Y Hacker News Books

Ask HN: What is the greatest book you've ever read? ↗

The books people recommended

2011-06-10 · 32 points · 61 comments · 55 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. 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
  2. 3

    Dune

    Frank Herbert

    3 here · 250 all-time · #3 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 104,032 ratings on Amazon
  3. 3Rework

    Rework

    Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

    3 here · 43 all-time · #106 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 11,954 ratings on Amazon
  4. 2

    Ender's Game

    Orson Scott Card

    2 here · 109 all-time · #21 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 45,794 ratings on Amazon
  5. 2The Brothers Karamazov

    The Brothers Karamazov

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    2 here · 69 all-time · #51 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,359 ratings on Amazon
  6. 2

    East of Eden

    John Steinbeck

    2 here · 36 all-time · #141 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 23,886 ratings on Amazon
  7. 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
  8. 2

    A Confederacy of Dunces

    John Kennedy Toole

    2 here · 22 all-time · #276 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 16,890 ratings on Amazon
  9. 2Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

    Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

    Haruki Murakami

    2 here · 15 all-time · #418 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 6,333 ratings on Amazon
  10. 2Faust

    Faust

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    2 here · 10 all-time · #665 overall

  11. 1

    Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

    Robert Pirsig

    1 here · 193 all-time · #5 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 13,921 ratings on Amazon
  12. 1

    Atlas Shrugged

    Ayn Rand

    1 here · 173 all-time · #9 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 22,012 ratings on Amazon
  13. 1

    Meditations

    Marcus Aurelius

    1 here · 165 all-time · #10 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 21,552 ratings on Amazon
  14. 1

    Snow Crash

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 119 all-time · #16 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 20,720 ratings on Amazon
  15. 1

    Neuromancer

    William Gibson

    1 here · 117 all-time · #17 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 20,213 ratings on Amazon
  16. 1

    The Lord of the Rings

    J.R.R. Tolkien

    1 here · 114 all-time · #18 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.9 out of 5, 14,620 ratings on Amazon
  17. 1

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

    Douglas Adams

    1 here · 101 all-time · #28 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 30,738 ratings on Amazon
  18. 1

    Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

    Richard Feynman

    1 here · 90 all-time · #35 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 13,344 ratings on Amazon
  19. 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
  20. 1

    Infinite Jest

    David Foster Wallace

    1 here · 75 all-time · #44 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 6,443 ratings on Amazon
  21. 1

    The Count of Monte Cristo

    Alexandre Dumas

    1 here · 70 all-time · #50 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 12,487 ratings on Amazon
  22. 1

    Daemon

    Daniel Suarez

    1 here · 52 all-time · #78 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 6,091 ratings on Amazon
  23. 1

    Outliers

    Malcolm Gladwell

    1 here · 44 all-time · #103 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 39,353 ratings on Amazon
  24. 1

    The Dispossessed

    Ursula K. Le Guin

    1 here · 42 all-time · #113 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 9,037 ratings on Amazon
  25. 1

    Hackers and Painters

    Paul Graham

    1 here · 36 all-time · #139 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 765 ratings on Amazon
  26. 1

    Don Quixote

    Miguel de Cervantes

    1 here · 33 all-time · #161 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,758 ratings on Amazon
  27. 1

    Shogun

    James Clavell

    1 here · 26 all-time · #223 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 27,634 ratings on Amazon
  28. 1

    The E-Myth Revisited

    Michael E. Gerber

    1 here · 24 all-time · #244 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 13,028 ratings on Amazon
  29. 1Hyperion Cantos

    Hyperion Cantos

    Dan Simmons

    1 here · 19 all-time · #342 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 18,239 ratings on Amazon
  30. 1Shantaram

    Shantaram

    Gregory David Roberts

    1 here · 18 all-time · #345 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 41,148 ratings on Amazon
  31. 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
  32. 1Lila

    Lila

    Robert Pirsig

    1 here · 16 all-time · #389 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 817 ratings on Amazon
  33. 1The Death and Life of Great American Cities

    The Death and Life of Great American Cities

    Jane Jacobs

    1 here · 15 all-time · #434 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,700 ratings on Amazon
  34. 1Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming

    Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming

    Peter Norvig

    1 here · 15 all-time · #440 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 65 ratings on Amazon
  35. 1Seeking Wisdom

    Seeking Wisdom

    Peter Bevelin

    1 here · 14 all-time · #460 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 405 ratings on Amazon
  36. 1Good Omens

    Good Omens

    Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

    1 here · 14 all-time · #464 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 37,803 ratings on Amazon
  37. 1What Do You Care What Other People Think?

    What Do You Care What Other People Think?

    Richard Feynman

    1 here · 11 all-time · #575 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,654 ratings on Amazon
  38. 1God Emperor of Dune

    God Emperor of Dune

    Frank Herbert

    1 here · 11 all-time · #610 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 13,901 ratings on Amazon
  39. 1The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

    The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

    Mark Haddon

    1 here · 8 all-time · #793 overall

  40. 1Endymion

    Endymion

    Dan Simmons

    1 here · 8 all-time · #827 overall

  41. 1The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

    The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

    Stephen R. Donaldson

    1 here · 8 all-time · #883 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 4,283 ratings on Amazon
  42. 1Going Postal

    Going Postal

    Terry Pratchett

    1 here · 7 all-time · #919 overall

  43. 1Switch

    Switch

    Chip Heath, Dan Heath

    1 here · 7 all-time · #948 overall

  44. 1The Neverending Story

    The Neverending Story

    Michael Ende

    1 here · 7 all-time · #971 overall

  45. 1Mastering Regular Expressions

    Mastering Regular Expressions

    Jeffrey Friedl

    1 here · 7 all-time · #991 overall

  46. 1Where Good Ideas Come From

    Where Good Ideas Come From

    Steven Johnson

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1211 overall

  47. 1Of Human Bondage

    Of Human Bondage

    W. Somerset Maugham

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1332 overall

  48. 1Musashi

    Musashi

    Eiji Yoshikawa

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1365 overall

  49. 1Disgrace

    Disgrace

    J. M. Coetzee

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1408 overall

  50. 1Making Money

    Making Money

    Terry Pratchett

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1584 overall

  51. 1The Worm Ouroboros

    The Worm Ouroboros

    E. R. Eddison

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1943 overall

  52. 1Suttree

    Suttree

    Cormac McCarthy

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1989 overall

  53. 1The Nature of Paleolithic Art

    The Nature of Paleolithic Art

    R. Dale Guthrie

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2303 overall

  54. 1Happiness

    Happiness

    Derren Brown

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2415 overall

  55. 1Enchantment

    Enchantment

    Guy Kawasaki

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2498 overall