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Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
11–20 of 92 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#12"The Innovators" by Walter Isaacson
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#131. Sapiens - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23692271-sapiens 2. The Gene: An Intimate History - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27276428-the-gene 3. I Contain Multitudes - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29083367-i-contain-multi... 4. Stuff Matters - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19553030-stuff-matters 5. Rework - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6732019-rework
Sapiens is an okay book, but it’s all over the place. On one hand it kinda says that in many regards we have hypothesis at best (ie we don’t know) to follow it with [sometimes] wild theories.
There is no way you can cover as much ground as the author wanted in a book this size. It got diluted and turned into the classic “X best seller” crap.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#141. Sapiens - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23692271-sapiens 2. The Gene: An Intimate History - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27276428-the-gene 3. I Contain Multitudes - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29083367-i-contain-multi... 4. Stuff Matters - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19553030-stuff-matters 5. Rework - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6732019-rework
Sapiens is an okay book, but it’s all over the place. On one hand it kinda says that in many regards we have hypothesis at best (ie we don’t know) to follow it with [sometimes] wild theories. There is no way you can cover as much ground as the author wanted in a book this size. It got diluted and turned into the classic “X best seller” crap.
I listened to the audiobook but never understood the hype behind it. Seemed like bunch of speculation akin to Malcom Gladwell books.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#15It may be interesting at the end of this thread to take an inventory of the publishing dates of listed books. Will most be modern? Will many come from learned past of our elders?
It is hard for me to select a favorite. However as a voracious reader there is only one author for whom I have found myself re-reading his books multiple times: Robert Sarah.
He has published two books:
The Power of Silence (extended reflection on silence and the human condition) God or Nothing (autobiography + reflections on current affairs)
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#16I recently read Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari and it nearly broke my mind. It was on Obama and Bill Gates' reading lists that year and it is phenomenal. It's like one of those books that took some ideas I had been kicking around for years and blew the whole thing wide open. If you want to get a taste, go look up 'The Legend of Peugot' from the book. There was also a sale on the ebook for $3 on Amazon this weekend -- no…
> it nearly broke my mind.
Can you perhaps mention some examples?
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#17The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fc*k by Mark Manson
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#18The MIT Press books are good and cover a range of subjects: https://mitpress.mit.edu/topics
Some are pretty short reads as well. I just read "Information and Society" and enjoyed it.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#19In no particular order:
• Sapiens
• Thinking Fast and Slow
• The Mind Illuminated
• A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?
#201. The power of now
2. Models
3. The 4-hour workweek