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Ask Slashdot: What Are Some Books You Wish You Had Read Earlier?

Posted by msmash on from the let's-get-this-rolling dept.

Reader joshtops writes: Hey, community. Could you folks please name some books that you wish you had read earlier -- especially because these books presumbably had an impact on your life. The books could be from any genre or year.

12 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. Dune by berchca · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Shocking how much more to it than the movie/tv versions. In fact, they only serve as spoilers.

    1. Re:Dune by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I explain The Lord of the Rings this way: walk walk walk walk walk walk fight run run walk walk walk walk run walk walk fight walk walk walk
      Chapter 2: walk walk .....

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    2. Re: Dune by dargaud · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It depends... I read the whole series twice (or more?) and didn't like the same books each time... For instance God Emperor is quite boring for a teenager, just dialogues. Yet on second reading I found it full of fascinating philosophical insights.

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  2. Controlling my mind by fabriciom · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "The power of now" and "A new earth" by Eckhart Tolle. Very simple techniques but very hard to master.

  3. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Diss+Champ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

    By the time I'd read it I had figured most of it out, but if I'd read it earlier I could have saved some time getting there.

  4. The User Manual by Rob+Riggs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    RTFM. Wiser words were never acronymized.

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    the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
  5. How to Win Friends and Influence People by lq_x_pl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    by Dale Carnegie.
    Seriously.
    There's a thousand fantastic resources available on how to be a better programmer. Accruing technical acumen has always been the easiest part of navigating my career. Knowing how to work with humans has always been tricky. I wish I would have read this book back in high school.

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  6. The Mars Trilogy - Kim Stanley Robinson by eagle52997 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm currently on Green Mars (book two) and absolutely loved Red Mars (book one). Book Three is called Blue Mars. The first books was so good, and so timely with this topic, that I felt compelled to post. I read a lof ot Arthur C. Clarke as a kid, and wish I had read this trilogy when it first came out. The topics related to life back on Earth are so prescient, it is hard to believe the first book is nearly 25 years old. I'm definitely hooked, and will be reading more of Kim Stanley Robinson in the future.

  7. Re:The manipulated man by TWX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, if you can't experience it firsthand you can always read about it I suppose.

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  8. Atlas Shrugged by al0ha · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I was left with two distinct ideas after reading this book that I'd wished I'd had 20 years earlier.
    1) It's damn ok, if not mandatory, that a person feel good about making money off their talents
    2) Pure unabashed capitalism is an extreme philosophy.

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    1. Re:Atlas Shrugged by greythax · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm an Atheist who has read both (Atlas and Fountainhead). The only way I would label someone defective for reading them is if they used them for the basis of some market worship philosophy afterward. In general I found them to be something a first year college student would consider "insightful" because they have no real world experience and precious little empathy.

      They are full of one dimensional characters who's defining traits are egomania and greed, or are impossibly Mary Sue, such as Mr. Roark, who was evidently born with the perfect knowledge of every subject. The central thesis is terminally flawed by the assumption that some sort of capitalist utopia can be achieved by a collective of completely self centered sociopaths. I think in the end they say more about Mrs. Rand than any true economic or social insight.

      But I highly encourage people to read them so they can see their banality for themselves, and to arm themselves for when they get trapped in a corner by a randroid at a party.

  9. The Mythical Man Month by bobbied · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you are an engineer, manager or other technical career.... OR a MANAGER of anybody who falls into those categories, this should be *required* reading every few years.

    Truths I've learned from this book include...

    "If one woman can make a baby in 9 months... Then let's get 9 to make one it 1 month..." is a logical fallacy often used by management.

    "Technical teams should be clearly scoped and fairly small or the amount of effort required for communications and coordination will consume more resources than the actual work. "

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