Ask HN: What are your favorite books of all time, and why?

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs for showing that you can think rigorously and compose beautiful programs out of simple pieces.

SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs). Structured very well. Each exercise builds on a concept of the previous exercise, getting increasingly difficult.

I started reading GEB, and enjoyed hearing about things like Goedel's incompleteness theorem, but Hofstadter is really hard to get through.

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.

Gödel, Escher, Bach awakened my intellectual curiosity about formal systems and other autistic modes of beauty as a teenager.

I second Godel, Escher and Bach.

Godel, Escher and Bach - Hofstadter

Paul Atredies starts out a boy against harsh conditions and rises to the challenge.

the two in combination really caused a mindeset shift for me.

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand. I like idea of 'I' itself which can shrug the belief(s) of social norms.

Snow Crash.

Pure enjoyment: Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)

Thinking fast and slow - Kahneman

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

It's an excellent book that I am fond of.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse for its portrayal of a spiritual journey / life that was not a ‘religious’ one.

+1

"Soul of a New Machine" - Tracy Kidder. I read it while in engineering school, and it's the first time it kind of clicked with me of what an engineer actually "does"

Another reference here. Go for it. It’s a brilliant book.

I loved this book for its humor, everyday practicality, how relatable it felt

I second Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman

captures the spirit of the story better than a dry narration.

asks fascinating questions about sentience and intelligence, and made me stare at the ceiling for weeks after I finished it.