131–140 of 144 posts
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. It's astonishing to get useful, relevant advice on how to conduct yourself across two millenia. I recommend the translation by Gregory Hays, which removes the academic feel of other translations, and so makes them relevant and, at least in my case, actionable.
Right off the bat, here you go: 1. The 7 habits of highly successful people (Stephen Covey) 2. The Miracle Morning (Hal Elrod) 3. Business Model Generation (Aelxander Osterwalder) 4. The Art Of War (Sun Tzu) 5. The E-myth, why most businesses don't work and what to do about it (Michel Gerber) 6. Made In Japan (Founder of Sony, Akio Morita) 7. How to win friends and influence people (Dale Carnegie) Probably I missed a…
"Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug, Second Edition The book changed the course of my life. It allowed me to build a sustainable business, that at some point became my full-time job. The magic of that book comes from the fact that it allows you to gradually develop a compassion. For your customers, prospects and all other living beings in this world. Having that compassion embedded, you start to see a lot of subtle t…
Great comment, can you share an example where you realized there was space to bring value?
It's funny how western (probably American) HNers are mentioning the "how to succeed everywhere" books all over this thread. This is silly, methinks. I would mildly suggest those people to take a bit wider look at where they live and why they consider those books important to be read as early as possible. For me, I don't regret about not having read anything, I'd rather regret about having read too much and nothing su…
It's funny how western (probably American) HNers are mentioning the "how to succeed everywhere" books all over this thread. This is silly, methinks. I would mildly suggest those people to take a bit wider look at where they live and why they consider those books important to be read as early as possible. For me, I don't regret about not having read anything, I'd rather regret about having read too much and nothing su…
Agree with comments re: books are invaluable sources for one to experience, learn and empathize etc. But it's so true that the entire trend amongst my peers (and the greater North American) attitude towards "life hacking" and "self optimization" is becoming overkill. This is an article I recently read that articulates really well on this whole cultural focus of "how to succeed" books: https://www.newyorker.com/magazi…
That seemed a strange sentence, so I read the article; still seemed as strange. Not sure what you'd have to believe to be able to write that. If I write—
"There is a great deal of money to be made by those who diagnose and treat our fears of inadequacy; the medical industry takes in ten billion dollars a year."
—hopefully the incoherence is more obvious. It seems the original was ridicule dressed up as science.
I guess I could perceive that because I bought quite a few self-help-type books of various kinds, and got a lot from them; they helped me immeasurably. I'm not really a course/group kind of guy, but I did one 2-week course that was amazing. I don't think any of it was due to my "fears of inadequacy". It was more my wanting to learn about myself/humans, to overcome problems I had from childhood, to be happier, to have better relationships; stuff like that. And I think I've achieved all that. :-D (Well, it's a neverending journey..)
Dale Carnegie, How to win friends and influence people. The book had opened my mind on how people react to criticism. Human Relationships, Steve Duck. Relationships are so important in life, and not at all obvious for everyone, yet we are all left to ourselves on them.
From my standpoint, this is one of the most overrated books of all times. I stopped reading it somewhere in the middle because it did not tell me anything new at all. I understand we are all different and have our strengths and weaknesses, what is totally obvious to you is probably a new concept to me.
I read a lot of movie user reviews on IMDb, and often people rant angrily about incredibly overrated movies, with the impression they're saying something about the movie and not about themselves. Maybe they feel smarter or better than the people who liked it. As if not being able to appreciate something is a virtue.
Anyway, why try to stop people reading a book millions have learnt something from?
Ask HN Threads with similiar topics/recommendations: * Books you wish you had read earlier? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14477851 * What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15155833 * Books on specific topics that have applied to many areas of your life? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14477851 * Books with a high signal to noise ratio? https://n…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From my standpoint, this is one of the most overrated books of all times. I stopped reading it somewhere in the middle because it did not tell me anything new at all. I understand we are all different and have our strengths and weaknesses, what is totally obvious to you is probably a new concept to me.
"Most overrated" - means that you've heard from a lot of people who liked it a lot more than you, got a lot out of it. I read a lot of movie user reviews on IMDb, and often people rant angrily about incredibly overrated movies, with the impression they're saying something about the movie and not about themselves. Maybe they feel smarter or better than the people who liked it. As if not being able to appreciate someth…
That was not my intention, to stop someone from reading it. I explicitly said that:
> I understand we are all different and have our strengths and weaknesses, what is totally obvious to you is probably a new concept to me.
I read many books on philosophy, sociology, and tons of literature when I was young. I wish I would have read Algebra 1-3, Analysis 1-2, Mathematical Statistics etc.