Meta book recommendations from Ask Hacker News threads - MapFilterFoldMeta book recommendations from Ask Hacker News threads, Hacker News

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IanCal: A stunningly good book about cognitive biases, with fairly understated claims and backed up with studies. Excellent advice for life and it’s changed how I view decisions and interactions. read comments

beat: Not creepy at all, despite how the title sounds in today’s language. This book is the bible of how to get along with others. It’s been in continuous print since before WWII, for good reason. read comments

air7: Hands down the book that most influenced me. The book had (for me) not one but several simple-yet-profound ideas that were forever inserted into the foreground of how I make sense of the world. read comments

mck-: What a unique masterpiece. Covers a wide range fascinating concepts through the three geniuses in Math, Art, and Music … read comments

jonathansorum: Meditations easily has my highest rate of highlighted words in relation to total book length. Seems like every page (almost) has some eternal and profound in it. read comments

sorenn The Selfish Gene has been the most influential book on my life. Especially when Dawkins makes the point about pre-darwininan philosophy needing rethinking. His point being … read comments

BFatts: A fantastic language-agnostic manual that still applies heavily today. read comments

Roelven: It has shaped my thinking on ‘what is good’ or ‘what does quality’ mean. As an engineer it is easy to appreciate the author slowly going insane about the details he keeps coming back to … read comments

davidgh: A masterpiece. The age of the book proves it. It is as relevant today as it was when written 51 years ago. The only downside to the book is it will ruin every elevator, door handle and … read comments

shawn: I think it’s a good one because it’s a mix of analysis and history. Thiel had a unique vantage point, and he shares it well. It also challenges you to be ambitious, which is becoming a rare sentiment. read comments

jurgenwerk: Man, reading this book really put a fire under my ass. I realized how much more I could be getting out of life by pursuing optionality and using the barbell strategy. read comments

bradbatt: Amazingly powerful read. It is simultaneously completely saddening to read what some humans are capable of doing to others, but also inspiring to see those who were victims of the holocaust … read comments

jacobkg: Starts with the thesis that a generation of workers have forgotten how to concentrate on mentally challenging tasks. Full of ideas and inspiration for rebuilding your stamina for intense focused thought. read comments

throwaway : Very good. It was MITs old CS textbook, it’s still highly relevant. It takes a while to get through and you probably would get the most value out of it if you already have a lot of programming experience. read comments

ereyes : One of the most important books ever written on software engineering practice. Author Frederick Brooks won the Turing Award for this book and for his work on IBM’s System / . .. read comments