Ask HN: What book should I buy for my 18th birthday? I'm into non-fiction books. Any field will do as long as it's interesting. I'm definitely trying to get into something new. |
Ask HN: What book should I buy for my 18th birthday? I'm into non-fiction books. Any field will do as long as it's interesting. I'm definitely trying to get into something new. |
Ed Thorp's autobiography "A man for all markets" is fun, in particular if you're interested in maths, gambling or finance.
And stay way from "Anarcho-capitalist" there are not anarchist even if they dream about it...
Or something by Jared Diamond, e.g. The Third Chimpanzee.
It also showed me how SpaceX was born when Elon and his team crunched some numbers on a trip back from Russia, only to realize that it would be cheaper to build their own rockets rather than rent Russia's.
That book is filled with stories about complex systems that humans broke down into simpler problems and hacked them together into monolith companies. Contrary to popular beliefs (mostly held by people who haven't read the book), its not entirely about Elon.
My two cents.
Therefore, I would recommend "The simple path to wealth" and "The little book of common sense investing".
Steven Pressfield - The War of Art + Turning Pro
Tony Robbins - Awaken the giant within (maybe he's released a better book than that now, but it was impactful personally back in the 90s)
It will change your life, dare I say.
For 150 pages it is so well written. The method has the potential to change your life at 18.
Why? Because hopefully it will get you interested in saving and investing.
And
The Wealth of Nations
I've come to realise that it's a bit long winded and winding, but it's pretty nice to go deep into. Like, just read it straight through.
Maybe one day I’ll get round to compiling a TNG greatest hits, like Measure of a Man, The Inner Light (the entire episodes pretty much), as well as scenes like Data demonstrating “calling in” rather than “calling out” bad behavior (https://youtu.be/vMKtKNZw4Bo), and just general Philosopher King speeches from Picard (https://youtu.be/Jph2qWXJ-Tk)
From a more practical angle, I wish I had had "Early Retirement Extreme" by Jacob Lund Fisker [2] in my shelf at that age. Don't get fooled by the title, this is by no means a "highway to financial independence" book; rather, it's a really deep book about, well, sensible living strategies, considering the world we're in.
The author holds a PhD in theoretical physics, and by living with around $7,000 a year as a scientist and postdoc, he retired in around 5 years in his early 30s.
It's a book on thoughtful frugality, if you will.
Instead of tech/science books, let me throw something else at you:
Jacque Fresco "The Best That Money Can't Buy" [1].
Robert Steele "Open-Source Everything Manifesto" [2]. Do not be mislead by the title. Open-source here is all-encompassing, software is only a tiny fraction of the spectrum.
David Graeber "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology" [3]
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[1] https://www.amazon.de/Best-That-Money-Cant-Buy-ebook/dp/B077...
[2] https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Robert-David-Steele/dp/1583944435
[3] https://www.amazon.de/-/en/David-Graeber-ebook/dp/B00MAPBIYA
At 18, you're probably too broke to use the information in it but it will lay down a strategy for building wealth as soon as you start getting income. IF I had it 15 years ago, I'd be a millionaire today. There's a lot of decisions I would have done differently had I read it at the time.
Right now, the employed quadrant pays unrealistically high. This wasn't always the case, but Rich Dad Poor Dad over the years made it such that architect and doctors quit their jobs to become stock traders and bakery owners. So there's a lot more demand for people who are willing to sit in an office. It's definitely an Employee's market, at least in 2021, and you'll wear yourself thin trying to hire. Sam Altman also said a few years back that more people wanted to be investors than start startups, so as a beginner investor, you're very likely to end up with bad deals.
I wouldn't say it's a bad book, but read it and apply concepts of economics to it. It gives you a piece of the puzzle but it's incomplete.
That library-browsing experience is now available through the Internet Archive. Some semirandom magazine examples are at [1, 2, 3]; some books are at [4, 5, 6]. There are millions more.
If HN had existed when I was eighteen, I would have enjoyed—and benefitted from—reading the articles and discussions here, too, perhaps almost as much as I do now at the age of sixty-four.
[1] https://archive.org/details/notesqueries12unse_0
[2] https://archive.org/details/blackwoodsedinb191unkngoog
[3] https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-magazine_1903-03_106...
[4] https://archive.org/details/authenticaccount01stau
Don't worry about buying the right book at the right time, or if you'll like it in 50 years, or whatever. You'll have plenty of chances to get this right in the future.
The possibly more helpful, but self-promoting answer: I did a post twelve years ago on my personal blog about ten (plus five) books that were major influences on me. Many of those (11 out of the 15) are non-fiction, and you might get an idea or two from that list.
Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter And How To Make The Most Of Them Now
I only read it when I was 30. It has a a typical self-help title but honestly it has all you need to succeed in the next decade. I wish I could have read it at your age.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36072.The_7_Habits_of_Hi...
Principles by Ray Dalio https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34536488-principles
China: A History by Keay is a pretty great overview of the last 5000 years of Chinese history. This was recommended to me on this very site!
If anyone knows a capitalist equivalent, I'd be very interested.
Jack Kerouac - On The Road
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
Charles Bukowski - Post Office
It covers economics, finance, history and quantum physics in an engaging way.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40051046-quantum-econ...
Another good non-fiction one is “Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed” by Leo Janos, about cold war and aviation technology. This one is fine for a birthday, assuming you generally like these topics.
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.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke#Letters_to_...
[1] Last time I checked "60 years of challenge" seemed to have a good philosophy on this style
[2] Not salsa, bachata is more intimate and teaches you a thing or two
Some were better. Most of the people who joined these communities had a similar pattern in the beginning: men who felt they can't communicate with women or who aren't conventionally attractive learn some canned openers based on stuff they read in The Game, memorize a bunch of "techniques", and basically fake it through "outer game".
After a while, I noticed there were usually two paths they took:
Path One was people who remained stuck in this "outer game" phase where they wear weird stuff to peacock and stand out (a la Mystery), regurgitate a bunch of lines, try to time their "negs" just right. Most of them burned out and/or grew resentful towards women from repeated rejection because the techniques are actually pretty cringe. Sometimes they became very vocal in these forums about how women just want to use them, or how shallow women are, or how much meaningless sex they're having (most of them weren't).
Path Two was people who realized that instead of trying to fake being an interesting and attractive person, they might actually want to become an interesting and attractive person. They evolved to focusing on "inner game". They got a tiny foothold in just approaching women a lot and learned that rejection wasn't the end of the world, and then used that realization to grow as a person, have new legitimately interesting adventures, learn how to groom themselves, and generally just have something interesting that _actually happened_ and _didn't need to be exaggerated_ to have a conversation about. Instead of having to strategize how to bring a woman they're talking to down a notch to make themselves seem "higher value", they actually became "higher value" by improving themselves, and attracting more interesting people while they're at it. There was no incentive for them to lie to women about their experiences or intentions (by omission or otherwise). They could be honest about what they wanted out of life and know that there are plenty of people to meet who are genuinely up for that, too.
I still have a couple of friends who were into that scene, ones who broke out onto Path Two and seem to be doing very well for themselves both in business and relationships. The other ones are long forgotten.