Ask HN: What are your greatest books?

"Pensées" - Blaise Pascal: It showed me the clarity of thought a human being could have with a brain that functions correctly. Reading this is humbling. It is often reduced to a "theological" book and this is what you often see it described as.

"The Prince" - Niccolo Machiavelli: Shrewd but so much more nuanced than what 99% of the people who quote him would let believe. Practically every famous quote was taken out of context in a pathetic way.

"The Wealth of Nation": I skimmed over a few chapters on a few volumes, haven't read it cover to cover, but the parts I've read were eye opening.

"Meditations", Marcus Aurelius: This was surprising. The writing style was so... fresh, for lack of a better word.

A few books from "La Comédie Humaine" collection: Honoré de Balzac. I haven't read the whole collection, but it's "Le Père Goriot" that got me into reading a few ones. The great thing about these is the fact they're intertwined (which I didn't know until I saw a character from one novel appear in the other. This was an amazing feeling..). Balzac also knows his humans and describes the human traits and the things you don't expect characters to do or say. All the little unflattering internal thoughts.. When a character gives you goose bumps, the author is doing something right.

"How the Steel Was Tempered", by Nikolaï Ostrovski: relates the adventures of Pavka Korchagin, a kid warrior during the Russian Revolution.

"On the Genealogy of Morality", Friedrich Nietzsche. I found it in a library and I had just enough money to buy it, so I did and walked 5 miles home. I was asked by a beggar for the equivalent of a dollar, and it made me laugh.

Except for Ostrovski, Balzac, and Pascal which we had at home, the others were from a Canadian university's website. You can't order just any book you want here, so finding this was like finding the door to a new galaxy.

[0]: http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/