A young version of yourself is about to start their career and you can give them three books, but only three books, what would they be?
Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
1–10 of 86 posts
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#2I'm pretty early in my career. There's just one book on my list now (and that's simply because I haven't made time to read others): The Clean Coder, by Robert Martin
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#3"The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter" by Meg Jay
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#4Carol Dweck's "Growth mindset".
This book changed my view of diligence and intelligence.
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#5Sartre's "Nausea", which demonstrates the pointless nothingness of life, so one should not get too stressed out at work because Frank doesn't like your indentation style but that's how everyone at university does it ...
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#6How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
All of your working life is built on relationships, even if you code all day.
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#7Practical skills are easily acquired. Personal skills and greater self-awareness are what really fast-track you.
1) Scott Adams 'How to fail at almost everything' for life strategy.
2) Robert Glover's 'No more Mr Nice Guy' for assertiveness and being your authentic self no matter what.
3) As cliche as it is, 'The Power of Now' is a great source to return to in times of personal and professional woes.
Good luck and Godspeed in your career(s).
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#8Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
How I raised myself from failure to success in selling, Frank Bettger
Thinking in Systems: A Primer, Daniela Meadows
Most important thing is to get up and start doing stuff, understand how you personally f$$k things up and reap benifits of compound interest in personal development. I think these three bookshave a lot of information that is usable in any career or path one might choose.
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#9Code complete was a great early read for someone who already knew the basics of programming
L'etranger Albert Camus, for the same reasons as jjgreen
A Herbert Shilt book on C programming but could have been K&R instead, was part of the process from moving from simple basic coding to software development
Re: Ask HN: What three books impacted your career the most?
#101) "how life imitates chess" Garry Kasparov
2) "how life imitates chess" Garry Kasparov
3) "how life imitates chess" Garry Kasparov
Highly recommended, very good read and smart book. I would call it the modern version of The Art of War.