheart.net/columbus.htm)

~~~
justifier
"Did Christopher Columbus ever make this statement?"

[http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/18080/did-
christ...](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/18080/did-christopher-
columbus-ever-make-this-statement)

------
halhen
I've given Alan Watts The Book to at least five people I thought could use it.
Four of them never mentioned it again. I'm marrying the fifth next month.

~~~
dominotw
heh. I tried to get my friends into Jiddu Krishnamurthi but unfortunately
people in the west seem to have a pavlovian revulsion to eastern 'guru's from
the east nowadays.

There seems to be some sort of strange obsession with applying the scientific
method to psychological issues. Bunch of my friends started meditating because
it is 'scientifically proven' to make them happy, make them rich, make them
have good sex or whatever . Nevermind that all those "studies" are pure
nonsense[1]. But people will buy anything with the stamp of science on it,
they are not joking when they claim 'I believe in science not god' .

Congratulations on your wedding and for finding a compatible partner. That's
really great!!

1\.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19123875](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19123875)

~~~
antisocial
I am glad to see somebody mentioning Jiddu Krishnamurti here. He is the most
underrated and forgotten person, mainly due to his own insistence, but he made
a tremendous difference to some lives. I've come across his books almost
twenty years ago, I haven't read any of his books in years now, but his
teachings(insights he shared, because he wouldn't like to be called a teacher
) are so well ingrained that I am reminded of them every day.

Similar to the OP of this thread, I didn't marry a person who said he finds
his teachings dry :), I am now happily married to my spouse for twelve years
who humbly says it is too difficult to really understand Jiddu.

------
feiss
"A short history of nearly everything" by Bill Bryson. The best science book
I've ever read, recommended for anyone.

~~~
passivepinetree
Bryson has a wonderful way of dealing with academic subjects that most would
find boring and making them both interesting and approachable. I recommend
this book as well.

------
collinglass
Eric Fromm's The Art of Loving.

It's my grandmas favorite non-fiction and she's read over 1000 books. She gave
it to me and it sat on my shelf for months because the title wasn't appealing
and I'm not a big book reader. Since I read it, I've now bought a second
version of this book and give it to friends to read.

It's a technical write-up about Love in the general sense. Fromm pitches the
idea that love is an art rather than a feeling.

I highly recommend the read. This book discusses the topic in a serious and
insightful way.

------
klausjensen
I have given away ~20 "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson over the years.

It is a great little book, which deals with how we handle change in our lives
(work and other) and how we sometimes fail to see, when it is time to move on.

My favorite one-sentence takeaway from the book is the question: "What would
you do, if you were not afraid?" \- which has helped me make hard decisions
many times over the years.

[https://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-
Amazing/dp/039914...](https://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-
Amazing/dp/0399144463)

~~~
rplnt
The reviews on goodreads[1] are hilarious. Ordered it right away, though I
mostly don't read books that I order, so...

1\.
[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4894.Who_Moved_My_Cheese_](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4894.Who_Moved_My_Cheese_)

------
nickbauman
"Ishmael, An Adventure of Mind and Spirit" by Daniel Quinn. The book that
created and destroyed the _Turner Tomorrow Foundation_ Fellowship Award. It
will make you examine some of the most profound myths at the center of our
civilization and how those myths will determine our destiny, for better or for
worse. It's a book that changed the way I think fundamentally. I will never be
the same because of it.

~~~
dredmorbius
Curious about that "created and destroyed" bit.

I found this at NY Times:

[http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/05/books/judges-in-turner-
awa...](http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/05/books/judges-in-turner-award-
dispute-merits-of-novel-given-a-500000-prize.html)

~~~
nickbauman
I think Quinn's win and the controversy Styron stirred up afterward shut down
the award. After all, there were 2500 manuscripts to start with. Quinn's next
novel, _The Story of B_ addressed some of the criticism Styron (and others)
had. I think it might be even better than _Ishmael_ because of it.

------
jasonlmk
I'm surprised there aren't more philosophy-oriented books mentioned here. I
think they make great gifts.

Many of my friends are straight out of university, and it's a period where
most people seem to start asking existential questions. The two books which
have affected me greatly (and which I regularly give as gifts) are:

* Meditations by Marcus Aurelius * Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

------
kareemsabri
The Selfish Gene - fundamental world-view shaker

~~~
bobcostas55
I think The Extended Phenotype is a better choice. It contains the central
insight of The Selfish Gene, and then adds a lot on top of it.

~~~
kareemsabri
I've never read that one - I'll add it to my list!

------
AdrianRossouw
Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. I pay it forward.

Stopped smoking six years ago and haven't had the desire to start again since.
it feels great.

I actually played the nintendo DS adaptation of the book, which was also
available on ios for a while.

it turned all the points the book was trying to make into a series of
minigames that really illustrated the principles beautifully.

~~~
steinsgate
Yes that's a great book. I am still amazed how well it worked for me. I was a
chain smoker smoking 40 cigs a day, and then I read the book and poof! I
stopped for good.

~~~
nikmobi
I second this! I've recommended this to countless people. Did you guys find
that a lot of people are really skeptical that a book can have such an impact?
It certainly worked wonders for me as well.

~~~
steinsgate
I was skeptical at first too. But man, was I wrong! I have recommended it to
about four or five friends so far. Only one read it till the end. And it
didn't work so well on him, even though he reduced smoking. Did the book work
on your friends who read it completely?

~~~
nikmobi
I have one other friend (the only one of them all to actually read) and it was
just as effective for him as it was me. I'm now trying to get my sister to
read it. The hard part seems to be getting people to pick it up and stick it
through.

~~~
steinsgate
Best of luck getting your sis to quit :-)

~~~
nikmobi
thank you :)

------
chiph
I've given out a few copies of _Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your
Company Doesn 't Want You to Know---and What to Do About Them_. So far, the
recipients have done well after reading it. It really clued them into the
hidden meaning behind common corporate-speak.

[https://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Confidential-Secrets-
Compan...](https://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Confidential-Secrets-Company-Know
----ebook/dp/B003K15PC4)

------
mwest
_The Player of Games_ , by Iain M. Banks -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Player_of_Games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Player_of_Games)

~~~
Jaruzel
I've been scrolling through all the comments, seeing if someone mentioned the
late great Mr Banks. His Culture books are almost perfect hard sci-fi in my
opinion, and his contemporary collection contain some amazing books ( _The
Wasp Factory_ , and _The Bridge_ immediately come to mind).

------
SyneRyder
_Anything You Want_ by Derek Sivers.

It's still my favorite book on business, a short easy read filled with
anecdotes from his time running CD Baby. The situations are ones I keep
encountering myself running a small business, and the way the stories are
written makes them highly memorable & applicable. If I can't decide between
opportunities, I remember "Hell Yeah! or No." If I'm working on fraud
screening, I remember "Don't Punish Everyone For One Person's Mistake". When
working on an MVP and feel it isn't big enough, I'm reminded of "Start Now. No
Funding Needed." And it has my favorite twist ending in business.

It's the first book I've specifically bought multiple copies of to give away,
including to clients.

------
AlphaGeekZulu
Douglas Hofstadter: Gödel, Escher, Bach

~~~
durga
I tried to read this book but never quite understood it. What's it really
about?

~~~
qwertyuiop924
It's about the thing it's about.

~~~
dahart
Maybe you should add "spoiler alert"? ;)

~~~
qwertyuiop924
Nah. if you haven't read GEB, your brain won't evaluate the previous statement
correctly, and you won't gain any information.

Neurolinguistic hacking! (it works, just ask Stephenson)(JOKE)

~~~
dahart
Yeah, right, I know, your comment was hilarious! I was adding joke to joke,
but I guess I failed, someone else even downvoted my bad joke. Did my smiley
make it feel snarky?

~~~
qwertyuiop924
Look, I don't know. I didn't down you.

------
pjmorris
I've given a copy of 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb', Rhodes, and lent a copy
that didn't come back. The gift recipient has urged the book on various
managers, as the book has much to teach of scientific and technical
management, as well as much, much more.

~~~
tbihl
Along the same lines, I'd recommend 'The Rickover Effect'.

------
warpas
"Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Great book about how
and why people respond to incentives. A lot of good examples told through
fascinating stories supported by data.

~~~
hollander
Don't shoot the dog, by Karen Pryor, about operand conditioning, the effects
of positive and negative reinforcement. This is a fun book, and very
informative.

------
durga
Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman is amazing.

~~~
haukur
I was going to say the same thing. "What Do You Care What Other People Think",
another Feynman book, is also pretty good.

------
iamben
I've literally just bought someone "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki
Murakami. It was the first Murakami book I read, and I've read plenty since.
Wonderful.

~~~
elliott34
I read Murakami books not because they are entirely entertaining WHILE I'm
reading them, but because the dream-like memory of the experience sticks in
your mind for years.

~~~
john2x
Wow, you aren't kidding. After reading your comment I tried to recall Wind-Up
Bird, and got the same sensation.

------
jen729w
Hyperion by Dan Simmonds. It, and the follow-up Fall of Hyperion, are by far
and away my favourite sci-fi books.

Given them to 5+ people over the years and every one has loved them.

~~~
Ntrails
I was gifted my copy, and have gifted 3 copies to others now. Pay it forward
:)

------
upbeatlinux
I found each of these invaluable at different points in my life. YMMV

Biz - the Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman -
[http://amzn.to/2aFsj3c](http://amzn.to/2aFsj3c)

Org - the Fifth Discipline - Peter Senge -
[http://amzn.to/2aNpbQz](http://amzn.to/2aNpbQz)

SciFi - Perdido Street Station - China Mieville -
[http://amzn.to/2aNoWFn](http://amzn.to/2aNoWFn)

Parenting - The Continuum Concept - Jean Liedloff -
[http://amzn.to/2aZEAAL](http://amzn.to/2aZEAAL)

------
pjmorris
The software-related books I've given most often are Gerald Weinberg's
'Becoming a Technical Leader', Brook's 'Mythical Man Month', Demarco and
Lister's 'Peopleware', Hunt and Thomas 'The Pragmatic Programmer', and
Mconnell's 'Code Complete'.

------
xacaxulu
I always have copies of George Orwell's "Animal Farm" to give out. As I get
older, I love seeing younger people flip out when they read it and see how
applicable it is in modern life.

~~~
unimpressive
Having read at least one history book about the Soviet Union, I'd recommend
you not waste your time with Animal Farm and read an actual history book
instead. The plot is basically ripped from Russian history, as it was intended
to be a critique of Stalinism.

My taste for Orwell's two most read, _Animal Farm_ and _1984_ was especially
dulled after I read his non-fiction masterpiece _Homage To Catalonia_ which is
a harrowing lesson in realpolitik and the socialist infighting of the 1930's.

[http://www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/](http://www.george-
orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/)

~~~
StanislavPetrov
_1984_ and _Animal Farm_ aren't important for their historical allegories but
their statements about the nature of society, and are just as poignant when
applied to today's society as they were about the Soviet Union.

 _Homage To Catalonia_ is a wonderful book. I would also highly recommend
checking out _Down and Out in Paris and London_ and _Burmese Days_ (two works
of fiction loosely based on events from his real life experiences).

------
endgame
Gift? Not quite, but I enthusiastically offer my copies of Simon Singh's books
up for loan when anyone sounds vaguely interested. "The Code Book" is a great
history of cryptography and "Fermat's Last Theorem" is a good history of the
problem and its eventual solution.

~~~
Zezima
Yes!

I actually just finished "Fermat's Last Enigma" after reading "The Code Book"
2 years ago.

He's an excellent author who begins all of his books with the premise that the
lay person will be reading it. He even makes this explicit in Fermat's Last
Enigma.

He gives the reader an amazing depth of knowledge by gradually building on
very simple examples and explanations which still can intrigued someone with
deep technical knowledge.

Coming into "Fermat's Last Enigma", I had two years of higher level math,
number theory, discrete math, and linear algebra. I still learned so much
about Mathematics, the progress of the field, and proofs of simple things like
Pythagorean triples.

Singh is the best scientific writer, truly.

------
stevenking86
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

It opened the doors to the remote lifestyle for me and led me to switch to
careers to tech (due to the abundance of remote opportunities) and to embrace
a new kind of lifestyle.

[http://www.vagabonding.net/](http://www.vagabonding.net/)

~~~
cosmic_shame
What career field did you transition from?

~~~
stevenking86
I was a talent buyer for the live music industry - booking bands for a music
venue. Involved being physically at the space a few times a week.

~~~
pm
And here I am trying to transition going from tech into music (as a musician
though - we'll see how it goes). Any words of wisdom from your side of the
music bench?

~~~
stevenking86
You can definitely do both! I still perform music as well. I went from
performer -> music industry pro -> programmer. Making money as a performer was
definitely the toughest. But it pairs well w/ tech work if you can do your job
during the day and play at night. If you're trying to make it in rock music,
you'll be disgusted at how little has to do w/ how good you are or how good
your music is. It's very much who you know and how well you can promote
yourself. If you're trying to make it in jazz/classical it's more of a
meritocracy so just practice a lot and you'll get gigs. Good luck!

------
mooreds
Books I found so amazing that I actually bought copies and given them as a
gift (in some cases to multiple people):

* Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier--eye opening list of vegetables that come back year after year

* The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz. Somewhat presumptuously, I bought multiple copies and sent them to some of my friends/acquaintances that were CEOs.

* Climate Wars, by Gwynne Dyer. This mix of fiction and non fiction really brought the climate change crisis to my attention.

------
PebblesHD
My personal favourite that I've given as a gift is Thomas Glover's Pocket Ref
[0]. Its easily the most useful thing you can buy for anyone in engineering,
fabrication or just generally a tinkerer. I've loved my copy since I was given
it as a kid.

[0] - [https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Ref-4th-Thomas-
Glover/dp/18850...](https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Ref-4th-Thomas-
Glover/dp/1885071620)

------
crdb
It's tough finding books that don't send a message to the receiver. I
particularly remember a colleague expressing disappointment at whichever
secret Santa gave him The Fountainhead at the office Christmas party (he was
pretty left wing).

The four I remember gifting were Asimov's entire Foundation series, Joseph
Conrad's Heart of Darkness, The Phantom Major by Virginia Cowles and See you
in November by Peter Stiff.

~~~
ChicagoBoy11
HA, I gave Atlas Shrugged to my boss and told her it was because she really
reminded me of Dagny Taggart -- she was really happy about it, as far as I can
tell

------
d-roo
A couple years ago a friend gave me 'It Starts With Food' and after reading it
I bought it for at least a half-dozen of my friends. It was truly life
changing for me and my approach to food and health. Within a couple weeks I
went from having hypertension/pre-hypertension to normal blood pressure and
over the course of 6 months or so I lost 40 lbs. Changing my diet to 'whole'
foods redefined for me what hunger was. My daily diet had been one of going
from one sugar high to the next. What I interpreted as hunger and a big
appetite were in fact cravings for sugar.

Admittedly, it may be a bit below the reading level for the average user here
but I can't recommend this book enough. Especially for those of us that sit in
front of a computer all day. Take a look at the reviews at Amazon which are
numerous and nearly unanimous. Do yourself a favour and give it read.

[https://amzn.com/1628600543](https://amzn.com/1628600543)

------
david-given
Barry Hughart's _Bridge of Birds_.

Set in a mediaeval China that never existed (but should have), it's the story
of how village peasant Number Ten Ox and the ancient sage Master Li (who has a
slight flaw in his character) go on a quest to save the children of his
village from a plague which can count... and the _other_ quest which they find
themselves part of.

On the way you'll learn how to make a fortune with a goat, how not to cook
porcupine, the best way to move rocks using only a corpse, why you should
always be polite to ginseng, and the true meaning of courage. You'll meet
ghosts, monsters, and gods --- and they're typically _less_ bizarre than the
human cast, which contains such jewels as the Ancestress, Miser Shen, the Old
Man of the Mountain, Lotus Cloud and of course, the inimitable Ma the Grub and
Pawnbroker Fang...

It's by parts hilarious, touching, gripping, and there are parts that will
make you cry from sheer beauty. Read this book.

------
psiclops
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. I learned a lot from that novel

~~~
tingol
Like what?

------
KRuchan
"The Defining Decade" by Meg Jay to anyone in their twenties.

Shameless plug -I posted a summary here:
[https://rkirti.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/learnings-from-
the-d...](https://rkirti.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/learnings-from-the-defining-
decade/)

------
joshstrange
Motivating the Middle [0] by T.J. Sullivan

It's a relatively short book and it's focus is on college fraternities (which
is what I was in when I first read it). I bought about 20 copies and handed
them out after reading it. While it has nothing to do with software
development I have found it's core message to be applicable to working on a
team. The core message is you can normally divide your organization up into 3
categories, these will not necessarily be equal in size. These categories are
the highly motivated "top" go-getters who will do everything they can to help
further the org, the "middle" who with the right motivation can work just as
hard and be just as driven as the first group, and the "bottom" who rarely
make more than minimum effort if that and are extremely unlikely to go out of
their way for the greater good of the org. The book suggests to more or less
ignore the bottom and spend your energy on "motivating the middle" to use them
to their greatest potential. It says that spending your time on the bottom is
a fruitless endeavor and will only result in alienating the middle people who
are somewhat on the fence.

Now this applies much more to a community-run (in this case student-run)
organization where letting someone go is often off the table (in greek life
removing a brother/sister can be a much bigger challenge than one might
assume). I do not bring any of this up to debate the pros and cons of greek
like of which there are many (you can talk to me privately if you wish to do
that), but just to bring some clarity to what I'm trying to say.

Often as an employee not in a managerial role you are in a similar situation
and while I'd be a lier if I said I always applied this logic but I do try to
always remember that being annoyed/angry with under-performers is, in all
honesty, a zero-sum game. It's best to focus on what I can do to make the
place I work better and work to bring the "middle" to want the same.

It's probably not the best book to bring up here but it's really the only book
I'd ever bought for more than 1 person (and the only one that I didn't by for
purely entertainment/enjoyment reasons, I've gifted fiction books on a number
of occasions).

[0] [https://smile.amazon.com/Motivating-Middle-Fighting-
College-...](https://smile.amazon.com/Motivating-Middle-Fighting-College-
Organizations/dp/1604946903?sa-no-redirect=1)

------
dantheman
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt [https://mises.org/library/economics-
one-lesson](https://mises.org/library/economics-one-lesson)

It's focus is to get people thinking about 2nd and 3rd order effects. It's
very simple and well written.

------
matwood
Replay by Ken Grimwood.

[https://www.amazon.com/Replay-Ken-
Grimwood/dp/068816112X](https://www.amazon.com/Replay-Ken-
Grimwood/dp/068816112X)

It's ground hog day, but on a lifetime scale. The search for happiness and
what it means to be happy.

------
thallian
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett + lots of the Discworld novels
(also by Terry Pratchett).

The latter have become one of the basic building blocks of my life.

------
nhumrich
Peopleware

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (3rd Edition)
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321934113/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_1Y6P...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321934113/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_1Y6Pxb1RFKP38)

------
probinso
"Calvin and Hobbes: there is treasure everywhere"

This book was amazing.

------
pavlov
I gave Stafford Beer's "Think Before You Think" [1] as a gift because I didn't
seem to understand any of the book, so I gave it to someone smarter than me in
the hope she would eventually explain it to me. I've forgotten to follow up on
that.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Think-Before-You-Complexity-
Knowledge...](https://www.amazon.com/Think-Before-You-Complexity-
Knowledge/dp/0954519469)

(Edit: I just looked at the Amazon page and realized the book seems to cost
about $200 used -- can that be true...?! I think I paid $30 for it. Maybe I
should have kept it.)

------
misiti3780
Antifragile by Taleb

The Black Swan by Taleb

Thinking Fast & Slow by Kahneman

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Diamond

The World According To Monsanto by Robin

The Organized Mind by Levitin

The Vital Question by Lane

Life Ascending by Lane

Chasing the Scream by Hari

Anything By Gladwell.

------
x0x0
_The Book With No Pictures_ by BJ Novak. It's a great book for friends with
kids under 6 or so. You can see the author reading the beginning here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREyQJO9EPs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREyQJO9EPs)

I've given probably 10 copies to family and friends with kids and it's been
universally liked.

[https://www.amazon.com/Book-No-Pictures-B-J-
Novak/dp/0803741...](https://www.amazon.com/Book-No-Pictures-B-J-
Novak/dp/0803741715)

------
voycey
I tend to either give "The Belgeriad" or "Mistborn" as a gift to people who
want to get into Fantasy.

I think when Rothfuss releases his final Kingkiller Chronicle book it might be
my new intro series :)

~~~
mden
Why did you have to remind me about Kingkiller Chronicle :(

Also Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings (fantasy and same author as Mistborn).
The audio books are really good.

------
ehudla
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

~~~
Dowwie
+1

------
simonpure
Alexander Osterwalder's Business Model Generation [0]

[0]
[http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/book](http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/book)

------
openfuture
I buy books that catch my interest when I'm travelling and then give them to
people I meet who I think will appreciate them. I'm so tired of giving books
to family that then never read them. Anyway, books I've given recently (last 3
months):

The Dominant Man: The Pecking Order of Human Society
[https://www.amazon.com/dominant-man-pecking-order-
society/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/dominant-man-pecking-order-
society/dp/B0006C317G)

__ Completely changed my perspective on social interaction. I've been trying
to get people to read this but the title sounds very non-pc. Got it for 1AUD
on a second hand book table somewhere, it's very dry though and mostly just
presents evidence without drawing conclusions.

Cat's Craddle - Kurt Vonnegut __ I love the word Karass. Lots of travelers
like this book.

When Nietzsche wept __ Amazing book, the amount of strategy in their
conversations is amazing and the book is just high quality. Best to know some
stuff about Nietzsche and that era before you read it though.

Teach us to sit still - Tim Parks __ Not something you'd give to anyone but if
the person is a little intrigued by meditation then this book will probably
get them to start doing it.

Why the West Rules for Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about
the future __ I had learned the history of certain periods in certain
locations but this book brought it all together into a cohesive narrative.
Highly recommended if you want to start inquiring into history but don't know
where to start.

Carlos Castaneda's series on learning shamanism __ I dunno what to think of
this. I can believe that the guy actually experienced what he's writing, it's
just too much to make up imo. Anyway I'd recommend it to anyone interested in
philosophy, religion or meditation because it's just such a radically
different perspective on how to live life and the meaning of enlightenment.

\--

I also have a long list of books that I've seen recommended here or
recommendations from people I've met all over the world that I use for
inspiration when I need to give gifts for Christmas or something but I haven't
read them yet so I won't mention them here.

------
azogue
Colleen McCullough's _The First Man in Rome_. It's historical fiction, set in
Rome a few years before Julius Caesar was born. I began reading it to see what
I could learn about how war was waged by the romans and was absolutely dazed
by the political and social intricacies exposed.

One of the most welcome gifts I've ever bought. One friend told me he had
rediscovered the pleasure of reading; another read the full _Masters of Rome_
series shortly after. Really good feedback.

Terry Pratchett's _Night Watch_ is also one of my favorites to give. Although
when asked if it is the first of a series people tend to be somewhat surprised
by the answer: I send them a graph spanning all the Discworld books[1]. _Night
Watch_ is in no way the first but I've found it to be a good starter and the
order is not that important in Pratchett's books.

Hermann Hesse's _Siddhartha_. Already mentioned by someone. Some translations
have an incredibly lyrical prose, but you've got to be careful with the one
you buy.

[1] [http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/38700000/The-
Discworl...](http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/38700000/The-Discworld-
Reading-Order-Guide-2-0-discworld-38786764-1000-1198.jpg)

------
phaitour
Fiction: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is beautifully written
and I've recommended it to many people. I've gotten lost in Carlos' worlds
over and over again, and the cemetery of forgotten books is mesmerizing.

Humor: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. I've recommended this to many friends
who needed a good laugh. I don't remember another book that made me laugh so
hard that I dropped the book.

Non-fiction: this one's a tough one because many good books are mentioned
already, but two that I really enjoyed and have recommended in the last year
are: Boyd by Robert Coram and How the Other Half Banks by Mehrsa Baradaran.
Boyd tells the story about a brilliant but petulant air force pilot who
rewrote the guidelines of US military aviation. How the Other Half Banks is an
eye opening account of how broken our banking system is and the history of how
we got to where we are.

Business: again, a lot of good books are mentioned already, but two I've
enjoyed are Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg and Never Split the
Difference by Chris Voss. Both are fascinating books that'll leave you
thinking about how to improve your own game.

\--Edit--

Bonus: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi is a tremendous piece. It's a
short read but a must read!

------
jsmith0295
Atlas Shrugged

Just kidding. I did give a friend The Go Programming Language by Donovan &
Kernighan, though

------
itbeho
Fiction: _Nine Princes in Amber_ by Roger Zelazny.

Non-Fiction: _How to Win Friends and Influence People_ by Dale Carnegie

Technical: _The C Programming Language_ by Kernighan and Richie

~~~
colomon
I'd forgotten, but back in the day I gave several people the Science Fiction
Bookclub omnibus edition of the first five Amber books. Seems like you could
always find them in used bookstores...

------
miduil
This Saturday as a birthday present for a 14 year old friend of mine, who
haven't been reading so much lately:

* Persepolis, first version

* Dark Angel, by David Klass

I've just started reading "Flowers for Algernon", I guess this can also be a
good birthday present. I think gifting books is something very difficult, in
my experience I never wanted to get books for present.

------
evanb
Bradbury: Now and Forever: Somewhere a Band Is Playing & Leviathan '99

Gleick: The Information

Michener: The Source

Martin: A Song of Ice and Fire (all of them, digital)

~~~
acidburnNSA
Just read The Source. What an epic whirlwind of historical fiction. Good call.

~~~
SeanBoocock
I read it in high school and I still remember how enchanting it was some
fifteen years on. What a great look through historical epochs. I need to put
it on my short list to reread.

------
schappim
I have given The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

------
rahulskateboard
I have in the past gifted multiple books written by Terry Pratchett,his
Discworld series is an amazing example of social satire.The people who tend to
love his stuff most are usually science oriented folks though since he tends
to reference a lot of technology in an oblique fashion,including programming.

------
bjelkeman-again
Maverick, by Richardo Semler. I must have given away a dozen of this book to
various people. Very inspiring if you are looking to build an organisation.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maverick_(book)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maverick_\(book\))

------
adrinavarro
I have given out as a gift a copy of 'Predictably Irrational'. I found it
interesting and insightful at many different levels (whether you're just a
normal person and enjoy those 'huh' moments, or you're actually dealing with
this stuff at a professional level).

------
wj
A cookbook is the book I have given the most. Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller
is an absolutely great book for somebody that is getting into cooking.

Of the top of my head some books I gave my brother included Salt, Siddhartha,
and Shantaram. There were others that didn't start with an S as well.

------
smacktoward
The Stephen Mitchell translation of the _Tao Te Ching_ :
[https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-
Laozi/dp/0060812451/ref=...](https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-
Laozi/dp/0060812451/ref=sr_1_3)

It's beautiful.

~~~
roylez
I was about to say the same. Recommended it to a few friends. It is a life
changing book, even more enjoyable than original Chinese version.

------
acidburnNSA
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It's about life. Has become 2 recipients'
favorite book so far.

------
wilwade
No kids books have been listed, but I have found them all too often
enlightening. Sometimes even more than an adult book.

I and my kids have enjoyed all of Graeme Base's books, but The Eleventh Hour
is particularly good and have given it to many kids and adults:
[http://graemebase.com/book/the-eleventh-
hour/](http://graemebase.com/book/the-eleventh-hour/)

I am also thinking about giving Yertle the Turtle By Dr. Seuss out to anyone I
meet before the election:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_St...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_Stories)
I have given many Dr. Seuss books away as well.

~~~
flubert
Get a couple of the collections of Dr. Seuss.

Can't help but think that in addition to "Yertle", that "Sneetches", "Horton
Hears a Who", and "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" are all timeless
masterpieces.

[https://www.amazon.com/Six-Seuss-Treasury-Dr-
Classics/dp/067...](https://www.amazon.com/Six-Seuss-Treasury-Dr-
Classics/dp/0679821481/)

[https://www.amazon.com/Hatful-Seuss-Favorite-Sneetches-
Barth...](https://www.amazon.com/Hatful-Seuss-Favorite-Sneetches-
Bartholomew/dp/0679883886/)

------
shabinesh
I am not much into fiction, my gift depends on the kind of person I gift to,
few books I most of the time prefer gifting,

1\. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, for those
spiritual minds. I am a huge fan of this book, I am traveling this week to
Dharamshala to learn about Buddhism after reading this book.

2.Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, for those aspiring young minds.

3\. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, for my adventure loving friends. I had an
intense desire to see Mt.Everest after reading this book, I traveled to
Everest base camp.

4\. Bhagavad-Gītā As It Is by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, for
everyone, I don't remember how many I have gifted.

5\. Imitation of Christ, I have gifted it, but haven't read it myself. It's in
my list.

6\. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

------
jayroh
I've given this as a gift several times -- "What Should I Do with My Life" by
Po Bronson.

[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBFMKC/ref=dp-kindle-
redirect?...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBFMKC/ref=dp-kindle-
redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#nav-subnav)

Had a run-in with serious burn-out about 12 years ago and had considered
leaving software entirely and starting a landscaping business. This book was
inspirational in that it helped me figure out what I might LOVE doing, and
then made me realize it was right under my nose the whole time. I just needed
to get a new job that appreciated and challenged me

~~~
drdrey
what are you doing now?

~~~
jayroh
freelance developer these days.

That's what I meant by "right under my nose". I still loved what I DID, I just
wasn't in the right place or right industry.

To be more specific - I was writing code, but in advertising. Being a
programmer in advertising is a brutal, thankless, experience. When I figured
that out and left for software consulting, it got better.

------
billhendricksjr
A People's History of The United States by Howard Zinn. Given it at least 5
times.

All students should realize that history is written by the "winners" see US
history from the perspective of the oppressed - Native Americans, slaves,
women, the poor.

------
petr_tik
I give books to people I work with and the 3 books that people will have heard
of are:

Thinking fast and slow by Danny K

Antifragile by Nassim Taleb

Algorithms To Live By by Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths

I thought about giving fictional books to people, but it seems to personal a
present for a work acquaintance

------
hartem_
Mostly 'Hackers and Painters' and 'Surely you are joking Mr. Feynman'.

------
kidster
The Little Prince and The Alchemist. Whenever I make new friends I give them
either of these books if they haven't read them yet. These two have changed my
point of view significantly -- and I've read them at an adult age already.

------
RobLach
"Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius. A stoic tenet plus it grounds everyone once
you realize not even the power and wealth of a Roman emperor is enough to
escape certain realities and you need to re-adjust your definition of success.

------
francasso
Obviously "The Universal Master Key" by Franz Bardon. They might start looking
at you in strange ways though... you have been warned

[https://amzn.com/1291355138](https://amzn.com/1291355138)

------
Induane
Gödel, Escher, Bach Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Enders Game
Speaker for the Dead A Brief History of Time I Am a Strange Loop Lila: An
Inquiry Into Morals The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (5 or 6 book trilogy)
Dune

------
bschwindHN
* How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical & Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Anglesmiths, & Civil Servants

* Ulrich Haarburste's Novel Of Roy Orbison In Clingfilm

------
pessimizer
Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality by Paul Barber. It's pretty
much my Bible, and is all that needs to be said about the nature of my
secularism. I tell people it's a cool book about vampire myths, though.

------
Jaruzel
Last Christmas, I was given and then bought for others:

 _The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of
the First Computer_

( [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrilling-Adventures-Lovelace-
Babba...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrilling-Adventures-Lovelace-Babbage-
Computer/dp/0141981512) )

It's a halfway house between a graphic novel and a proper book, and is written
in a very entertaining way. I can thoroughly recommend it for anyone who is
interested in Computer History, and normally struggles through dry tomes of
non-fiction (which this is most definitely not!)

------
thatha7777
1\. The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Repeatedly (to different
people).

------
adolgert
bash Pocket Reference. I keep a stack by the office door, sort of like a candy
bowl.

------
jfb
_River-Horse_ , William Least-Heat Moon. It's a wonderful account of a
classically idiosyncratic journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through
the waterways of North America.

 _Speak, Memory_ , Vladimir Nabokov. The pinnacle of the memoirist's art. I
find it nearly uncreditable, Nabokov's facility with English, his _5th_
language.

 _Lyonesse_ , Jack Vance. Vance is the greatest stylist in 20th century
American letters, and _Lyonesse_ is probably his greatest achievement. Fantasy
indebted to Celtic mythology, not Tolkien. Marvelous, poetic, pungent language
in service of a wonderful story.

------
ehudla
Programming Pearls (Jon Bentley). His essays on bumper sticker CS, Doug
McIlroy @ Bell Labs, and little languages still resonate in mind regularly.
It's when I feel someone can be trusted with really cool ideas.

------
brianzelip
Kahlil Gibran's 'The prophet'

------
EliRivers
Books by David Mitchell. Possibly the finest modern literature author alive.

~~~
parkersweb
It wasn't as highly rated as 'Cloud Atlas' but I particularly loved 'The Bone
Clocks'. Something about his vision of a post-apocalyptic future seemed very
plausible - and very memorable.

------
yumaikas
_Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software_ was one of the
most formative books for my programming self education. I've tried to loan it
to several of my friends more than once, and it was a gift to me.

Also had a strange case of loaning out _C# 4.0 in a Nutshell_ and never
getting it back, but I would do it again (with an updated version). Albahari
is good at writing a reference without being too boring, and C# has some
legitimately interesting sides in how it does some things, like it's
dynamically compiled regexen.

------
rgun
Glimpses of World History by Jawaharlal Nehru:

A collection of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to his daughter Indira
Gandhi, from jail, teaching her about world history. An interesting
introduction to history.

------
robot
The intelligent investor - benjamin graham. In my home country investing is
still a mystery for many and there are no good books. This book gives you some
base and perspective about investinng

------
ScottBurson
Oliver Morton's _The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the
World_.

Obviously this is a selection for someone who likes to read serious nonfiction
and is interested in the science of climate change and what we might be able
to do about it.

I've mentioned the book on HN before and got an unenthusiastic reception, but
I loved it. The author does an excellent job avoiding both knee-jerk
skepticism and knee-jerk credulity, and it's so well written I could hardly
put it down.

------
cyman
Four Hour Work Week. Take it with a grain of salt, since it takes a lot longer
than the author suggests to create a business. (I'd say a year of hard work at
least to finally hit a product that sells easily enough in high enough
quantities rather than a matter of months.) But it's possible. It's a great
read with direct, practical advice. Ex: It says exact what services to use and
how much they cost, rather than the more typical theoretical "think this way"
of other business books.

------
bmh_ca
How to Win Friends and Influence People

------
cmdrfred
Dune, Enders Game and Ready Player One.

~~~
eddd
Last year (I'm 28), I tried to read Enders Game for the for the first time
since 15 years. I was disappointed, it's really cool, but for younger
generations.

~~~
cmdrfred
Ever read speaker for the dead?

------
dmourati
The Little Prince, or Le Petit Prince if the recipient is a francophile. A
wonderful story that I personally try to read every year. Netflix has recent
plans to release as a film as well.

------
nrjames
West with the Night, by Beryl Markham.

This is the autobiography of a woman who grew up on a farm in British East
Africa (Kenya) in the early 1900s. She eventually became a bush pilot and the
first person ever to fly an airplane solo across the Atlantic Ocean from east
to west. It is a beautifully written and interesting story. Note: if you
decide to read it, skip the Forward because it sort of spoils the book. Come
back to it at the end, however, because it provides some interesting
historical context.

------
woodpanel
"Why the Germans, why the Jews" by Götz Aly - good insight into younger German
and Ashkenazi history. Is the most comprehensive book I've read about the why.
Why the broad anti-semitism, why the NSDAP, why the holocaust.

Poor Charlie's Almanack - It's one the books that Warren Buffet always
recommends. I gotta say though that I don't get why. But it makes a good gift
since it has good "coffee table" value because of the many illustrations.

------
davidtpate
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull It's the story of Pixar and there's so many
things I enjoyed about this book. It helped validate for me many of my
instincts in running a creative business.

The Martian by Andy Weir I very much enjoyed the story and how it was all
approached.

Seven Eves by Neil Stephenson Similar to his other books (Snow Crash and
Cryptonomicon) I've gifted these a few times. I really enjoy his method of
storytelling and his stories appeal to the geek in me as well.

------
mch82
[Rework][] from DHH and Jason Fried.

Rework explains the "life beyond work" and "make a dent in the universe"
philosophy behind Basecamp and Rails and is a valuable counterpoint to the
popular media narrative of the startup IPO mindset. The book also explains how
to apply the philosophy with actionable examples and it's fun to read.

[Rework]: [https://37signals.com/rework](https://37signals.com/rework)

------
mbauman
_The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Díaz_ (fiction) - At face value, a
story about a nerdy outcast in love, which means most people I know will
relate to it. Pulitzer Prize winner.

 _The Elements of Typographic Style by Bringhurst_ (design) - Most designers I
know already own a copy, but interesting for laymen.

 _The Little Schemer by Friedman & Felleisen_ (programming) - Fun and
educational for anyone interested in programming, at just about any level.

------
neelkadia
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.. I've bought around 20 copies and
given as a gift to all my close {friends, cousins, co-workers} two years back.

------
anonbiocoward
Strunk and White. I put my email and phone number in the inside cover. Only
for good friends. Have gotten contacts from people I haven't seen in 10 years.

------
d4nte
One book I've given is Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. It is deeply
philosophical, beginning with astute observations about human nature,
continuing with an evaluation of possible worldviews and their consistency
with logic and evidence, and concluding with an enlightening discussion of
Christian theology. Regardless of a person's beliefs or lack thereof, it
provides interesting ideas to consider and challenge.

------
xf00ba7
An imaginary tale, the story of sqrt( -1 ). link:
[http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9259.html](http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9259.html).
One of my favorites. Oh....also handed out the foundation series in combined
hardback form to a few folks for the winter holiday. I loved that series as
well. Thankfully so did the people I handed it out to.

------
vectorpush
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.

My favorite sci-fi story, I might even admit it is my favorite of all stories.
I've given it as a real book but the experience really benefits from the
e-reader format because, at least for me, there were many terms to look up and
many sections that I wanted to notate for consideration later. It's a
challenging book but a very thoughtful and rewarding read. Highly recommended.

------
CalRobert
Getting out: Your guide to Leaving America

The title is a bit provocative but if you're looking to move from the US to
another country it's a great place to start. I've given it to a couple of
footloose people in their twenties who wanted to move abroad but were
intimidated by dealing with visas and expense. (Remember, not everyone works
in fields where countries are clamoring to give out visas!)

------
zgotsch
I've given out several copies of "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson and
"Stories of Your Life and Others" by Ted Chiang.

~~~
thedudemabry
Ted Chiang's short story collection is the most concentrated dose of fantastic
sci-fi/fantasy I've read. Each story is brief, memorable, and plays with at
least one neat "what if?"

I've also given out a couple of copies because it's a great way to demonstrate
SF&F genre awesomeness to the sceptical in just a few pages.

~~~
nl
Everyone should read Ted Chiang.

[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/fall_2010/fiction_the...](https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/fall_2010/fiction_the_lifecycle_of_software_objects_by_ted_chiang)

------
agentgt
Many of the books I would have been covered already but one that hasn't (ie
not found via option-f) is:

 _" Is God a Mathematician?"_ by Mario Livio

It is a wonderful exploration and history of math, science and light theology
(mostly historic though. the book is written by a mathematician).

I still wonder frequently if math is human made up thing or is it innate. Is
the universe inherently mathematical? Can we prove it?

~~~
vinchuco
Define inherently mathematical.

~~~
agentgt
I'm probably not doing the justice of describing the book particularly since I
am especially weak at writing.

Before I go on and waste everyones time with me falsely explaining things I
recommend you just read up on the book (ie just read some summaries).

What I mean by "inherently mathematical" is that everything is based on math.
That all thing in the universe are mathematical and everything can be
represented with formulas and constants. That math makes the universe work and
not the other way around.

It may seem obvious to some that of course the universe is mathematical but
many believe that it is a human's way of modeling patterns that just so happen
to happen in our universe.

Like I said I sort of want to avoid prolong discussion of this topic as it
could be its own HN thread and I also know I'm doing a great injustice to the
book and people actually working in this area of attempting to try to explain
it.

Here is SA article on the subject (SA is hardly academic but it might be
better than my explanation):

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-universe-
ma...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-universe-made-of-math-
excerpt/)

~~~
vinchuco
I'll take a look at both! I did not expect a definitive answer to a hard
question (I myself wish I had a good one). The "unreasonable effectiveness of
mathematics" is a really interesting topic.

A spider may wonder if the universe is inherently spiderthought-like.
Spiderwebs work great, after all.

------
bluejekyll
"The Four Agreements", I wish I had read it when I was younger, I give it to
anyone who seems to feel other people are their problem.

~~~
MichaelGG
Isn't this the book that starts off with the guy claiming he (or his
ancestors) could transform into Jaguars? IIRC, the book was littered with
falsehoods.

~~~
bluejekyll
Native American traditions often don't distinguish between hallucinations and
actual transmorphing into something else. So while it's been a few years since
I read it, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me.

But the four agreements are what are important:

1) always do your best

2) never make assumption

3) don't take things personally

4) be impeccable with your word

2&3 were the most help to me in both work and dating.

~~~
arviewer
You mixed up 1 and 4, but that's no problem. Doing your best means that you
will never be 100% perfect in following up on 1, 2 and 3, so make the best of
it and forgive yourself if you forget to follow them.

For me 3 was very important, with many small things that annoyed me, people
getting in my way etc. They don't do that to annoy me, and of course I know
that, but to fully realise that was important.

Be impeccable is the most important for me. This is more about shouting at
yourself than about shouting at other people. Most of the time we shout -
silently - at ourselves, and these little punishments that you often don't
even notice, take you down and can make your life a lot more miserable. And if
you shout a lot at other people, try to figure out why you need to do that.

In the last five years, this was the most important book for me. Whenever I'm
having troubles with someone, reading this book helps me get through it.

~~~
bluejekyll
I guess I never thought of the order as important. Like I said there are two
that are the most important to me, and the others that I need less reminding
of.

Though, since being married and having kids, I do find being impeccable with
my word a little more difficult when you're out with a friend for a drink
(very rare these days) and your wife asks you when you will be home... it's
very easy to say "I'm on my way" when in fact you just got your last drink and
you know it's going to be 20-30 minutes before you leave, but saying that will
might get you in some hot water. I definitely need to do better on that one.

~~~
arviewer
The order is not that important, but this is the order of the method. And you
give a perfect example of 1 working with 4, although doing your best does not
mean letting go and let this problem repeat and grow into something more
annoying.

------
jackess
Carol Dweck's Mindset. Really gives insight into how our limiting self-beliefs
can stunt our growth and potential, and how to fix them.

------
koolba
[http://pbfcomics.com/book/](http://pbfcomics.com/book/)

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

Intro to programming in Python - I don't remember which one though. I think it
was one of the O'Reilly ones.

------
dedalus
These days I present anyone with this book: Mindset,The New Psychology of
Success [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FCKPHG/ref=dp-kindle-
redirect?...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FCKPHG/ref=dp-kindle-
redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)

and they tell me it makes a difference to their lifestyle

------
Gnarl
"The Body Electric" by Dr. Robert O. Becker. Everyone in healthcare, medicine
and especially the wireless industry should read it.
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Electric-Robert-
Becker/dp/0688...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Electric-Robert-
Becker/dp/0688069711)

------
ehudla
Danny, the Champion of the World. For kids and kids at heart. One of the books
that I feel made me want to be a maker/hacker.

------
ktRolster
I gave my own book, "Zero Bugs and Program Faster."

I gave Randall Jarrell's version of _Faust_ it is an excellent book.

------
spapas82
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

------
is_it_xmas
There are so many great books here. I'm surprised to see nothing by Palahniuk.
I've given Choke and Survivor as gifts.

Also disappointed that George Saunders didn't make the list. His essays in The
Brain-dead Megaphone are great and his short stories, especially Isabelle and
others is The Tenth of December, are heart-warming.

------
lettergram
_Time Enough for Love_ by Robert Heinlein, I've recommended it to four people
and all came back with it being their new favorite book.

It has all of science fiction classics, but focuses on a guy who can live
forever and attempts to experience everything. Of course this leads to some
strange events, and is definitely worth a read.

------
m12k
_Letters of Note_. From the blog of the same name - a fascinating collection
of letters from and/or to historical figures. Makes a great coffee table book.
[https://unbound.com/books/letters-of-note](https://unbound.com/books/letters-
of-note)

------
kingkawn
Letter to a Teacher by the Schoolboys of Barbiana. Beautifully written call
for better education for the poor by the children who need it.

Available in PDF now too:
[http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/LTAT_Final.pdf](http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/LTAT_Final.pdf)

------
stevewilhelm
Turtle Island, by Gary Snyder.

or more recently,

Tamalpais Walking: Poetry, History, and Prints, By Gary Snyder and Tom Killion

and

Quiet Light, by John Sexton

or

Places of Power: The Aesthetics of Technology by John Sexton

------
smountcastle
I give these three books out to new managers in my org:

* High Output Management by Andy Grove [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679762884/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679762884/)

* Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591846404/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591846404/)

* The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591843472/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591843472/)

For interns I give out these two books:

* The Pragmatic Programmer [https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Maste...](https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Master/dp/020161622X/)

* The Passionate Programmer [https://pragprog.com/book/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer](https://pragprog.com/book/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer)

------
ehudla
The Swiss Family Robinson. A children's book, about a family that has no other
option but to become makers.

~~~
rudedogg
I read this book in grade school and loved it!

------
mironathetin
Franz Werfel: Pale Blue Ink in a Lady's Hand. The story of an Austrian
aristocrat and politician, who is - through his marriage - well established in
society and on a safe carrier path, who discovers that he might have a child
with a jewish woman (in pre-WWII Austria).

Great story and so well written by Werfel.

------
paulsutter
"Crap Taxidermy"

[https://www.amazon.com/Crap-Taxidermy-Kat-
Su/dp/1607748207/r...](https://www.amazon.com/Crap-Taxidermy-Kat-
Su/dp/1607748207/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401679657&sr=8-2&keywords=crap%20taxidermy)

------
avh02
I'm really surprised by no mention of the tripods trilogy by John Christopher.
Only managed to gift it once. Don't think they even read it :(

Truly a phenomenal story IMO

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

------
tixocloud
The Essential Marcus Aurelius was a book that was given to me as a gift. Since
reading it, I've bought many more copies to share with people I deeply care
about.

This book contained so many great insights into how to deal with life's
stresses and has been a revelation in my transformation of attitude.

------
a_c
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim.

A novel that tells how to manage IT department in a very enchanted manner. The
situation entailed in the story is too real. I had some many "I have come
across this shit before, wish I handled it better" encounters that I couldn't
put the book down until finished.

------
wdr1
_The Princess Bride_.

I've given it away seven times & purchased it eight.

Like every book, it's different from the movie. I'm not going to say it's
better than the movie, but I'm also not going say the movie is better either.
Both are just so amazing in their own right that I adore them both.

------
sokoloff
Web Operations:Keeping the Data On Time

------
yla92
I have given Humans of New York book as a gift to a friend of mine and now
preparing another one to another friend.

Mainly because I think the book has so much great quality photo essays, worth
keeping it for a long time, sit down, flip it through from time to time and
enjoy the beautiful stories.

------
ehudla
Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas (Papert)

Since this was discussed here recently (in sad circumstances), I'll just say
that everyone who might be involved with kids, either as an educator or parent
needs to read this book. And it was great to read when I was a kid, too!

------
sflicht
Huygens and Barrow, Newton and Hooke [1] by mathematician V. I. Arnol'd.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Huygens-Barrow-Newton-Hooke-
quasicrys...](https://www.amazon.com/Huygens-Barrow-Newton-Hooke-
quasicrystals/dp/3764323833)

------
NTripleOne
I'm not a big reader (Last book I read was back in 2010~?), but I think my
favourite was Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic. Big fan of the
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series as well as the film, so it only made sense that I read
the book that it was all based on.

------
japhyr
When I've had friends interested in learning to play chess, I've given _Play
Winning Chess_ by Yasser Seirawan. It's great at explaining what to think
about when playing the different phases of the game, with no emphasis on
memorizing particular lines.

------
sevensor
_The Soul of a New Machine_ : it's the 1970s and the mincomputer wars are hot.
A bunch of young engineers at the upstart Data General race to get a new mini
out the door. Tech has changed a lot in 40 years, but the way people work on
it hasn't.

------
hkhall
The most recent is Liquid Intelligence by Dave Arnold[1]

[1][https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Intelligence-Science-
Perfect-C...](https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Intelligence-Science-Perfect-
Cocktail/dp/0393089037)

------
jboynyc
Most recently, _Password_ by Martin Paul Eve. Highly recommended.
[http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/password-9781501314872/](http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/password-9781501314872/)

------
drited
Misbehaving by Richard Thaler. It's like Thinking, Fast and Slow except more
hilarious.

------
Ace17
Masters of Doom, by David Kushner.

------
typeseven
The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine.

------
grafelic
I haven't yet gifted a copy of Robert Anton Wilson's and Robert Shea's "The
Illuminatus! Triology", but I want to. This book strikes the fine balance of
being funny and mindblowingly weird at the same time. Great fun.

~~~
kqr
I started reading this when I was very young and then eventually trailed off.
Thanks for reminding me I gotta try again!

~~~
grafelic
You're welcome! My approach to this book was to stop thinking too much about
the numerous "plot lines" and just go with the flow.The fact that I bought the
book in a second-hand bookstore in Berkeley and read most of it while
exploring the Californian coast, probably put me in that mindset from the get-
go. :)

------
physicsyogi
I gave Joseph Brodsky's _Watermark_ and Alan Watts' _The Wisdom of Insecurity_
to two friends last year. And for Mothers Day last year I gave my wife a book
of themed photos and prose, _Two_ , by Melissa Ann Pinney.

------
sguav
The Ambidextrous Universe, Martin Gardner, 1979 edition. I find it fascinating
even today

------
cheshire_cat
"The Genius and the Goddess" by Aldous Huxley. It's one of his lesser known
works and also quite short (128 pp).

I really like Huxleys way of waving thoughts on psychology and philosophy into
a story and specially liked it in this novel.

------
daniel_iversen
"Strategic Selling" by Miller Heiman. It was the first book that really opened
up my eyes to the fact that sales is (mostly) a science and its an awesome
methodology. I got it as a gift and I've given it as a gift too.

------
matthewvincent
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse is my current go to gift book. It's so short that
anyone can dive in without being intimidated.

I don't think it's possible to read Siddhartha without coming just a little
bit closer to enlightenment.

------
35bge57dtjku
I give One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in movie form, to departing coworkers.

------
remmelt
Cooked by Michael Pollan.

Great history about food, how cooking made us "human," links to religion,
feminism, consumerism, and much more. Very insightful and at times heart felt.
Not recommended if you don't eat food.

------
jvrossb
Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson

------
aaronbrethorst
The Pragmatic Programmer:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pragmatic_Programmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pragmatic_Programmer)

~~~
petr_tik
My SO gave this to me last Christmas - what touched me the most was her lack
of knowledge in CS/IT field, but willingness to research and find one of the
best books in our domain. It's not just the book that was given, it's often
the context (who, to whom, what for)

------
ultrasandwich
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis. I think her writing appeals to a wide
range of people. The stories are simultaneously experimental, hilarious,
methodical, obsessive, but mostly just excellent.

------
dredmorbius
Interesting question, and a quite difficult one for me to answer as I'm
refactoring much of my thinking presently. I'll offer a list, some authors,
and some guidelines, largely based on books which radically changed my
thinking.

Madelaine l'Engle's _A Wrinkle in Time_. A quite profound children's book with
lifelong impacts.

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/wrinkle-in-
time/oclc/22421788](https://www.worldcat.org/title/wrinkle-in-
time/oclc/22421788)

Frank Herbert's _Dune_ introduced true complexity into storytelling for me.

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/dune-frank-
herbert/oclc/52908...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/dune-frank-
herbert/oclc/52908888)

James Burke's books _Connections_ and _The Day the Universe Changed_ , and
their accompanying television series, were a profound introduction to the
history of technology, science, ideas, and philosophy. Though 30+ years old,
they remain highly current and relevant.

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/connections/oclc/4494136](https://www.worldcat.org/title/connections/oclc/4494136)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/day-the-universe-
changed/oclc...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/day-the-universe-
changed/oclc/12049817)

Jeremy Campbell's _Grammatical Man_ (1984) introduced the concepts of
information theory and their deep, deep, deep interconnections to a tremendous
number of interconnected systems, many not explored within his book. Darwin's
_The Origin of Species_ , James Gleick's _Chaos_ , and many of the works of
Santa Fe Institute members, including John C. Holland, J. Doyne Farmer,
Geoffrey West, W. Brian Arthur, David Krakauer, and Sander van der Leeuw,
continue these themes.

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/grammatical-man-
information-e...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/grammatical-man-information-
entropy-language-and-life/oclc/8306673)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/chaos-making-a-new-
science/oc...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/chaos-making-a-new-
science/oclc/15366709)

William Ophuls' _Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity_ (1977) is perhaps the
best, most comprehensive, shortest, and most readable exposition of the fact,
reality, dynamics, and interactions of limits on the present phase of fossil-
fuel fed economic growth I've found. This is a book I recommend not only for
the message, but the author's clarity of thought and exposition, his
meticulous research, exquisite bibliographical notes, and, given the nearly 30
years elapsed, testability numerous of his predictions, some failed, yes,
others uncannily accurate. Rather more the latter. In a similar vein, William
R. Catton's _Overshoot_ looks at the ecological dynamics in more depth, with
much wisdom, the writings of Richard Heinberg cover the ground of limits
fairly accessibly and more recently. Vaclav Smil in numerous books addresses
technical factors of the profound nature of the past 250 years, and
implications for the future. Meadows, et al, in _Limits to Growth_ set off
much of the post-1970 discussion (though they're hardly the first to raise the
question -- it dates to Seneca the Elder),

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/ecology-and-the-politics-
of-s...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/ecology-and-the-politics-of-scarcity-
prologue-to-a-political-theory-of-the-steady-state/oclc/2524932)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/overshoot-the-ecological-
basi...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/overshoot-the-ecological-basis-of-
revolutionary-change/oclc/6195764)

[https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3Aheinberg%2C+richard&q...](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3Aheinberg%2C+richard&qt=owc_search)

[https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3Asmil%2C+vaclav&qt=res...](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3Asmil%2C+vaclav&qt=results_page)

Though hardly pessimistic, Daniel Yergin's book _The Prize_ (and TV series)
impressed upon me more than any other just _how much_ petroleum specifically
changed and transformed the modern world. Though intended largely as laudetory
and championing the oil industry by the author, my read of it was
exceptionally cautionary. The impacts on business, everyday life, politics,
wars, industry, and transport, and the rate at which they occurred, are simply
staggering. You can continue this exploration in Vaclav Smil's _Energy in
World History_ (1994) (I've recommended Smil independently elsewhere), and a
rare but profound two-volume set I'm currently reading, Manfred
Weissenbacher's _Sources of Power: How energy forges human history_ (2009).
The shear physicality of this book speaks to the message -- it's divided into
five parts: 1) Foraging Age (6 pages), 2) Agricultural Age (156 pp), 3) Coal
Age (160 pp), 4) Oil Age (296 pp), and 5) Beyond the Oil Age (142 pp). That
is, the ~2 million years of pre-agricultural existence are little more than a
footnote, the 8,000 years of agriculture roughly equal to the 150 years of
coal, and the 100 years of petroleum use roughly twice either. The oil and
post-oil ages comprise their own volume. Yergin followed up with _The Quest_ ,
continuing the search for oil, though I've been less impressed by it.

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/prize-the-epic-quest-for-
oil-...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/prize-the-epic-quest-for-oil-money-
and-power/oclc/22381448)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-in-world-
history/oclc/...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-in-world-
history/oclc/30398523)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/before-oil-the-ages-of-
foragi...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/before-oil-the-ages-of-foraging-
agriculture-and-coal/oclc/837625798)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-age-and-
beyond/oclc/83762...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-age-and-
beyond/oclc/837625970)

Adam Smith's _An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations_
is among the most-cited (and most _incorrectly_ cited), least-read books of
high influence I'm aware of, outside religious texts (and perhaps it _is_ a
religious text to some…). The author's message has been exceptionally shaped
and manipulated by a powerful set of forces, quite often utterly
misrepresenting Smith's original intent. Reading him in his own words,
yourself, is strongly recommended. I'd also recommend scholarship particularly
by Emma Rothschild and Gavin Kennedy, though also others, on Smith. Contrast
with the portrayal by the propaganda disinformation front of the Mont Pelerin
Society / Atlas Network / so-called Foundation for Economic Education, and
much of the modern American Libertarian movement (von Mises, Hayek, Friedman,
Hazlett, Rothbard, and more recently, Norberg). Contrast _The Invisible Hand_
(1964), a compilation of essays published by Libertarian house Regnery Press
in 1966, at the beginning of the rise in public use of Smith's metaphor to
indictate _mechanism_ rather than _an expression of the unknown_.

There are numerous editions of Smith, I believe the Glasgow is frequently
cited by Smith scholars: [https://www.worldcat.org/title/glasgow-edition-of-
the-works-...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/glasgow-edition-of-the-works-
and-correspondence-of-adam-smith-2-an-inquiry-into-the-nature-and-causes-of-
the-wealth-of-nations-vol-1/oclc/832488566)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/economic-sentiments-adam-
smit...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/economic-sentiments-adam-smith-
condorcet-and-the-enlightenment/oclc/45282974)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/adam-smith-and-the-
invisible-...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/adam-smith-and-the-invisible-
hand/oclc/820387997)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/adam-smiths-lost-
legacy/oclc/...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/adam-smiths-lost-
legacy/oclc/56598640)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/invisible-hand-a-
collection-o...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/invisible-hand-a-collection-
of-essays-on-the-economic-philosophy-of-free-enterprise/oclc/326622)

I'd like to put in recommendations on technology specifically, but am still
searching for a good general text. The material's covered somewhat in the
chaos and complexity recommendations above (Campbell et al), though I'd add
Joseph Tainter's _The Collapse of Complex Societies_. Charle's Perrow has
several excellent books including _Normal Accidents_ and _Organizing America_.
I'd like to reference something concerning Unix, Linux, and programming,
perhaps Kernighan and Pike's _The Unix Programming Environment_ , Linus
Torvalds' _Just for Fun_ , Richard Stallman's _The GNU Manifesto_ , and Steve
McConnel's _Code Complete_. The O'Reilly book _Unix Power Tools_ also
encapsulates much the strength of the Unix toolset. All these are somewhat
dated.

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/collapse-of-complex-
societies...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/collapse-of-complex-
societies/oclc/15083222)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/normal-accidents-living-
with-...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/normal-accidents-living-with-high-
risk-technologies/oclc/10229932)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/organizing-america-wealth-
pow...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/organizing-america-wealth-power-and-
the-origins-of-corporate-capitalism/oclc/939707157)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/unix-programming-
environment/...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/unix-programming-
environment/oclc/10269821)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/unix-power-
tools/oclc/5238168...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/unix-power-
tools/oclc/52381684)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/free-software-free-society-
se...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/free-software-free-society-selected-
essays-of-richard-m-stallman/oclc/51101440)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/just-for-fun-the-story-of-
an-...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/just-for-fun-the-story-of-an-
accidental-revolutionary/oclc/45610395)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/code-complete-a-practical-
han...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/code-complete-a-practical-handbook-of-
software-construction/oclc/27035508)

------
markvdb
"Dead souls", by Nikolaj Gogol.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Souls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Souls)

------
jrs235
The Underachiever's Manifesto: The Guide to Accomplishing Little and Feeling
Great [http://amzn.to/1GmFRvX](http://amzn.to/1GmFRvX)

------
ilikebits
My favourite is "The New Way Things Work" by David Macaulay. Loved this book
as a kid, it really got me into trying to figure out how the world worked (the
title really nailed it).

------
nl
Lots of good books have been mentioned.

I think _Watership Down_ is worth considering.

I only read it because I had to as a 15 yo, and it was absolutely brilliant. I
went and read every other book Richard Adams wrote.

------
nabusman
\- 48 Law of Power (Because we all have to deal with power games and politics)

\- The Intelligent Investor (Because people ask how do I invest)

\- Fooled by Randomness (Same ideas as Black Swan but oriented towards the
markets)

Edit: formating

------
lackbeard
The Blind Side, The Hard Thing about Hard Things, Sex at Dawn.

If asked, I would say those aren't the books I've found most amazing but
they're the ones I felt compelled to give as gifts.

~~~
flubert
>Sex at Dawn

I hate to be that guy, but I thought that book was unreadable. Had some weird
obsessive chip on the shoulder about Darwin (mentioned on almost every page).
Complete with nearly contentless USA Today style infographics. I'd recommend
"Sperm Wars" instead.

------
phonon
"Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers", by Jan Gullberg.

------
randcraw
"At Home" by Bill Bryson.

"Quiet" by Susan Cain.

"Hackers" by Steven Levy.

------
gpestana
The Art of Travel, by Alain de Botton
[https://g.co/kgs/3WZtk1](https://g.co/kgs/3WZtk1) . I highly recommend it!

~~~
elwaz
Second that and add: Status Anxiety

------
dmichulke
"Economics in one Lesson" by H. Hazlitt (conveys the same as "Atlas shrugged"
in much much less pages)

"The Selfish Gene" (R. Dawkins)

"Dune" (F. Herbert)

"Walden II" (B. F. Skinner)

------
daltonlp
_Shadows on the Koyukuk_ , by Sidney Huntington

 _Skunk Works_ , by Ben Rich

------
spdionis
The Dune series by Frank Herbert is by far one of the best works of fiction
ever written.

I recommend it to anyone interested in something mind-expanding and
entertaining at the same time.

------
jgord
Capital in the 21C - Thomas Piketty

Because it changes the way you see the world.

------
rukuu001
I heard the owl call my name, by Margaret Craven

I get the feeling this is better known in the US/Canada than here in
Australia.

I found it during an unstable time of my life and it helped a lot.

------
cionescu1
After reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, I offered it as a gift to most of
my friends. It's an exhilarating read, one that I would recommend to anyone

------
ehudla
The Mythical Man-Month

~~~
reidacdc
I gave this to my colleagues when I joined the my current development project,
the lessons about trying to scale development teams remain pretty sound.

------
fillskills
I've given On Intelligence and The Alchemist as gifts.

------
shoedog
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. A memoir of how Nike was build from scratch. Written
is a witty funny way that can be totally funny and brutally honest.

------
hardmath123
One book that works well for techy parents who have kids is _The Number
Devil_. It's fantastic read-with-your-kid-at-bedtime material.

------
JimmyM
_On What Matters_ by Derek Parfit.

Happened to be vol. 1, but vol. 2 is also fantastic. Honestly, _Reasons &
Persons_ would also make a fine gift.

------
eddd
Zero to One by P. Thiel (cheezy for HN, I know)

Meltdown by T. Woods (cool guy, Austrian Economy)

The Witcher by A. Sapkowski (Fantasy, but It reads well only in polish
language)

------
elorant
This year I gave "The Martian" to four different people. They couldn't thank
me enough. Best SF book I've ever read.

------
mattsouth
I love this thread. One that hasnt been mentioned and that I've
enthusiastically gifted is The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin.

------
BarkMore
_Economics in One Lesson_ by Henry Hazlitt.

~~~
woodpanel
Me too. It's an easy read and deliveres an Enlightenment to the typical
economic-folklore. I also like it because it doesn't question your morale, but
just asks to broaden your scope of possible perspectives.

------
bcook
Android Internals: A Confectioner's Cookbook

~~~
notsrg
Any idea where I can find a copy of this?

~~~
bcook
Through the author.
[http://newandroidbook.com/msg.html](http://newandroidbook.com/msg.html)

------
zelcon
The Little Schemer

------
jackgavigan
_Against The Gods_ by by Peter L. Bernstein

------
callmeed
_On Writing Well_ by Zinsser

 _Traction_ by Weinberg & Mares

 _Predictable Revenue_ by Ross

 _Choose Yourself_ by Altucher

 _Learn Python the Hard Way_ by Shaw

 _Mere Christianity_ by Lewis

------
mudil
I gave my father Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Horrors of war and the triumph
of the human spirit. What a story, what a life!

------
pareidolia
Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death makes a great gift for anyone who
watches too much TV or is addicted to Youtube

------
syngrog66
Steven Levy's Hackers, to a boy considering a career in computers

Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, to a fan of history

------
bch
"how to cook a wolf" by mfk fisher. Insight into tough times, getting by, and
making the most of those times.

------
abrkn
10% Happier by Dan Harris (audio book, narrated by the author)

A light hearted account of a news anchor's introduction to meditation

------
Atwood
Nonfiction:Global Brain, Fiction:Robinson Crusoe. A handful of poetry (rumi)
and philosophy books over the years too.

------
nugget
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley

------
werber
I think I've given "Go Tell It On The Mountain" by James Baldwin more times
than any other book.

------
Gatsky
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

This book got its hooks into me. Also fantastic writing craft if you get a
kick out of that.

------
SeaDude
"Ecotopia" by: Earnest Callenbach

"Self Reliance" by: Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The Iron Heel" by: Jack (fuckin) London!

------
ptha
2 that I've given and reread myself a few times would be:

 _Catch-22_ by Joseph Heller

 _The Third Policeman_ by Flann O'Brien

------
kp25
"The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green,

"P.S. I Love You" by Cecelia Ahern,

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee,

------
omginternets
Calculus Made Easy by Silvanus P. Thompson

I was surprised to find out how old this text was. It hasn't aged a day!

------
pop8row9
The Dark Side of Camelot, by Seymour Hersh. A very, very interesting treatment
of the Kennedys.

------
StanislavPetrov
_The Gambler_ by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Not a long read but classic Dostoevsky. A
real gem.

------
kowdermeister
Would anyone recommend a book about mathematical thinking? Basic, intro level
would fit best.

~~~
mturmon
Have you read "The Mathematical Experience" by Davis and Hersh? It's a
fantastic and engaging introductory book that tries to get across what drives
mathematical investigation. The reviews on Amazon are pretty accurate.

------
davidjnelson
The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

------
quantum_nerd
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

to my college best friend as a birthday gift.

------
qq66
"Maus" by Art Spiegelman

"The Way Things Work" by David Macaulay

"Winnie the Pooh" by A.A. Milne

------
rmchugh
The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan. A beautiful and moving tale of post-boom
rural Ireland.

------
arkadiyt
I've gifted the PostSecret books to several people - it's always well
received.

------
danvesma
Will Self – Great Apes. To remind people that sometimes we're just fucking
monkeys.

------
danmaz74
"Make you contacts count", to a couple of cousins who will start working soon.

------
danbolt
I've received The Brothers Karamazov, and found it to be my new favourite
book.

------
dmd
For the under-4 set: The House In The Night. It's a perfect new-baby book.

------
vskarine
\- The Ultra-Mind Solution, by Dr Mark Hyman

\- Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

\- The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

------
edoceo
Lean Customer Development

------
jurgenwerk
Cookin' with Coolio

~~~
bokumo
I had to check to make sure this wasn't some kind of joke, but it is real!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookin%27_with_Coolio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookin%27_with_Coolio)

------
rendx
Mitch Albom: Tuesdays with Morrie

Karin Boye: Kallocain

Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451

Raymond Chen: The Old New Thing

------
mangamadaiyan
One, Two, Three... Infinity by George Gamow.

I can't recommend it enough.

------
oaalami
"What do you do with an idea?" By Kobi Yamada

------
darksim905
The 48 Laws of Power

~~~
api
Seconded.

If you find the tactics in this book reprehensible and vile, it's even more
important that you read it so you are not taken in by them. People do these
things because they work.

------
ehudla
The Interpretation of Cultures (Clifford Geertz)

------
gardnr
"How the World Works" by Noam Chomsky

------
GnarfGnarf
James Kunstler: "The Long Emergency"

------
ehudla
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Capote).

------
fny
_Infinite Jest_ by David Foster Wallace

------
skmurphy
many copies of "Secrets of Consulting" by Gerald Weinberg and two copies of
Bionomics by Michael Rothschild

------
krapp
Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf

------
hkmurakami
The 4 part LBJ book series by Robert Caro.

------
Dowwie
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

------
mrmondo
The Phoenix Project, many, many times.

------
hanoz
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

------
mrjummyman
The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker

------
sonabinu
The Alchemist

------
gravypod
The Kamasutra to a friend.

Didn't work sadly.

------
bertique
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

------
ehudla
Primo Levi, The Periodic Table.

------
arisAlexis
The peripheral by Wiliam Gibson

------
miloshadzic
The Art of Computer Programming

~~~
vinchuco
That's a really nice gift

------
Thriptic
Complications by Atul Gawande

------
LeicaLatte
Life Inc. by Douglas Rushkoff

------
ehudla
The Double Helix (Watson)

------
jesuslop
Something of John Verdon

------
anonymoushn
Thinking, Fast and Slow

------
lagirl1994
Uncle Tom´s cabin

------
raymondh
Thing Explainer.

------
bostonaholic
The Lean Startup

------
thomasreggi
The Alchemist

------
Frogolocalypse
Non-fiction

The Emperors New Mind - Roger Penrose

Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglass Hoffstadter

Brocas Brain - Carl Sagan

The (mis)Behavior of Markets - Benoit Mandelbrot

The Black Swan - Nicholas Nassem Taleb

Fiction

Gates Of Fire - Stephen Pressfield

Neuromancer - William Gibson

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Hardwired - Walter Jon Williams

Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan

Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson

Space - Stephen Baxter

Enders Game - Orson Scott Card

Skeleton Crew - Stephen King

I've given away a lot of books. I'm old.

~~~
runT1ME
Good list. Define ou haven't read all of these but of the ones you've
mentioned I can tell I'd probably like the rest. Have you read Anathem or any
of Peter Watts' stuff? If not give them a try.

------
jbmorgado
I've given Flatland: an adventure in many dimensions on some occasions.

I think it's a wonderful and amusing book, full of philosophical and political
meaning that can be read at almost any age.

------
aaron695
If the book is so generic that someone can suggest it here, then it's not a
good gift.

But a great philosophy is below. People will appreciate the gesture and you'll
never get cranky about lent books never returned.

“It's a gift. Never lend a book.”

― Bill Adama

------
Pulce
"The hacker Ethic and the spirit of the information age", Pekka Himanen.

"Deadhead", Robert Sheckley.

"The world she wanted", Philip K. Dick.

"Poesia in forma di rosa", Pasolini.

------
nether
Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh

Great primer on mindful meditation.

------
iyn
> Meanwhile there's plenty of stuff happening in the world straight from the
> Nazi playbook of the 30s.

Can you elaborate?

~~~
curiousgal
Trump jumps to mind.

~~~
huehehue
Sorry to be that guy, but could you elaborate further?

~~~
cyphar
Exploitation of the public's fear, promises to make the country great again,
rejection by their own party once they figured out that they might come to
power. Those spring to mind as examples.

~~~
matwood
>Exploitation of the public's fear, >promises to make the country great again,

So any politician running for an election?

> rejection by their own party once they figured out that they might come to
> power.

You mean, the basic reason the democrats invented the super delegate to begin
with?

Not sure how old you are, but when Bush 2 was in power the same comments were
made. I guess Bush didn't turn into Hitler so now it's Trumps turn.

~~~
morgante
> Not sure how old you are, but when Bush 2 was in power the same comments
> were made.

I'm sure there are some who complained of that, but nobody I know did. There
is a categorical difference between merely having a different policy agenda
(most Republicans) and outright rejecting basic Constitutional principles (ex.
religious equality, free press, no torture).

I didn't vote for Romney in 2012, but I certainly didn't think he was a
fascist.

Pretending that all politicians are equivalent is rather ignorant. After all,
Hitler was _also_ a politician and clearly he was in fact different, as were
dozens of other leaders who around the world who have shared his approach.

~~~
ktRolster
_I 'm sure there are some who complained of that, but nobody I know did._

Look up "Bush Hitler" and you'll see plenty of images. It's the American
national past-time to compare our president to either Hitler or the
Antichrist, depending on your persuasion.

~~~
morgante
As I said, I'm sure that plenty of people did. Fringe groups will always have
extreme opinions.

That's different than mainstream news sources and even multiple historians
making the comparison. No credible argument could be made for Bush (or any
other Republican) being a fascist, but Trump's campaign follows many fascist
criteria. Compare the results, to see for yourself that it's obviously a whole
different degree:

\-
[http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/trump+hitler/](http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/trump+hitler/)

\-
[http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/bush+hitler/](http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/bush+hitler/)

Or just look at the facts. Bush never campaigned on an explicit central theme
of xenophobia and fear of foreigners. Heck, immigration reform was actually
one of the stronger aspects of his policy proposals. Yet Trump's most
consistent message, by far, is that we need to be afraid of foreigners and
minorities—something straight out of the fascist playbook.

~~~
matwood
>As I said, I'm sure that plenty of people did. Fringe groups will always have
extreme opinions.

If you consider MSNBC a fringe group:

[http://www.mrc.org/biasalerts/chris-matthews-compares-
bushs-...](http://www.mrc.org/biasalerts/chris-matthews-compares-bushs-
aggressive-iraq-war-nazis-trial-nuremberg)

------
atsaloli
"The Way to Happiness" by L. Ron Hubbard is a common-sense moral code. It's
inspired me to be a better person in different ways (e.g., as a husband,
professionally, personally, etc.). I gave it to a plumber in Sydney once (I
used to hand them out) and he came back and asked for a few more for his mates
"because they could use it".

[http://www.thewaytohappiness.org](http://www.thewaytohappiness.org)

~~~
Jaruzel
Putting the scientology stuff to one side for a moment, L. Ron Hubbard's
_Battlefield Earth_ and _Mission Earth_ books are fun pulp sci-fi, good for
summer holiday reading.

~~~
atsaloli
Aye. BTW, I just got this promotion from the publisher: Amazon Kindle edition
of _Battlefield Earth_ (1094 pages) is available for 99 cents until midnight
August 14th.

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B41I4NI/ref=as_li_tl?ie...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B41I4NI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=galaxypcom-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01B41I4NI&linkId=cee637675360d7a332e5803c5d1cb021)

