Ask HN: What are the best books you've read that few others have? ↗

The books people recommended

2017-07-11 · 70 points · 63 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.

3
Sapiens
Yuval Noah Harari
3 here · 197 all-time · #4 overall
Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 133,705 ratings on Amazon
3
The Book of the New Sun
Gene Wolfe
3 here · 27 all-time · #211 overall
Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 3,428 ratings on Amazon
2
Homo Deus
Yuval Noah Harari
2 here · 35 all-time · #150 overall
Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 38,098 ratings on Amazon
2Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Luo Guanzhong
2 here · 5 all-time · #1456 overall
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
1
Code
Charles Petzold
1 here · 147 all-time · #12 overall
Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,787 ratings on Amazon
1
The Soul of a New Machine
Tracy Kidder
1 here · 76 all-time · #43 overall
Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,741 ratings on Amazon
1
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu
1 here · 53 all-time · #76 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,771 ratings on Amazon
1
Mathematics
Jan Gullberg
1 here · 37 all-time · #134 overall
Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 528 ratings on Amazon
1
Nexus
Ramez Naam
1 here · 21 all-time · #288 overall
Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,715 ratings on Amazon
1Effective Java
Effective Java
Joshua Bloch
1 here · 21 all-time · #293 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,623 ratings on Amazon
1Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Richard Bach
1 here · 20 all-time · #316 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 16,386 ratings on Amazon
1In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time
Marcel Proust
1 here · 18 all-time · #353 overall
Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 2,507 ratings on Amazon
1The Happiness Hypothesis
The Happiness Hypothesis
Jonathan Haidt
1 here · 8 all-time · #789 overall
1Racing the Beam
Racing the Beam
Ian Bogost, Nick Montfort
1 here · 8 all-time · #869 overall
1The Good Earth
The Good Earth
Pearl S. Buck
1 here · 7 all-time · #914 overall
1Pale Blue Dot
Pale Blue Dot
Carl Sagan
1 here · 7 all-time · #918 overall
1Travels
Travels
Michael Crichton
1 here · 7 all-time · #992 overall
1Mars trilogy
Mars trilogy
Kim Stanley Robinson
1 here · 6 all-time · #1128 overall
1The Lucifer Principle
The Lucifer Principle
Howard Bloom
1 here · 5 all-time · #1321 overall
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
1Musashi
Musashi
Eiji Yoshikawa
1 here · 5 all-time · #1365 overall
1More Money Than God
More Money Than God
Sebastian Mallaby
1 here · 4 all-time · #1628 overall
1Quantum Psychology
Quantum Psychology
Robert Anton Wilson
1 here · 4 all-time · #1702 overall
1Marooned in Realtime
Marooned in Realtime
Vernor Vinge
1 here · 4 all-time · #1927 overall
1Global Brain
Global Brain
Bloom
1 here · 3 all-time · #2048 overall
1Hagakure
Hagakure
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
1 here · 3 all-time · #2271 overall
1Battle Cry of Freedom
Battle Cry of Freedom
James MacPherson
1 here · 3 all-time · #2314 overall
1Book of the Long Sun
Book of the Long Sun
Gene Wolfe
1 here · 3 all-time · #2375 overall
1Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity
Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity
David W. Galenson
1 here · 3 all-time · #2413 overall