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Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?

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Re: Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?

#51

Post by cableshaft »

alex_ixd wrote: post #36

"The Illuminatus! Triology" by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea I did my first reading in high school and it was absolutely brilliant. I never expected so many twists and turns where characters melt into one another and plots jump from world domination conspiracy theories to self discovery and awakening. Decades later, I am now looking more into Robert Anton Wilson's other work (in particular Maybe Logic) and am s…

Still one of my favorites. I've reread this book more often than any other and still catch new references in it each time.

If you've never checked out RAW'S audiobook "Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything", I highly recommend it. Lots of meandering talk about most of the concepts that occur again and again in his books.

I haven't checked out Maybe Logic yet, but now I'm curious.

Re: Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?

#53

Post by jotux »

Tomrn wrote: post #24
jotux wrote: post #8

Meditations is a book I come back to over and over: http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.mb.txt

I always think this is the closest thing to a 'Bible for atheists' that I've ever found. Seriously awesome stuff

I've never thought of Meditations as religious or non-religious. It's all about really appreciating what you have and understanding the way you feel is derived from your perception of the world. I think that's pretty universal.

If anyone is interested in a more modern introduction to stoicism A Guide to the Good Life is a worthwhile read: https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/0195...

Re: Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?

#54

Post by kevindeasis »

hoodoof wrote: post #20
kevindeasis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you've mentioned it, I've looked at the free sample. I'm kinda impressed how good it is. I wasn't expecting it to be very well made. In fact I'm buying it now

I bought the entire collection of Calvin and Hobbes.

I'm very sure I'll end up doing the same thing! It's a good book for all ages

Re: Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?

#55

Post by unimpressive »

bmer wrote: post #10

A series of essays and books impacted my life the most. It all started on a sunny day, when I was a structural engineering intern full of hope and a beautiful girlfriend, waiting for my code to run(blah blah iteratively determine deflections of structures with non-linear stress-strain responses blah blah), when I read: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD10xx/EWD103... I quit my job the next day. This wa…

You seem interesting, mail me and let's talk.

Re: Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?

#56

Post by theaustinseven »

cableshaft wrote: post #50
theaustinseven wrote: post #4

For programming, "Game Coding Complete" by Mike McShaffry and David Graham. The book gave a very nice intro to a number of design considerations and given that McShaffry did a decent amount of game programming in the early days of programming, there are discussions of how they dealt with incredible design constraints. The book served as a good introduction to thinking about performance and size of the software that I…

I was just about to take that to a book reseller today because I haven't read more than a few snippets in ten years....maybe I should hold off on that.

The first few chapters have some really good lessons in them. It isn't really, in my opinion, a great book to read all the way through, but the little stories in the margins are well worth reading.

Re: Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?

#57

Post by alok-g »

Minds, Brains and Machines by Geoffrey Brown [1] for introducing me to the complexities of the mind-body problem. It did not show the answers of course, but helped me think right about it.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse [2] for contributing to helping me come out of excessive questioning of everything (philosophy) to science that helps towards actually answering the questions answerable.

Feynman Lectures in Physics [3] and Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman [4], with no need to explain "how". :-)

The Ghost in the Atom [5] for explaining varied views on the nature of science, especially Quantum Mechanics, and what goes in the minds of the top-notch scientists working on these problems.

Parsing Techniques by Dick Grune [6] for teaching me the fundamentals of computer science and helping me proceed with my deep interest in Artificial Intelligence.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Minds-Brains-Machines-Mind-Matters/dp...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Hermann-Hesse/dp/161382378...

[3] http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/

[4] https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Cha...

[5] https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Atom-Discussion-Mysteries-Quant...

[6] https://www.amazon.com/Parsing-Techniques-Practical-Monograp...

Re: Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?

#59

Post by copist »

"The Beginner's Computer Handbook - Understanding & Programming The Micro" by Judy Tatchell and Bill Bennett

http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2004/06/the-beginners-comp...

I crafted my first computer from cardboard :) and learned to type and code using hand drawn keyboard :)

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