Ask HN: What is the most career altering course or book you have gone through? ↗

The books people recommended

2026-09-16 · 18 points · 22 comments · 11 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.

2
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
Scott Adams
2 here · 36 all-time · #143 overall
Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 7,596 ratings on Amazon
2The Annotated Turing
The Annotated Turing
Charles Petzold
2 here · 25 all-time · #235 overall
Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 399 ratings on Amazon
2
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
William L. Shirer
2 here · 19 all-time · #328 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 11,382 ratings on Amazon
2
Data Smart
John Foreman
2 here · 4 all-time · #1898 overall
1
Sapiens
Yuval Noah Harari
1 here · 197 all-time · #4 overall
Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 133,705 ratings on Amazon
1
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
1 here · 178 all-time · #6 overall
Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 48,679 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 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
1
Creativity Inc.
Ed Catmull
1 here · 43 all-time · #107 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 10,683 ratings on Amazon
1Programming Perl
Programming Perl
Larry Wall
1 here · 9 all-time · #765 overall
1How Will You Measure Your Life
How Will You Measure Your Life
Clayton Christensen
1 here · 8 all-time · #786 overall