HN Explorer

Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?

329 points by petecooper ↗ HN
I debated whether it was too early in December to ask this, but I'm interested in what book(s) changed your life in 2014. I ask because I'm going through something of a personal and professional renaissance and my book of the year was the same as fraqed's when s/he asked the same question in December 2013 [1].

My reading list for 1H15 is a bit vague and wooly right now, so I'm interested in your responses.

For completeness, this could be considered an extension to a previous post of mine [2], but I'm not looking to solve any problem, either perceived or otherwise.

Thank you in advance.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6975638

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8673576

(Edited for typo and formatting)

293 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 298 ms ] thread
boothead
The Trauma of Everyday Life - Mark Epstein

Mindsight - Dan Siegel

Conflict Communications - Rory Miller

tdobson
It's not a new book, but Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh has had a great impact on me.

Fun and easy to read book too. :)

timmillwood
Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
will_work4tears
Interested in knowing how this changed your life. I have a two year old that loves this story, but can't think of a way it has changed my life.
armed10
For me it's: quiet the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking
ckib16
Fantastic book. If you are an introvert (and many here likely are) you should really consider this book an investment in understanding yourself. I can't count the number of times I was nodding my head in agreement, thinking I had been the only one to feel a certain way.
mikraft
Flinch - Julien Smith

Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill

jack_gott
The New Class Conflict, Joel Klotkin
[dead] jack_gott
The New Class Conflict, Joel Klotkin
martythemaniak
Introduction to Systems Biology - Design Principles of Biological Circuits, by Uri Alon.

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.

dirtyaura
This sounds a really interesting read. Though system biologists seem to disagree: http://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1JC09V3NPULY3

Any thoughts on that?

siyer
It's perhaps more precise to say that some biologists disagree (as is perhaps inevitable). Alon's book is was the required textbook for the Systems Bioengineering (III) class at Johns Hopkins as of 5 years ago (which is when I took it). It's definitely well within the mainstream of the field.
arh68
Disciplined Minds by Jeff Schmidt
q-base
Antifragile or The Obstacle Is The Way - are probably the most influential
vegancap
'For a new Liberty' - Murray Rothbard
vkb
Two:

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.

joshux
+1 for Taleb's books. His Black Swan book actually inspired me to pursue a startup. However, his ideas are not actually that original (which is not a bad thing). One might get similar level of knowledge(albeit takes more time) from reading stoic philosophy, Popper's philosophy of science, tacit knowledge (Michael Polanyi) and complex system sciences.
LiweiZ
+1 for complex system sciences. I guess that's where most of today's lean/simple/ecosystem things come from.
vkb
One might, but how many books to read is that? Taleb compresses these ideas very concisely and in a relatively easy-to-read manner.
superasn
Programming related: Perl cookbook (helped me to setup my first online business and do what i do today)

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)

jacobroufa
The Time Ships, by Stephen Baxter

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.

dominotw
I discovered Jiddu Kirshnamurthi in 2014.

My thought patterns have been permanently altered.

cjjuice
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Enchiridion of Epictetus

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

urish
Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber.

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.

martythemaniak
I definitely think of that book is life changing - it changed how I understand the very concept of money.

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.

kethinov
Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.

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.

lordbusiness
I second this.

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.

svankmajer
This. While it didn't change my life, it was one of the books I most enjoyed this year. Really great book.
vojant
Antifragile - This book change my ways of thinking about life. Also this year I've read Black Swan, another great book by the same author.
gooseus
I was going to say Black Swan, which I would say has changed how I think about myself, knowledge and the mechanics of society and the world this year.

I've got Antifragile queued up next.

carlaldrich
Fooled by Randomness is excellent also; they all have the same message but it's the most direct
sambe
I haven't read the Black Swan. I skimmed a few places and know a Taleb fan who has read both Fooled by Randomness and Black Swan. With moderate confidence I'd say FbR is the better book - Black Swan seems to be much of the same material presented for a wider audience. I thought FbR was excellently written, regardless of the content.
Igglyboo
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

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).

matthewwiese
Hofstadter is a wonderful writer and illuminates his topics with much creativity and wonderful analogy. I highly suggest you look into his more recent books, especially Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking.

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

ElijahLynn
* Eat to Live (nutrition)

* The Promise of Sleep (sleep)

* Spark (brain health)

blwsk
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. The story gradually unfurls itself from the first few pages and new layers are constantly being added. It was written a few years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki but seems even more relevant today. It's very short and can be read in a single sitting if one is determined.
kunstmord
Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller. To be honest, I re-read it, but it had a much more significant impact the second time (I originally considered it to be weaker than "Black Spring" and "Tropic of Cancer", but this time round, due to certain personal circumstances, it resonated with me in a very powerful way – his ruminations concerning compassion, interacting with other people, the meaning and value of work and creativity). nfortunately, the only new book I read this year was "The Great Mortality", a pretty interesting but a tad too un-academic account of the Black Plague in Europe. Hopefully, I'll have a lot more time to read in 2015.