Ask HN: What book should I buy for my 18th birthday?

Another vote for G.E.B.

I read Gödel Escher Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid on Minds and Machines in the Spirit of Lewis Carol, by Douglas R Hofstader.

Seconded. This is the book I read in my thirties where I thought. “Damn, I wish I’d read this when I was 18”

Buy "Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is great.

"1984" from Orwell.

I second this.

Man’s search for meaning - Viktor Frankl It will change your life, dare I say.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

David Allen - Getting things done

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five

I've heard Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" is recommended as a proto-Solarpunk novel.

Agreed - like it or not it's the foundation of our civilization

Read the Christian Bible.

The Player of Games by Iain M Banks.

Steven Pressfield - The War of Art + Turning Pro