Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi(rip) and Psycho Cybernetics. I am battling a personal identity crisis(mid life existence) and these two books have guided me on what is important in life and how to lead a truly fulfilling life.
Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
71–80 of 234 posts
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#72(Edited for formatting)
No book is totally life-changing IMHO, but many are life-altering… life-shifting? But for a good shift in perspective, I would maybe try the following:
For fiction, best no reasons given, go into these blind:
- Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
- The City and the City, China Mieville
- Exhalation, Ted Chiang
- Never Let me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
For non-fiction:
- Any book that tells some of the history of the field you have a career in. You need it for perspective. For me it was the books Hackers by Stephen Levy (problematic as it may be) and Journey Through Genius by William Dunham. They led me into deeper dives and other books which rooted my knowledge in some chronological perspective.
- Surreal Numbers by Donald Knuth, a “fiction” book about Conway’s surreal numbers. Holy cow, this shifts your perspective on what a number can be.
- Godel Escher Bach by Hofstadter, recommended by others, as a mind bending book
- What We See When We Read, by Peter Mendelsund. Really changed my perspective on the act of reading in general. Very easy and quick read.
- Debt, by David Graeber (sure to hear about this in the comments lol)
Biographical:
- Read at least one book from someone who has had a different life experience than you have had. For me, it was Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain which wasn’t totally a biography but told a lot of experiences in his life completely different than mine that offered some perspective.
- One anti-recommendation: any book that a CEO writes or has ghost-written about their life. None of that is applicable to your own life, even if you are a CEO.
Self-help: no recommendations.
Self help books only help the person selling the books IMHO. I’ve read my share, and it tells more about the person writing the book than it does give life tips about how to live one’s life.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#73Brother Karamazov, first read it when in 20s, read a few times later (but never fully). The chapter "The Grand Inquisitor" is the cream of the cream.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#74Books that have changed my life: - How to win friends and influence people. Helped me understand the dynamics of relationships in a unon manipulative and empathetic way. - Sapiens. Changed my view on human organizations and religion - the monk who sold his Ferrari - meditations by Marcus Aurelius - the screwtape letters. Letter 15 specifically changed me
Agree with all the ones in the list except #3
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#75'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' by Robert Pirsig.
Read it last month. Always thought it would be overhyped boring and trivial. Wow I was wrong!
It's recommended everywhere because it is that good.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#76A Master's Secret Whispers: For those who abhor the noise and seek The Truth about life and living
https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Secret-Whispers-those-living/...
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735211299/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...
Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
https://www.amazon.com/Almanack-Naval-Ravikant-Wealth-Happin...
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#77Meditations and Freakonomics for sure. Also when I was down in life, Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living helped a lot too.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#78Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. I delayed for too long reading this thrilling book. It was like getting a brain massage. So many wonderful lessons in rational thinking packed into a truly enjoyable and memorable story. In response to some questions: It's not a kids book. It's a fan-fiction inspired by the original books, but written with adults in mind. You can read it for free at http://www.hpmor.com/ .
Isn't this a series of novels targeted at 12 year olds?
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#79The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka. It's an autobiography that uses permaculture to inspire a simple life.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#801. _The Question Concerning Technology_ by Martin Heidegger. Taught me how clean-room language reinvention can be a tool for clear thinking, and how you cannot add something without taking something away. Truth is "revealing and concealing" because it is, outside math and hard science, perspectival. Essential reading for UX engineers. 2. _Eichmann in Jerusalem_, Hannah Arendt. Made me wiser about how evil works. "Evi…
The _Autobiography of Malcom X_ was co-written by Alex Haley, the author of _Roots_. _Autobiography_ was required reading in a "Black Political Thought" course I took years ago. But it was inspirational for me too.