http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/01953...

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy - William B. Irvine

Not only a description of the Stoic philosophy, which is, unfortunately, not very well known today, but also a great practical guide to a variety of techniques that can be included into daily activities easily, and will increase happiness.

For the body:

http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnasti...

Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength - Steven Low

As I'm growing older (turned 40 last year), I'm no longer inclined to exercise with very heavy weights and was looking into replacing most of the barbell/dumbell exercises in my routine with bodyweight exercise. The book is a great encyclopedia of exercise that can be performed without or with minimal equipment. There are progressions, advice on creating routines, on injury prevention and management and a lot more. There is also a subreddit for those who follow the book http://www.reddit.com/r/overcominggravity

I read this, and have nothing bad to say about it per se. I think Stoicism in the classic sense is very under-appreciated these days, and it's good to have a book to serve as an introduction. But I personally found it to be very repetitive. The historical context part is worth reading in my opinion, but apart from that you'd be better off reading something like Marcus Aurelius' Meditations instead, or some of the other classics.

Edit: Or if you're interested in a contemporary overview, I found AC Grayling's What is Good? to be much more insightful. Its central theme is also a search for some form of "philosophy of life", like Irvine's book, but it doesn't cover just Stoicism. Instead it covers many more philosophies, and I think it's a much richer book because of it since it gives you a much broader context, even if you end up adopting a Stoic outlook.

Incidentally, I'm trying to read Meditations now, but it's not an easy reading and it goes very slowly. Maybe I'll be able to put in on my 2015 list of influential books?

e.g. just compare the first few lines from the version on Project Gutenberg:

"Of my grandfather Verus I have learned to be gentle and meek, and to refrain from all anger and passion. From the fame and memory of him that begot me I have learned both shamefastness and manlike behaviour."

and the same lines from the Hammond translation:

"From my grandfather Verus: decency and a mild temper.

From what they say and I remember of my natural father: integrity and manliness."

Obviously a matter of personal preference though, but it's worth shopping around for a translation before you start reading, and the Gutenberg versions tend to be the most archaic (which doesn't necessarily even mean they're more accurate, I think it was just the fashion back then to translate classic texts into a more formal prose).

Maxwell Staniforth's was my favorite, being both faithful to the original and easy to read. Hammond plays too loosely with the material, IMO.

The only hardcover I know of:

http://www.foliosociety.com/book/MDS/meditations

A paperback:

http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Penguin-Great-Marcus-Aurel...

It's a book you dip into. I was once introduced to the esoteric art of bibliomancy; and as much as I can't take such a practice seriously, it does seem to work on books that are simply fantastic. Open up meditations, at any page, read it for 10 minutes and put it down. The chances are the passage will be highly pertinent and insightful.

b) he should have chosen to write in his native tongue instead he chose greek (according to jean-luc marion, wrote in bad greek), which makes me think he was just a pretentious guy who wanted to join the ranks of the great greek philosophers.

And yes, I've read Meditations.

(http://boingboing.net/author/william_b_irvine).

This book is now required reading for everyone I work with. Not only is the content some of the most important I've ever read, but 80% of the book is written like a novel, making it a VERY easy read.

It is based on that line from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations and it's about turning obstacles upside down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Cen...

I've always been a bit embarrassed for the economics profession; it's always seemed to me that it could be where math meets sociology and psychology, but is instead where politics meets unfounded conjecture.

Piketty changed that for me. He does true science here. I read it because I noticed that it has received every superlative you could confer on such a tome. It deserves them all. If you haven't read it yet, start now.

There are real usable conclusions that have come out of economics too. For example, the idea that trade is good for both parties has been largely adopted thanks to the formal arguments that eventually won over the majority of economists. This goes back to Adam Smith and David Ricardo. The idea of floating exchange rates comes from economics departments and it has prevented a lot of currency catastrophes.

It's still social science and it's asked to provide answers for questions that it can't answer.

Pickety's ideas are interesting and so his his data. But, they are still new and in debate. Perhaps they hold some lasting insight into long term changes in wealth disparities, but the jury is still out from an academic perspective.

If you are interested in economics, cognitive biases, and why governance is so bad, it is a must read.

For the love of god, never read Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt or you would consider him the bastard son of Einstein when he was fifteen.

"There is No Steady State Economy (except at a very basic level)" http://ourfiniteworld.com/2011/02/21/there-is-no-steady-stat...

Limits to Growth–At our doorstep, but not recognized http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-02-12/limits-to-growt...

Wealth And Energy Consumption Are Inseparable http://www.declineoftheempire.com/2012/01/wealth-and-energy-...

Galactic-Scale Energy http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/07/galactic-scale-e...

I have not read "Economics in One Lesson" but if I remember right, it is Austrian and takes ideas from good ol' Ludwing van. Today I must say, Mises views were often very short sighted, he had little understanding of money and in the end also a limited understanding what capitalism is (and why it will end).

It's written for writers but is relevant broadly. The message is pretty simple and you don't really need to read the whole book to get it. It's one of those keep-driving-the-message self help-ish books.

Basically the point is to name and shame "resistance," a catch all term for procrastination, fear and everything else that prevents a writer from writing a book. It also applies to starting a startup, a career, a family, an exercise regime… Like I said, the point is simple and the information could be conveyed in a short essay.

The reason for the repetition is to actually realize how big a demonic bottleneck this resistance is and that overcoming it will take effort and more importantly, strategy. It's probably going to derail your plans unless you plan for it. Personifying (or demonifying) it is part of the approach.

This is getting further from the book's actual content but the analogy for me is addiction. Say you are an alcoholic. It's not enough to decide to stop drinking, this is a fight. You need to realize that addiction will probably win if you fight stupid. You need a plan to beat addiction. It will fight back. You need to put time and resources into it. Everyone knows this and former alcoholics will start pushing you straight into two things, making sure you realize the scale of the problem and making sure you have a plan. They'll probably recommend AA which gives you a formulaic strategy.

Resistance might not be the bottleneck for everyone, but it is for many. For us, we need to make war on it

I'm cautious to say it changed my life, but it definitely changed my view on many things. I'm more aware of the ubiquity and power of debt, and I can no longer take those for granted.

It's an extremely interesting read and has a broader intellectual appeal, elucidating the roots of money, morality, and the roles of markets, nations, and friends with regard to those.

What I really liked was that he put the development of money (and markets, morality, nations etc) in a great historical context so you can see why things happened the way they did.

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller. Made me stop and think a lot about how I interact with family and friends that have gone through struggles.

Coders at Work by Peter Seibel. I enjoy learning from the experienced, and Coders At Work is a fantastic walk through the recent history of computing, as told by those who walked through it. I wish there were a true coding focused sequel.

I would say that there is some value in Mr. Aslan's book, but while it is presented as unbiased, there as just as much bias in his book as in Wright's that I noted above.

is a useful place to start.

It describes the daily schedule of almost every famous creative person you can think of in a few paragraphs, from Bach to Tesla to Ayn Rand. Peering into the day to day lives of well known people was fascinating, but I was most interested in how efficient they were with their time. Many of the people featured in the book, especially the writers, sat down and worked for only two or three hours a day and often produced only several pages. It really changed my perspective on how creative work gets done. Especially when considering the hn culture of hyperproductivity. it was revealing to see how some of the greatest creative minds of all time respected the limits of their quality mental output.

I've tried to adapt my personal schedule to match some of their habits, and have generally felt better about being able to get a limited amount of creative work done in 24 hours. Come to see a new side of people who's work you know well, stay to get a better understanding of how they created great things.

It opened my eyes to a whole new field that will become a massive industry over the coming decades. Much like a Systems course in engineering covers recurring design patterns in physical systems (feedback loops, noise filters, pulse generators, etc), this book uses the same approach for biological systems. It is written from an engineer's perspective using engineering language, which for me makes biology much easier to understand.

Any thoughts on that?

Learning about the financial system really changed my perspective on how to deal with money in the long term. It has had immediate effects on my life.

I learned about taxation in detail, opened an account on a discount brokerage, changed saving patterns, and have made a portfolio for the next 10 years.

I have a spreadsheet of how much I can spend and componentize my bank cards. One is for bills, another for spending, and the rest are investing accounts. When I get a paycheque, I put how much I need for bills directly into the bill account, the allocated amount for investing in investment accounts, and the rest in my spending account. I know exactly how much I can spend at restaurants and I don't need to do any mental math.

I really feel like learning this at age 22 was life changing and I will be thanking my self in the future.

"Invest early and often" - Jack Bogle

I also recommend accompanying Bogleheads Guide it with A Random Walk Down Wall Street (http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/039333...). It ranks with me as another "life changing" book. Enjoy.

The Pragmatic Programmer - It has been recommended to me by a good developer that is self-taught like me. So far so good. Some things are a bit dated though.

They're both big and both published by Microsoft. Two strikes, yes, but don't be fooled. These books have so many nuggets that I've gone back to again and again as a programmer. "Code Complete", in particular.

Neither book is a cover-to-cover read. They're both books you dip into for a tip, a skill, some perspective. But they've held up amazingly well, and for my money and time, they're both a step up from the Pragmatic Programmer. If you like what you found in "Pragmatic", you'll love "Code Complete".

I just wish it wasn't from MS, at the peak of MS evil in the 90's.

* Tests - check

* Version control - check

* Code generation - check

* Decoupling, refactoring, metaprogramming, power editing.

It's still worth reading but it needs a second edition...

For me it's High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way. Frankly I don't care about strength, and am focusing instead on bodybuilding.

I used to spend a lot of hours in the gym not really knowing what I'm doing (no plan, no goals). After this book I now have a good plan and clear, predictable goals.

Mike Mentzer is well known to have abused steroids to get his physique which is something I wouldn't be willing to do.

I think I would prefer a gym buddy who has read the book, watched the dvd or is a good lifter, because filming myself to check my form gets old quickly.

The book looks at what it means to say something has 'quality'.

It didn't teach me any new philosophical methods or theories, but it did make me look at my own work differently and start asking: how can I make something with the highest quality? What compromises that quality? What is a method that leads to the highest quality?

Translating that to my business life: in the startup scene I've scene a lot of startups treat lean as gospel (myself included at one point), and as a result they compromise on the quality that both themselves and their customers are happy with. So I certainly found it useful to have a book that made me think about this.

I've read the book and I think it was crap. It didn't have a good story and it didn't have a good message. It was so bad I've forgotten entirely why I didn't like it, because I've forgotten the whole thing.

I'm sure this will get downvoted; it seems that HN has gotten pretty religious lately. I guess it's the effect of coders getting old and searching for order in a chaotic world.

Also contains the best description and explanation of the scientific method I've ever read - so good that I put the book on the curriculum of a course on online advertising I ran this year!

"Do you teach students quality?" is a question I'll remember forever.

Highly recommended.

The book hit me at a particularly receptive moment. I was on an airplane headed to a meeting that easily could have done remotely just as effectively without the excessive time and money cost. Ironically, I read the entire book on the plane.

The book is great at illustrating what types of meetings need to be in person and what types don't, dispelling common myths along the way with solid research.

They concluded that our current default of a compulsory office presence with only occasional remote work permitted is exactly backwards. It should be the opposite. The types of meetings that require you to be in the same room to be collaborative are the exception, not the rule.

It's a truly great book and I recommend all creative professionals read it.

I've been a remote worker on and off for a long time, and have long sung the virtues (whilst objectively recognizing the drawbacks).

This book goes a long way to helping articulate my findings.

For most of my life, I focused on the logical, external, left-brain side of life. I saw little value in art (and even spurned it as something pretentious people did to seem more cultured). And so, I defined myself as “logical”, “left-brain”, “scientist”, etc and rejected the tags: “right-brain”, “artist”, etc.

Leading up to reading Ulysses, I had been growing in artistic appreciation, but Ulysses really pushed me over the edge. Prior to Ulysses, I felt I could only admire art as an outsider (because again, I was a “left-brainer” - I felt that I didn’t belong). Ulysses helped me change my very self-image. I am not a “left-brainer”; I am a human, and art is how we can express and share ourselves with each other.

I wasn't a massive fan of either in terms of readability though - would much prefer to read Moby Dick, Don Quioxte or a good translation of the Odyssey. All felt more rewarding but more readable to me.

He's a CS prof at Georgetown now and wrote this while finishing up his Phd. Gives great and contrarian advice on career strategy snd path - focus on getting good at something (eg protramming. You'll grow to become passionate about it - most likely the things you're passionate about before your career can't be a career (eg sports, gaming). Also talks about deliberate practice and mission oriented careers.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruku Murakami:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wind-Up-Bird-Chronicle-Novel/dp/06...

If you're familiar with Murakami, it's par for the course and considered one of his pivotal novels. If you're not: surrealist, dreamlike modern fiction often centering around ideas of masculinity, post-war fallout, and urban ennui. Incredibly strange and beautiful stuff.

I've read more in 2014 than I have in the past five or so years, but Wind Up Bird Chronicle is the one that has stuck with me the most. Even if it didn't exactly change my morning routine or lead me on the path to riches, I wake up most mornings and its taste is still in my mouth.

(A comparison, if you're familiar with it: Earthbound, less in terms of tone and more in terms of setting. Shigesato Itoi, the writer of Earthbound, actually published a bunch of short stories with Murakami and they've been translated into English: http://letsmeetinadream.blogspot.com/)

If you're lining up possible other books to read by him, I suggest Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

FWIW, I wouldn't really say that any book in 2014 changed my life, but... if I had to name my favorite book of 2014 there's a good chance that I'd pick After Dark by Murakami. It was my first Murakami and I thought it was very good.

Murakami rocks.

I enjoyed that one a lot as well. My next Murakami will probably be either 1Q84 or Norwegian Wood.

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Reality-Complete-Guide-Universe/d...

This has been a really refreshing book for me to read. I studied mathematics in college but haven't really exercised that part of my brain since graduating and working as a programmer. Although this book is probably inaccessible to someone without some formal mathematical training, it's still one-of-a-kind. Nobody else of Penrose's stature has ever attempted to go from zero to string theory in a single volume, with all the physics and mathematics explained and very little left out.

For me, it's really been nice to finally satisfy a lifetime of curiosity that had built up about quantum theory. My fascination with it has never been enough to drive me to be a physicist, but it was enough for me to feel uneasy about not really knowing the underlying mathematics.

It's an incredibly dense book. There's nothing else out there quite like it. Penrose also has a pretty idiosyncratic method of presenting ideas. This means that sometimes you can't cross-reference his explanations even if you want to. He covers some exotic and nonstandard topics as well. I haven't personally seen his diagrammatic notation for tensor algebra anywhere else, for instance. And the book was my first and only exposure to hyperfunctions.

The "trick", honestly, is to already have some prior exposure to most of the tricky mathematical ideas, like differential forms and fiber bundles. I was by no means an expert on differential geometry but I'd been exposed to it a few times as an undergraduate.

The other "trick" is simply not to skip around. I was tempted at first to browse and read whatever topics interested me; this book is not structured that way. He constantly references backwards in the book, and even if you know the mathematical material some of his references can be confusing. This is probably the greatest weakness of the book. For instance, gauge connections aren't really covered fully in any single section of the book. They're discussed briefly in the chapter on fiber bundles, and then again in the chapter on electromagnetism, and then again I believe in the chapter on quantum mechanics, and none of these discussions is complete, but they are if taken together.

If for instance you find that you need a refresher on complex integration, don't stop reading and do quarter's worth of review of complex analysis. Don't expect to complete a year of differential geometry in the few chapters that lead to Gravity.

After you finish through the a first pass, definitely go back to sections that you want to understand better and do the necessary work to improve your understanding.

1)Antifragile by Taleb. It has given me a whole new framework with which to think about the world. He is consistently one of the only "modern thinkers" that I trust, and who delivers no b.s.

2)Confessions of an Economic Hitman by Perkins. Not a new book, and I didn't read it this year, but when I did read it, it made me realize that the world works much differently than I understood it to on the surface, and that you should never trust any business or government at face value.

[1]: And I've made it a personal goal to limit the "language-specific" books to those written before 1995.

Alexandrescu's Modern C++ Design (2001) is a real eye-opener (though I wouldn't use most of the stuff from the latter half of book in real production).

Herb Sutter's books on Exception C++ (1999) are must-reads if you intend to use exceptions. at. all. [Whereupon, these books will convince you not to use exceptions in C++ :-) ]

1. Thinking fast and slow - Understanding how we actually think as opposed to how we think we think is a critical skill, especially in a startup. Having a Nobel prize winner explain how the two systems of your brain work together (and can sabotage you) was enlightening and enjoyable. This book helped me understand many aspects of design and sales that had been black boxes for me

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/...

2. Art and Fear - This is a book nominally about the relationship between artists and how they go about making art but it is useful for anyone creative. It's about how to go about making when you have errands to run, a deadline, or just don't feel like it. As a dev I found it inspiring

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmakin...

Teaches that while technology will change and political systems will be distinct and nuanced, the human animal is just about the same.

When I see something that people did then that they still do today, I find that I can predict what a group of people is likely to do in a given situation in the future.

This both blows my mind as things "click" and makes me sad. In either case, I'm better prepared.

Mostly because I always wanted to run a pen&paper rpg, even though I am fairly busy, and this provided a rule-light enough framework to just do that. Especially Vornheim, that shows how to do randomize world building in under a minute :-)

I love the philosophical approach it takes to the game --a rules-light, minimal-prep collaboration between the GM and the players. One of the core principles for the GM is "Ask questions, use the answers", which is wonderful to me. In a couple different games I ran of DW, we started with just the player's character choices, and the questions I decided to ask, and got rolling from there.

For anyone interested--the rules are free on their website, and there's a thriving G+ community, "Dungeon World Tavern" (can't link it at work) with very creative people. Also, the "Indigo Galleon" adventure, from the DW website, is my favorite, and a good place to start. It was the first thing I GM'd, and I'll be running it for a third time next Wednesday.

If anyone's looking at it and has questions, let me know --I love seeing people get into this game (or pen-and-paper RPGs in general).

I made a major mistake in the prepress process and had to eat it, losing all profits from the Kickstarter from the second volume. It has also gotten kind words from more than one Hugo winner. On a productive month, its Patreon is starting to pay about half of my rent; I feel like the push of publicity for the final volume (somewhere around April 2014 if all goes well) will do some pretty interesting things to my career as a comics creator, with my bills quite possibly being paid entirely by the fraction of my fan base that chooses to support me on Patreon somewhere around next winter. Assuming they don't vanish en masse when I start the next project, which will be very different in tone and subject matter...

I know you were mostly looking for books to read. But none of the fiction or non-fiction I've read this year has really done much of anything to my worldview. I think the last one that did that was probably Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising, which basically turned me into an occasional magician.

How To See Color And Paint It - http://www.amazon.com/How-Color-Paint-Arthur-Stern/dp/082302... Taught me how to paint what I see accurately.

Secret Knowledge - http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Knowledge-New-Expanded-Rediscov... Taught me that painters have been using projection for hundreds of years so I'm allowed to use any technology I can get my hands on to make art.

Van Gogh: The Life -- http://www.amazon.com/Van-Gogh-Life-Steven-Naifeh/dp/0375758... Hated this book because the authors (two obnoxious lawyers who happen to be good at research) write about him with zero compassion like he deserved the abuse he received for being different. However, Van Gogh's story is fantastic and inspiring even if it is very tragic.

There's a whole ton of others, but those stand out.

This book has been life-changing with regards to my relationship with my 3-year-old.

It also changed the way I communicate with adults.

http://amzn.com/1451663889

Finally got around to reading it and I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier. I'm honestly considering staying in school and going for a masters or PhD in computer science after reading it(about to graduate and have job in industry lined up).

He is also incredibly receptive to emails; as a first semester freshman he responded in depth to my email to him.

Such a great book for people who love math. The end of the book gets a little bit hairy with more complex subjects but it is a great story from Mr Frenkel of going from school to working on the Langlands Project - toted as the rosetta stone for math. Defiantly a must read for anyone who wants to get into mathematics as a career

Non-fiction would either be Mortality by the late Christopher Hitchens or "On Numbers and Games" by John H. Conway.

The story of an average, not very successful literary professor, told with great humanity and tenderness. This does not seem much of a story line, yet I believe this book is so good it will still be read in one hundred years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoner_%28novel%29

This one is up there with the very best. It is exquisitely well written (John Williams was a literature professor, directing a creative writing program), and despite the plainness of the plot(or maybe because of it?) it offers a remarkable view of what gives meaning to life (IMHO of course. Your millage may vary).

Enchiridion of Epictetus

Parallel Lives by Plutarch ( Favorites are Cato the Younger and Julius Caesar)

Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup by Rob Walling

http://www.amazon.com/Start-Small-Stay-Developers-Launching/...

As a human with a curiosity:

Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information Is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos, from Our Brains to Black Holes by Charles Seife

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067003441X

This book helped me get rid of the wrist tendinitis I had for four years prior, in four weeks. It also changed the way I view many of the chronic physical ailments many of us face.

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1963638.The_Untethered_S...

A great book about consciousness and awareness that isn't too "froo froo"-y. It definitely has had a profound impact on my relationship to myself and my surroundings.

To Soften the Blow https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16209280-to-soften-the-b...

It's hard to define the impact this book had on me, but it was also profound. It's an autobiography of Lynnie Vessels who's father shot her mother with a shotgun across their dining room table. As depressing as that sounds, it's actually a very inspiring and strangely uplifting book.

I would say HPMoR is like Gödel Escher Bach, but slightly simpler and more approachable, and looks at stuff from a different angle. And Eliezer is an excellent writer, just like D. Hofstadter -- and his style is even more fun!

If you're on HN, then you'll enjoy this book immensely.

But, out of all that (which I had to go look up on my Goodreads), HPMOR is what came to mind, both an engaging story, thought provoking ideas, and a lot of pages to work with :).

I was utterly amazed by the concept of Social Network Analysis, how emotion travels through a network, how the 6 degrees thing works. Did you know someone you have never met can affect your weight? I was so amazed I started a company building a CRM from the ground up using graph theory. We launch in Q1 2015.

Inspired to be: The seven habits of highly effective people. A great book, which many read and sight. Forcing myself to write about my values and behaviours means you have to live up to them :) I read it once and now I am reading it again with my girlfriend actually doing all the exercises. You can read it in a week but to really take it all in you need to work on it over a lifetime. http://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effect...

May I ask how you apply what you learned from the book to your startup? I'm quite curious.

Which was a while ago (April), I'll be doing a new one soon with what we have learnt since then. My main learning is around Mark Granovetter works on "the strength of weak ties" when it comes to job hunting and recruitment. That and the concept of triadic closure are really useful when trying to build technology that maps the recruitment process from first principles.

I've got Antifragile queued up next.

"According to Dr. Les Fehmi, a clinical psychologist and researcher, many of us have become stuck in “narrow-focus attention”: a tense, constricted, survival mode of attention that holds us in a state of chronic stress—and which lies at the root of common ailments including anxiety, depression, ADD, stress-related migraines, and more. To improve these conditions, Dr. Fehmi explains that we must learn to return to a relaxed, diffuse, and creative form of attention, which he calls 'Open Focus.'

This highly readable and empowering book offers straightforward explanations and simple exercises on how to shift into a more calm, open style of attention that reduces stress, improves health, and enhances performance."

1) Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

Not only the best written account of the action in World War I's trenches but also a wonderful account of race in Canada, this book is absolutely beautiful.

2) The Winds of War/War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk

If you want to learn the most minute history of WW2, this series is a great way to boost your knowledge. This not only covers the War, but also gives enough background that the rest of the 20th century's history makes more sense.

3) Deep Currents by Valerie Haig-Brown

I read this book on Vancouver Island just a few km from the Haig-Brown house and it changed my views on conservation, the pacific fisheries, and Campbell River (which is where my Dad spent his teenaged years).

* Edited because of fat fingers.

http://www.amazon.com/Colorless-Tsukuru-Tazaki-Years-Pilgrim...

Hard to do it justice, but here is Patti Smith:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/books/review/haruki-muraka...

I changed my attitude toward all of my old friends after reading this book. I started calling them more, and trying to be more in their lives. It's amazing how centering books can be, if they catch you in the right mindset. I'll pass on a warning that this book deals with some heavy, serious depression.

I can't recommend it enough.

This might be the key to explaining a lot of things. For instance, I read a terrible book about why RSI isn't real, how it's just in my head, by an author that loved Freud. I put it down in disgust. But somehow, that seed of doubt, that explanation that RSI was an unconscious response to other pain... My RSI went away.

(Apologies if this is well known, but it is a novel enough to this 33 yr old that it sends chills down my spine.)

Not sure I can explain in an HN post...

http://www.amazon.com/Being-Mortal-Medicine-What-Matters/dp/...

Reason, finally have the motivation to loose weight and get fit, and am planing to do some climbing locally.

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air-Personal-Disaster/dp/038... http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Summit-Everests-Controversial-Sea... http://www.amazon.com/No-Way-Down-Life-Death/dp/0061834793/r... http://www.amazon.com/Annapurna-First-Conquest-000-Meter-Pea... http://www.amazon.com/The-Will-Climb-Commitment-Annapurna/dp...

Author also did a TED talk on the subject called "The Happy Secret To Better Work".

http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_bet...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Happiness-Advantage-Principles-Per...

http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Growth-The-30-Year-Update/dp/19...

An introduction to systems theory and a look at why the authors think our system is already in "overshoot" (living beyond what is sustainable) and whether this will lead to collapse, or a smoother transition to a more sustainable and equitable society. Written by 3 scientists from MIT.

Really good read, though a bit longish. But that could be due to the fact that I listened to an audio-book of it.

Franklin was the equivalent of an open source purist. He was determined to uncover truth, better himself, and inform the world.

"I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which was called the Junto;… every member, in his turn, should produce ... queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company;”

Hacker News might benefit from Junto policy, making members pay money for encouraging and destructive comments that are not in the spirit of inquiry.

"Our debates were ... conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory; and, to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties."

Discussion in his Junto meetings led to volunteer fire departments, America’s first circulating library, and a school that became the Univ. of Pennsylvania. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junto_(club)

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Habits-Smaller-Bigger-Results-ebo...

Currently reading Javascript and Jquery by Jon Duckett and find his visual style and clear, concise writing perfectly fits how I learn. Could not recommend it enough to any other programming learners.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi is a very simple, straightforward book on personal finance. He advocates having your money automatically distributed into fixed costs, investments and spending money rather than getting bogged down in budgets.

An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson is the first in a trilogy that chronicles America's entrance into World War II in North Africa, all the way to the downfall of the Third Reich. His style is both minutely researched and totally readable. He nails the violence and horror at the front, as well as the incredible scale and logistics of the whole enterprise. I'm now on the second in the trilogy, The Day of Battle.

Last year Thinking Fast and Slow and Antifragile were my highlights - they compliment each other well and both changed my outlook on how the world is organised and how I perceive it.

Thanks to all the other posters, I've added lots of the suggested books to my kindle.

Jack Dorsey recommended this title at Startup School 2013 and I got around to reading it in 2014. It's also one of the readings for YC's "How to Start a Startup" class: http://startupclass.samaltman.com/lists/readings/

I didn't think the leadership notes from a highly successful NFL (American professional football) coach would have much application in the world of technology, but Walsh's insights and discipline can be applied to many different fields. It's changed the way I work as I lead teams and I realize I have a lot more to learn and apply in my day-to-day duties.

"The Score Takes Care of Itself" does get a bit behind-the-scenes in the football world, but if the reader is willing to get past those parts, or better, learn the lessons in some of the stories, there is a lot to be gained.

http://www.amazon.com/Still-Life-Woodpecker-Tom-Robbins/dp/0...

Leaving college with such powerful to convictions of social evolution, scientific pragmatism, and the power of Art as a mental practice left me with some hard facets of reality to contend with. This is the struggle of one of the the main characters, Leigh-Cheri. She is a wide eyed idealist who is thoroughly disenfranchised with the way the systems in the world abuse and exploit people.

She meets a mad-bomber outlaw named Woodpecker, a revolutionary with bordering mythical aspirations. Their affair is a wild journey of growth as characters and citizens, not of a royal bloodline or America, but of Earth and the ideas, and actions, which make this world a vibrantly beautiful place. Most important book of the year for me, with close runners up:

"The Nature of Code" by Daniel Shiffman. Excellent book on simulation of the natural, chaotic world in the Processing programming language. http://natureofcode.com/book/

"Nine Kinds of Naked" by Tony Vigorito, which deals with the primacy of synchronicity and numeric harmony in the lives of twirling, interrelated characters. http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Kinds-Naked-Tony-Vigorito/dp/0156...

Good reads everyone!

I picked this book up shortly after the Brendan Eich incident earlier this year. This book was written over 20 years ago but it could very well have been written yesterday. It lays out an excellent argument about why all free speech, even hateful speech, much be unrestricted. It's also very good at rebutting what Rauch calls the "humanitarian" attack on free speech, which seems to be the preferred method of attack in the last few years (in Western countries anyway). Perhaps saying that it "changed my life" is an overstatement as I've always held the belief that unrestricted free speech is the ultimate freedom, but it's allowed me to express exactly why I believe that way.

I sometimes get stuck in a loop of existential questions, and even though I still do, that book taught me how to deal with them better.

The Accidental Creative and Die Empty by Todd Henry provide excellent tools and background for adding practical discipline to creative work and life in general. As of now I can't prioritize one over the other. Either or both are well worth the time invested.

Toxic Charity by Robert Lupton takes a critical look at how charitable giving and service are done by the modern church and provides a better plan distilled from decades of experience helping troubled neighborhoods in Atlanta.

The Permanent Portfolio by Rowland and Lawson preaches Harry Browne's Permanent Portfolio but fills in all the implementation gaps left in Harry's rather thin original.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. This classic on what Christians believe cuts as deep today as it did in Lewis's day.

After getting out on top after my turnaround, Simon Sinek's "Start with why" helped me figure out why I am running my business the way I am, and how I can use that to do even better : http://www.amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-Everyone/dp/...

http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-B...

Not Work - River of Time by Jon Swain. It's about Vietnam & Cambodia, and really reminds me to put things in perspective. Change the location from those countries to Syria & Iraq, that's effectively whats going on today. It boggles my mind to think we're here debating container technology and js frameworks when people are dieing in droves around the world. It's cliche, but if you seriously think about it, it's hard to reconcile.

This is a great book for anyone running a bootstrapped business. It is based on the Corelytics software product, which is a financial analysis tool that syncs with Quickbooks to provide trendline, progress against goals, and other real time financial metrics for startups. This gives you a view of where things are headed rather than a "too late" picture in your financials.

http://www.amazon.com/Pulse-Understanding-Vital-Signs-Busine...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Project-Helping-Business-e...

This book covers lot's of FP concepts in a very simple way, and I bet that anyone that struggles daily with hard-to-maintain OO projects would fall in love with it FP.

I've been negligent towards fiction lately, but I wanted to change that because it's always been my first love. So to do that, I started reading Flanagan's novel. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's the Man Booker Prize winner for 2014, which is more or less the British equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize.

I never thought I'd have any books that could crack into my top 3 or 5 for a while, but this one has done it.

The basis of the book is Australian POWs working on the Death Railway during WWII. The book isn't exclusively told in this setting, but much of the book stems from it.

Gives you a guide on how to attain a level of mastery in a domain of knowledge.

If you read nothing else, Chapter 2: Develop Front-Sight Focus. Solid, practical advice on directing the win in your mind. Here's a good interview with the author> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_bDMEUF7F8

Life related: The Power of Habit (didn't skip a single day at gym for 3 months non stop because of what i learned from this book)

[1]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Power-Habit-What-Change/dp/18479...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3828902-thinking-in-syst...

Revenue Management http://www.amazon.com/Revenue-Management-Robert-G-Cross/dp/0...

If you want to watch a good video version of the book, watch his PBS special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFFZ0XSfCRw&list=PL_N6UbeInh...

It has been a while since a book from even 10 pages in breaks my model of reality a bit.

Just saying "I have a body" as a separation, instead of "I /am/ body" etc.

Very interesting, fun (witty) succinct.

Its my first Alan Watts book, so that could be part of why it hit me nicely.

Looking forward to feedback, and requests!

It's a tough read, because it assumes a lot of prior knowledge of academic econ and finance. Also, what I would regard as lackluster editing makes comprehension a challenge beyond that. But the content is one of the best descriptions of our economic system, steeped in historical analysis, and finishing with some strong advice on how to address the public vs private enterprise dilemma to address the challenges of tomorrow.

The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle

The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz

In my humble opinion, these two books alone, have the ability to change one's life.

The painbody visualization was especially therapeutic to me and helped me to cope in better ways than I would have otherwise.

But on the other hand I find most of his philosophy just bonkers.

The book is bit like "drawing on the right side of the brain" - great exercises wrapped in non value adding chaff.

I'll also mention Vagabonding by Rolf Potts -- a great book that's as much about travel as about life.

If you invest money directly in the stock market, you must read it. It will teach you investing, accounting, economics, human behavior in a simple words.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DUM1W3E/ref=kics_dp_shop...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0060171472/

+ Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion - Sam Harris

+ Free Will - Sam Harris

+ Mindfulness in Plain English - Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It by Kamal Ravikant: http://www.amazon.com/Love-Yourself-Like-Your-Depends-ebook/...

As a non-physisist I always wanted to understand relativity at least to some basic degree. This book was an eye opener...

If you have ever enjoyed reading the Lesswrong wiki or any of the readings from MIRI/SIAI, this book provides a really great summary.

Refreshing take on productivity, very similar to Getting Things Done and co., however this time tackled from a distinctly Christian perspective, so it may not be for everyone. I enjoyed how he laid a foundation of motivation before he gave a bunch of practical thoughts on how to structure tasks, goals, and so on.

http://caporasolab.us/An-Introduction-To-Applied-Bioinformat...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Millionaire-Fastlane-Wealth-Lifeti...

The title sounds cheesy, but it's a really good book in reality.

It's about how death shapes life and human society. Completely changed how I view life and the world around me. Also launched me on a path that's resulted in me successfully combating depression and anxiety (and no, it's not a self-help book). It's a fascinating read.

Book #1 (Recommended by someone here on HN!) The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson

Book #2 Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh

Fun and easy to read book too. :)

Not only was it clear and inspiring, but it was also a little vindicating. I've believed for many years that we entered some kind of minor dark age around 1970, and it was great to hear someone else put forward the same idea.

http://www.amazon.com/Mindset-The-New-Psychology-Success/dp/...

Russian epic following multiple characters through WW2.

It shows how serious, good people can have very different and legitimate views on life; It characterises some eternal types of criminal or charlatan. It reminds you about fate and about how lucky we are now.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20980987-the-art-of-askin...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29

Highly recommended

Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman - taught me how to make better decisions

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip Heath - improved my ability to persuade.

If you're an aspiring freelancer or working on creative projects of your own, in particular, then her story has a lot for you.

As a systems architect struggling with Conway's Law, this has helped me understand systems-of-people better and given me some simple ways to think about interactions in a more abstract fashion.

Zero To One by Peter Thiel

The Art Of Profitability by Adrian Slywotzky

The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

1. Nikola Tesla's autobiography:

http://www.mystacki.com/#!/binder/35/nikola-tesla%27s-autobi...

2. Swami Vivekananda's complete works: http://www.mystacki.com/#!/binder/45/swami-vivakananda

3. David Bohm on creativity: http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Routledge-Classics-David-Bo...

I have been reading these three authors for many years, over and over again. In his autobiography, Tesla brings forth many exciting things about his creative process. He could prototype complete machines in his mind before building them. In his mind he could run tests, even see scars and blemishes on his machines. In my coding, I (feebly) try to emulate his method by trying to visualize my coding prototype in my mind. His short autobiography reads like that of a mystic. In there he describes how the idea of AC current came to him, while taking a walk and looking into the Sun. Philosophically, everything in life alternates: the pairs of opposites, ebb and flow-- its seems to be the code of life; and AC current does the same, it alternates. His writings on Electricity are against the established grain: for him electricity (his only love) is the current of life. There cannot be two electricities(positive and negative,) he says, these are only terms for the state of having more or less of the same thing.

David Bohm has important things to say about the creative process. He talks about completeness (wholeness) of thought. He talks about "mental models" that we create to understand reality and how we keep growing out of older models... newtonian physics gives way to relativity etc.

Swami Vivekananda was a contemporary of Tesla and they did actually meet. He was a scholar of the Indian philosophy system called Advaita and Sankhya. As Jung has said about archetypes -- same thoughts occur to people of all ages, the Sankhya philosophy system believed in the equivalence of matter and energy. Vivekananda introduced these ideas to Tesla and expected him to prove them. But the proof came ten years later with Einstein. I have written about this here: http://www.mystacki.com/#!/post/132/vivakanand's-meeting-wit...

2. Mini Habits - the only routine building method that worked for me.

It's interesting - Body by Science apparently advocates the use of Nautilus machines. This is the polar opposite of that recommended in Starting Strength, which several others in this thread have recommended.

The depth of his exploration of the human condition through the continuation of H.G. Wells' classic just floored me. My jaw was dropped practically from page one.

Brad Cox: Superdistribution: Objects as Property on the Electronic Frontier

Brad Cox: Object-Oriented Programming: An Evolutionary Approach

Jason Brennan: Why Not Capitalism?

Leo Brodie: Thinking Forth

There are some slides of his online which introduce the concept of Unums.

https://sivers.org/ml

For years I've been stuck with questions like "What does it mean to know?", "What is truth?", "How can I hold an opinion?" and "How can I say what I think is as valid as what somebody else thinks?".

This book does a great job of untangling what it means to know, the limitations of knowing, and doesn't duck the difficult questions.

Transactional analysis is lifechanging. It's weird to me that this book isn't more popular.

http://amzn.com/0060924586

Non-Work related: The Supreme Gift and Warrior of Light by Coelho.

It should be considered required reading these days--couldn't be more timely.

This book rekindled my interest and love for science.

Single presentations haven't; the aggregate of encountering a new idea multiple times has. I certainly have very different views on life than I did a decade ago, but there isn't one thing I can ascribe that to.

Relationships certainly have.

My thought patterns have been permanently altered.

Mindsight - Dan Siegel

Conflict Communications - Rory Miller

That's the top of my list for next year. I have HN to thank for that, too - it was name dropped in a video recommended by macmac [1].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8673597

Outsider - Brian Sewell Autobiography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Common_Prayer

* The Promise of Sleep (sleep)

* Spark (brain health)

Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill

I've been in tech a long time. I came up in the early 90's when the Internet was a tool for collaboration, meeting new people, and taking down the evil bastards.

But since the advent of Facebook, Google, and "pervasive computing", I've been haunted by the sense that what was once good is being perverted in ways that are destroying what makes humanity great. It's always been hard for me to explain that feeling in ways that make sense to those who haven't been part of the wave, whose first computer was an iPhone.

"The Circle" is fabulous because it brings this sensation to life in a way that casual readers can grasp. It's great because it captures what's happening. I only wish it offered a proposed solution that goes beyond living in a bunker.

Honorable mention, for similar reasons, to Mr. Penumbra.