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Ask HN: What is the most mind blowing book you've ever read? ↗

The books people recommended

2015-06-07 · 122 points · 145 comments · 112 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

    Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas Hofstadter

    5 here · 347 all-time · #1 overall

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

    The Selfish Gene

    Richard Dawkins

    5 here · 178 all-time · #7 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 8,966 ratings on Amazon
  3. 4

    Atlas Shrugged

    Ayn Rand

    4 here · 173 all-time · #9 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 22,012 ratings on Amazon
  4. 3

    Guns, Germs, and Steel

    Jared Diamond

    3 here · 83 all-time · #39 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 14,634 ratings on Amazon
  5. 3

    The Master and Margarita

    Mikhail Bulgakov

    3 here · 67 all-time · #57 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 4,777 ratings on Amazon
  6. 2

    Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

    Robert Pirsig

    2 here · 193 all-time · #5 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 13,921 ratings on Amazon
  7. 2

    1984

    George Orwell

    2 here · 94 all-time · #34 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 126,118 ratings on Amazon
  8. 2

    Infinite Jest

    David Foster Wallace

    2 here · 75 all-time · #44 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 6,443 ratings on Amazon
  9. 2

    Ulysses

    James Joyce

    2 here · 55 all-time · #71 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 3,819 ratings on Amazon
  10. 2

    Moby Dick

    Herman Melville

    2 here · 51 all-time · #82 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 16,756 ratings on Amazon
  11. 2Walden

    Walden

    Henry David Thoreau

    2 here · 35 all-time · #146 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 2,309 ratings on Amazon
  12. 2

    Flowers for Algernon

    Daniel Keyes

    2 here · 33 all-time · #160 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 40,104 ratings on Amazon
  13. 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
  14. 2The Quran

    The Quran

    2 here · 27 all-time · #216 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 4,496 ratings on Amazon
  15. 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
  16. 2

    The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

    Julian Jaynes

    2 here · 25 all-time · #236 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,067 ratings on Amazon
  17. 2Foucault's Pendulum

    Foucault's Pendulum

    Umberto Eco

    2 here · 22 all-time · #282 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 2,373 ratings on Amazon
  18. 2The Blank Slate

    The Blank Slate

    Steven Pinker

    2 here · 13 all-time · #487 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,915 ratings on Amazon
  19. 2The World Until Yesterday

    The World Until Yesterday

    Jared Diamond

    2 here · 6 all-time · #1132 overall

  20. 2If on a winter's night a traveler

    If on a winter's night a traveler

    Italo Calvino

    2 here · 6 all-time · #1138 overall

  21. 2Upanishads

    Upanishads

    Eknath Easwaran

    2 here · 5 all-time · #1376 overall

  22. 2Vehicles

    Vehicles

    Valentino Braitenberg

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1748 overall

  23. 2Imperial Radch

    Imperial Radch

    Ann Leckie

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1766 overall

  24. 2Third Wave

    Third Wave

    Steve Case

    2 here · 3 all-time · #2433 overall

  25. 1

    Dune

    Frank Herbert

    1 here · 250 all-time · #3 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 104,032 ratings on Amazon
  26. 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
  27. 1

    The Three-Body Problem

    Cixin Liu

    1 here · 152 all-time · #11 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 53,978 ratings on Amazon
  28. 1

    Neuromancer

    William Gibson

    1 here · 117 all-time · #17 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 20,213 ratings on Amazon
  29. 1

    Foundation

    Isaac Asimov

    1 here · 110 all-time · #20 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 36,591 ratings on Amazon
  30. 1

    Cryptonomicon

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 106 all-time · #23 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 8,425 ratings on Amazon
  31. 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
  32. 1

    The Fountainhead

    Ayn Rand

    1 here · 90 all-time · #36 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 12,667 ratings on Amazon
  33. 1

    Anathem

    Neal Stephenson

    1 here · 83 all-time · #40 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 5,275 ratings on Amazon
  34. 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
  35. 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
  36. 1

    Brave New World

    Aldous Huxley

    1 here · 67 all-time · #55 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 48,055 ratings on Amazon
  37. 1

    Hyperion

    Dan Simmons

    1 here · 56 all-time · #69 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 30,786 ratings on Amazon
  38. 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
  39. 1

    The Alchemist

    Paulo Coelho

    1 here · 52 all-time · #77 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 184,313 ratings on Amazon
  40. 1

    Anna Karenina

    Leo Tolstoy

    1 here · 51 all-time · #83 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 13,344 ratings on Amazon
  41. 1

    Catch-22

    Joseph Heller

    1 here · 46 all-time · #96 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 14,669 ratings on Amazon
  42. 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
  43. 1

    War and Peace

    Leo Tolstoy

    1 here · 41 all-time · #117 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,710 ratings on Amazon
  44. 1

    Debt: The First 5000 Years

    David Graeber

    1 here · 41 all-time · #120 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,289 ratings on Amazon
  45. 1

    The Beginning of Infinity

    David Deutsch

    1 here · 38 all-time · #128 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 2,382 ratings on Amazon
  46. 1

    Flow

    Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    1 here · 33 all-time · #166 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 7,594 ratings on Amazon
  47. 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
  48. 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
  49. 1Solaris

    Solaris

    Stanisław Lem

    1 here · 29 all-time · #197 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.1 out of 5, 6,713 ratings on Amazon
  50. 1

    House of Leaves

    Mark Z. Danielewski

    1 here · 28 all-time · #203 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 14,466 ratings on Amazon
  51. 1

    The Book of the New Sun

    Gene Wolfe

    1 here · 27 all-time · #211 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 3,428 ratings on Amazon
  52. 1

    Ubik

    Philip K. Dick

    1 here · 25 all-time · #234 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 7,135 ratings on Amazon
  53. 1

    Freedom

    Daniel Suarez

    1 here · 23 all-time · #260 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 5,152 ratings on Amazon
  54. 1

    Flatland

    Edwin A. Abbott

    1 here · 23 all-time · #261 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 5,255 ratings on Amazon
  55. 1Kafka on the Shore

    Kafka on the Shore

    Haruki Murakami

    1 here · 22 all-time · #270 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 22,113 ratings on Amazon
  56. 1Calculus Made Easy

    Calculus Made Easy

    Francis Weston Sears

    1 here · 22 all-time · #271 overall

    Buy on Amazon3.7 out of 5, 191 ratings on Amazon
  57. 1

    To Kill a Mockingbird

    Harper Lee

    1 here · 21 all-time · #296 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 149,155 ratings on Amazon
  58. 1Quantum Computing since Democritus

    Quantum Computing since Democritus

    Scott Aaronson

    1 here · 20 all-time · #319 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 287 ratings on Amazon
  59. 1Malazan Book of the Fallen

    Malazan Book of the Fallen

    Steven Erikson

    1 here · 18 all-time · #344 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 16,649 ratings on Amazon
  60. 1I Am That

    I Am That

    Nisargadatta Maharaj

    1 here · 18 all-time · #347 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,958 ratings on Amazon
  61. 1Blink

    Blink

    Malcolm Gladwell

    1 here · 17 all-time · #375 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 14,166 ratings on Amazon
  62. 1Use of Weapons

    Use of Weapons

    Iain M. Banks

    1 here · 17 all-time · #376 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.1 out of 5, 6,573 ratings on Amazon
  63. 1The Four Agreements

    The Four Agreements

    Don Miguel Ruiz

    1 here · 17 all-time · #378 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 121,779 ratings on Amazon
  64. 1Notes from Underground

    Notes from Underground

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1 here · 15 all-time · #414 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 5,859 ratings on Amazon
  65. 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
  66. 1Ficciones

    Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges

    1 here · 15 all-time · #435 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,817 ratings on Amazon
  67. 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
  68. 1The Denial of Death

    The Denial of Death

    Ernest Becker

    1 here · 14 all-time · #448 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,415 ratings on Amazon
  69. 1The Idiot

    The Idiot

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1 here · 13 all-time · #481 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,847 ratings on Amazon
  70. 1The Mind's I

    The Mind's I

    Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett

    1 here · 12 all-time · #525 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 157 ratings on Amazon
  71. 1The City & the City

    The City & the City

    China Miéville

    1 here · 11 all-time · #568 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 5,610 ratings on Amazon
  72. 1VALIS

    VALIS

    Philip K. Dick

    1 here · 11 all-time · #591 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 1,214 ratings on Amazon
  73. 1Let Over Lambda

    Let Over Lambda

    Doug Hoyte

    1 here · 11 all-time · #592 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 68 ratings on Amazon
  74. 1Replay

    Replay

    Ken Grimwood

    1 here · 10 all-time · #632 overall

  75. 1Autobiography of a Yogi

    Autobiography of a Yogi

    Paramahansa Yogananda

    1 here · 10 all-time · #655 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 9,606 ratings on Amazon
  76. 1The Moral Animal

    The Moral Animal

    Robert Wright

    1 here · 9 all-time · #700 overall

  77. 1Fall of Hyperion

    Fall of Hyperion

    Dan Simmons

    1 here · 9 all-time · #701 overall

  78. 1The Red Queen

    The Red Queen

    Matt Ridley

    1 here · 9 all-time · #752 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 1,116 ratings on Amazon
  79. 1Contact

    Contact

    Carl Sagan

    1 here · 8 all-time · #785 overall

  80. 1A Clockwork Orange

    A Clockwork Orange

    Anthony Burgess

    1 here · 8 all-time · #788 overall

  81. 1Freedom from the Known

    Freedom from the Known

    Jiddu Krishnamurti

    1 here · 8 all-time · #806 overall

  82. 1The Gods Themselves

    The Gods Themselves

    Isaac Asimov

    1 here · 8 all-time · #817 overall

  83. 1How the Mind Works

    How the Mind Works

    Steven Pinker

    1 here · 8 all-time · #849 overall

  84. 1The Gift

    The Gift

    Lewis Hyde

    1 here · 8 all-time · #876 overall

  85. 1Le Ton Beau de Marot

    Le Ton Beau de Marot

    Douglas Hofstadter

    1 here · 7 all-time · #908 overall

  86. 1Demian

    Demian

    Hermann Hesse

    1 here · 7 all-time · #916 overall

  87. 1Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

    Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

    Ludwig Wittgenstein

    1 here · 7 all-time · #933 overall

  88. 1Voltaire's Bastards

    Voltaire's Bastards

    John Ralston Saul

    1 here · 7 all-time · #967 overall

  89. 1Star Maker

    Star Maker

    Olaf Stapledon

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1140 overall

  90. 1The Computational Beauty of Nature

    The Computational Beauty of Nature

    William Flake

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1268 overall

  91. 1Momo

    Momo

    Michael Ende

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1311 overall

  92. 1Journey to the End of the Night

    Journey to the End of the Night

    Louis-Ferdinand Céline

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1435 overall

  93. 1The Nature of Order

    The Nature of Order

    Christopher Alexander

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1444 overall

  94. 1Finnegan's Wake

    Finnegan's Wake

    Joyce

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1484 overall

  95. 1Reasons and Persons

    Reasons and Persons

    Derek Parfit

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1505 overall

  96. 1Mind Magic

    Mind Magic

    Bill Harvey

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1562 overall

  97. 1strategy

    strategy

    Lawrence Freedman

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1611 overall

  98. 1Manifold: Time

    Manifold: Time

    Stephen Baxter

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1673 overall

  99. 1The Drunkard's Walk

    The Drunkard's Walk

    Leonard Mlodinow

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1684 overall

  100. 1Quantum Psychology

    Quantum Psychology

    Robert Anton Wilson

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1702 overall

  101. 1The Crying of Lot 49

    The Crying of Lot 49

    Thomas Pynchon

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1711 overall

  102. 1The Terror

    The Terror

    Dan Simmons

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1719 overall

  103. 1To the Lighthouse

    To the Lighthouse

    Virginia Woolf

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1789 overall

  104. 1The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

    The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

    Robin Sharma

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1957 overall

  105. 1Immortality

    Immortality

    Milan Kundera

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2104 overall

  106. 1The Retreat to Commitment

    The Retreat to Commitment

    W.W. Bartley III

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2119 overall

  107. 1Feynman Lectures

    Feynman Lectures

    Feynman, Leighton, Sands

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2218 overall

  108. 1The Tao of Programming

    The Tao of Programming

    Geoffrey James

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2292 overall

  109. 1The Nature of Paleolithic Art

    The Nature of Paleolithic Art

    R. Dale Guthrie

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2303 overall

  110. 1Lullaby

    Lullaby

    Chuck Palahniuk

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2434 overall

  111. 1The Trauma of Everyday Life

    The Trauma of Everyday Life

    Mark Epstein

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2609 overall

  112. 1Job

    Job

    Robert Heinlein

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2631 overall