Yes Man by Danny Wallace.
Not only was it a terrific read, it changed my life for the better and I believe it has made be a better, happier person.
Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
21–30 of 50 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#22The Disappearance of the Universe, by Gary Renard
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#23Honestly I think it's "1984" by George Orwell. I read it when I was quite young so it stuck with me. Otherwise I think "Just for fun" by Linus Torvalds and "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric S. Raymond.
There are other books like anything by H.P. Lovecraft, Kevin Mitnick's books and "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll that has also stuck with me and changed how I think about things.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#24Philip toshio sudo
The art of zen guitar
This is a book on how to learn anything and nothing really about guitar. It distills the zen approach to life in a very usable way. I made a major career shift to ML research using the lessons I learnt from this book
The Gita It helped me develop depersonalised thinking and to some extent the ability to view people equanimously. I feel it has helped me accept and become a lot more inclusive person than who i was before i read it
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#25Consilience by E.O Wilson.
Small book, small words, short sentences but separates the wheat from the chaff of thinking and understanding. If you're fond of horoscopes, this is not the book for you.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#26A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel heavily informed my attitude to investment/savings and put to bed any dreams I had of magically day-trading my way to wealth in my spare time. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is just generally a really interesting book and impacted the way I view decision-making. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami really opened my eyes to unconventional plotlines…
Haruki Murakami for me too. Hayao Miyazaki and Shigero Miyamoto probably complete the triumvirate. Moreso than any novel or the short stories in the New Yorker, it was Murakami simply writing himself as this Tokyo Drifter character re-discovering zen through jazz and surrealism ;)
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#27The Science in Science Fiction, Peter Nicholls
I was given it at what seemed far too young an age (about seven i think) by a slightly crazy neighbour who had no idea what books would be suitable for me (a year later he gave me an adults book on space based weapons exploring the physics etc). Despite it being a stretch, i was mad about sci-fi films and the book made me start thinking about what i was seeing, and introduced me to huge range of ideas (FTL travel, time travel, parallel universes, genetics, terra forming, environmental concerns, computers, robotics) well before i would have encountered them otherwise and it was discussed in a serious considered way.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#28The Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. In my mid twenties, this book helped me pay off all my student loans and build an emergency fund with 4-6 months of runway. It changed the way I think about money. I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. This built on top of Dave Ramsey’s by helping me create a system to build my wealth through investing and still continue to save towards future goals/emergencies.
Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover is my most life-changing book as well.
My life is much more peaceful now.
Often referenced in TTMM, is The Millionaire Next Door, which is also excellent. The common conception of millionaires completely wrong.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#29Ender's Game, at around age 13, made me realize books could be just as gripping and thrilling as movies.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?
#30Books by Clayton Christensen such as the Innovator's Dilemma really helped me to realize something that is probably obvious to a lot of people which is the difference between correlation and causation; importance of understanding causal mechanism to get desired results.
His telling of the story of man's grappling to conquer flight really helped me to understand how I should approach grappling with my own challenges.