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Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

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Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#231

Lord of the Rings. Read it in 3 days (afternoons after school and evenings to late nights), felt... alive/awaken, during and after reading it. I was maybe 12 years old. 1984. First real sense of society at large, totalitarianism, and other "grown-up" stuff. I was maybe 12 or 13. Brave New World. Same as 1984, except I was maybe 14 or 15. 1491 and 1493. Amazing way to deeply understand history, and completely new pers…

I've read 1984 and Brave New World. In a lot of ways I think the warnings in A Brave New World are much more subtle in some ways. The "fixes" they come up with in the book for an ailing society are very similar to what people have waded into now. A Brave New World is probably a bigger warning to society than 1984 in many ways.

Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#232

I see more than a couple of books I've read in the comments, but I found them negative ROI on time invested in them, they should have been 20 pages not 300, and I didn't learn anything profound, often they could be summarized as a list of statements. In the end, I feel 99% stuff out there is just time wasting simple ideas rehashed into 300 page stories.

Could you make a list of these books? I certainly have seen books mentioned I wouldn't even leaf trough, but this comment is particularly strong - and fascinating

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind - A garbage book about universe's energy

Never Split the Difference - too long never finished completely, didn't feel practical or anything beyond common sense

The Obstacle Is the Way - trash, not worth time, if you watch motivation videos then go ahead buy it.

Exactly What to Say - read the the table of contents and you get 90% of the value the book has to give

Indistractable - did you know if you could focus and work without motivation you could do great things..oh wow news of the century. Book has flawed premise and flawed solution. Saying control your internal triggers is a very round about way to say control your motivation. This book more of an academic book, on topic, that is under research.

How to Make Sh*t Happen: Make more money... - honestly liked the book, resonated with author's struggle .. but I don't recall getting much value. It was like watching a show that starts really strong and you have high hopes but just never delivers. I'd read the summary of it and not waste time reading the entire thing. i was kinda putt off by cringe over the top cursing to look unorthodox.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things - omg the self patting.. unless you're a ceo, of series A startup then maybe this book will have some value. HARD PASS.

Grit - here I'll save you time: people who keep at it on average win against talented people. There I saved you from 30 life stories of author and her daddy issues.

The case studies and even better textbooks that have case studies compiled into lessons are much better.

Re: Ask HN: Life Changing Books?

#234
post #19

'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' by Robert Pirsig.

Ive read it 4 times in the past 30 years. Every time i get something totally new from it. It’s a story about a father and son, about the meaning of quality, its a travel book, and book about mental health. It introduced me to philosophy. An astonishing book.
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