Ask HN: what non technical books changed your life ?

On my personal bookshelf, next to my Bible, are:

Sun Tzu's "Art of War" - a fundamental philosophical work for life management

Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" - well-known, enough said.

Felix Dennis' "How to Get Rich" - the best book that I have ever read about how the world really works

Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" - a timeless classic.

"How to Win Friends and Influence People." by Dale Carnegie.

Back in 1980 when I was 19, I was an introverted, anti-social nerd and pretty much unable to engage with people at all. My long-suffering girlfriend (I'm still amazed I had one - can't say what she saw in me, although I was nice to people) of about 12 months standing nailed my feet to the floor and said - "You really need to learn to get along with people."

Taking this as a challenge, a puzzle to solve (my forte), I went to find a textbook on how to get along with people and found HtWFaIP. Yes, the cynical can treat it as a manual for manipulation. Certainly the sociopathic can use it as the basis for their Machiavellian schemes.

But for me it was a lifeline, a way to survive in a world where you need to interact with people.

"The Now Habit" by Neil Fiore. Much closer to the roots of productivity (inner motivation) than other books on this topic. If you liked "Getting Things Done" or "7 Habits" but somehow cannot implement the advice then TNH might help you.

Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

Foundation Trilogy -Isaac Asimov

The Game: Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists - Neil Strauss

The Law - Frédéric Bastiat

Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein

Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier - Katie Hafner & John Markoff

It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be: The World's Best Selling Book - Paul Arden

Are ones that stand out. I'm sure a lot of other books helped shape my worldview though, especially ones I read as a kid. The "Tom Swift Jr." adventures, the "Three Investigators" stories, the "Nancy Drew" and "The Hardy Boys" ones, and those "Encyclopedia Brown" books all stand out in my memory as probably being influential. And later in life, I'd say Dean Koontz' work has had something of an impact.