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Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books? ↗

The books people recommended

2010-07-10 · 80 points · 144 comments · 88 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. 6Sophie's World

    Sophie's World

    Jostein Gaarder

    6 here · 18 all-time · #364 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 7,501 ratings on Amazon
  2. 5

    Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas Hofstadter

    5 here · 347 all-time · #1 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 2,713 ratings on Amazon
  3. 5

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra

    Friedrich Nietzsche

    5 here · 24 all-time · #249 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,956 ratings on Amazon
  4. 4

    Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

    Robert Pirsig

    4 here · 193 all-time · #5 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 13,921 ratings on Amazon
  5. 4Philosophical Investigations

    Philosophical Investigations

    Ludwig Wittgenstein

    4 here · 12 all-time · #552 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 355 ratings on Amazon
  6. 4An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

    An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

    David Hume

    4 here · 10 all-time · #676 overall

  7. 4On Liberty

    On Liberty

    John Stuart Mill

    4 here · 8 all-time · #889 overall

  8. 3

    The Republic

    Plato

    3 here · 32 all-time · #174 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,034 ratings on Amazon
  9. 3Critique of Pure Reason

    Critique of Pure Reason

    Immanuel Kant

    3 here · 16 all-time · #397 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,334 ratings on Amazon
  10. 3The Nicomachean Ethics

    The Nicomachean Ethics

    Aristotle

    3 here · 14 all-time · #463 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,048 ratings on Amazon
  11. 3Meditations on First Philosophy

    Meditations on First Philosophy

    René Descartes

    3 here · 12 all-time · #559 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 774 ratings on Amazon
  12. 3Simulacra and Simulation

    Simulacra and Simulation

    Jean Baudrillard

    3 here · 10 all-time · #660 overall

  13. 3Beyond Good and Evil

    Beyond Good and Evil

    Friedrich Nietzsche

    3 here · 9 all-time · #727 overall

  14. 3Being and Time

    Being and Time

    Martin Heidegger

    3 here · 7 all-time · #1006 overall

  15. 3A Theory of Justice

    A Theory of Justice

    John Rawls

    3 here · 5 all-time · #1463 overall

  16. 3Reasons and Persons

    Reasons and Persons

    Derek Parfit

    3 here · 5 all-time · #1505 overall

  17. 2

    Meditations

    Marcus Aurelius

    2 here · 165 all-time · #10 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 21,552 ratings on Amazon
  18. 2

    Siddhartha

    Hermann Hesse

    2 here · 97 all-time · #31 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 18,150 ratings on Amazon
  19. 2

    Tao Te Ching

    Lao Tzu

    2 here · 53 all-time · #76 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,771 ratings on Amazon
  20. 2

    The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    Thomas S. Kuhn

    2 here · 33 all-time · #167 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 2,045 ratings on Amazon
  21. 2

    History of Western Philosophy

    Bertrand Russell

    2 here · 20 all-time · #312 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,074 ratings on Amazon
  22. 2The Myth of Sisyphus

    The Myth of Sisyphus

    Albert Camus

    2 here · 13 all-time · #499 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 3,884 ratings on Amazon
  23. 2Ecclesiastes

    Ecclesiastes

    2 here · 12 all-time · #532 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 1,535 ratings on Amazon
  24. 2Open Society and Its Enemies

    Open Society and Its Enemies

    Karl Popper

    2 here · 11 all-time · #574 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 274 ratings on Amazon
  25. 2The Outsider

    The Outsider

    Albert Camus

    2 here · 10 all-time · #654 overall

  26. 2Apology

    Apology

    Plato

    2 here · 7 all-time · #982 overall

  27. 2Common Sense

    Common Sense

    Thomas Paine

    2 here · 7 all-time · #1045 overall

  28. 2Symposium

    Symposium

    Plato

    2 here · 6 all-time · #1125 overall

  29. 2The Summa Theologica

    The Summa Theologica

    Thomas Aquinas

    2 here · 6 all-time · #1204 overall

  30. 2The Story of Philosophy

    The Story of Philosophy

    Will Durant

    2 here · 6 all-time · #1227 overall

  31. 2The Tao is Silent

    The Tao is Silent

    Raymond Smullyan

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1850 overall

  32. 2Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

    Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

    Immanuel Kant

    2 here · 3 all-time · #2599 overall

  33. 2From a Logical Point of View

    From a Logical Point of View

    W. V. O. Quine

    2 here · 3 all-time · #2600 overall

  34. 1

    Atlas Shrugged

    Ayn Rand

    1 here · 173 all-time · #9 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 22,012 ratings on Amazon
  35. 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
  36. 1

    The Prince

    Niccolò Machiavelli

    1 here · 34 all-time · #152 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 8,164 ratings on Amazon
  37. 1

    Finite and Infinite Games

    James P. Carse

    1 here · 31 all-time · #183 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 1,993 ratings on Amazon
  38. 1

    The Wealth of Nations

    Adam Smith

    1 here · 27 all-time · #212 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 2,706 ratings on Amazon
  39. 1A People's History of the United States

    A People's History of the United States

    Howard Zinn

    1 here · 25 all-time · #232 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 17,556 ratings on Amazon
  40. 1

    Steppenwolf

    Hermann Hesse

    1 here · 22 all-time · #272 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 1,837 ratings on Amazon
  41. 1Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

    Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

    Ayn Rand

    1 here · 16 all-time · #411 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 791 ratings on Amazon
  42. 1Notes from Underground

    Notes from Underground

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1 here · 15 all-time · #414 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 5,859 ratings on Amazon
  43. 1The Stranger

    The Stranger

    Albert Camus

    1 here · 15 all-time · #416 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 12,720 ratings on Amazon
  44. 1Narcissus and Goldmund

    Narcissus and Goldmund

    Hermann Hesse

    1 here · 15 all-time · #424 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,269 ratings on Amazon
  45. 1Ficciones

    Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges

    1 here · 15 all-time · #435 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,817 ratings on Amazon
  46. 1The Prophet

    The Prophet

    Kahlil Gibran

    1 here · 14 all-time · #449 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 13,665 ratings on Amazon
  47. 1The Metamorphosis

    The Metamorphosis

    Franz Kafka

    1 here · 13 all-time · #476 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 3,692 ratings on Amazon
  48. 1The Story of Civilization

    The Story of Civilization

    Will Durant

    1 here · 12 all-time · #533 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 427 ratings on Amazon
  49. 1The Communist Manifesto

    The Communist Manifesto

    Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels

    1 here · 11 all-time · #581 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 255 ratings on Amazon
  50. 1The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

    The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

    John Maynard Keynes

    1 here · 11 all-time · #599 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.1 out of 5, 1,182 ratings on Amazon
  51. 1Proofs and Refutations

    Proofs and Refutations

    Imre Lakatos

    1 here · 10 all-time · #644 overall

  52. 1Metaphors We Live By

    Metaphors We Live By

    George Lakoff

    1 here · 9 all-time · #713 overall

  53. 1The Happiness Hypothesis

    The Happiness Hypothesis

    Jonathan Haidt

    1 here · 8 all-time · #789 overall

  54. 1Phenomenology of Spirit

    Phenomenology of Spirit

    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

    1 here · 8 all-time · #853 overall

  55. 1Discipline and Punish

    Discipline and Punish

    Michel Foucault

    1 here · 8 all-time · #863 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,421 ratings on Amazon
  56. 1The Conquest of Happiness

    The Conquest of Happiness

    Bertrand Russell

    1 here · 7 all-time · #904 overall

  57. 1The Sleepwalkers

    The Sleepwalkers

    Christopher Clark

    1 here · 7 all-time · #931 overall

  58. 1Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

    Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

    Ludwig Wittgenstein

    1 here · 7 all-time · #933 overall

  59. 1The Metaphysics

    The Metaphysics

    Aristotle

    1 here · 7 all-time · #983 overall

  60. 1Ethics

    Ethics

    Baruch Spinoza

    1 here · 7 all-time · #1042 overall

  61. 1Ashtavakra Gita

    Ashtavakra Gita

    Ashtavakra

    1 here · 7 all-time · #1050 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 618 ratings on Amazon
  62. 1Dhammapada

    Dhammapada

    The Buddha

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1153 overall

  63. 1Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

    Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

    Ayn Rand

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1202 overall

  64. 1The Human Use of Human Beings

    The Human Use of Human Beings

    Norbert Wiener

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1276 overall

  65. 1Leviathan

    Leviathan

    Thomas Hobbes

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1289 overall

  66. 1The Problems of Philosophy

    The Problems of Philosophy

    Bertrand Russell

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1290 overall

  67. 1Naming and Necessity

    Naming and Necessity

    Saul Kripke

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1428 overall

  68. 1Philosophy In The Flesh

    Philosophy In The Flesh

    George Lakoff

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1433 overall

  69. 1On the Genealogy of Morality

    On the Genealogy of Morality

    Friedrich Nietzsche

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1481 overall

  70. 1A Brief History of Everything

    A Brief History of Everything

    Ken Wilber

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1634 overall

  71. 1The Second Sex

    The Second Sex

    Simone de Beauvoir

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1686 overall

  72. 1Civilization and Its Discontents

    Civilization and Its Discontents

    Sigmund Freud

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1699 overall

  73. 1Utopia

    Utopia

    Thomas More

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1724 overall

  74. 1History of Sexuality

    History of Sexuality

    Michel Foucault

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1780 overall

  75. 1The Tao

    The Tao

    Wesley Chu

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2022 overall

  76. 1The Aleph

    The Aleph

    Jorge Luis Borges

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2057 overall

  77. 1Either/Or

    Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2110 overall

  78. 1Cybernetics

    Cybernetics

    Norbert Wiener

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2113 overall

  79. 1Phaedrus

    Phaedrus

    Plato

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2183 overall

  80. 1Organon

    Organon

    Aristotle

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2221 overall

  81. 1Ecce Homo

    Ecce Homo

    Friedrich Nietzsche

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2255 overall

  82. 1Phenomenology of Perception

    Phenomenology of Perception

    Maurice Merleau-Ponty

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2319 overall

  83. 1The Trouble with Being Born

    The Trouble with Being Born

    Emil Cioran

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2332 overall

  84. 1Gorgias

    Gorgias

    Plato

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2345 overall

  85. 1The Social Contract

    The Social Contract

    Jean-Jacques Rousseau

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2360 overall

  86. 1Ethics of Ambiguity

    Ethics of Ambiguity

    Simone de Beauvoir

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2384 overall

  87. 1The Philosophy of Mind

    The Philosophy of Mind

    John Heil

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2385 overall

  88. 1How We Think

    How We Think

    John Dewey

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2390 overall