Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond
Journey to the ants - Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Lewis
A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson
The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay (In addition to its inspiring message on overcoming adversity, it also taught me a powerful message on the difference between diversity and inclusion - the latter only happened afterwards when it was pointed out to me - another lesson...)
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand (keep a highlighter ready for each episode of altruism)
Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
181–190 of 234 posts
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm wary of most entrepreneurs, investors, and "thought leaders" offering advice as they tend to either be self-serving, productivity porn, or deep-seeming ideas that are easily said but impossible to implement. And, all too often, they only have a platform or "success" because of a huge head start from family wealth or from being an outright sociopath (or both).
Naval was born poor.
He attended one of the best high schools in the entire US, Stuyvesant. That's a privileged upbringing where it counts.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#183(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 th…
> - 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.
I disagree because Ben Horowitz's "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" is fairly autobiographical but is very helpful in guiding startup founders and CEO's and is widely lauded by them.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#184A few have stood out: - "The Defining Decade: Why Your 20's Matter and How to Make The Most of Them Now": it motivated me to find a fulfilling a career in tech (among other things). - "On the Shortness of Life" (Seneca) - Really made me take a hard look at my life, for the better. - "Eat and Run" - Interesting read about an Ultramarathoner. Inspired me to find the motivation for doing "tough things" in general.
Would the first book be valuable for someone in their late 20's? I'm fairly happy with what I've done this decade, but maybe I could apply the relevant stuff to my 30s...
Short answer: yes, and even if you were in your 30s.
Long answer: the sooner you read it the better, but any time is better than never. There was a great metaphor early in the book, actually. I don't have a copy on hand so to paraphrase: your life is like a cross-continent flight. If you want to change your destination, earlier on is better--the plane need only make a slight adjustment at the beginning to alter its trajectory significantly. Closer to the end, and you gotta make a pretty sharp turn.
It's not the perfect metaphor but for me personally it really resonated.
Especially if you're fairly happy at your late 20's, any adjustments you might discover you want to make probably aren't that far off :)
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#185A few have stood out: - "The Defining Decade: Why Your 20's Matter and How to Make The Most of Them Now": it motivated me to find a fulfilling a career in tech (among other things). - "On the Shortness of Life" (Seneca) - Really made me take a hard look at my life, for the better. - "Eat and Run" - Interesting read about an Ultramarathoner. Inspired me to find the motivation for doing "tough things" in general.
> "The Defining Decade: Why Your 20's Matter and How to Make The Most of Them Now": Being 31, still feeling lost, this title stresses me out
Defining your life and happiness by measuring professional success is a very likely way to be unhappy. I'd recommend ignoring the book and live your life in whatever way brings meaning to you.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most evil people lack self awareness. It's like asking a prisoner if he's guilty. Most say "no."
Actually it's well established that psychopaths are well aware of their psychopathy and the easiest way to diagnose is to ask someone whether they think they are psychopathic (of course then you follow up to test that thesis..).
Yeah you're right but I would say the type of psychopath you're describing is very very rare. It's also a spectrum.
Most evil of the psychopathic nature are conducted by people nearer to the psychopathic end of the spectrum but they aren't quite totally psychopathic. They bridge that gap by justifying their actions with lies they tell themselves.
Hitler, for example was unlikely to be a psychopath, but the actions he committed makes it seem like he was one. He was also likely on the far end of the spectrum in terms of psychopathy and clearly he still had some story he used to justify his horrific actions.
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#187The Histories by Herodotus was life changing for me (see my handle!). But, be aware that it has to be a good translation: the online free ones are not the ones you should read. Why? Because until I read it my only other experience with writing of that era was the bible readings from when I attended synagogue (before I realized that there was no god). I always found the bible stuff strange, but I forgave it, because I…
May I recommend reading them in their original languages? It becomes impossible to truly appreciate a completely different culture, and way of thinking and seeing the world, when it's being tortuously twisted to fit into the "English" way. It's like reading Bulgakov's The Master and the Margarita in anything but Russian; or Clauswitz's On War in anything but German; or Homer's Iliad in anything but Ancient Greek. In…
That's probably good advice, but not applicable to almost anyone.
If you have to learn another language in order to read a book, you're probably not going to read the book.
If you already happen to know Russian, German and Ancient Greek, then yeah, go ahead and read them in the original languages :)
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#188The Denial Of Death by Ernest Becker. The Holy Bible by God.
Which version?
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#189Atomic Habits!
What other books in the same area have you read? How is A.H. different?
Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?
#190Books 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
"How to win friends and influence people" It's a great book, however it creates one problem, when all of the advice is implemented. It makes you a perfect listener, but doesn't mention the imbalance it can cause.
Do you know of any better books than that one