Ask HN: Books that changed your life? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#31

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 5:36 PM UTC

btilly wrote: post #4

Parenting from the Inside-Out . If you're willing to work your way through it slowly, and do the exercises, it is invaluable. If you just read and understand it intellectually, the benefit is not nearly so great.

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1585422096

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#32

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 5:37 PM UTC

instakill wrote: post #9

As improbable as it may sound, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0684833395/

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#33

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 5:37 PM UTC

hajrice wrote: post #22

The Game by Neil Strauss.

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060554738

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#34

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 5:40 PM UTC

timruffles wrote: post #11

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, R Pirsig Recently each of Alain de Botton's books (Status Anxiety, Pleasures and Sorrows of Work and Essays on Love) had a valuable lesson to teach. Alexander Pope's 'Essay on Criticism' (poem, not a book) was one the first poems that I gleaned something from, and that opened up a whole new library of potential reads.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0553277472

Alain de Botton: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_de_Botton#Publications

Essay on Criticism: http://books.google.com/books?id=KFc7AAAAYAAJ&printsec=f...

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#35

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 5:41 PM UTC

dman wrote: post #3

Non technical - Autobiography of an unknown Indian. Technical - Little Schemer.

Autobiography of an unknown Indian: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/094032282X/

Little Schemer: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0262560992/

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#36

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 5:42 PM UTC

dimitrisli wrote: post #10

'The Schopenhauer Cure' and 'When Nietzsche Wept', both by Irvin D. Yalom

The Schopenhauer Cure: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0066214416/

When Nietzsche Wept: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060975504/

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#37

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 5:43 PM UTC

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)

Leadership: Theory and Practice: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/076192566X/

The Craft of Research: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0226065847/

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#38

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 5:43 PM UTC

satori99 wrote: post #5

The Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan. Corny as it sounds,, that book changed my way of thinking and indeed my life when I was around 18yo.

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0345409469/

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#39

Post by dwwoelfel » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 6:13 PM UTC

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0300087012

I read this after listening to the following lecture: http://arc-tv.com/inspiring-heroes-great-leaders%E2%80%94fre.... His strength of character allowed him to escape slavery and abolish the practice in the United States.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0452011876/

Don't buy the mass-market paperback, the writing and margins are so small that it is a pain to read. Spend a little extra for the larger version I linked to.

Re: Ask HN: Books that changed your life?

#40

Post by viggity » Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 6:21 PM UTC

Can't believe this hasn't been listed yet: Atlas Shrugged

http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452011876