

Ask: Read a book that changed your life? Title? - alexpatton

Difficulty: can&#x27;t write &#x27;Bible&#x27; &#x27;Koran&#x27; or &#x27;Torah&#x27;
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dwarman
Knuth's "The Art of Computer Programming" \- linked lists, state machines.

Carlos Castenada's Don Juan series (yes, I know it was fiction) - "one has no
choice but to believe. What matters is what you believe".

John C. Lilly's "Center of the Cyclone".

These three, all around early-mid 70's, ended up moving me from the UK to Los
Angeles. Strangely, each adds a different understanding to the others.
Together, I guess it just makes me a bit strange. But it works.

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hvass
The Black Swan (anything by Taleb really), Meditations by Marcus Aurelius,
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca, Epictetus' Discourses, Fish that ate the whale
by Rich Cohen, Man's Search for Meaning, Titan, Principles by Ray Dalio (not
really a book, but really worth reading, plus it's free), 4HW by Tim Ferris,
The Strategy Paradox.

Also Teddy Roosevelt's biography has been very influential.

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james678
+1 for Taleb. I only wish that his books were written with more humility.

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Killah911
I rather like his cocky and satiric style... Reminds me to take things he says
with a grain of salt.

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ioddly
How To Win Friends and Influence People really changed how I interact with
people, for the better.

~~~
Killah911
A rather unfortunate title for an amazing book. You might think most of what
it says is common sense, but in reality, ever since I read it, I've been far
more cognizant of relationships with people & despite being a talkative
extrovert, I have tried my best to shut the hell up and listen :)

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Corvus
I believe the title is even better now than when it was written in the 1930s;
the fact that when most people hear it they think of Machiavellian back-
stabbing is evidence how important its lessons are today.

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ahsanhilal
On Being Free by Frithjof Bergmann changed my perspective on what work should
be for an individual in a society. It's not very analytically heavy and is
definitely a great read. I also met him and what he is doing around the world
is pretty amazing.

I still remember how he told me in 2005-06 that 3d printing is going to usher
in a whole new idea of what work should actually be. I was a engineering
student at the time, quite obsessed with the room-sized 3d printer and could
not fathom exactly how that would happen. Well I guess it is starting to at
least.

[http://undpress.nd.edu/book/P00304](http://undpress.nd.edu/book/P00304)

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seanccox
White Teeth, Zadie Smith

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, Tom Robbins

Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell

Catch 22, Joseph Heller

Timequake; Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom, TE Lawrence

The Histories, Tacitus

The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (caveat, it was most effective when I read
it at 16)

Redwall, Brian Jaques (got me really excited about reading when I was in the
fourth grade)

This list could be much, much longer, but those are the most prominent 'life-
changers' that come to mind.

~~~
hvass
Thanks for reminding me of Seven Pillars, been on my wishlist for way too long
now.

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cgore
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. He is some weird combination of crazy
person, scummy used-car salesman, and genius. The best idea from the book is
his "dreamline" idea, and I have been doing it since around 2009. It really
helps you focus your effort, and get rid of tasks that don't accomplish your
goals.

[And from your Jahreslisten: the Bible.]

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phaus
I know you mentioned that he's part scummy, used car salesman, but when does
that part go away? You really shouldn't open a book that you actually want
people to finish with 50 pages of boasting about how naturally awesome you are
at literally everything, and how your life is a perpetual cycle of falling
ass-backwards into giant piles of money and women. There are actually a ton of
books that start like this and most of them don't contain anything of value,
so I assumed that this one was the same.

Seriously though, does it get any better?

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cgore
I don't read nonfiction the same way most people do. I do multi-pass. I first
read the table of contents, then skim the intro pages for each chapter, then
skim the whole book, and then finally actually "read" the book. It is weird to
people who are used to only the last part, but it lets you see the whole
picture beforehand and most importantly it lets you know where to pay
attention the most.

Ferriss does that stuff because he wanted to sell books as much as possible.
He even chose the name of the book by a/b testing. That stuff is line noise,
and I am sure he knows that it is, but it sells millions more copies because
of it.

So I would say try the reading approach I mentioned. There is a lot of filler,
but there is a lot of good content. I would say the most useful thing is the
dreamline idea, it a good approach to goal definition, a lot better than any
sort of bucket list and such. I do it somewhat differently than he outlines in
the book, but I still do it every month, and it has helped me accomplish a lot
more.

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brd
Siddhartha

The Alchemist

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

How to Win Friends and Influence People

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thenomad
+1 for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It really is as good as its
reputation suggests. I re-read it every half-decade or so.

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avmich
Mikhail Pukhov, "The way to Earth".

[https://kon-tiki.appspot.com/lunolet1/doc/package-summary.ht...](https://kon-
tiki.appspot.com/lunolet1/doc/package-summary.html)

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ratsimihah
ActionScript programming (2004?). My first programming book. Why ActionScript?
I can't remember. But being introduced to OOP in my early teen years was
fuuun.

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mksm
From the books not already mentioned above, I would strongly recommend this
one: "Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky" by Noam Chomsky

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147
The Lean Startup. I just randomly got it and read it. I was going to go into
game development then after reading it I totally changed what I was going to
do.

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amorphous
untethered soul - after 15 years of reading about meditation and "inner
freedom" this book explains things so clearly, direct and obvious that I feel
I have made an important step forward. Right after finishing it I re-read most
parts again. It was the right book at the right time for me. I guess many
readers might find it indeed too simple but for me that's the strength.

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ra00l
Good calories, bad calories by Gary Taubes - a very good book about what you
eat and what you should eat

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fananta
The Alchemist was a really interesting read. I would recommend. It allows you
to reflect a lot.

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ChrisC215
The Creature from Jekyll Island,

Easy Reads: Alchemist, The Giver, The Greatest Salesman

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suniltom
Five Dysfunctions of a Team - by Patrick Lencioni Very simple, powerful read.

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dome82
A guide to the good life: The ancient art of stoic joy by William B. Irvine

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jlengrand
Sun Tzu - the art of war

Machiavel - The prince

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mattm
Conversations with God

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3minus1
Imagined Communities

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NovemberWest
Quantum Healing

