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Ask HN: What are the best books you've ever read? ↗

The books people recommended

2024-08-06 · 27 points · 49 comments · 68 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

    The Count of Monte Cristo

    Alexandre Dumas

    5 here · 70 all-time · #50 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 12,487 ratings on Amazon
  2. 3The Inimitable Jeeves

    The Inimitable Jeeves

    P.G. Wodehouse

    3 here · 4 all-time · #1911 overall

  3. 2

    Thinking, Fast and Slow

    Daniel Kahneman

    2 here · 178 all-time · #6 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 48,679 ratings on Amazon
  4. 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
  5. 2

    The Lord of the Rings

    J.R.R. Tolkien

    2 here · 114 all-time · #18 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.9 out of 5, 14,620 ratings on Amazon
  6. 2

    The Hobbit

    J.R.R. Tolkien

    2 here · 53 all-time · #75 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 82,135 ratings on Amazon
  7. 2The Cuckoo's Egg

    The Cuckoo's Egg

    Clifford Stoll

    2 here · 39 all-time · #124 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,286 ratings on Amazon
  8. 2

    The Glass Bead Game

    Hermann Hesse

    2 here · 33 all-time · #164 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,540 ratings on Amazon
  9. 2

    A Canticle for Leibowitz

    Walter M. Miller Jr.

    2 here · 28 all-time · #205 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 5,243 ratings on Amazon
  10. 2

    Gravity's Rainbow

    Thomas Pynchon

    2 here · 25 all-time · #229 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 2,472 ratings on Amazon
  11. 2The Fabric of Reality

    The Fabric of Reality

    David Deutsch

    2 here · 9 all-time · #737 overall

  12. 2Darkness at Noon

    Darkness at Noon

    Arthur Koestler

    2 here · 8 all-time · #871 overall

  13. 2Ascent of Man

    Ascent of Man

    Jacob Bronowski

    2 here · 5 all-time · #1387 overall

  14. 2Naming and Necessity

    Naming and Necessity

    Saul Kripke

    2 here · 5 all-time · #1428 overall

  15. 2A Time of Gifts

    A Time of Gifts

    Patrick Leigh Fermor

    2 here · 5 all-time · #1429 overall

  16. 2Rediscovery of the Mind

    Rediscovery of the Mind

    John R Searle

    2 here · 3 all-time · #2511 overall

  17. 2The Way We Live Now

    The Way We Live Now

    Anthony Trollope

    2 here · 3 all-time · #2512 overall

  18. 2Diary of a Nobody

    Diary of a Nobody

    George and Weedon GrossSmith

    2 here · 3 all-time · #2513 overall

  19. 1

    Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas Hofstadter

    1 here · 347 all-time · #1 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 2,713 ratings on Amazon
  20. 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
  21. 1

    Black Swan

    Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    1 here · 110 all-time · #19 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 8,277 ratings on Amazon
  22. 1

    Cryptonomicon

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 106 all-time · #23 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 8,425 ratings on Amazon
  23. 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
  24. 1

    A Fire Upon the Deep

    Vernor Vinge

    1 here · 47 all-time · #93 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 5,097 ratings on Amazon
  25. 1

    A Deepness in the Sky

    Vernor Vinge

    1 here · 41 all-time · #121 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,418 ratings on Amazon
  26. 1

    Slaughterhouse-Five

    Kurt Vonnegut

    1 here · 34 all-time · #153 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 40,601 ratings on Amazon
  27. 1Bhagavad Gita

    Bhagavad Gita

    C Radhakrishnan

    1 here · 33 all-time · #168 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 63 ratings on Amazon
  28. 1

    The Art of Electronics

    Horowitz and Hill

    1 here · 33 all-time · #170 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 2,192 ratings on Amazon
  29. 1

    A Short History of Nearly Everything

    Bill Bryson

    1 here · 30 all-time · #187 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 19,783 ratings on Amazon
  30. 1

    Grapes of Wrath

    John Steinbeck

    1 here · 22 all-time · #269 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 25,575 ratings on Amazon
  31. 1

    Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

    Shunryu Suzuki

    1 here · 22 all-time · #278 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,757 ratings on Amazon
  32. 1

    Cosmos

    Carl Sagan

    1 here · 20 all-time · #309 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 8,712 ratings on Amazon
  33. 1

    History of Western Philosophy

    Bertrand Russell

    1 here · 20 all-time · #312 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,074 ratings on Amazon
  34. 1Remembrance of Earth's Past

    Remembrance of Earth's Past

    Liu Cixin

    1 here · 20 all-time · #321 overall

  35. 1

    Stoner

    John Williams

    1 here · 20 all-time · #326 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 24,233 ratings on Amazon
  36. 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
  37. 1Ficciones

    Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges

    1 here · 15 all-time · #435 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,817 ratings on Amazon
  38. 1The Road to Serfdom

    The Road to Serfdom

    Friedrich Hayek

    1 here · 15 all-time · #436 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 3,104 ratings on Amazon
  39. 1Pride and Prejudice

    Pride and Prejudice

    Jane Austen

    1 here · 14 all-time · #447 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 39,261 ratings on Amazon
  40. 1Cannery Row

    Cannery Row

    John Steinbeck

    1 here · 12 all-time · #520 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 9,068 ratings on Amazon
  41. 1The Windup Girl

    The Windup Girl

    Paolo Bacigalupi

    1 here · 12 all-time · #527 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 5,206 ratings on Amazon
  42. 1Essays

    Essays

    Michel de Montaigne

    1 here · 12 all-time · #546 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 750 ratings on Amazon
  43. 1The Worldly Philosophers

    The Worldly Philosophers

    Robert Heilbroner

    1 here · 12 all-time · #553 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 891 ratings on Amazon
  44. 1Paradise Lost

    Paradise Lost

    John Milton

    1 here · 11 all-time · #584 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 4,872 ratings on Amazon
  45. 1The Jungle

    The Jungle

    Upton Sinclair

    1 here · 10 all-time · #621 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 4,741 ratings on Amazon
  46. 12666

    2666

    Roberto Bolaño

    1 here · 10 all-time · #630 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 2,168 ratings on Amazon
  47. 1Middlemarch

    Middlemarch

    George Eliot

    1 here · 10 all-time · #652 overall

  48. 1The Overstory

    The Overstory

    Richard Powers

    1 here · 10 all-time · #659 overall

  49. 1Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

    Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

    Susanna Clarke

    1 here · 9 all-time · #726 overall

  50. 1Three Men in a Boat

    Three Men in a Boat

    Jerome K. Jerome

    1 here · 9 all-time · #757 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.1 out of 5, 7,432 ratings on Amazon
  51. 1Untethered Soul

    Untethered Soul

    Michael A. Singer

    1 here · 8 all-time · #816 overall

  52. 1Demian

    Demian

    Hermann Hesse

    1 here · 7 all-time · #916 overall

  53. 1The Neverending Story

    The Neverending Story

    Michael Ende

    1 here · 7 all-time · #971 overall

  54. 1Red Plenty

    Red Plenty

    Francis Spufford

    1 here · 7 all-time · #1003 overall

  55. 1American Prometheus

    American Prometheus

    Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

    1 here · 7 all-time · #1007 overall

  56. 1Computer Lib/Dream Machines

    Computer Lib/Dream Machines

    Ted Nelson

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1082 overall

  57. 11632

    1632

    Eric Flint

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1089 overall

  58. 1A Prayer for Owen Meany

    A Prayer for Owen Meany

    John Irving

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1109 overall

  59. 1If on a winter's night a traveler

    If on a winter's night a traveler

    Italo Calvino

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1138 overall

  60. 1Dracula

    Dracula

    Bram Stoker

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1299 overall

  61. 1Labyrinths

    Labyrinths

    Jorge Luis Borges

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1322 overall

  62. 1Upanishads

    Upanishads

    Eknath Easwaran

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1376 overall

  63. 1Post Office

    Post Office

    Charles Bukowski

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1580 overall

  64. 1Nausea

    Nausea

    Jean-Paul Sartre

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1675 overall

  65. 1The Adolescence of P-1

    The Adolescence of P-1

    Thomas Joseph Ryan

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1920 overall

  66. 1The Crow Road

    The Crow Road

    Iain Banks

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2058 overall

  67. 1Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy

    Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy

    Kip Thorne

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2231 overall

  68. 1Shadows of the Mind

    Shadows of the Mind

    Roger Penrose

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2503 overall