Enchiridion

Frank Herbert Dune, book, there is a graphic novel of the latest edition which I glanced through. Machiavelli The Prince Sun Tzu The Art of War Epictetus The Enchiridion Tao Te Ching- different editions The Odyssey in variety of formats, illustrated, graphic novel, book The King James Bible-- Different pieces at various points. Proverbs many times. Lewis Carroll-- Alices Adventures In Wonderland, book, annotated edition

I only read non-fiction; mostly philosophy. Here are some books off the top of my head: * The Inner Citadel/Philosophy as a Way of Life by Pierre Hadot * Plato's dialogues (someone already mentioned a few of them, but the Republic was missing from their list). * Epictetus (Discourses and Enchiridion) * The various essays/letters of Seneca * Matter and Consciousness by Churchland (older, but fascinating) * The Mediations of Marcus Aurelius * (mostly) any Buddhist texts * What a Plant Knows * Moonwalking with Einstein There are tons of fascinating books, way too many to list.

I expect I'll get a lot of flak for this one, but I'd like to suggest the "4 hour work week" by Tim Ferriss. I've read it at about the same age and it had a profound effect on me. Another book I'd suggest is the Enchiridion of Epictetus. If you ever intend to have kids, "Summerhill" by A.S.Neill is a good choice.

I have about half a dozen translations of the Meditations and i suggest the following; * Translation by Gregory Hays published in "The Modern Library" classics. This is highly approachable and should be the first one you start with. * Translation by Martin Hammond and published by Penguin Classics. Lots of illuminating Notes. * Translation by Robin Hard and published in "Oxford World's Classics" series. Robin Hard also has a translation of Epictetus' Discourses/Enchiridion/Fragments and Sayings and Anecdotes of Diogenes in the same Oxford series, both of which are also excellent. PS: All of the above contain a detailed Introduction to the work which you should not skip. They set the background, Worldview, Time etc. which help you understand the ideas in the book better.

I have nearly as many answers to this questions as books I have read. Even fiction helps you to understand another perspective, which I think is really one of the great things about reading. One of the earliest books that gave me a good leap in understanding is the Tao of Pooh. As a preteen, it was my first real taste of philosophy outside of Christianity, and it was something radically different. As far as impact, probably Epictetus' Enchiridion. It's literally a manual on how to live a good life. It's uncommonly practical advice and started a love for his school of philosophy that still hasn't faded.

I have always been of the opinion that you ought to read the stoics in the order of: 1. Epictetus (foundational with the enchiridion) [trans Robert Dobbin] 2. Seneca’s letters (eloquent exhortations from one person to another) [trans Robin Campbell] 3. Aurelius’s meditations (powerful self-reflections not meant for publication) [trans Martin Hammond] I found that, going back, both Seneca or Epictetus were lesser reads than Aurelius, but I’m still glad I read them. [These are my preferred translations, but I did see this comment and just ordered the translation mentioned https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8717216]