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Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

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Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#21

Post by matthewphiong »

suckerfish wrote: post #18
matthewphiong wrote: post #15

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch -- http://www.thelastlecture.com/ Everybody should read it, or at least watch the video on Youtube. It changed my life.

How does the book compare to the video?

Well the book has a lot more to offer. It is the super set of the 'Last Lecture' (video). More stories I can say.

I happened to bump onto the video at first (and watched over and over again) and finally decided to grab the book. Reading the book really like having myself in the story.

Go grab the book. It is worth a life.

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#23

Post by AmitinLA »

Snow Crash and In the Beginning was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson both introduced me to tech culture in different ways with the same result: it got me more excited about tech than anything else and made me realize that I had to work in tech, and also filled me with respect for what hackers do and regret that I was never going to be a good hacker.

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#24

Post by inetsee »

suckerfish wrote: post #6

Leadership: Theory and Practice (Peter Northouse) The Craft of Research (Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams) On Writing Well (Zig Ziglar)

I thought 'On Writing Well' was written by William Zinsser. Amazon doesn't list any books by Ziglar with that title.

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#26

Post by dwwoelfel »

beagle3 wrote: post #19

The Emergence of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes. A mind blowing explanation of consciousness. The jury is still out with most critics considering this wrong -- but nevertheless, it's an amazingly detailed (and well supported) theory of where consciousness, gods, schizophrenia etc come from.

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0618057072

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#27

Post by dwwoelfel »

AmitinLA wrote: post #23

Snow Crash and In the Beginning was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson both introduced me to tech culture in different ways with the same result: it got me more excited about tech than anything else and made me realize that I had to work in tech, and also filled me with respect for what hackers do and regret that I was never going to be a good hacker.

Snow Crash: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0553380958

In the Beginning was the Command Line: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0380815931

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#28

Post by dwwoelfel »

secret wrote: post #16

One Hundred Years of Solitude- The English translation is some of the most beautiful writing I've ever read. The story is amazing and its understanding of people is unlike any I've encountered before, but the writing alone gave me a completely new understanding of what literature should really be. It's been described as "the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the e…

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060929790/

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#29

Post by dwwoelfel »

kksm19820117 wrote: post #7

1984 - turned me from a die hard socialist to a rabid anti authoritarian. Cosmos - helped me fall in love with Physics, and the sciences. Tao Teh Ching - If I could tell you how it influenced me, we'd both have the wrong impression.

1984: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0451524934

Cosmos: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0345331354

Tao Teh Ching: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0877735425

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