Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life? ↗

The books people recommended

2018-05-27 · 214 points · 176 comments · 39 books named by at least one person here and at least 3 people overall. The number on the left is how many people named it in this thread.

1
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas Hofstadter
1 here · 82 all-time · #1 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 2,713 ratings on Amazon
1
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
1 here · 58 all-time · #3 overall
1
Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand
1 here · 51 all-time · #5 overall
1
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert Pirsig
1 here · 49 all-time · #8 overall
Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 13,921 ratings on Amazon
1The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
1 here · 26 all-time · #20 overall
1The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
1 here · 26 all-time · #21 overall
1Siddhartha
Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse
1 here · 26 all-time · #22 overall
11984
1984
George Orwell
1 here · 22 all-time · #35 overall
1Walden
Walden
Henry David Thoreau
1 here · 14 all-time · #73 overall
1The Glass Bead Game
The Glass Bead Game
Hermann Hesse
1 here · 13 all-time · #87 overall
1The Alchemist
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
1 here · 12 all-time · #100 overall
1Outliers
Outliers
Malcolm Gladwell
1 here · 11 all-time · #112 overall
1Finite and Infinite Games
Finite and Infinite Games
James Carse
1 here · 11 all-time · #118 overall
1A Guide to the Good Life
A Guide to the Good Life
William Irvine
1 here · 10 all-time · #136 overall
1Economics in One Lesson
Economics in One Lesson
Henry Hazlitt
1 here · 9 all-time · #155 overall
1A Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
1 here · 9 all-time · #159 overall
1Sirens of Titan
Sirens of Titan
Kurt Vonnegut
1 here · 8 all-time · #168 overall
1Quiet
Quiet
Susan Cain
1 here · 7 all-time · #185 overall
1Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Philip K. Dick
1 here · 6 all-time · #218 overall
1Ghost in the Wires
Ghost in the Wires
Kevin Mitnick
1 here · 6 all-time · #243 overall
1The War of Art
The War of Art
Steven Pressfield
1 here · 5 all-time · #264 overall
1To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
1 here · 5 all-time · #285 overall
1Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon
Daniel Keyes
1 here · 5 all-time · #286 overall
1A Random Walk Down Wall Street
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Burton Malkiel
1 here · 5 all-time · #288 overall
112 Rules for Life
12 Rules for Life
Jordan Peterson
1 here · 5 all-time · #315 overall
1The Logic of Scientific Discovery
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Karl Popper
1 here · 4 all-time · #341 overall
1Born to Run
Born to Run
Christopher McDougall
1 here · 4 all-time · #344 overall
1The Idiot
The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoevsky
1 here · 4 all-time · #350 overall
1Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Pure Reason
Immanuel Kant
1 here · 4 all-time · #357 overall
1The Art of Thinking Clearly
The Art of Thinking Clearly
Rolf Dobelli
1 here · 4 all-time · #358 overall
1The Law
The Law
Frédéric Bastiat
1 here · 4 all-time · #359 overall
1The Art of Worldly Wisdom
The Art of Worldly Wisdom
Baltasar Gracián
1 here · 4 all-time · #398 overall
1The Game
The Game
Neil Strauss
1 here · 4 all-time · #399 overall
1The Inner Game of Tennis
The Inner Game of Tennis
W. Timothy Gallwey
1 here · 3 all-time · #500 overall
1Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
Edwin Lefevre
1 here · 3 all-time · #501 overall
1Zen Mind Beginner's Mind
Zen Mind Beginner's Mind
Shunryu Suzuki
1 here · 3 all-time · #502 overall
1A Treatise of Human Nature
A Treatise of Human Nature
David Hume
1 here · 3 all-time · #503 overall
1The Revolt of the Masses
The Revolt of the Masses
José Ortega y Gasset
1 here · 3 all-time · #504 overall
1The Art of Loving
The Art of Loving
Erich Fromm
1 here · 3 all-time · #505 overall