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Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

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Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#161
This list of books may sum up my entire personhood, some I read at a young age.

Thinking Fast and Slow. After you read it take a course on statistics & probability.

The Art of Strategy

The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance

Armor by John Steakley Great book of fiction, helped me understand PTSD.

Read a lot of Asimov, robot series, foundation and short stories starting with The Last Question.

Jules Verne

Mark Twain, various stories but particularly the Diary of Adam & Eve

The Jungle Book by Kipling

Lost Horizon

Robinson Crusoe

Dune Series

Enders Game and sequels.

The Odyssey

The Count of Monte Cristo

Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card because it helped me understand that a cultures internally consumed fiction tells you about its values.

The book of Ecclesiastes. The book of Job. Leviticus 25. Galatians 5:22-23. Romans 2:15. Luke 18:1-8. The minor prophets. Bible generally if you want to deep dive, I did once upon a time.

25th chapter of the First Epistle of Clement of Rome

Aristotle, Socrates.

Thus Spake Zarathustra

Through Gates of Splendor Peace Child

Let Freedom Ring. I was working illegally (as I recall) as a 15 year old teenager for Sean Hannity (as a w2 employee through a proxy) when this book came out and along with my personal interactions with him at the time it helped clarify that he is not a person whose opinion holds any weight or even much thought. I remember at the time thinking it was unbearably poor reading.

Farmer Giles of Ham. If you've already read the hobbit, LOTR, etc. it helped me understand the framing of Tolkien way better.

Then read Pride and Prejudice through the lens of Farmer Giles of Ham. Calling it a romance novel is a disservice.

A James Bond Novel. I can't remember the name but there is one in particular that describes why he always acts so overtly and not spy-ish at all. The explanation helped me understand why you should throw yourself fully into work projects and helped me get over fear of mistakes. It made me a far better consultant as well while I was doing that.

So good they can't ignore you & deep work.

How to win friends and influence people.

Run Silent, Run Deep.

The Communist Manifesto

The Christian Manifesto

From Dawn to Decadence.

Romance of the 7 kingdoms.

Life together.

There's a big yellow book about the 6 day war, it's very detailed and blow by blow, I can no longer remember its name but it impressed upon me the chance and vagaries of war.

The Free Will Defense. Alvin Plantinga (and the various philosophic revuttals/conversations)

In Defense of the Kalam Cosmological Argument. William Lane Craig (and the various philosophic revuttals/conversations)

No little people. Francis Schaeffer

The Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich.

The Rails Way. 1st edition.

Javascript. The good parts.

Visual quick start guide to SQL.

^These three are probably the most important books I ever read, they probably changed the trajectory of my life more than any others on the list.

Midnight's Children. Rushdie

Roberts Rules of Order.

The four loves

Love languages

A once popular anti catholic tract called "The Trail of Blood".

Basically there is truth, falsehood, history, emotion and understanding in all these works, synthesizing these particular books made me who I am today. There are many others but these are the ones that come quickly to mind and whose titles I can still mostly recall.

Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#164
post #76

A 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/Alman…

Are there other people who think Naval Ravikant has zero original ideas and his real competence is speech?

I'm not sure if he has zero original ideas, but I think his ideas have very narrow scope. There is another thinker which I think is overrated - Balaji Srinivasan. At the same time I'm becomming a big fan of Jordan Peterson - his ideas are much closer to the real life and very relevant.

Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#165
The Bible. I pretty much read it every day. I think it was C.S. Lewis who talked about chronological snobbery i.e. we think we are cleverer than those who went before us. It amazes me that many of the issues we have are the same as issues people had thousands of year ago.

Two days ago one of my children was caught out telling a lie. The next morning my daily bible reading for that day was from Proverbs about the importance of not telling lies. As I say, some things don't change :-)

Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#166
post #40

Harry 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/ .

Is it required to know the Harry Potter lore and characters to understand this book without missing any detail?

Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#168
Limitless: The Autobiography by Tim Peake. It's one of those books I wish existed when I was a teenager. He is someone who is so willing to push himself to excel at whatever takes his interest, and demonstrates that you don't need to be academic to be the best.

Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#169
post #166
post #40

Harry 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/ .

Is it required to know the Harry Potter lore and characters to understand this book without missing any detail?

Not at all. You'll miss a few jokes and some trolling about the original ("Canon" in fanfiction speak), but that's it. Regarding Harry Potter, I advice reading the 6th book, as it really stands on its own. You will be able to understand the success of the serial while enjoying a nice novel. You won't be lost as the author keeps explaining what happened a few books ago.

Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#170
post #130

English: Do you consider having a new layer in your thinking process "life changing"? Then, I would say- 1. Deep Work and So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport. He goes against famous ideas such as "follow your passion" and provides you with alternative actionable advice. 2. Black Swan by N. Nicholas Taleb. It makes you aware of unhinged "platonistic thinking" where stuff are "explained" looking back. And peop…

“ I used to feel very bad about my ethnic identity, and felt ashamed about it”

I wish I spoke Bengali just to read Tagore in the original. First poet, at the age of 33, that I have ever appreciated. Brilliant.

Of course, an atheist would have trouble appreciating him

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