Ask Lemmy

in no particular order:

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
• Swallows and Amazons
• How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People
• The Wizard of Earthsea

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson.

The main character’s reflection on his past and continuation of growth really resonates with me.

It's more of a short story in a book filled with time traveling short stories.

I'm trying to find what it's called, but I still have the book. After reading it, I had a brief period of time where I was questioning my own freewill and choices.

Basically it starts with a time machine being in a warehouse and scientists all around. The person inside is doing everything backwards and they are attempting to communicate with paper, often getting answers before there is a question. It's a good read and I won't spoil the end.

Shantaram. It was very much booth, a captivating pleasure to read and the utmost inspiration of willing to live life to its fullest and be a compassionate human being.

"The Arsonist in the Office" by Pete Havel

Helped me recognize that the incredibly toxic job I was in was not sustainable.

"It's Your Ship" by D. Michael Abrashoff

Excellent book on leadership. Should be required reading for anyone who manages people.

"Psychopath Free" by Jackson MacKenzie

Most people probably have no idea what it's like to be in a relationship with someone who has a personality disorder. It can be absolute hell. It certainly was for me. This book provided some good insights but also helped me feel less alone.

There are other books but those are three big ones for me.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

it was the first book I ever read, and I decided to do it on my own. I was 16 and it was the greatest thing I had done for myself up to that point. It was such a big thing for me. I had never read a book front to back before, let alone deciding to do it on my own.

And so I checked that book out at the library. Went home and started to read the first couple chapters. Got some tomato soup and a grilled cheese and then next thing I know its 2AM and I read that whole book in almost one sitting!!!

The freedom it gave my mind was a gift I can never reply. Douglass Adams is and always will be one of my favorite humans for what he gave me in that story.

House of Leaves. I don't know if I want to read it again, but that book was a cool experience.

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm and Sam Hughes.

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3173311W/Niemand_houdt_mij_tegen

• The Gray House, Maryam Petrosyan. It's the story of a house, which is a disabled children and teenagers institution. It's weird, hard, and incredible. It's not a book for children, nor a young adult one – I mean, you can read it if you're a young adult or a late teen, but don't skip this book only because the characters are teenagers. I will reread this one.
• Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy. I read it recently because it was translated in french in 2022, but it's a book from 1976. It's a SF novel, and one of the few fictions which speaks against psychiatry. It's a feminist utopia, but the first pages are pretty hard.

Hatchet.

It taight me that you never have to give up. Even when all looks completely lost, keeping your head on a swivel and keeping yourself goal oriented, you can get yourself through almost anything.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami

Atomic Habits.

As someone who is likely on the spectrum, it was like someone gifted me a user guide for life where other self-help books have either leaned a lot on the emotions of things or tried to cram all sorts of philosophy down my throat.

Lot's of common sense ideas around how to turn what, where, and who you want to be into actually achievable goals and genuinely helped me figure out who I want to be for myself and not for other people.

I wouldn't say it has any groundbreaking or radical ideas in it, but the structure and presentation of the simple ideas really helped me work out some life things for myself.

Everybody Poops

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell.