Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#131

Post by ydnaclementine » Mon, May 28, 2018, 3:24 AM UTC

The Three Body Problem series

Just great, modern, adult scifi books that describe scale of time and space really well in a constantly surprising plot

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#132

Post by 8bitsrule » Mon, May 28, 2018, 3:42 AM UTC

(two authors of many) Fritjof Capra. Michael Polanyi.

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#133

Post by 8bitsrule » Mon, May 28, 2018, 3:46 AM UTC

z66is wrote: post #110

kirubakaran wrote: post #8

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I learned to be less Arthur and more Ford about my approach to living my life in general, and dealing with Fenchurch winking out of existence in particular.

One of the best! 42.

Anything by R.A.W. 23

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#134

Post by 8bitsrule » Mon, May 28, 2018, 3:49 AM UTC

baxtr wrote: post #26

Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse

After that, I had to read all the others too!

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#135

Post by 8bitsrule » Mon, May 28, 2018, 3:50 AM UTC

Keloo wrote: post #33

zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance masterpiece

"Gumption trap". oh yeah. Book of wisdom. Eventually I read the sequel, also good.

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#136

Post by 8bitsrule » Mon, May 28, 2018, 3:52 AM UTC

myst wrote: post #47

Dandelion Wine

Bradbury creates a special experience that few other authors manage. Like Le Guin.

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#137

Post by 8bitsrule » Mon, May 28, 2018, 3:55 AM UTC

dfbag7 wrote: post #20

Carlos Castaneda, definitely.

Great fun following that saga. Esp. 'Separate Reality'

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#138

Post by Arete31415 » Mon, May 28, 2018, 4:31 AM UTC

TheAlchemist wrote: post #98

Surprised it's not mentioned yet -> "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. This book is pure gold, however one has to approach it with a right mindset. It's not the best literature, per se, you will ever read, but if you take a deeper look, it's very simple, yet very profound. It somehow reminds me of the quote from Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett long time associate, and one of the wisest man alive) - "Take a simple idea,…

I had a very The Alchmist experience while I was reading The Alchemist. I was reading the book on the bus and and was so engrossed that I missed my bus stop. Then I decided that since it was a nice day, I'd take a walk around the neighborhood I ended up in. At the guitar store, there was an amazing Martin guitar that I couldn't put down. I still have it 15 years later. Kismet.

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#139

Post by Arete31415 » Mon, May 28, 2018, 4:36 AM UTC

Not the only one for sure, but A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The plain-spoken honesty in that book contains multitudes.

Re: Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?

#140

Post by joddystreet » Mon, May 28, 2018, 5:07 AM UTC

Sapiens (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23692271-sapiens) Gave words to describe my feelings for various ideas in my head. Another thing that happened (probably unrelated), after this I reestablished my reading habit that got lost for nearly 10 years.