Ask HN: What were your "life-changing" books?

Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - R.A. Heinlein

The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov

I don't know about 'life-changing' but the best books I ever read were:

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

  (Ludwig Wittgenstein)

Being and Time

  (Martin Heidegger)

Of Grammatology

  (Jacques Derrida)

Writing and Difference

  (Jacques Derrida)

Martian Timeslip

  (Philip K. Dick)

Ringworld

  (Larry Niven)

The Forever War

  (Joe Haldeman)

The Metamorphosis

  (Franz Kafka)

Finally, the Greek tragedies and Goethe's poetry are basically perfect.

It might be a bit cliché but I read On the road by Jack Kerouac and it motivated me to do a big road trip alone across USA/Canada/Mexico. I met many awesome peoples, became more confident, more adventurous, more open to people and new experiences. So the trip changed my life but the book led me to it. This other book motivated me as well : Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

"Eichmann in Jerusalem" by Hannah Arendt

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

The Goal (Goldratt) led me to see everything as a system and how to Hack it.

'A Canticle For Leibowitz' by Walter Miller.

Because it helped bring me to the Catholic faith.

fooled by randomness

- "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie

- "The art of thinking clearly" by Ralf Dobelli

- "Sources of power" by Gary Klein

- "The 8 pillars of motivation" by Farnoosh Brock

- "ReWork" by Jason Fried and David Hansson

- "Don't make me think" by Steve Krug

- "The art of explanation" by Lee LeFever

- "Getting real" by 37Signals

- "The secret" by Rhonda Byrne

Kafka...the Starvation Artist...had forgotten that one...powerful.