Y Hacker News Books

Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2013? ↗

The books people recommended

2013-12-28 · 209 points · 177 comments · 59 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. 4

    Antifragile

    Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    4 here · 100 all-time · #29 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 8,430 ratings on Amazon
  2. 3

    The Power of Habit

    Charles Duhigg

    3 here · 46 all-time · #97 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 40,333 ratings on Amazon
  3. 2

    Cryptonomicon

    Neal Stephenson

    2 here · 106 all-time · #23 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 8,425 ratings on Amazon
  4. 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
  5. 2The Millionaire Fastlane

    The Millionaire Fastlane

    MJ DeMarco

    2 here · 8 all-time · #794 overall

  6. 2Rainbows End

    Rainbows End

    Vernor Vinge

    2 here · 8 all-time · #866 overall

  7. 2Choose Yourself

    Choose Yourself

    James Altucher

    2 here · 7 all-time · #962 overall

  8. 2The Art of Unit Testing

    The Art of Unit Testing

    Roy Osherove

    2 here · 5 all-time · #1478 overall

  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 1

    Code Complete

    Steve McConnell

    1 here · 108 all-time · #22 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,353 ratings on Amazon
  13. 1

    Siddhartha

    Hermann Hesse

    1 here · 97 all-time · #31 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 18,150 ratings on Amazon
  14. 1

    Man's Search for Meaning

    Viktor Frankl

    1 here · 95 all-time · #32 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 100,360 ratings on Amazon
  15. 1

    The Design of Everyday Things

    Don Norman

    1 here · 95 all-time · #33 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 8,629 ratings on Amazon
  16. 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
  17. 1

    Fooled by Randomness

    Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    1 here · 81 all-time · #41 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 6,682 ratings on Amazon
  18. 1

    The Phoenix Project

    Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford

    1 here · 67 all-time · #56 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 14,975 ratings on Amazon
  19. 1

    The Righteous Mind

    Jonathan Haidt

    1 here · 57 all-time · #66 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 12,156 ratings on Amazon
  20. 1

    A Guide to the Good Life

    William B. Irvine

    1 here · 53 all-time · #74 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 6,528 ratings on Amazon
  21. 1

    The Alchemist

    Paulo Coelho

    1 here · 52 all-time · #77 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 184,313 ratings on Amazon
  22. 1

    Principles

    Ray Dalio

    1 here · 49 all-time · #88 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 19,363 ratings on Amazon
  23. 1

    Economics in One Lesson

    Henry Hazlitt

    1 here · 45 all-time · #100 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 4,979 ratings on Amazon
  24. 1

    Refactoring

    Martin Fowler

    1 here · 37 all-time · #132 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,228 ratings on Amazon
  25. 1

    On Intelligence

    Jeff Hawkins

    1 here · 36 all-time · #138 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 893 ratings on Amazon
  26. 1

    Don't Make Me Think

    Steve Krug

    1 here · 35 all-time · #149 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 4,670 ratings on Amazon
  27. 1

    I Am a Strange Loop

    Douglas Hofstadter

    1 here · 33 all-time · #159 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 1,069 ratings on Amazon
  28. 1

    The War of Art

    Steven Pressfield

    1 here · 33 all-time · #163 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 31,336 ratings on Amazon
  29. 1

    Quiet

    Susan Cain

    1 here · 33 all-time · #165 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 35,789 ratings on Amazon
  30. 1

    JavaScript: The Good Parts

    Douglas Crockford

    1 here · 28 all-time · #206 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 1,478 ratings on Amazon
  31. 1

    Steve Jobs

    Walter Isaacson

    1 here · 24 all-time · #245 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 26,863 ratings on Amazon
  32. 1

    Mastery

    Robert Greene

    1 here · 22 all-time · #268 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 11,553 ratings on Amazon
  33. 1

    Think and Grow Rich

    Napoleon Hill

    1 here · 21 all-time · #287 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 75,414 ratings on Amazon
  34. 1The Box

    The Box

    Marc Levinson

    1 here · 21 all-time · #300 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,199 ratings on Amazon
  35. 1

    On Writing Well

    William Zinsser

    1 here · 19 all-time · #335 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 5,858 ratings on Amazon
  36. 1Mindstorms

    Mindstorms

    Seymour Papert

    1 here · 18 all-time · #350 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 146 ratings on Amazon
  37. 1Remote

    Remote

    Jason Fried

    1 here · 18 all-time · #360 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 3,635 ratings on Amazon
  38. 1Born to Run

    Born to Run

    Christopher McDougall

    1 here · 17 all-time · #369 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 26,656 ratings on Amazon
  39. 1The Practice of Programming

    The Practice of Programming

    Brian Kernighan, Rob Pike

    1 here · 16 all-time · #398 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 176 ratings on Amazon
  40. 1Types and Programming Languages

    Types and Programming Languages

    Benjamin C. Pierce

    1 here · 15 all-time · #422 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 98 ratings on Amazon
  41. 1Seeking Wisdom

    Seeking Wisdom

    Peter Bevelin

    1 here · 14 all-time · #460 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 405 ratings on Amazon
  42. 1Anything You Want

    Anything You Want

    Derek Sivers

    1 here · 11 all-time · #602 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 5,077 ratings on Amazon
  43. 1The 4-Hour Body

    The 4-Hour Body

    Tim Ferriss

    1 here · 9 all-time · #740 overall

  44. 1Give and Take

    Give and Take

    Adam Grant

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1069 overall

  45. 1The Kingdom of God is Within You

    The Kingdom of God is Within You

    Leo Tolstoy

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1081 overall

  46. 1Lying

    Lying

    Sam Harris

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1131 overall

  47. 1The World Until Yesterday

    The World Until Yesterday

    Jared Diamond

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1132 overall

  48. 1Who Owns The Future

    Who Owns The Future

    Jaron Lanier

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1182 overall

  49. 1Principles of Program Analysis

    Principles of Program Analysis

    Nielson & Nielson

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1462 overall

  50. 1Total Recall

    Total Recall

    Arnold Schwarzenegger

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1538 overall

  51. 1The Art of Readable Code

    The Art of Readable Code

    Dustin Boswell & Trevor Foucher

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1541 overall

  52. 1strategy

    strategy

    Lawrence Freedman

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1611 overall

  53. 133 Strategies of War

    33 Strategies of War

    Robert Greene

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1622 overall

  54. 1Anatomy of the State

    Anatomy of the State

    Murray Rothbard

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1623 overall

  55. 1A Course in Miracles

    A Course in Miracles

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1624 overall

  56. 1How Children Fail

    How Children Fail

    John Holt

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2075 overall

  57. 1Eat & Run

    Eat & Run

    Scott Jurek

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2076 overall

  58. 1Immortality

    Immortality

    Milan Kundera

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2104 overall

  59. 1The Now Habit

    The Now Habit

    Neil Fiore

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2128 overall