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Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

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Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#411

Post by rplnt »

klausjensen wrote: post #391

I have given away ~20 "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson over the years. It is a great little book, which deals with how we handle change in our lives (work and other) and how we sometimes fail to see, when it is time to move on. My favorite one-sentence takeaway from the book is the question: "What would you do, if you were not afraid?" - which has helped me make hard decisions many times over the years. https…

The reviews on goodreads[1] are hilarious. Ordered it right away, though I mostly don't read books that I order, so...

1. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4894.Who_Moved_My_Cheese_

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#412

Post by bluesilver07 »

Jaruzel wrote: post #384
henrik_w wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 for The Martian - fantastic book!

I loved it so much that I still haven't seen the film. I don't want the book spoilt. :( (and I'm a life long sci-fi reader!)

Yeah, after reading the book, I didn't like the movie.

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#416

Post by kqr »

grafelic wrote: post #414

I haven't yet gifted a copy of Robert Anton Wilson's and Robert Shea's "The Illuminatus! Triology", but I want to. This book strikes the fine balance of being funny and mindblowingly weird at the same time. Great fun.

I started reading this when I was very young and then eventually trailed off. Thanks for reminding me I gotta try again!

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#417

Post by sneak »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #348
sneak wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make an effort to pirate Ender's Game versus spending money on it; the author is a notorious bigot who uses his money to destroy equal human rights.

If you're interested in reading someone's books without paying for them, I propose there are several decent alternatives: 1. Do the legal thing and go down to the local library, even at some inconvenience to yourself. 2. Drop the smug sense of moral superiority. 3. Stick up for your moral superiority by making a sacrifice by depriving yourself of the pleasure. It doesn't make a whit of difference in the economy, but…

> 1. Do the legal thing and go down to the local library, even at some inconvenience to yourself.

How the fuck is that any different than my torrenting the epub and reading it on my iPad?

The exact same words, read by the exact same person, for the exact same amount of value transferred between the exact same people.

Stop it with this meaningless worship of the fiction of intellectual property.

PS: Downloading content for which you lack a license is not illegal.

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#419

Post by lightonphiri »

klausjensen wrote: post #391

I have given away ~20 "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson over the years. It is a great little book, which deals with how we handle change in our lives (work and other) and how we sometimes fail to see, when it is time to move on. My favorite one-sentence takeaway from the book is the question: "What would you do, if you were not afraid?" - which has helped me make hard decisions many times over the years. https…

In my previous life, MD of company I worked for gave a copy of Who Moved My Cheese to all 300+ employees. Great read.
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