Y Hacker News Books

Ask HN: What are the books that changed the perspective of your life? ↗

The books people recommended

2015-04-09 · 88 points · 118 comments · 94 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. 6

    Meditations

    Marcus Aurelius

    6 here · 165 all-time · #10 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 21,552 ratings on Amazon
  2. 4

    Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

    Robert Pirsig

    4 here · 193 all-time · #5 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 13,921 ratings on Amazon
  3. 4

    Thinking, Fast and Slow

    Daniel Kahneman

    4 here · 178 all-time · #6 overall

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

    The Alchemist

    Paulo Coelho

    4 here · 52 all-time · #77 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 184,313 ratings on Amazon
  5. 4The Abolition of Man

    The Abolition of Man

    C. S. Lewis

    4 here · 7 all-time · #1041 overall

  6. 3

    Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas Hofstadter

    3 here · 347 all-time · #1 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 2,713 ratings on Amazon
  7. 3

    How to Win Friends and Influence People

    Dale Carnegie

    3 here · 175 all-time · #8 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 106,505 ratings on Amazon
  8. 3

    Atlas Shrugged

    Ayn Rand

    3 here · 173 all-time · #9 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 22,012 ratings on Amazon
  9. 3

    Ender's Game

    Orson Scott Card

    3 here · 109 all-time · #21 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 45,794 ratings on Amazon
  10. 3

    Siddhartha

    Hermann Hesse

    3 here · 97 all-time · #31 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 18,150 ratings on Amazon
  11. 3

    Man's Search for Meaning

    Viktor Frankl

    3 here · 95 all-time · #32 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 100,360 ratings on Amazon
  12. 3

    Anna Karenina

    Leo Tolstoy

    3 here · 51 all-time · #83 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 13,344 ratings on Amazon
  13. 3

    Rich Dad Poor Dad

    Robert Kiyosaki

    3 here · 35 all-time · #148 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 108,495 ratings on Amazon
  14. 3Orthodoxy

    Orthodoxy

    G.K. Chesterton

    3 here · 16 all-time · #393 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 2,701 ratings on Amazon
  15. 2The 4-Hour Workweek

    The 4-Hour Workweek

    Timothy Ferriss

    2 here · 38 all-time · #130 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 29,714 ratings on Amazon
  16. 2Walden

    Walden

    Henry David Thoreau

    2 here · 35 all-time · #146 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 2,309 ratings on Amazon
  17. 2

    A Brief History of Time

    Stephen Hawking

    2 here · 23 all-time · #259 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 11,605 ratings on Amazon
  18. 2Losing My Virginity

    Losing My Virginity

    Richard Branson

    2 here · 8 all-time · #848 overall

  19. 2Discrete Mathematics

    Discrete Mathematics

    NL Biggs

    2 here · 6 all-time · #1110 overall

  20. 2Proverbs

    Proverbs

    Solomon

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1781 overall

  21. 1

    Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

    Harold Abelson

    1 here · 316 all-time · #2 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 742 ratings on Amazon
  22. 1

    The Selfish Gene

    Richard Dawkins

    1 here · 178 all-time · #7 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 8,966 ratings on Amazon
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. 1Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

    Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

    Eliezer Yudkowsky

    1 here · 101 all-time · #27 overall

    Buy on Amazon
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. 1The Brothers Karamazov

    The Brothers Karamazov

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1 here · 69 all-time · #51 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,359 ratings on Amazon
  29. 1

    The Master and Margarita

    Mikhail Bulgakov

    1 here · 67 all-time · #57 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 4,777 ratings on Amazon
  30. 1

    Getting Things Done

    David Allen

    1 here · 62 all-time · #61 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 10,742 ratings on Amazon
  31. 1

    The Feynman Lectures on Physics

    Richard Feynman

    1 here · 59 all-time · #63 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,049 ratings on Amazon
  32. 1

    The Hard Thing About Hard Things

    Ben Horowitz

    1 here · 56 all-time · #67 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 15,933 ratings on Amazon
  33. 1

    Founders at Work

    Jessica Livingston

    1 here · 51 all-time · #80 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 689 ratings on Amazon
  34. 1

    The Demon-Haunted World

    Carl Sagan

    1 here · 45 all-time · #99 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 7,776 ratings on Amazon
  35. 1

    Outliers

    Malcolm Gladwell

    1 here · 44 all-time · #103 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 39,353 ratings on Amazon
  36. 1

    The Making of the Atomic Bomb

    Richard Rhodes

    1 here · 42 all-time · #114 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 4,174 ratings on Amazon
  37. 1

    The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

    Robert A. Heinlein

    1 here · 38 all-time · #127 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 9,404 ratings on Amazon
  38. 1

    The Prince

    Niccolò Machiavelli

    1 here · 34 all-time · #152 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 8,164 ratings on Amazon
  39. 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
  40. 1

    The Glass Bead Game

    Hermann Hesse

    1 here · 33 all-time · #164 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,540 ratings on Amazon
  41. 1Bhagavad Gita

    Bhagavad Gita

    C Radhakrishnan

    1 here · 33 all-time · #168 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 63 ratings on Amazon
  42. 1

    How to Read a Book

    Mortimer J. Adler

    1 here · 31 all-time · #182 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 8,081 ratings on Amazon
  43. 1

    The Illuminatus! Trilogy

    Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson

    1 here · 30 all-time · #192 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,268 ratings on Amazon
  44. 1

    The Little Prince

    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

    1 here · 29 all-time · #194 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 13,029 ratings on Amazon
  45. 1Poor Charlie's Almanack

    Poor Charlie's Almanack

    Charlie Munger

    1 here · 25 all-time · #230 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,930 ratings on Amazon
  46. 1

    The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

    Julian Jaynes

    1 here · 25 all-time · #236 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,067 ratings on Amazon
  47. 1Rationality: From AI to Zombies

    Rationality: From AI to Zombies

    Eliezer Yudkowsky

    1 here · 24 all-time · #246 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 242 ratings on Amazon
  48. 1

    A Game of Thrones

    George R.R. Martin

    1 here · 22 all-time · #274 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 83,380 ratings on Amazon
  49. 1Foucault's Pendulum

    Foucault's Pendulum

    Umberto Eco

    1 here · 22 all-time · #282 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 2,373 ratings on Amazon
  50. 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
  51. 1Speaker for the Dead

    Speaker for the Dead

    Orson Scott Card

    1 here · 18 all-time · #355 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 14,675 ratings on Amazon
  52. 1The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin

    1 here · 17 all-time · #366 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 11,110 ratings on Amazon
  53. 1Time Enough for Love

    Time Enough for Love

    Robert A. Heinlein

    1 here · 17 all-time · #373 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,709 ratings on Amazon
  54. 1Impro

    Impro

    Keith Johnstone

    1 here · 17 all-time · #374 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 613 ratings on Amazon
  55. 1The Art of Unix Programming

    The Art of Unix Programming

    Eric S. Raymond

    1 here · 17 all-time · #379 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 106 ratings on Amazon
  56. 1Ender's Shadow

    Ender's Shadow

    Orson Scott Card

    1 here · 16 all-time · #407 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 5,741 ratings on Amazon
  57. 1The Wisdom of Insecurity

    The Wisdom of Insecurity

    Alan Watts

    1 here · 15 all-time · #423 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 6,892 ratings on Amazon
  58. 1The Magic Mountain

    The Magic Mountain

    Thomas Mann

    1 here · 15 all-time · #426 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 1,367 ratings on Amazon
  59. 1The Prophet

    The Prophet

    Kahlil Gibran

    1 here · 14 all-time · #449 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 13,665 ratings on Amazon
  60. 1Getting to Yes

    Getting to Yes

    Roger Fisher, William Ury

    1 here · 14 all-time · #459 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 11,602 ratings on Amazon
  61. 1Seeking Wisdom

    Seeking Wisdom

    Peter Bevelin

    1 here · 14 all-time · #460 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 405 ratings on Amazon
  62. 1Ecclesiastes

    Ecclesiastes

    1 here · 12 all-time · #532 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 1,535 ratings on Amazon
  63. 1Who Moved My Cheese

    Who Moved My Cheese

    Spencer Johnson

    1 here · 11 all-time · #608 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 29,959 ratings on Amazon
  64. 1Vagabonding

    Vagabonding

    Rolf Potts

    1 here · 10 all-time · #636 overall

  65. 1Homage to Catalonia

    Homage to Catalonia

    George Orwell

    1 here · 10 all-time · #657 overall

  66. 1The Extended Phenotype

    The Extended Phenotype

    Richard Dawkins

    1 here · 10 all-time · #663 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 462 ratings on Amazon
  67. 1An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

    An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

    David Hume

    1 here · 10 all-time · #676 overall

  68. 1Daring Greatly

    Daring Greatly

    Brené Brown

    1 here · 9 all-time · #718 overall

  69. 1Boyd

    Boyd

    Robert Coram

    1 here · 9 all-time · #720 overall

  70. 1Be Here Now

    Be Here Now

    Ram Dass

    1 here · 8 all-time · #808 overall

  71. 1The Road Less Traveled

    The Road Less Traveled

    M. Scott Peck

    1 here · 8 all-time · #811 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 9,026 ratings on Amazon
  72. 1The Gift

    The Gift

    Lewis Hyde

    1 here · 8 all-time · #876 overall

  73. 1Das Kapital

    Das Kapital

    Karl Marx

    1 here · 7 all-time · #915 overall

  74. 1Franny and Zooey

    Franny and Zooey

    J. D. Salinger

    1 here · 7 all-time · #939 overall

  75. 1Into the Wild

    Into the Wild

    Jon Krakauer

    1 here · 7 all-time · #940 overall

  76. 1Naked Lunch

    Naked Lunch

    William S. Burroughs

    1 here · 7 all-time · #950 overall

  77. 1Voltaire's Bastards

    Voltaire's Bastards

    John Ralston Saul

    1 here · 7 all-time · #967 overall

  78. 1The Once and Future King

    The Once and Future King

    T. H. White

    1 here · 7 all-time · #988 overall

  79. 1Consciousness Explained

    Consciousness Explained

    Daniel Dennett

    1 here · 7 all-time · #997 overall

  80. 1Fight Club

    Fight Club

    Chuck Palahniuk

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1119 overall

  81. 1The Way of the Superior Man

    The Way of the Superior Man

    David Deida

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1155 overall

  82. 1Bluebeard

    Bluebeard

    Kurt Vonnegut

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1159 overall

  83. 1The Evolution of Cooperation

    The Evolution of Cooperation

    Robert Axelrod

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1286 overall

  84. 1The Power of Vulnerability

    The Power of Vulnerability

    Brené Brown

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1292 overall

  85. 1Zorba the Greek

    Zorba the Greek

    Nikos Kazantzakis

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1294 overall

  86. 1Maverick

    Maverick

    Ricardo Semler

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1334 overall

  87. 1Search Inside Yourself

    Search Inside Yourself

    Chade-Meng Tan

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1654 overall

  88. 1Revolutionary Road

    Revolutionary Road

    Richard Yates

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1712 overall

  89. 1The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

    The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1939 overall

  90. 1On Becoming a Person

    On Becoming a Person

    Carl Rogers

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1956 overall

  91. 1Tiny Beautiful Things

    Tiny Beautiful Things

    Cheryl Strayed

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1994 overall

  92. 1You Can Negotiate Anything

    You Can Negotiate Anything

    Herb Cohen

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2034 overall

  93. 1The Social Animal

    The Social Animal

    Elliot Aronson

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2312 overall

  94. 1Nietzsche

    Nietzsche

    Friedrich Nietzsche

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2573 overall