Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

If you're not a person who tends to get sucked into a book, and has every waking thought resonate with what you've read, then read some Chomsky.

You may not agree with his views (it's so far to the left, that it makes your head spin) but rather read it for how he writes. His terse words are a window into his psyche.

Everything is presented in a very "matter-of-fact" way. I've read most of his books and it's surprising how very little he thinks of his own opinions. For him, it's not a revelation that the world is corrupt and full of structures that incentivise the destruction of the middle class etc., it's just a matter of fact. "That's how the world is and this is where I think it's going, good luck with changing that.", that's what it feels like.

I was pretty young when I started reading them, around 16. It temporarily changed me for the worse, the books are so pessimistic, that it tends to put that person I described above (getting sucked into books) into a depressive state.

If you want to start somewhere, try "Manufacturing Consent" (by Chomsky and Herman).

If you've already read that, then try "On Palestine" by Chomsky as well, I don't recall reading it but it does seem timely now.

Eccleisastes — Holy Bible

A book on the vanity of life

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Surveillance_Capi...

And Permanent Record by Snowden

Guns, Germs, and Steel

"Stumbling on Happiness" by Daniel Gilbert. Big insight - people generally have a way of rationalizing away things they did (new job, move, relationship) that turned out to be bad ideas - they focus on the positive parts, or say how they learned so much. But this doesn't work if you decided not to do something, and that inaction turned out to be a bad idea - you can't say you learned so much, because you didn't do anything. Implication is that we should be bolder in our decisions, to avoid regret.