12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
21–30 of 143 posts
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#22The Dictator’s Handbook
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#23Without any doubt The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming. I have accomplished more in 5 years after reading it than I did in 15 years before. Much of it I attribute to the change of perspective the book brought about for me and to the fact that I have a vision of my future now. It also helped develop my own style.
Second would be The Language of Mathematics by Baber. As someone who did not do well with math in school or uni but was always good with languages and programming, I have benefited greatly from it by finally “getting” math.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#24Mort, by Pratchett. It is a great introduction to the Discworld and one of my favorite books ever. It is a good read over the holidays and you’ll be thinking about some of the lines in it for years to come.
“ History isn't like that. History unravels gently, like an old sweater. It has been patched and darned many times, reknitted to suit different people, shoved in a box under the sink of censorship to be cut up for the dusters of propaganda, yet it always - eventually - manages to spring back into its old familar shape. History has a habit of changing the people who think they are changing it. History always has a few tricks up its frayed sleeve. It's been around a long time.”
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#25„How to win friends and influence people“ ranks pretty high.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#26Only one: Atlas Shrugged. I was very late in life when I read it, as in my late 30s but it has a very big impact on me.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#27I've read "the lord of the rings" when I was 12, over the course of 3 days. Eat, sleep, go to bathroom, and read. Probably the biggest impact a book ever had on me.
I was probably the same age the first time I read it but I definitely wouldn’t say it changed my life. How did it impact yours?
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#28If you're still religious, and you think maybe you shouldn't be, read Critique of Religion and Philosophy by Walter Kaufmann. It cured me.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#29The Torah and it's related works, most notably:
The Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides
On the Essence of Chassidus by Menachem Mendel Schneersohn
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#30I grew up studying in a catholic school. Once a teacher that was involved with the convent, teaching us some logic basics, gave us some copies from the chapter 2 of Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World as a recommended lecture. Could get the whole book and read it and ended becoming an atheist.