Ask HN: What is the greatest book you've ever read?

Best overall: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and its less well-known sequel, Lila

Best fantasy in terms of most imaginative and full of wonder: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. (I know, everyone saw the crappy movie; it simply does not do the book justice.)

Best Scifi: The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

Gödel, Escher, Bach - the best book ever hands down!

Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey Friedl, the first edition (a.k.a. "The Perl Edition", http://regex.info/ for more information about the book and its editions)

It's my standard litmus test judging a programmer; if you haven't read or don't care to read a book on regular expressions, then I probably don't want to write code with you. It's also useful to remind people who think they're nerds because they own a smartphone and can download "apps" that they're in a league far below.

I have this book sitting next to me, but I never read past the first chapter. Could you tell my why I should read it over the dozens of other books on my reading list? It just looks so dense.

The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin