`Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams` by Matthew Walker. Still in the midst of it actually, and it's had a huge impact. Runner-up would be `the end of religion` by Bruxy Cavey.
I’d be curious to hear abit more about those two.
Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
31–40 of 225 posts
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#32The 4-Hour Workweek - made me quit my job and start a business. Since then I've been able to travel internationally for the first time in my life while working as much as I want.
The 4-Hour Body is a great book too. I hesitated to mention it but if you mention the 4-Hour Workweek then I feel like it is to be mentioned as well.
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#33The 4-Hour Workweek - made me quit my job and start a business. Since then I've been able to travel internationally for the first time in my life while working as much as I want.
I would second the 4-Hour Workweek, yet I am still searching for a profitable idea. How long did it take you from reading the book to reaching the ability to quit your job?
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#34The divided mind / healing back pain - Books by John E. Sarno.
To give you a background I have struggled with back pain all my life. After dozens of MRIs, X rays, physiotherapy, ayurveda, yoga, posture exercises, and spending almost 100,000 in the last 15 years on this, a simple book saved me.
The effect was so powerful that I could feel the symptoms fading while I was reading it. It gave me my life back. A few weeks ago I finally had the courage to teach my little one to walk without worrying about bending my back.
Now I feel that more people suffering from back pain, chronic fatigue, etc should be made aware of it. Here is a intro video about it [1]
P.S. I credit hacker news for the source.
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#35"Food of the Gods" by Terrence McKenna was a revelation and led me to dive into his other books and lectures (and many topics spawned from it). Complete shift in baseline perception. Though not his quote, he said it frequently: "The truth is not only stranger than you suppose, it is stranger than you _can_ suppose."
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#36Far from the only book that's been life shaping for me, but one of the first: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#37The God Delusion and The Selfish Gene. I know they are a bit dated by now, but when I read them they broadened my horizons and encouraged to review my religious standpoint from a scientific perspective.
For me it was Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World.
I was not especially religious, or especially anything until that book convinced me that skepticism was a useful default setting.
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#38Godel, Escher, Bach
One doesn’t read it so much as study and marvel it
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#39"The Conspiracy against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror" by Thomas Ligotti. I was also expecting my first child at the time and it made me question my values and is it appropriate or fair to bring a child into this world.
Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?
#40Godel, Escher, Bach One doesn’t read it so much as study and marvel it
I would suggest "I Am A Strange Loop". Same author.