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Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?

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91–100 of 199 posts

Re: Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?

#93
The Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver. I read it at least once a year and live my life by it. There was no book that better described living in the digital world vs the physical world when I was growing up programming and living in muds. Every thing and every relationship in the physical world is a game that can played successfully with the right character

Re: Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?

#97
post #67

If I was forced to only pick one, or at least one set of books it would be: The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. There are many better books I've read, but I grew up with these, and would want access to copies at all times in my life. Now... I'm off to make a Perfectly Normal Beast sandwich and ponder why Eddie is in the space time continuum.

Washed down with an Ooisgian Zoda.

Re: Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?

#98
Sam Harris’ Waking Up. I’m sure that some of the neuroscience in it will become outdated, but its effect on my worldview and life trajectory can’t be understated.

Perhaps this is apocryphal, but when Richard Feynman was asked what one sentence would contain the most information to bootstrap science after apocalypse, he said “everything is made of atoms”. Sam Harris parallels this with his one sentence for spiritual practice: “you are not this next thought”.

Being reminded of this annually by way of the excellent exposition of Waking Up seems to be the right move for me.

Re: Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?

#100

Count of Monte Cristo

I'd recommend you read "The Black Count" by Tom Reiss.

It's a non-fiction biography of Alexandre Dumas's father, the inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo. It holds the same luster of the 19th century while giving you a factual recount of some larger than life figures.

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