Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What book changed your life?

news.ycombinator.com

241–250 of 539 posts

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#241
post #193
post #47

How to win friends and influence people - Carnegie Think and grow rich - Napoleon Hill That last one made something click in my head but I find it hard to describe what it is exactly. The key concepts that I learned from this book are in my thoughts and actions every single day.

https://gizmodo.com/the-untold-story-of-napoleon-hill-the-gr... Apparently he was a bit of a fraud. Or generously put... a fake it till you make it guy. I don't think this is an ad hominem attack, as credibility matters in this case.

I remember Coffeezilla did a video about that article

The Untold Truth of Napoleon Hill - History's Most Beloved Con-Man

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iEDzb9ZplX0

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#242
Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August about the first month of WWI. Got me interested in reading more history, and I think history has so much to teach us, but my quest really started with her and has branched out from there.

Tuchman often points out the critical mistake or mistakes that lead to the collapse of a crucial offensive that basically ends a country’s ability to succeed at war.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#243

Dune. Specifically the parts about how a human can choose their reaction to an external event. And the ability to overcome fear. Man's Search For Meaning. Again, overcoming the worst situations and finding joy anywhere. How to Practice. Understanding what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Emotional Intelligence. How the amygdala sends signals to the brain, why it does that, and how to recognize your negativ…

I've always wanted to read the Dune books, but have no idea where to start. It seems like there are so many, and so many prequels and so many optional side stories.

Is there an agreed on book to start with and an order to follow?

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#244

Dune. Specifically the parts about how a human can choose their reaction to an external event. And the ability to overcome fear. Man's Search For Meaning. Again, overcoming the worst situations and finding joy anywhere. How to Practice. Understanding what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Emotional Intelligence. How the amygdala sends signals to the brain, why it does that, and how to recognize your negativ…

How to Practice and Emotional Intelligence are rather generic book titles. Do you mind providing the author names as well?

How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life - the Dalai Lama, translated by Jeffery Hopkins

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#245

First and foremost: The Bible. Not the watered down "everybody goes to heaven" theology that most people subscribe to, but rather an evidence based approach that uses the Bible to interpret itself as it was designed to do. Secondarily, this book saved my life in the sense that it helped me understand my depression, a clinical depression so deep that my psychologist had never seen such a thing previously: Get Out of Y…

Seminarian here. One word of caution here, is plenty of people think they discover something new by reading some authors. Whatever the view is, a lot of them aren't new, and there exists notable scholars (from the early church fathers to modern theologians) that can disagree and agree with it.

When people think they knew. They actually don't know. Not even close.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#246
post #243

Dune. Specifically the parts about how a human can choose their reaction to an external event. And the ability to overcome fear. Man's Search For Meaning. Again, overcoming the worst situations and finding joy anywhere. How to Practice. Understanding what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Emotional Intelligence. How the amygdala sends signals to the brain, why it does that, and how to recognize your negativ…

I've always wanted to read the Dune books, but have no idea where to start. It seems like there are so many, and so many prequels and so many optional side stories. Is there an agreed on book to start with and an order to follow?

Yes -- Dune. It is the starting point and best book in the series. The next three books in the series are also very, very good.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#247
I'd have to spend a lot more time for a comprehensive list, but I can easily throw out a couple:

"Computer Lib/Dream Machines" Theodor Nelson - a vision of a better computing future that sticks with me.

"Courtship Rite", "The Moon Goddess and the Son", "Psychohistorical Crisis" Donald Kingsbury - sociologicaly based SF that forced me to think way outside of my cultural assumptions. TMGATS is particularly relevant given the events in Ukraine.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#248

I know it's trite to say it, but in my early 20s reading Atlas Shrugged helped me regain my bearings. And, no, it did not turn me into Peter Thiel.

It also helped me a lot. It taught me the ethics of rational self interest. It helps me to this day when I discuss my salary for example. Also, relationships work better when you know what you want, you have to give your partner the chance to do something for you every now and then, that works best when you have personality. I struggled with this. To be able to say I love you one must first be able to say I. For me t…

Personally for me Fountainhead by Ayn Rand was transformative. Creators need to be respected and identified. Great Leaders often have this knack of reading people and using them appropriately.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#249
The Stormlight Archive (series) by Brandon Sanderson has probably changed my life the most. I don't think I've enjoyed a book as much or have had one mean as much to me as I've have with this series.

The series is incredibly inspirational since despite being a high fantasy novel. In fear of spoiling the plot, I'm being vague: it tracks the stories of (multiple) people who go through difficult life situations and learn to heal from depressive moments while having incredibly, intricate worldbuilding (which is excellent for taking your mind off of reality) and a twisty plot. If you go on the subreddit for this series, r/stormlight_archive, you'll see people talking about how this book (literally) saved their lives. I can tell you that in the most off-putting moments of life reading inspirational scenes from the Stormlight Archive has helped me stand up again. The messages and themes about life are simple, but also on-point. Overall, an excellent series. I recommend it.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#250
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I would also add continues to change my life. I read the Bible every day and am constantly amazed how relevant ancient wisdom is today. In recent years teaching from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament taught me how to understand my work. There is such a lot of nonsense on HN and the net about success. So many are pursuing a pipe dream. Below helped me to work hard, enjoy what I have, and not be concerned abou…

I’m so excited by this comment. 1) As gp said, the historical grammatical hermeneutic is the way to go for interpretation. And 2) the book of Ecclesiastes is definitely a beautiful way to stay grounded. Just the mere fact that Solomon, the author, had access to everything his age could offer and still ended up writing Ecclesiastes Ch 11 is mind blowing. Everything passes away. This world, your legacy, your wealth, me…

> Nihilism then?”. The Bible unabashedly says “yes, if you don’t have God”

I am not trying to argue theology here, just giving another perspective.

I was raised an an observant Catholic household, and I went every week from ages 5-19 and missed only a few times due to illness. But I never believed, I just don't have a spiritual bone in my body. None of what you quoted from Solomon about the impermanence of our material acquisitions sounds profound -- it seems obvious.

But the main reason I'm commenting is this idea that non-believers must be nihilists [1]. I want to assure you that I find meaning and purpose in life, but it isn't dictated by some holy person. Pain and suffering and happiness are real and even though we are all reduced back to molecules when we die, what we do and how we act during out lives matters to the people (and wider world) around us during out lives and for a while after we die. I get the same impression from other non-believers. It is a colossal failure of imagination to think that without God people must believe nothing matters.

[1] This footnote is to acknowledge that different people have their own interpretations of what "nihilism" means, and so any statement I make about nihilism will result in some group of people saying "you don't even know what it means!"

Post reply on HN