Ask HN: Which book/essay changed your life? ↗

The books people recommended

2021-03-25 · 57 points · 46 comments · 30 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.

2The Goal
The Goal
Eliyahu M. Goldratt
2 here · 24 all-time · #26 overall
2The Righteous Mind
The Righteous Mind
Jonathan Haidt
2 here · 22 all-time · #33 overall
2Sirens of Titan
Sirens of Titan
Kurt Vonnegut
2 here · 8 all-time · #168 overall
2The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Robert A. Heinlein
2 here · 8 all-time · #176 overall
2Capital
Capital
Karl Marx
2 here · 6 all-time · #237 overall
2Self-Reliance
Self-Reliance
Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 here · 5 all-time · #278 overall
1
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie
1 here · 57 all-time · #4 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 106,505 ratings on Amazon
1
The C Programming Language
Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie
1 here · 24 all-time · #25 overall
1Why We Sleep
Why We Sleep
Matthew Walker
1 here · 20 all-time · #41 overall
1The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
1 here · 19 all-time · #44 overall
1The Dictator's Handbook
The Dictator's Handbook
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith
1 here · 15 all-time · #70 overall
1Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell
1 here · 12 all-time · #103 overall
1Blood Meridian
Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy
1 here · 11 all-time · #115 overall
1Crucial Conversations
Crucial Conversations
Kerry Patterson
1 here · 11 all-time · #117 overall
1Finite and Infinite Games
Finite and Infinite Games
James Carse
1 here · 11 all-time · #118 overall
1VALIS
VALIS
Philip K. Dick
1 here · 8 all-time · #172 overall
1The Hobbit
The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien
1 here · 7 all-time · #187 overall
1On Intelligence
On Intelligence
Jeff Hawkins
1 here · 7 all-time · #200 overall
1Prisoners of Geography
Prisoners of Geography
Tim Marshall
1 here · 6 all-time · #220 overall
1Les Misérables
Les Misérables
Victor Hugo
1 here · 6 all-time · #232 overall
1Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy
G. K. Chesterton
1 here · 6 all-time · #238 overall
1Discipline and Punish
Discipline and Punish
Michel Foucault
1 here · 6 all-time · #245 overall
1Four Steps to the Epiphany
Four Steps to the Epiphany
Steve Blank
1 here · 5 all-time · #262 overall
1A Random Walk Down Wall Street
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Burton Malkiel
1 here · 5 all-time · #288 overall
1Behave
Behave
Robert Sapolsky
1 here · 5 all-time · #296 overall
1The Unicorn Project
The Unicorn Project
Gene Kim
1 here · 5 all-time · #320 overall
1The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon
Joseph Smith
1 here · 4 all-time · #408 overall
1Industrial Society and Its Future
Industrial Society and Its Future
Theodore Kaczynski
1 here · 3 all-time · #466 overall
1Educated
Educated
Tara Westover
1 here · 3 all-time · #521 overall
1Capitalist Realism
Capitalist Realism
Mark Fisher
1 here · 3 all-time · #603 overall