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Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

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Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#181

Post by quietbritishjim »

biren34 wrote: post #114

Okay at the risk of being offensive, all the comments before mine are made by overly intellectual fools. I'm not usually so insulting--but as a father of two, if my 3 year old and 1.5 year old could only read one book, it would have to be "Oh, the places you'll go" by Dr. Suess. Sorry to stomp on Das Kapital and its ilk, but if you get only one book, I can't imagine a better first message to convey than the endless p…

It sounds like you have read the question as "if a person could only read a single book in their whole life, what should it be?"

But I think the question actually meant: "for actual real life people here on HN, who have all probably read some books already, what extra book would you suggest reading?"

For us adults, there are probably books that would have more value than Dr Zeuss, excellent though it may be.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#183

Post by uniqueuid »

biren34 wrote: post #114

Okay at the risk of being offensive, all the comments before mine are made by overly intellectual fools. I'm not usually so insulting--but as a father of two, if my 3 year old and 1.5 year old could only read one book, it would have to be "Oh, the places you'll go" by Dr. Suess. Sorry to stomp on Das Kapital and its ilk, but if you get only one book, I can't imagine a better first message to convey than the endless p…

You will probably agree that the hidden recommendation here is to have kids :)

With small kids, the world is your oyster and everything is a great wonder, and that's the real treasure.

So perhaps we can say the advice is to learn from kids and stay hungry and foolish? And that can of course apply to reading as well!

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#184

Post by panxyh »

olalonde wrote: post #128
pengaru wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never read it cover to cover, but paged through some random parts and it certainly contained guidance away from authenticity and towards identifying and saying/doing the right things to achieve your goals. It's not a bad thing to read though, but more in terms of understanding what your competition is reading and tools they're potentially weaponizing ( lots of copies have been sold). Just like I recommended my sist…

I feel like you might be unfairly judging the book by its cover (or title?). I'd be happy to be proven wrong if you can cite some examples of what you claim. I'd like myself to cite some passages where manipulation is explicitly frowned upon: > Of course flattery seldom works with discerning people. It is shallow, selfish and insincere. It ought to fail and it usually does. > Looking at the other person’s point of vi…

He's not judging the book, but the type of people it might tend to attract.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#185

Post by LeonB »

honkycat wrote: post #10

Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a book about turning beauty into ruin. About the stupidity and cruelty of man. And also about the authors love of humanity and finding joy and love in the fate we all share. Vonnegut stared into the abyss and never lost his idealism.

I generally list this as my favorite book. Have read it god knows how many times.

Recently found an audio version read by Vonnegut himself - originally released on vinyl. It was great to hear him tell it, though it is quite abridged.

A different (and unabridged) audio version I found recently was read by the actor Ethan Hawke — and though I respect the man, his voice/acting just couldn’t do the material justice.

Great work of art.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#186

Post by _han »

I haven't read the English translation, but Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman had a profound influence on my trust in people, and expecting good intentions by default. Especially during bad times (COVID, geopolitics, etc.) it was a source of well-founded positivity that I needed.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#187

Post by ree-san »

Zanni wrote: post #131

I'd say that The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't [0] is the book for the current moment. Don't be put off by the subtitle. It's not about condemning a particular group as fuzzy thinkers. Rather, it's a manual for overcoming your own biases with immediate, actionable advice. For example, if you express your beliefs as "percent confident" rather than "true or false," it's easier to up…

This sounds wonderful, thank you

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#188

Post by everfrustrated »

olalonde wrote: post #142
Brajeshwar wrote: post #133

I decided to learn/understand why Religion is the center-stage for almost every event that happens to humanity. This year, I’m planning to read the books, at least, of the top 5 religions of the world. Read Bhagavad Gita[1], had read the Bible[2] in hotel stays but will read it again, and the Quran[3] is waiting in the book-shelf. No, not religious at all; in fact, very far from it. Some time back, someone did a nice…

As a non-religious myself, I can't understand how you found the willpower to read the Bible and even want to read it again. I tried reading some chapters and was either bored to death or couldn't understand the text because of how badly it is translated/written.

Note that the Christian Bible is not a single book but a collection. As such the order of the books within it is not optimized for comprehension.

New readers should start from Matthew.

Many of the English translations try to keep much of the paragraph structure from the older English translations which limits readability also. I'd encourage more radical translations like The Message over New King James as examples.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#190

Post by Blaiz0r »

_han wrote: post #186

I haven't read the English translation, but Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman had a profound influence on my trust in people, and expecting good intentions by default. Especially during bad times (COVID, geopolitics, etc.) it was a source of well-founded positivity that I needed.

This would be my recommendation too, also Utopia for Realists his earlier book is a great read.
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