Ask HN: Best book for every topic

[Philomath]

I recently came across a book that I would have never thought I would enjoy. It's a book on men fashion that is supposed to be THE book (Dressing the man). As I love learning about every topic I can (my name here must tell you something, philomath), I was wondering if people could, for their fields of expertise, share the one and only book that you should read to learnabout that topic.

Examples would be:

- Building a house

- Cooking

And I hope, many many others

[prossercj]

I'm no expert, but I've gotten a lot out of 'A History of Greek Philosophy' by W.K.C Guthrie, especially volume 3 dealing with Socrates and the Sophists [0]. In one of the later volumes he responds to a criticism that it was too difficult for beginners but too easy for experts, by saying that if that's the case, he had hit his mark: students.

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/301430.A_History_of_Gree...