
Ask HN: What are your greatest books? - whyandhow
any book that changed your lifestyle, career, or financial status quo...
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galfarragem
"The Prince" \-- Niccolò Machiavelli

"The little Prince" \-- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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miguelrochefort
I sense a thematic.

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ethn
"Things hidden since the foundation of the world" by Rene Girard. Changed
literally everything.

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bogdansolga
"Essentialism", by Greg McKeown. Reading it right now, have already learned a
lot from it.

~~~
blabla_blublu
Looks interesting - does it cover minimalistic ideas for living or is it more
on the lines of information consumption ?

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Jugurtha
There's a set of books I picked right in freshman year that marked me:

"Pensées" \- Blaise Pascal: It showed me the clarity of thought a human being
could have with a brain that functions correctly. Reading this is humbling. It
is often reduced to a "theological" book and this is what you often see it
described as.

"The Prince" \- Niccolo Machiavelli: Shrewd but so much more nuanced than what
99% of the people who quote him would let believe. Practically every famous
quote was taken out of context in a pathetic way.

"The Wealth of Nation": I skimmed over a few chapters on a few volumes,
haven't read it cover to cover, but the parts I've read were eye opening.

"Meditations", Marcus Aurelius: This was surprising. The writing style was
so... fresh, for lack of a better word.

A few books from "La Comédie Humaine" collection: Honoré de Balzac. I haven't
read the whole collection, but it's "Le Père Goriot" that got me into reading
a few ones. The great thing about these is the fact they're intertwined (which
I didn't know until I saw a character from one novel appear in the other. This
was an _amazing_ feeling..). Balzac also knows his humans and describes the
human traits and the things you don't expect characters to do or say. All the
little unflattering internal thoughts.. When a character gives you goose
bumps, the author is doing something right.

"How the Steel Was Tempered", by Nikolaï Ostrovski: relates the adventures of
Pavka Korchagin, a kid warrior during the Russian Revolution.

"On the Genealogy of Morality", Friedrich Nietzsche. I found it in a library
and I had just enough money to buy it, so I did and walked 5 miles home. I was
asked by a beggar for the equivalent of a dollar, and it made me laugh.

Except for Ostrovski, Balzac, and Pascal which we had at home, the others were
from a Canadian university's website. You can't order just any book you want
here, so finding this was like finding the door to a new galaxy.

[0]:
[http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/](http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/)

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blabla_blublu
Fiction :

* Lolita by Vladmir Nabakov ; an absolute master class.

* The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling ; one for the memories!

Non Fiction :

* Letters of Note by Shawn Usher; a compendium of wonderful letters from the past. Highly recommended. [https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Note-Collection-Correspondenc...](https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Note-Collection-Correspondence-Deserving/dp/1452134251/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482110200&sr=8-1&keywords=Letters+of+note)

* Deep work by Cal Newport ; very applicable to the modern day distracted soul.

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jurgenwerk
The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell. What an enlightenment!

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peller
Lots of gold in this book. Even though it was published in 1930, just like
with _The Prince_ mentioned elsewhere in this thread, human nature changes so
very slowly - if at all - that these works are only substantiated by the test
of time. Definitely a must read.

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Kaibeezy
"Meditations", Marcus Aurelius - chill, the answer is there

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mindcrime
_The Four Steps To The Epiphany_ \- Steve Blank

 _The Fountainhead_ \- Ayn Rand

 _The Art Of The Start_ \- Guy Kawasaki

 _The World Is Flat_ \- Thomas Friedman

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tiatia
"The World Is Flat - Thomas Friedman"

A terrible book. Looks like he made a talk he gave or a paper into a book.
Says nothing in several hundred pages that he could not say in a few. Many
things are actually wrong. If the world would be flat, geopolitics would be
meaningless.

~~~
mindcrime
_If the world would be flat, geopolitics would be meaningless._

I think it's pretty clear that it's a metaphor and that qualifiers apply.
Nonetheless, the book inspired me and I gained a new appreciation for a lot of
things from reading it. For all its flaws, I would advocate reading it to
everyone. _shrug_

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jjude
"7 habits" by Steven Covey. Read it 20 years back. Amazed how it is still
useful.

~~~
bogdansolga
+1. Still the most 'foundational' book I have ever read.

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hex20
"Nairn Bus to Baghdad" \- J.S. Tullett

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TheAlchemist
"The Alchemist" \- Paulo Coelho

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algebrax
Deep Work Rework Zero to One E-myth

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ai_ia
The Art of Living by William Hart

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sogen
The Innovator's Dilemma.

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coldshower
Read the Book of Mormon. It's the closest thing to having a personal one to
one conversation with God the Son.

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anexprogrammer
In the interests of balance you should read up on the life of Joseph Smith,
the founder of the Mormons, and his history of fraud.

You could follow up with Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell:
[https://users.drew.edu/~jlenz/whynot.html](https://users.drew.edu/~jlenz/whynot.html)
It's pretty short.

~~~
coldshower
I know all about Joseph Smith. I'll leave it at that.

However, my initial comment still stands.

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anexprogrammer
Was more offering a counterpoint for the OP than trying to get argumentative.
:) I found his life fascinating, not least as it's very much one that would be
too remarkable for the biopic!

~~~
coldshower
Glad you brought it up. The Joseph Smith controversy is _the_ most interesting
and perplexing story never told.

Despite the sensation and spectacle, the Book of Mormon continues to blow my
mind. Nothing compares.

