Count Zero by William Gibson. Somehow I ended up reading it before Neuromacer. It was in the early 90s. I was maybe 16 or so and I remember just getting sucked into that world. It was also the time when I was getting more and more into coding and learning about networks and when I managed to connect to the internet from home for the first time.
Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
51–60 of 185 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#52Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt. It's old but many of the lessons he teaches are still relevant today. It opened my eyes to the danger of only thinking about the things that are easily observable, and ignoring the "unseen" things. > The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely f…
This book is complete trash. You should find a better book.
Care to suggest one?
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#53The Taoist Classics, Volume One: The Collected Translations of Thomas Cleary
(Tao Te Ching / Chuang-tzu / Wen-tzu / The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters)
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#5410X bei Grant Cardone, read this January.
Honestly, 10X is, in itself, nothing too new. It does not reinvent the world (like 4HWW did). Yet, by its open language and Grants directness, this book somehow got me started and since January I feel like I have rocket boosters attached.
The stuff I managed to do in recent months was unseen in my life so far (not that I was unsuccessful, but the time after reading this book is really different).
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#55A friend loaned me a copy of Ken Wilbur's A Brief History of Everything, which I credit with starting me down the path of philosophical thought. I honestly don't remember a whole lot about the book, but even if I did I'm not certain I'd recommend it if only because I've noticed this tendency of people to read a book about philosophical ideas and then just stop thinking about the ideas and treat them as some kind of dogma. I do recommend deep philosophical thinking though, and to try not to get caught up in the academic side of philosophy.
Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, in retrospect, laid the foundation for a fundamental shift in my understanding of belief and how it interfaces with reality.
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#56"A Guide to the Good Life" by William Irvine. It's an approachable guide to stoicism and it helped me become less attached and less anxious about things that I have no control over. I really value the increased peace of mind.
I took a lot of notes when I first read the book (https://booknotes.quora.com/Notes-on-A-Guide-to-the-Good-Lif...) and I still revisit them occasionally. (The notes don't replace reading the book, but give a good sense of its contents.)
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#57This is an interesting question to me, because I've read lots of books over my life and I don't really think I can say a book has 'completely' changed my life.
However, I've read books with interesting ideas that I've probably applied in my life to varying degrees, which I guess one could say has changed my life to some extent. If that's the criterion, then there are probably too many to list.
Since I'm likely being over-analytical, if I had to recommend one book to read it'd be something like 'James and the Giant Peach' or another book that would sufficiently open one's imagination.
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#58A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
I read it during a stay in a psychiatric facility. I had checked myself in because I felt unsafe towards myself.
I couldn't focus reading anything else. I could focus reading this. It even made me smile. Then even laugh.
The author killed himself before he ever saw it published. It's a remarkable book. In addition to helping me get out of my head for a bit, reading it facilitated a desire to make / build / write something good and live to see it exist in the world.
That was 2006. Happy to say I'm still here, still trying.
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#59The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible, by Charles Eisenstein.
I almost passed on this one due to the corny sounding title, but I’m so glad I didn’t. It renewed my optimism about the future of humanity at a time when my faith was deeply challenged and I was bringing a new person into the world.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17345270-the-more-beauti...
Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?
#60The Bible