A lot of "must reads" depend on your background and interest. GEB for example I would classify as a must for anyone with a computer science background, The Glory of their Times for any baseball fan, Democracy in America for anyone into American politics.
Ask HN: What are some must read books?
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Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#42For anyone who deals with children "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk"
This book has a profound impact on me and my relationship with my kids. Read once early in their lives and then reread as they go through different stages in their lives.
Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#43The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
The Three Musketeers books are also good fun.
Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#44How to win friends and influence people.
Its the book I wish I read in high school and college. I genuinely believe the world would be a better place if everyone were to read that book.
Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#45Pfffff you really asked the impossible question here. Best I can do is scan through the books on the shelves next to me:
* Beyond good and evil: Nietzsche
* The Temple of the Golden Pavilion: Yukio Mishima
* Steppenwolf: Hermann Hese
* Library of babel: Borges
* The Brain: David Eagleman
* The Magical Mountain: Thomas Mann
* The Dark Tower: Stephen King(actually tons of King books - I am a bit of a fanboy)
* Factfulness: Hans Rosling
* William Blake: selected poetry
* Dostoevsky: The idiot
* Captain Nemo: Jules Verne
* The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Adams
Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#46Thanks for the recommendations. I’m feeling old, so I’ll add: Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote (1609! The more things change, the more they stay the same) Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (I thought I knew the story until I actually read the book—whoah, that opened my eyes to our relationship with technology and industry and how we use energy) Dracula, by Bram Stoker (from Blindboy’s podcast episode “Paddy Dr…
Through the lacings of the leaves, the great sun seemed a flying shuttle weaving the unwearied verdure. Oh, busy weaver! unseen weaver!--pause!--one word!--whither flows the fabric? what palace may it deck? wherefore all these ceaseless toilings? Speak, weaver!
Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#47People take issue with them, but picking something off Adler's or Harvard's (five-foot-shelf) or Bloom's Great Books lists will almost never lead you wrong. But, here we go anyway (and yeah, some of these are just off those lists): 1) Shakespeare's big four tragedies are, in fact, out-fucking-standing. Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth. IMO Hamlet reads the best of those. Any would be fine to watch, as well, and ma…
I've never read Shakespeare but so I'm curious to hear what you think makes it outstanding? I've tried reading a bit before but I was weighed down by words and phrases that we no longer use and found myself losing the meaning.
> I was weighed down by words and phrases that we no longer use and found myself losing the meaning.
I have the same problem. I found a used physical copy of "No Fear Shakespeare - Macbeth" to be very helpful. On the left page is the original text, on the right page is are notes and a translation. I was able to get through the book and understand it.
You can access online here: https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/
> what you think makes it outstanding?
I'm not the original commenter, so speaking for myself only. I would say the prose is very poetic and has a certain magical quality to it.
Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#48BIOGRAPHY: The Power Broker by Robert Caro - one of the greatest biographies you'll ever read. Long but absolutely first class. I've been meaning to read his trio of books on LBJ but for now they're on the later-base.
CLASSIC FICTION: The Master and Margarita Novel by Mikhail Bulgakov - a magical text of immense imagination. Had it not been released posthumously Bulgakov would no doubt have gotten shipped to a gulag or worse.
CHILDREN'S BOOK: The Little Price by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - I read this charming book at the age of 28 and found it to be one of the most enchanting books I've ever read. Full of life lessons.
NON FICTION: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Once every while you read a book that forces you to view the world in a whole new light, this is one such book.
COMEDY SCI-FI: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - delightful book with immense irony and is absolutely hilarious.
Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#49The King James Version of the Holy Bible. Regardless of your religious beliefs, it's of incomparable cultural importance in the Western world, in particular to English literature.
Re: Ask HN: What are some must read books?
#50Pfffff you really asked the impossible question here. Best I can do is scan through the books on the shelves next to me: * Beyond good and evil: Nietzsche * The Temple of the Golden Pavilion: Yukio Mishima * Steppenwolf: Hermann Hese * Library of babel: Borges * The Brain: David Eagleman * The Magical Mountain: Thomas Mann * The Dark Tower: Stephen King(actually tons of King books - I am a bit of a fanboy) * Factfuln…
The dark tower series is one of his best IMO. Unfortunate he ended the series earlier than planned... Was supposed to be quite a few books longer but I remember reading (and I could be remembering wrong) in the foreward to one of his books that the weight of people sending him letters such as "I'm terminally ill, i was hoping you could tell me how it ends before I pass" and all the other contact he got led him to cut it a bit short. That said, I think it's his best work.