The Prince

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

The Divine Comedy and The Prince. Not joking.

Man, this is a book that really needs to be paired with an explainer, or you will miss the subtext and come across the exact opposite conclusions: The Prince is a _satire_, a gift to the Medici family that arrested, tortured and exiled him. Everything it praises should be avoided, especially the hypocrisy and corruption of Italy. It dwells on the virtue of a guy who was appointed to lead the papal armies after his dad(!) was elected Pope. It should be obvious its not a straight book by the time you get to the part where it recommends nobles arm the populace, but we see countless "Machiavelli for the boardroom" books that didn't quite pick that up. It was published posthumously, but was banned by the Church. Ostensibly because it recommended nobles behave awfully while pretending to be pious, but more likely because it pointed out the church was corrupt and its patrons more so.

Machiavelli's The Prince :)

The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli The 48 Rules of Power - Robert Greene Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big - Scott Adams Basic Economics - Thomas Sowell The World Is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman The Penguin History of the World: Sixth Edition - J. M. Roberts and Odd Arne Westad

Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince

Great thread. 2019 was the first time in about 7-8 years I made reading for pleasure a tertiary priority ((school+career)work/sleep/exercise+socializing+(NEW!)reading) and I got through about 20 books of varying length and difficulty, so here are the next 20 in my queue: - Infinite Jest (already started, will likely finish in early Jan. I love it so far.) - Quantum Computing Since Democritus (started in November as my nonfiction read, but took a break; I think I want to finish IJ first. Scott is an excellent writer and I was really enjoying this) - Building Microservices - The Code Book - How Cars Work (I want to turn the projection of a car in my brain from a black box to a gray box this year, and I don't mean by purchasing a Cybertruck) - To Kill a Mockingbird…

The Prince by Machiavelli, 1532 Chuang-tzu, 4th century BC The Art of War by Sun Tzu, 5th century BC Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, 14th century AD

1. La peste (Albert Camus) - entertaining if you're into French existentialism 2. Linked (Barabasi) - insightful and useful to understand that most phenomenon we see in real life follow a power law and what that means 3. Leonardo da Vinci (Walter Isaacson) - surprising how little of da Vinci's real personality is reflected in his modern image 4. Matrix computations – third edition (Gene Golub, Charles van Loan) - good read if you're into linear algebra 5. Giving effective feedback (Harvard business review) - useful for getting an understanding on how to handle human interaction 6. The old man and the sea (Ernest Hemingway) - enjoyed it a lot, a reflection of Hemingway's romantic spirit. Also, a quick read. 7. Screwjack (Hunter S. Thompson) - didn't resonate with me although I am a fan of existentialism 8. Sun and steel (Yukio Mishima) - raw and intimate. before reading this book I'd recommend reading up on Mishima's life 9. Stranger than fiction (Chuck Palahniuck) - somewhat entertaining, more so because it served as a glimpse into Palahniuck's creative process…

1984 - because it was the first book in English that I read front to cover, with a dictionary by my side, and learned so much recurring essential vocabulary that after that effort I could read anything; by now I have read much more from the much larger pool of writings in English than in my mother language. And, of course, it made me look differently at so many things. Things Fall Appart - because it helped me understand how religions like Christianity and other initially subversive beliefs spread, and the sudden impact of Western culture on other cultures. Anthropology (Marvin Harris) - because it impacted the way I look at humanity, society and history, and also helped me understand that marxism is much more than an arguably failed political doctrine. The Bernstein Tapes about Critique of Pure Reason - I am still working through this, but has already impacted my conception of what knowledge is History of Western Philosophy (Bertrand Russel) - because it made me understand the interwining between ideas and history. A desert island book…

I would add also: The prince -- Machiavelli (to loose ingenuity) The little prince -- Saint-Exupéry (to recover some ingenuity)

Ten Books of Architecture which, for better or worse and perhaps suggestive of the level scientific basis for contemporary architectural practice, was written contemporaneously with many of the events later described in the Christian Bible...though from a practical standpoint of running a firm, The Prince might be more apropos.

IMHO to really change your whole life perspective, you must experience a traumatic event, not reading a book. Anyway I would say that a book can trigger a change of perspective on a particular aspect of your life: '4-hour workweek' - Tim Ferriss (on lifestyle) 'Get Things Done' - David Allen (on organization and productivity) 'The Way of the Superior Man' - David Deida (on relationships) 'The prince' - Machiavelli' (on business and strategy) 'The little prince' - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (on meaning of life) 'The Feynman Lectures on Physics' - Richard Feynman' (to remember you to be humble) A lot of other books had broaden my perspective of life even if they weren't enough to trigger a change. That list would be immense.

Here's my usual list of recommendations, the best books I've read in the past 5 years. Fiction: - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality If you know nothing about this book you might naturally hesitate to read "Harry Potter fanfiction" and assume that it's dumb/horrbile, but it's not. Just suspend your disbelief and read the first 5-10 chapters. Trust me, it's brilliant, hilarious, and life-changing. - Atlas Shrugged Controversial, I know, a lot of people here hate it for some reason, but it was incredibly influential on me, inspired my passion for entrepreneurship and science and philosophy. Still is one of the best books I am aware of. Nonfiction: - Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham Also a collection of his essays that you can find on github. He is one of the most clever writers I am aware of, but I assume you know that, since you're on HN. - "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins This book explains in simple terms a very awesome and elegant theory on how mind works. Incredibly fascinating, I've learned a lot from it and it explains a lot of things, and will change the way you think about thinking process. - The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins…

Sun Tzu - the art of war Machiavel - The prince

the Prince by Machiavelli

These books, although some now I might not endorse some of their teaching but they have help me to see the world in a different light: The Mystery Method - Erik Von Markovik[Social Engineering at its best] Rich Dad Poor Dad: Guide to Investing - Robert Kiyoski The Thoughtworks Anthology: Essays on Software Technology and Innovation (Pragmatic Programmers) Bible - First class book in teaching how to behave towards others, especially proverbs. Tao Te Ching - For this two verse you should read it: "When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other" Cyropaedia - "Along with the The prince this book was required reading by all former statesmen."

I used to have a lot more time for non CS reading and actually made an Amazon list on this topic back in 2005: http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/2INJSM38... (http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/2INJSM38IDMDZ/ref=cm_sw_r_de_lm) 1. On War (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) by Carl Von Clausewitz 2. Leadership: The Warrior's Art by Barry R. McCaffrey 3. Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach by Dandridge M. Malone 4. The Defense of Hill 781: An Allegory of Modern Mechanized Combat by James R. McDonough 5. The Art of Maneuver: Maneuver-Warfare Theory and AirLand Battle by Robert Leonhard 6. Strategy: Second Revised Edition (Meridian) by B. H. Liddell Hart 7. The Art of War by Niccolò Machiavelli 8. Hagakure: The Book of the Samauri by Tsunetomo Yamamoto 9. The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 10. The Art of War (Shambhala classics) by Sun Tzu 11. The Prince (Bantam Classics) by Niccolo Machiavelli 12. Evolutionary Game Theory by Jörgen W. Weibull 13. On Guerrilla Warfare by Mao Tse-tung 14. The History of the Peloponnesian War: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics) by Thucydides…

Check out http://www.librivox.org. They have a HUGE catalogue of audio recordings of public-domain works. Grab a list of the 100 classic books of all time and download them. Don Quixote, The Prince, Picture of Dorian Grey, Pride and Prejudice...

1) Musashi's Book of Five Rings 2) Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People 3) Machaivelli's The Prince 4) Sun-Tzu's The Art of War 5) Hayakawa's Language in Thought and Action 6) Steven Johnson's Emergence 7) Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel 8) Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything 9) Mark Buchanan's Nexus 10) C. S. Lewis's The Problem of Pain Taken together, these books cover just about everything there is to know about the sciences, about human history, human nature and how to understand and communicate effectively with other people. Only one other book besides these needs to be studied/read: The Bible.