Ask HN: Books that change your way of thinking?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2329700

by alexwestholm • 15 years ago

15 16 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm curious to get some feedback on what other HNers consider to be the most profoundly insightful books they've read. I picked up The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming as a result on posts on here and so far it's been one of the most worthwhile coding reads I've ever had. So what about you guys? Other programming books? Business books? Just downright good books? Thanks!

shantanubala• 15 years ago

If you do a search through HN, you'll find some really good recommendations.

Read The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Fooled By Randomness is also good) if you want to peer into the mind of an investor.

Read Hesse's Siddhartha if you're thinking along the lines of culture/religion/philosophy.

Read a few Ayn Rand books if you like libertarianism and don't really care to relate to the characters.

Read We by Yevgheny Zamyatin if you want an interesting allegory that metaphorically compares heaven to a dystopian dictatorship.

Read Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins if you're very interested in the sciences.

I remember Sebastian Marshall recommending Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa -- I'd recommend it too. It's pretty good, and I was especially interested since I've been doing marshal arts for over 10 years now.

And read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! no matter how you think. It's fantastic.

EDIT: More Books!

I read these when I was in elementary school, but they still hold their value:

The Giver by Lois Lowry if you want more dystopias.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery if you're feeling especially playful.

rcamera• 15 years ago

This is an awesome list! Still haven't read some of them yet, but the few left are in my queue. I would add one more:

The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doige. This book will give you a whole new perspective on how your mind and the human brain works! It will talk about neuroplasticity and real world examples of people that had their brain tweaked through this new area of research in neuroscience.

kgutteridge• 15 years ago

I was recently given this book by a doctor friend its absolutely brilliant and should appeal to any hacker

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

ZackOfAllTrades• 15 years ago

I've been struggling through that lately. I keep getting distracted trying to prove or disprove there is a solution to the MU puzzle. He will present a new idea and I always have to go back and check to see if I can make any headway. I've tried the problem forwards, backwards, and from a numerical standpoint of counting I's. I just want to get to the end of the book and know whether or not it is possible.

Regardless, that book will make your brain fold in it's self. Highly recommended.

dterra• 15 years ago

Two books that changed my way of thinking about business are,

Small Giants and The Responsible Entrepreneur.

I read them when I was young, so more than changing me, they have me a direction and a basis on what to focus. I read some chapters now and then...

pwp• 15 years ago

"What Is The Name Of This Book?" by Raymond Smullyan is a great book if you like puzzles or want a playful way to improve your logic/reasoning skills. It does a really good job of incrementally building up to more complicated problems. It starts out with puzzles using basic if p then q style logic and moves all the way up to Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem in a way that is both accessible by and entertaining to someone as young as 10.

It took me about two weeks to a month to read and give each question due thought at a pretty leisurely pace, though I am sure most would take many much less time. (I had to stop to keep up on homework/study for tests for about a week of time.)

I don't know if I became a better programmer from it, but it is very much inline with the hacker spirit. You can get it probably from the library/inter-library loan (as I did initially), but you will probably fall in love with it and shell out the $10 to get the used copy.

Hope you enjoy, pwp

riskish• 15 years ago

I have found these books to be very influential in my thinking on web startups and building things in general:

1) Hackers & Painters - PG

2) Smart & Get Things Done - Joel Spolsky

3) Rework - Jason Fried

4) Getting Real - Jason Fried

5) Founders at Work - Jessica Livingston

6) Joel on Software - Joel Spolsky

These are by far some of my favorites.

andrewce• 15 years ago

"Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn (as well as "My Ishmael") changed how I view the world and how I characterize contemporary issues. The Takers/Leavers dichotomy, while a tad simplistic, was jaw-dropping at the time.

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" had a similar effect, though with the Classicist/Romanticist split more than any other part of the book. Also: "Itty-bitty rules for itty-bitty people" made quite a few things make sense.

staunch• 15 years ago

The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html

I first read it when I was around 14. I think it helped me create a much more complete moral framework than anything I'd heard before (and probably since). Definitely my first introduction to Stoicism.

It's not really a book, more of a collection of reminders to himself, which is probably why it's so useful and interesting.

mattm• 15 years ago

How I found Freedom in an Unfree World

Conversations with God (the first book - I didn't get so much out of the 2nd and 3rd)

goo• 15 years ago

It won't win me any hipster points, but I have to recommend "Influence: the psychology of persuasion", by Robert B. Cialdini. This book managed to beautifully, clearly, and engagingly account for the major factors of human influence. Despite a degree in cognitive science and extensive personal interest in social psychology and compliance tactics, this book still proved incredibly insightful. And from a marketing and sales perspective, I would consider it a must-read.

bo_Olean• 15 years ago

"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards

This book could/will change the way we see things. Not only for drawing or art, principles from the book can be applied to any creative profession.

albahk• 15 years ago

How to get Rich - by Felix Dennis

He writes in a direct, no-nonsense way about how he made his millions and he appears to honestly reflect on both the positive and negative results of his wealth. The title betrays the content slightly as it is more about how he got rich.

taphangum• 15 years ago

This book inspired me more than any other.

xtrycatchx• 15 years ago

im currently reading Like a Flowing River (by Paulo Coelho)

tastefulwords• 15 years ago

Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

Flatland, by Edwin Abbott

Gang Leader for a Day, by Sudhir Venkatesh

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan

Ask HN: Books that change your way of thinking?

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