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

The books people recommended

2021-03-25 · 57 points · 46 comments · 48 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. 2The Goal

    The Goal

    Eliyahu M. Goldratt

    2 here · 70 all-time · #49 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 4,661 ratings on Amazon
  2. 2

    The Righteous Mind

    Jonathan Haidt

    2 here · 57 all-time · #66 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 12,156 ratings on Amazon
  3. 2

    The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

    Robert A. Heinlein

    2 here · 38 all-time · #127 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 9,404 ratings on Amazon
  4. 2

    The Sirens of Titan

    Kurt Vonnegut

    2 here · 23 all-time · #257 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 8,999 ratings on Amazon
  5. 2

    Capital

    Karl Marx

    2 here · 21 all-time · #307 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,644 ratings on Amazon
  6. 2Self-Reliance

    Self-Reliance

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    2 here · 9 all-time · #699 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,724 ratings on Amazon
  7. 1

    How to Win Friends and Influence People

    Dale Carnegie

    1 here · 175 all-time · #8 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 106,505 ratings on Amazon
  8. 1

    The C Programming Language

    Brian Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie

    1 here · 124 all-time · #15 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 182 ratings on Amazon
  9. 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
  10. 1

    Why We Sleep

    Matthew Walker

    1 here · 68 all-time · #54 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 34,551 ratings on Amazon
  11. 1

    The Hobbit

    J.R.R. Tolkien

    1 here · 53 all-time · #75 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 82,135 ratings on Amazon
  12. 1

    Nineteen Eighty-Four

    George Orwell

    1 here · 43 all-time · #108 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 15,224 ratings on Amazon
  13. 1

    Blood Meridian

    Cormac McCarthy

    1 here · 41 all-time · #118 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 21,706 ratings on Amazon
  14. 1

    A Random Walk Down Wall Street

    Burton Malkiel

    1 here · 38 all-time · #131 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 4,237 ratings on Amazon
  15. 1

    The Four Steps to the Epiphany

    Steve Blank

    1 here · 36 all-time · #137 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 673 ratings on Amazon
  16. 1

    On Intelligence

    Jeff Hawkins

    1 here · 36 all-time · #138 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 893 ratings on Amazon
  17. 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
  18. 1

    The Dictator's Handbook

    Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith

    1 here · 29 all-time · #196 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,461 ratings on Amazon
  19. 1

    Crucial Conversations

    Kerry Patterson

    1 here · 27 all-time · #215 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 12,373 ratings on Amazon
  20. 1

    Les Misérables

    Victor Hugo

    1 here · 24 all-time · #250 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,681 ratings on Amazon
  21. 1Snowball

    Snowball

    Alice Schroeder

    1 here · 18 all-time · #346 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 5,023 ratings on Amazon
  22. 1Made to Stick

    Made to Stick

    Chip and Dan Heath

    1 here · 16 all-time · #386 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,888 ratings on Amazon
  23. 1Behave

    Behave

    Robert Sapolsky

    1 here · 16 all-time · #387 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 9,783 ratings on Amazon
  24. 1Orthodoxy

    Orthodoxy

    G.K. Chesterton

    1 here · 16 all-time · #393 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 2,701 ratings on Amazon
  25. 1The Book of Mormon

    The Book of Mormon

    Joseph Smith

    1 here · 15 all-time · #419 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 2,494 ratings on Amazon
  26. 1This is Water

    This is Water

    David Foster Wallace

    1 here · 15 all-time · #431 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,652 ratings on Amazon
  27. 1VALIS

    VALIS

    Philip K. Dick

    1 here · 11 all-time · #591 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 1,214 ratings on Amazon
  28. 1Prisoners of Geography

    Prisoners of Geography

    Tim Marshall

    1 here · 11 all-time · #598 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 20,528 ratings on Amazon
  29. 1The Unicorn Project

    The Unicorn Project

    Gene Kim

    1 here · 9 all-time · #749 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 4,826 ratings on Amazon
  30. 1Educated

    Educated

    Tara Westover

    1 here · 9 all-time · #753 overall

  31. 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
  32. 1Naked Lunch

    Naked Lunch

    William S. Burroughs

    1 here · 7 all-time · #950 overall

  33. 1How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

    How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

    Harry Browne

    1 here · 7 all-time · #960 overall

  34. 1Industrial Society and Its Future

    Industrial Society and Its Future

    Ted Kaczynski

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1067 overall

  35. 1Capitalist Realism

    Capitalist Realism

    Mark Fisher

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1198 overall

  36. 1Your Money or Your Life

    Your Money or Your Life

    Vicki Robbins

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1242 overall

  37. 1The Analects

    The Analects

    Confucius

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1312 overall

  38. 1Against Method

    Against Method

    Paul Feyerabend

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1369 overall

  39. 1Inner Engineering

    Inner Engineering

    Sadhguru

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2134 overall

  40. 1Meltdown

    Meltdown

    Robert Land

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2193 overall

  41. 1Topics in Algebra

    Topics in Algebra

    I. N. Herstein

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2194 overall

  42. 1The GNU Manifesto

    The GNU Manifesto

    Richard Stallman

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2195 overall

  43. 1Decisive

    Decisive

    Dan Heath and Chip Heath

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2196 overall

  44. 1Being Wrong

    Being Wrong

    Kathryn Schulz

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2197 overall

  45. 1How to Live

    How to Live

    Sarah Bakewell

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2198 overall

  46. 1Complete Works

    Complete Works

    Michel De Montaigne

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2199 overall

  47. 1The Secret Life of Groceries

    The Secret Life of Groceries

    Benjamin Lorr

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2493 overall

  48. 1A Grief Observed

    A Grief Observed

    C.S. Lewis

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2494 overall