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Ask HN: Can we make a list of obscure/unknown non-fiction books?

I'm tired of seeing the same recommendations everywhere. What book can you recommend that you think no one else will know about that you enjoyed? Any topic is welcome!

I'll start: Thinking Fast and Slow - hahaha joking, I got you there ehhh!!!

what about hmm: Critical Path by Buckminster Fuller ?

( 7 comments | 3 points | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: Can we make a list of obscure/unknown non-fiction... by ilaksh on Saturday January 06, 2024 @11:30PM (#38898438)
This would actually just be a list of less well known but still popular books.

Probably 90+% of books published are "obscure" in the sense that they didn't become best sellers and won't be recognized by the average person or likely mentioned in a list like you requested. Most books just don't become popular enough to be well known. Which I think is a tough benchmark.

Re:Ask HN: Can we make a list of obscure/unknown non-fiction... by wannabebarista on Saturday January 06, 2024 @10:55PM (#38898280)
"Lost Continents" by L. Sprague de Camp (1954). Looks at Atlantis and other lost continents as rhetorical devices in ancient history and philosophy, 20th century pseudoscience/pseudohistory, and science fiction
Re:Ask HN: Can we make a list of obscure/unknown non-fiction... by sys_prog on Saturday January 06, 2024 @09:32PM (#38897832)
Kybalion, Reality transurfing, The illusion of money, The minimalist entrepreneur, Power vs Force, Psycho cybernetics, No self no problem
Re:Ask HN: Can we make a list of obscure/unknown non-fiction... by mezod on Sunday January 07, 2024 @07:25AM (#38900669)
thanks for actually responding to the question!
Re:Ask HN: Can we make a list of obscure/unknown non-fiction... by pwinkeler on Saturday January 06, 2024 @08:30PM (#38897460)
By definition such a list is impossible
Re:Ask HN: Can we make a list of obscure/unknown non-fiction... by sargstuff on Saturday January 06, 2024 @09:03PM (#38897651)
Give dirth of publications, don't think there's enough time for even all of the Noone's[0] to review even a fraction of what's available.

In today's day & age more difficult for unpublished prints and/or pre-electronic distribution pre-prints to "be unknown" / "be obscure".

Claude Shannon references to unpublished works : https://findingaids.loc.gov/exist_collections/ead3pdf/mss/20...

[0] : Noone coat of arms : https://coadb.com/surnames/noone-arms.html

Re:Ask HN: Can we make a list of obscure/unknown non-fiction... by Desafinado on Sunday January 07, 2024 @09:36AM (#38901526)
Anything by Merwin Crawford Young, early Zen Buddhist texts, Anthony Giddens, Peter Berger, the Tao te Ching, Max Weber, Norbert Elias, Nisargadatta Maharaj