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Ask HN: What books are you reading? ↗

The books people recommended

2015-09-05 · 36 points · 79 comments · 71 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. 3

    Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas Hofstadter

    3 here · 347 all-time · #1 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 2,713 ratings on Amazon
  2. 2

    The Selfish Gene

    Richard Dawkins

    2 here · 178 all-time · #7 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 8,966 ratings on Amazon
  3. 2

    Atlas Shrugged

    Ayn Rand

    2 here · 173 all-time · #9 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 22,012 ratings on Amazon
  4. 2

    Snow Crash

    Neal Stephenson

    2 here · 119 all-time · #16 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 20,720 ratings on Amazon
  5. 2

    A Short History of Nearly Everything

    Bill Bryson

    2 here · 30 all-time · #187 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 19,783 ratings on Amazon
  6. 2

    Shogun

    James Clavell

    2 here · 26 all-time · #223 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 27,634 ratings on Amazon
  7. 2A People's History of the United States

    A People's History of the United States

    Howard Zinn

    2 here · 25 all-time · #232 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 17,556 ratings on Amazon
  8. 2

    A Game of Thrones

    George R.R. Martin

    2 here · 22 all-time · #274 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 83,380 ratings on Amazon
  9. 2Between the World and Me

    Between the World and Me

    Ta-Nehisi Coates

    2 here · 8 all-time · #800 overall

  10. 2Tai-Pan

    Tai-Pan

    James Clavell

    2 here · 8 all-time · #875 overall

  11. 2King Rat

    King Rat

    James Clavell

    2 here · 7 all-time · #1022 overall

  12. 1

    Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

    Harold Abelson

    1 here · 316 all-time · #2 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 742 ratings on Amazon
  13. 1

    Dune

    Frank Herbert

    1 here · 250 all-time · #3 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 104,032 ratings on Amazon
  14. 1

    Thinking, Fast and Slow

    Daniel Kahneman

    1 here · 178 all-time · #6 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 48,679 ratings on Amazon
  15. 1

    The Three-Body Problem

    Cixin Liu

    1 here · 152 all-time · #11 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 53,978 ratings on Amazon
  16. 1

    Code Complete

    Steve McConnell

    1 here · 108 all-time · #22 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,353 ratings on Amazon
  17. 1

    Cryptonomicon

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 106 all-time · #23 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 8,425 ratings on Amazon
  18. 1

    The Martian

    Andy Weir

    1 here · 103 all-time · #25 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 187,449 ratings on Amazon
  19. 1

    The Pragmatic Programmer

    Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

    1 here · 102 all-time · #26 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 3,644 ratings on Amazon
  20. 1Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

    Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

    Eliezer Yudkowsky

    1 here · 101 all-time · #27 overall

    Buy on Amazon
  21. 1

    Antifragile

    Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    1 here · 100 all-time · #29 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 8,430 ratings on Amazon
  22. 1

    Guns, Germs, and Steel

    Jared Diamond

    1 here · 83 all-time · #39 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 14,634 ratings on Amazon
  23. 1

    Anathem

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 83 all-time · #40 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 5,275 ratings on Amazon
  24. 1Permutation City

    Permutation City

    Greg Egan

    1 here · 73 all-time · #45 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 2,604 ratings on Amazon
  25. 1

    Blindsight

    Peter Watts

    1 here · 70 all-time · #48 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 8,527 ratings on Amazon
  26. 1The Brothers Karamazov

    The Brothers Karamazov

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1 here · 69 all-time · #51 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,359 ratings on Amazon
  27. 1

    The Diamond Age

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 64 all-time · #58 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 5,358 ratings on Amazon
  28. 1

    Seveneves

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 58 all-time · #64 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 31,865 ratings on Amazon
  29. 1

    Crime and Punishment

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1 here · 50 all-time · #85 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 5,186 ratings on Amazon
  30. 1

    The Power of Habit

    Charles Duhigg

    1 here · 46 all-time · #97 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 40,333 ratings on Amazon
  31. 1

    Diaspora

    Greg Egan

    1 here · 45 all-time · #101 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 2,393 ratings on Amazon
  32. 1

    How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

    Scott Adams

    1 here · 36 all-time · #143 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 7,596 ratings on Amazon
  33. 1

    I Am a Strange Loop

    Douglas Hofstadter

    1 here · 33 all-time · #159 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 1,069 ratings on Amazon
  34. 1

    Quiet

    Susan Cain

    1 here · 33 all-time · #165 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 35,789 ratings on Amazon
  35. 1

    The Elements of Statistical Learning

    Hastie, Tibshirani, Friedman

    1 here · 30 all-time · #191 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,362 ratings on Amazon
  36. 1Reamde

    Reamde

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 26 all-time · #218 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 5,708 ratings on Amazon
  37. 1Rendezvous with Rama

    Rendezvous with Rama

    Arthur C. Clarke

    1 here · 25 all-time · #233 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 16,602 ratings on Amazon
  38. 1

    Roadside Picnic

    Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

    1 here · 25 all-time · #237 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 4,708 ratings on Amazon
  39. 1Kafka on the Shore

    Kafka on the Shore

    Haruki Murakami

    1 here · 22 all-time · #270 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 22,113 ratings on Amazon
  40. 1

    Nexus

    Ramez Naam

    1 here · 21 all-time · #288 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,715 ratings on Amazon
  41. 1The Box

    The Box

    Marc Levinson

    1 here · 21 all-time · #300 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,199 ratings on Amazon
  42. 1

    Sherlock Holmes

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    1 here · 21 all-time · #303 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,781 ratings on Amazon
  43. 1The Cyberiad

    The Cyberiad

    Stanisław Lem

    1 here · 21 all-time · #304 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 805 ratings on Amazon
  44. 1Practical Common Lisp

    Practical Common Lisp

    Peter Seibel

    1 here · 16 all-time · #400 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 120 ratings on Amazon
  45. 1Breakfast of Champions

    Breakfast of Champions

    Kurt Vonnegut

    1 here · 13 all-time · #482 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 7,546 ratings on Amazon
  46. 1Echopraxia

    Echopraxia

    Peter Watts

    1 here · 11 all-time · #566 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 2,400 ratings on Amazon
  47. 1The Picture of Dorian Gray

    The Picture of Dorian Gray

    Oscar Wilde

    1 here · 9 all-time · #712 overall

  48. 1Hard Drive

    Hard Drive

    James Wallace, Jim Erickson

    1 here · 8 all-time · #852 overall

  49. 1Rapid Development

    Rapid Development

    Steve McConnell

    1 here · 7 all-time · #958 overall

  50. 1Surfaces and Essences

    Surfaces and Essences

    Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1074 overall

  51. 1Axiomatic

    Axiomatic

    Greg Egan

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1079 overall

  52. 1Zodiac

    Zodiac

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1101 overall

  53. 1Armada

    Armada

    Ernest Cline

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1205 overall

  54. 1Stuff Matters

    Stuff Matters

    Mark Miodownik

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1308 overall

  55. 1In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters

    In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters

    Merril R. Chapman

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1348 overall

  56. 1Quarantine

    Quarantine

    Greg Egan

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1360 overall

  57. 1Romance of the Three Kingdoms

    Romance of the Three Kingdoms

    Luo Guanzhong

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1456 overall

  58. 1Distress

    Distress

    Greg Egan

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1544 overall

  59. 1Think Complexity

    Think Complexity

    Downey

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1579 overall

  60. 1The Witcher

    The Witcher

    Andrzej Sapkowski

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1594 overall

  61. 1Devotion of Suspect X

    Devotion of Suspect X

    Keigo Higashino

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1601 overall

  62. 1Quicksilver

    Quicksilver

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1603 overall

  63. 1Machines of Loving Grace

    Machines of Loving Grace

    John Markoff

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1653 overall

  64. 1The Art of Asking

    The Art of Asking

    Amanda Palmer

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1842 overall

  65. 1What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

    What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

    Raymond Carver

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1872 overall

  66. 1Mastering Bitcoin

    Mastering Bitcoin

    Andreas Antonopoulos

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2247 overall

  67. 1Magic 2.0

    Magic 2.0

    Scott Meyer

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2254 overall

  68. 1Steel Beach

    Steel Beach

    Michael Connelly

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2376 overall

  69. 1The Feast of the Goat

    The Feast of the Goat

    Mario Vargas Llosa

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2428 overall

  70. 1Modern Romance

    Modern Romance

    Aziz Ansari

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2431 overall

  71. 1Embracing Defeat

    Embracing Defeat

    John Dower

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2596 overall