When They Cry novels by Ryukishi07 have taught me the importance of truth and trust, plus countless other minor observations on miscellaneous topics.
Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
101–110 of 599 posts
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#102The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy + all parts. It's a common recommendation for exactly that - but I'm amazed by how much it's in the back of my head and gives me support. Especially in the current time. I can't point to an exact quote.. but I'm listening to all audio books(as background noise) by Douglass Adam's for the last weeks and it just feels like there is a part in the books for almost every weird situatio…
So hitchhikers guide I can certainly agree with, but the rest of the series is pretty inconsistent. Restaurant was pretty terrible in my opinion, but then Life is almost as good as the original. I'd say the quality of the series is downhill from there. The follow up books didn't introduce many interesting situations or ideas that weren't already presented and so it just felt like it was dragging on.
I like So Long and Thanks for all the Fish, in part because of how sweet and optimistic it was. After finishing I then was shocked by how dark and depressing Mostly Harmless was.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#103Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, aka Three Body Problem. Explored existential topics in a way I've never encountered anywhere else. I truly believe that decades from now this series will be viewed as the LOTR of our time.
I've recently been reading the Foundation series, and have found the concept of The Mule character to be incredibly eye opening. I can't say directly it's had a positive impact on my life but it's definitely changing my outlook and I feel its expanded my horizons.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#104Hands down: Papillon by Henri Charrière. If you think you are going through a difficult period. If you don't know what resilience means. If you really want to change the way you see life. Read this book. Really.
Wasn't this book proven to be completely made up and the author was never actually in prison?
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#105Though not my life per se, I find the fiction in the USMC's reading list to be very .. interesting. It's a strange mix of more popular titles and super niche books. It's all focused on war-fighting, but it gives a great look into the Marines:
GATES OF FIRE: AN EPIC NOVEL OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE by Steven Pressfield
STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert A. Heinlein
ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline
GHOST FLEET: A NOVEL OF THE NEXT WORLD WAR by P. W. Singer; August Cole
THE KILLER ANGELS: THE CLASSIC NOVEL OF THE CIVIL WAR by Michael Shaara
The whole 2019 reading list is great stuff, top notch reading for any hacker or c-suite, especially the discussion guides: https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/discussion...
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#106- Anna Karenina: Tolstoy knows people better than they know themselves - Brave New World: Aldous Huxley is a genius and a wordsmith - Dune: a sci-fi masterpiece, highly recommended to anyone into sci-fi - Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: not purely fiction but an amazing book I will surely re-read during my lifetime
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is really a perspective expanding book. It just took a lot of persistence to get through as, at times, it was quite frustrating to read. Perhaps I should read it again to get a deeper appreciation for it
Same for me, I loved it for the lessons I learned and I've gifted that book to friends but boy it is a slog to read through.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#107Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, aka Three Body Problem. Explored existential topics in a way I've never encountered anywhere else. I truly believe that decades from now this series will be viewed as the LOTR of our time. I've recently been reading the Foundation series, and have found the concept of The Mule character to be incredibly eye opening. I can't say directly it's had a positive impact on my life but it…
Agreed.
I don't put it on-par with Dune, but there are definitely concepts in the TBP trilogy that are simultaneously difficult and mind-opening. Some of them are quite haunting, actually.
Most of the deeper exploration of these ideas takes place in the third book.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#108The Alchemist hits right when you need encouragement.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#109Much of Neal Stephenson's work provides me inspiration, similar to William Gibson's work. It envisions future tech/life that stirs me to see if I can create some of it.
He is, perhaps, my favorite contemporary author.
I have a fairly predictable "best novels ever written" list which includes _War and Peace_, _Anna Karinina_, _Brothers Karamazov_ and _Dune_ ... but I would also place _SevenEves_ on that list.
I found _Fall Or: Dodge in Hell_ to be terrible, however.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#110Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi - I recently started reading manga again and had heard about the series. It's an amazing feat of visual storytelling, jumping genres all the time, an incredible and vast world, and complex characters you can't help but love or hate. On the surface it looks fun and lighthearted but that facade is quickly thrown out to explore mature themes, ultimately culminating in an exploration…
Have you watched the Jeremy Brett Holmes Series? Highly recommended if anyone likes the genre.