"The Demon-Haunted World"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World
Sagan at his most passionate awesome best.
Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
31–40 of 341 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#32"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. While it's also a tale of travel and self-exploration (the rediscovery of identity after a nervous breakdown and shock therapy), mostly the book is about thinking. I was a different person after identifying with the narrator who also lived in the mind, and asked questions about basic concepts like 'quality', or qualia of events, objects, roles, and the sub…
Yeah, I read the book years ago but wasn't mature enough to appreciate the its value. But as I've gained in years and as my children have grown older I've thought a lot about quality and its significance. I'll be revisiting the book in the near future.
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#33Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Documents a year of her and her family living in Appalachia, totally self-sustaining. Changed the way I think about consumerism and industrialization.
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#34American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis. I learnt everything I know about fashion and business cards from this important book.
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#35the tao of physics - I read it in high school for a dual-enrollment course and it was profoundly entertaining (if difficult to read in high school). It provided a glimpse into parrallels between eastern mysticism and western science.
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#36The Rock Warrior's Way:
https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/d...
Nominally about rock climbing, but really a study of the ego, why we invest so much effort in protecting it, and how little we get for that investment.
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#37"Gödel, Escher, Bach" by Douglas Hofstadter, which I read when I was 17. I was just getting into serious programming (I would learn C later that year). I had only an inkling about things like recursion, had little appreciation for music outside of Pink Floyd, and lacked any kind of spiritual philosophy that didn't end in simple atheism or nonsense that I stole from science fiction paperbacks.
GEB got me wondering about a lot of things, and showed me how hard science and engineering and art can coexist. It's not a perfect book -- frankly, I find it rather dull reading now -- but it was an eye-opener when I was just starting out.
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#38There are many, but one is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I read it as a child, and it was the first time I thought about logical thinking. Here is the section: “Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obv…
Lewis was instrumental in helping me understand that faith can be based on a foundation of logic and reason versus pure emotion and my guess is he helped many others struggling in that same area.
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#39Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl
The book was written by a psychologist who survived the Holocaust camps. The paragraph that always sticks with me goes something like "for sure, the best amongst us never left the camps - they (the guards) would need to pick (kill) a dozen people, and the best wouldn't let it be their friends or family, even if it meant their own death."
Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?
#40How to win friends and influence people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influen... I have to keep reminded myself to apply the rules, but very sound advice.
I occasionally revisit this book every few years as a refresher. Every time I do, I end up making close, life-long friends by applying the techniques in this book. I'd say this is a must read for just about anyone.
i know people that had the habit of intentionally reading it once a month while founding their startup