Gentleman in Moscow.
Despite being fiction, it sets the standard for elegance and charm.
Suffering from recency bias though, as I read it recently.
Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
21–30 of 101 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#22America made no sense to me until I read Faulkners "Light In August". Its almost 100 years old but those themes persist.
Otherwise I would really recommend Moby Dick. Its a rollicking adventure, a wonderful technical description of bygone whaling and ultimately a starting point for introspection on some questions you may be asking yourself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_in_August#:~:text=Light%....
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#23"Waking Up" by Sam Harris. I tried meditation a few times before, but it was always boring and I didn't really think it was gonna be anything special. After reading this book, I started practicing daily, and it has changed my daily life and my outlook on life. Mindfulness training is for the mind, what exercise is for the body.
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#24To Have or to Be? by Erich Fromm
Helped me shape the way I look at relationships in my life.
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#25The works of Alan Watts (starting with The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are ) helped me see outside of Western religions and philosophies. It led me to explore many other perspectives on this amazing planet and its people, and to more completely trusting my intuitions.
Alan Watts is just great. If you’re interested in his work a substantial collection of his audio recordings are available inside the Waking Up App[0]
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#26Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. Previously I was very pro government intervention, but this book is great at explaining basic economic principles while ignoring mathematics. It might be called a little biased by mostly ignoring "market failures" yet basic physics also mostly ignore friction. Also regarding "meaningful": I had tried to get an understanding of how society works for some time and had even tried readin…
Thomas Sowell is very unserious. You can also find persuasively written texts that argue that the earth is flat, that cell phone towers give you cancer, that democracy is a mistake, or that pyramids were built by aliens. And people who read those books tend to end up with false beliefs.
Sowell is persuasive only if you haven’t read many other books on economics and society. Always be on your toes when an author is very popular among laypeople (of a certain political persuasion) but held in low esteem by professionals in his field.
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#27Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. Previously I was very pro government intervention, but this book is great at explaining basic economic principles while ignoring mathematics. It might be called a little biased by mostly ignoring "market failures" yet basic physics also mostly ignore friction. Also regarding "meaningful": I had tried to get an understanding of how society works for some time and had even tried readin…
Thomas Sowell is very unserious. You can also find persuasively written texts that argue that the earth is flat, that cell phone towers give you cancer, that democracy is a mistake, or that pyramids were built by aliens. And people who read those books tend to end up with false beliefs. Sowell is persuasive only if you haven’t read many other books on economics and society. Always be on your toes when an author is ve…
What do you mean by serious? The main value of the book I see is rejecting very common misconceptions based on ignoring supply and demand.
I've read a microeconomics textbook afterwards and the book still doesn't seem too bad.
What would be your suggestion of a book for introducing laypeople to economic thinking?
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#28For a few, this will be a book one actually wrote, rather than a single book one read. Writing is more powerful an experience than reading, or can be
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#29I am That - transcribed conversations with Nisargadatta Maharaj
It’s like speaking with … the absolute? beyond human. Cuts through time and space and brings me to it, instantly, always.
Re: Ask HN: Which book has had the most meaningful contribution in your life?
#30Carl Sagan's "Dragons of Eden"