Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?

[shuaib]

For those into reading books, I think it is common practice to pick a new interesting book most of the time. However I want to know if there are books you found so valuable, you went back to it multiple times. Which book(s) was it, and how many times did you read it? What compelled you to reread it?

[fourseventy]

Good Night Moon - 187 times

The Cat In The Hat - 200 times

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - 85 times

But seriously, im on my third re-read of Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, In my opinion its the best book about leadership ever written.

[AnimalMuppet]

The secret of writing childrens' books is to write something that an adult can read 200 times without going insane. You've got to put in something that the adults will smile at.

For slightly older children, try "The Bravest Ever Bear".

[RhysU]

Boom, boom, boom, etc from The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear.

[Infernal]

Hah, I hadn’t even thought about children’s books! When my son was 1-2 years old I had probably 3-4 books like this completely memorized for bedtime. He did too, as occasionally if I would change a phrase for effect “they went to” to “they all went to”, he would often correct me.

[phaus]

Extreme ownership is a great book with lots of sound advice. However, I don't find the approach flawless at all.

These guys had the benefit of being leaders in an organization that is set up to rapidly show you the door if you under-perform. Furthermore, everyone that's on a SEAL team desperately wants to be there. To some extent, extreme ownership falls apart in a regular, non-combat focused military unit and also in many civilian organizations.

If you're a Soldier, the military's authority is an illusion. Don't assume that my next statement means that punishment is my first tool for attempting to remedy under-performance, but at some point with some people it becomes necessary. In those extreme cases, even that's not effective because of the way the military operates. Half of the punishments for being lazy/ineffective at your job only work if you voluntarily participate in being a part of the military. Examples: exercise as punishment only works when people choose to exercise. Putting people on punitive details like picking cigarettes up and raking lines in sand for 12 hours a day only work if the people voluntarily do the work. Some people don't show up at all and some only show up to laugh in your face and tell you to go fuck yourself in front of your superiors.

Even the punishments that don't require participation still do require voluntary participation in a way. In the military if you give someone nonjudicial punishment, typically they lose half of their pay for a month or so, and in extreme cases they'll get permanently demoted in addition to that. So you take their money away. However, for the kind of people that aren't doing their job and don't intend to, that doesn't really matter much. You are giving them 3 meals a day and a place to stay. You don't have the power to take that away from them without kicking them out of the military, which in a regular unit often takes well over a year and always requires leadership support, which may not exist given the fact that most units are operating with less people than they need.

It may be hard to see where I'm going, but my point is this. There are people in the military that don't intend to do their jobs. All of us have run into the same type of people in a civilian workplace. You can't inspire them because they don't want to be inspired. You can't lead them to do what they are supposed to do because not doing it is the only control they feel they have over their lives. The only viable option for some people is to remove them or ignore them and spend your precious time on the people that are getting the mission accomplished. In many cases, the latter is your only option.

I'm no Jocko Willink or Leif Babin in terms of being a Soldier or a leader. However, I spent almost 2 decades in the military and helped numerous Soldiers go from under-performing to be very successful. I learned that in some cases, usually when someone regrets joining the military, that you just have to move on. Sometimes, in spite of what extreme ownership claims, things really aren't your fault. As a leader, most things are your fault though, so I do agree with the overall message even if extreme ownership isn't a magic bullet.

Similar people exist in a civilian context.

Hopefully people won't read the above and assume that I avoid responsibility for my mistakes. On the contrary, I was known in the military and in my civilian job as a person that was honest and forthcoming almost to a fault.

[alexpotato]

Disclaimer: I have no military experience.

Your points on the lessons he mention are very valid. The particular part of the book that matched your description of "this might not work for non SEALs" was when Jocko described how he took full responsibility for a near friendly fire incident. He goes on to say that he earned a lot of respect for being the type of leader that would take accountability. He points out, IIRC, that this respect was gained from both the enlisted men and the officers.

I remember reading that passage and thinking "I've been in plenty of orgs where if someone did that, sure, the 'enlisted' aka line employees might respect that but the 'officers' aka middle managers would immediately think: 'Ah ha! Here is some noble minded fool we can dump our problems on!' "

I'm exaggerating somewhat but only to reinforce the point that I think the book is excellent and agree with you that the lessons taught don't ALWAYS apply.

[hackermailman]

The most frustrating thing about reading that book is when you encounter management that break all the advice in there, like manufacturing nonstop excuses whenever you bring a work problem to them 'well nobody told me about it...everybody had consensus this was what we were going to do so collectively we all share blame'. After reading you can no longer tolerate this leadership style whereas before I just accepted their answers assuming that's how it worked.

[GioM]

I started that book, got about 60% of the way through, and had to put it down. It seemed like Jocko was re-teaching the same lesson over and over again from slightly different angles.

Maybe I missed something big, but that's just the way it felt to me.

[deathgrips]

I think you're missing a lot. It might seem repetitive because in almost all the stories Jocko is practicing almost all the principles at the same time, but in different chapters he definitely teaches different lessons.

[thejackgoode]

I found “Dichotomy of leadership” by them released in 2018 even better put together and formulated, I guess all these podcast skills came to play. Looking forward to second read.

[chrismatheson]

HAHA yes!

add Gruffalo, Room on the broom and Snail and the wale for me

[mrfusion]

Very clever. What about “ Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?”

Do you try to find the mouse on every page in goodnight moon?

[mathattack]

Yes! And the Rainbow Magic series - 200 books that are the equivalent of reading 1 book 200 times.

[xamuel]

The Bible (technically working on my 2nd cover-to-cover readthrough, but have read individual books in it many times, especially the Gospel of Matthew).

All of Kafka's novels, but especially "The Castle".

Several of PKD's novels: "The Man in the High Castle", "Through a Scanner Darkly", "Ubiq"

"The Silmarillion" (when I was a young adult)

Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency" (when I was a teenager)

[raztogt21]

Don't you feel The Man in the High Castle could be so much better? The premise was great and the context was great, but I could never relate to the main story.

[xamuel]

How would you improve Man in the High Castle? Like many PKD books it presents a premise which seems, naively, like a veritable paper mill that you could churn out endless books from--and then barely goes anywhere with it. That's part of PKD's style. Yes, the High Castle universe could be made to churn out whole series of formulaic literature, but it would be just that, formulaic. Go write it yourself--you don't need PKD to write it for you, once he's given you the premise.

It's like Kafka said. If you try to make a river too large, it will overflow and you'll end up with mud. There's a certain size at which a river is just right, and any more just detracts from it.

[raztogt21]

It's not about the river size. Do androids dream of electric sheep? has an amazing premise and a good "main" story.

I don't want a full universe explaining every point; just a compelling story to drive the Man in the High Castle.

[humanistbot]

Dune by Frank Herbert. This is a book I first read as a young teenager, but every time I re-read it every few years at a somewhat different point in my life, I get a different sense of it, maybe more based on where I am in my life and what is going on in the world. That for me is what makes a book endlessly re-readable: you always find something new in it. It is packed with all kinds of references and allegories to so many parts of our world, but in a way that still seems like its own world.

[raztogt21]

Just finished Dune last month, that book was on another level. Ahead of its time.

[alanfalcon]

I find myself re-listening to large portions of my audible library fairly often. I pick up so much more on additional read/listen-throughs.

I listen to or read Snow Crash at least once a year. I just enjoy most everything about it. Anathem required a couple listens, and a third listen was just for comfort food.

The Altered Carbon trilogy has depth and sublime world-building that I have now enjoyed at least a half dozen times.

I second mentions of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (and will mention The Long, Dark Tea Time of the Soul as well).

Ender’s Game is also comfort food for me.

Breaking from the speculative fiction reco’s above... The Power of Vulnerability (Brené Brown) is more lecture series than audiobook, but as for non fiction I’ve recently given multiple listens to, that tops the list.

I borrowed “Landline” from the local library, read it twice and then bought it so I could continue to read it when I want to. I think I was in just the right age group and life situation for this novel to hit home for me. Your mileage may vary, but IMO read it without knowing anything about it in advance if you’re going to read it. That means don’t read the back cover etc.

(Blind borrowing of books from the library is fun and can be eye opening, try it sometime! Most places, you can borrow eBooks and even digital audiobooks without even leaving your home as long as you have a library card.)

[syndacks]

So I know this is the opposite of what OP is asking, but I've taken the stance recently that I won't re-read another book. There are books that I would like to re-read, but they come at the opportunity cost of reading others.

A fellow traveler in a Guatemalan hostel broke it down to me like this: - let's say as an avid reader, you're able to read 12 books a year. - let's say you have 50 years of reading left in you, that means you have 600 books left to read in your lifetime

That back-of-the-napkin-math put things into perspective for me. So many great books to read, so little time. It's also for that reason that I have no qualms about putting a book down that I'm not into.

[alanfalcon]

Breadth is nice, but depth is too. I tend to gain more from a second read than from a first, and also I can consume content where I know what to expect while in a different mindset and state of being than what I require to crack open and explore something all new.

But sure, everyone is different and does things their own way. If it works for you, that’s great!

(Totally agree with putting down a book that isn’t working for you. You have no obligation, in most cases, to any book. It can be freeing to realize this if it’s not something that’s already obvious!)

[abecedarius]

Yes, this is an important point. OTOH the reality of human learning (spaced repetition, etc.) is that a book worth reading is probably worth reading again. Correspondingly you need some ruthlessness about dropping books that aren't panning out.

[trts]

For many books that I find myself thinking about for years, or just that I enjoyed very much, I will revisit them later. They can be very revealing in how my perspective has changed or that I'll identify with completely different characters, or be awed by a passage that my earlier self overlooked.

Several that come to mind are

Heart of Darkness

Moby Dick

Robinson Crusoe

Pretty much any Chekhov story

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

[wazoox]

The book I've reread the most is The Odyssey. For a long time, I've read it once every year.

Another book I've read many times is Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.

I've read Asimov's cycle of Foundation many times. Don't know how many, actually.

I've also read several times some philosophy classics, particularly Plato's Symposium, Phaedrus, Apology and Republic.

Then there are many books that I've read at least twice, almost all considered classics (from 1984 to LoTR, Great expectations to Tom Sawyer, Crime and punishment to Twenty thousand leagues under the sea, etc).

[kediz]

If you like the Foundation series, you would probably like the three body problem trilogy. The scale(both in space and time) of the story is as big if not bigger than Foundation and the story is equally fascinating. Really good read!

[LeoPanthera]

Douglas Adam's "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency".

Probably the finest work of fiction ever written, and my favorite book of all time. You kind of have to read it twice, the end completely changes the interpretation of the entire rest of the book. It's great.

Avoid spoilers, and also avoid the TV versions - not even the same story, and quite disappointing. The audiobook version, read by Douglas Adams himself, is sublime.

[lukifer]

I rather like the Max Landis Dirk Gently series, albeit as its own thing: a drastic reimagining only loosely inspired by the source material, similar to The Shining.

The 2 1/2 Dirk Gently books are Adams' finest in my opinion. HHGTTG is fun, but it doesn't hold together as a cohesive narrative in the same way. It's such a shame that we'll never know how the third book would have resolved.

[navbaker]

I tend to re-read my favorites every few years or so, my latest re-read was "A Deepness in the Sky" by Vernor Vinge. Lots to dig into in that book, but my favorite aspect of it is actually how he writes the two different cultures' points of view to skew the reader's perception of the (very) alien culture, only revealing exactly how uncomfortable humans would be around them late in the book.

[5letters]

When I've needed to laugh I've read and reread:

Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" and "Roughing It" as well as many short stories, esp. "My Watch", "Political Economy", "Journalism in Tennessee"

Also short stories from others: J.S. Perelman's "Strictly From Hunger", Alex Atkinson's "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You"

[brudgers]

The book I've read the most times is Three Little Pigs or "the wolf book" as my son used to request it just about every night for an extended period of time. Children's books dominate my most read list. And they are very important books because what's important about reading a book is mostly the experience of reading and less about the content.

The content of a book isn't static. The content is a collaboration between the words on the page and the churning and whirring in the reader's head which isn't just churning and whirring because of the book and so varies from moment to moment and varies a lot from decade to decade.

Which is why children want to hear the same story every night and why young readers often read Harry Potter several times rather than always seeking novelty in new books. Which was how I was as an early reader of science fiction.

Then for several decades I sought the novelty of new books mostly. Largely because that's how I thought of myself as an adult reader...and then one day I read The Hobbit for the umpteenth time, but the first time since I was a child and out loud because my child was a child. It reads aloud very well and that inspired me to start rereading LoTR (for the O(n * umpteen)th time and it's the literary equivalent of a 200 slide slide deck...but I digress.

The big thing is rereading is not reading the same book because of how much I've changed. I'm a much more experienced reader. Even excluding children's books I've probably read close to a hundred books through more than once.

I read Blood Meridian cover to cover and then immediately reread the whole thing on two separate occasions about twenty years apart.

All four times it was different.

To me that's a good proxy for importance.

[p4bl0]

The Campus Trilogy (Changing Places, Small World, Nice Work), by David Lodge.

DO IT!: Scenarios of the Revolution, by Jerry Rubin.

The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking A Spy Through The Maze Of Computer Espionage, by Cliff Stoll.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.

Logicomix, by Apóstolos K. Doxiàdis and Christos Papadimitriou.

Other books that I strongly recommend can be found here (some of them are in French): https://pablo.rauzy.name/miscellaneous.html#books

Update: Pirates de tous les pays, by Marcus Rediker is a translation of Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age which you can thus read in English :). It really is an awesome read! After I finished it I immidiately ordered 5 more copies to give them to friends.

[mindcrime]

There are a handful of books I have read more than once, and which I may still read more times. Offhand, I can think of:

1. The Mysterious Island - Jules Verne - read 6 or 7 times if not more, dating back to when I was in about 6th grade

2. False Memory - Dean Koontz - read probably 4 or 5 times

3. Neuromancer - William Gibson - read 3 or 4 times, at least

4. Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell - read at least twice

5. The Four Steps to the Epiphany - Steve Blank - read 2 or 3 times, skimmed parts many other times

6. Mastering The Complex Sale - Jeff Thull - read 2 or 3 times

7. Crossing the Chasm - Geoffrey Moore - read 2 or 3 times

8. Wellsprings of Knowledge - Dorothy Leonard-Barton - read 2 or 3 times

9. Common Knowledge - Nancy Dixon - read 2 or 3 times

10. Winning the Knowledge Transfer Race - Michael English & William Baker - read 2 or 3 times

[Zhyl]

The Kingkiller Chronicle.

Firstly, they're good books and are enjoyable to read a second time round.

Secondly, Rothfuss has laid down plot points like a Go player places stones. The second time reading through will join together disparate pieces of information that you wouldn't have connected together before, starting from very large revelations in the second reading of the first few chapters.

I know of other books that are so rich that you can appreciate new details on multiple readings, but none that re-contextualise the whole story with revelations hidden in plain sight.

Readings: (Name of the wind - 4 times, Wise Man's Fear 5 or 6 times - I like this one more for some reason).

[mindcrime]

By the time book three comes out, I'll have to re-read the first two, because I won't remember anything about what was going on at the end of book two.

[ljoshua]

"How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton Christensen. Absolutely love this book and have read and listened to it multiple times. Really provides a fresh perspective on life and work.

[dedalus]

- Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (All 4 Novels and 56 short stories) --> read multiple times since childhood

- "Be Here Now" by Ram Dass (read once and listened to audiobook twice)

- Flatland by Edwin Abbot Abbot --> read multiple times to understand whats going on in different levels

- Some PG Wodehouse stuff because it ages well (specifically the bibilical references)

- Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie which is absolute verbal wizardry

- Treasure Island by RLS which is a kids favorite for adventurism

[arketyp]

Some while ago I reread Richard Dawkins's The Extended Phenotype, which he has referred to as his favorite work. You could say it's the logical follow up on The Selfish Gene, quite technical and expert-oriented, but Dawkins is such a talented and lucid writer that anyone with enough intellectual thirst can follow the arguments. I regard it a piece of philosophy as much as a textbook about evolution.

[photonemitter]

I’ve read most Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett 3 or more times.

Finite and Infinite Games, by James P. Carse is another philosophical favourite when it comes to getting something new each read through.

Book of Mirdad, which is like a modern take on the Abramelin, don’t recall the author’s name, but it’s very much into the symbolic/mystic/esoteric ways and very revealing to that side without explicitly stating any “secrets”

First Law trilogy, by Abercrombie. This is what Gritty Fantasy should read like. It’s got scenes in them that I want to reread the books just to get to. Really hope these would be made into a series or films, as the cinematography in them is already perfect. Without spoiling the first book as it’s revealed early on; Logan Ninefingers is essentially a Barbarian, but throughout you get the feeling he’s deeply afraid of that side. (If you’ve watched how Mike Tyson talked about his fear of that side in him on his podcast, this is essentially it...)

There’s been other books as well, but these are the biggest reread-able ones for me.

[clairity]

i recently re-read the wisdom of crowds, ~15 years now since i first read it. still good, still relevant. there's even a section on how quickly SARS was identified in international collaboration despite no central, coordinating entity.

it's covertly a book about statistical reasoning, but with no dry statistical language, subversive in a way. we need more statistical reasoning in the world, particularly around risk assessment, to subdue fear and panic.

edit: as for fiction,

james clavell's asian saga[0] series is entertaining historical fiction, which i've read twice.

pat conroy's southern portraits, particularly the lords of discipline and the prince of tides, both wrenching, haunting, and beautiful.

also in the historical/cultural fiction realm: anna karenina, crime and punishment, a tale of two cities, les miserables.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Asian_Saga

[alexpotato]

Ender's Game and the "side-quel" Ender's Shadow.

Every single time I've reread either I've found some part of the book that resonates precisely with a situation I'm going through in my life. Even parts I thought didn't apply to me at the time, upon rereading struck a chord.

For example, when I was younger, I identified with Ender but as I've gotten older, I identify more with the adults in the book. Especially now that I have children.

On a side note, the 25th anniversary edition has an introduction that has some gems all of it's own. Notably, there is a line where Card mentions something along the lines of: when I was a child, I never thought of myself as being less of a person than an adult. I just thought of myself as a smaller adult person.

That has always stayed with me since I read it and have always tried to apply that mental model of childhood to any interaction I have with children. It has been particularly impactful now that I have my own children.

[hpoe]

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankel, it is his experience of how he managed to survive the concentration camps.

Book of Mormon

The Stormlight Archive series (Way of Kings, Words of Radience, Oathbringer) - Brandon Sanderson, I've heard it compared to the Kingkiller Chronicles in terms of depth, intricacies and overall masterfully executed plot but Sanderson is also one of the best authors at making characters real and captivating that I've ever met.

Mistborn Series (The Final Empire, Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages) by the same author as The Stormlight Archives and for the same reasons.

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis, even if you aren't religious it has helped me see so much clearly the tactics and obstacles that prevent me from being the person I want to be.

I've read quite a few more books more often but these are the books that I have reread multiple times because they have changed who I am and helped me recognize that each time I fall I can rise again a better man.

[mathattack]

Hobbit and Lord of the Rings - 3 or 4, including very recently. The latest time I appreciated his background as a writer and the stories behind the story much more. They’re worth a reread as adults.

On the business side I read Deming’s Out of the Crisis several times. The ideas are profound but the writing is mediocre so it took a few times for it to stick.

[wazoox]

Check the commentary on LoTR military tactics, hardware, etc on https://acoup.blog/, it's a hell of a rabbit hole to fall into :)

[mathattack]

That’s not a rabbit hole, it’s a bottomless pit!

[henrik_w]

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie

[madamelic]

Yep. I would re-read it on a semi-regular basis as suggested.

I need to go back to it. Unfortunately my much loved copy (with highlights and underlines) was given to a family member so now I am left with my Kindle version.

I've also listened to the millennium version twice.

[avremel]

I usually read good technical books twice. Recently did that for: Designing Data-Intensive Applications, DynamoDB Book.

[apazzolini]

Designing Data-Intensive Applications is probably one of the absolute best technical books I've read. I haven't done a second read through, but I can definitely see that being helpful.

[anoonmoose]

"The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein

"Neuromancer" and sequels by William Gibson

"Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut

I've read all of them dozens of times over. Hard to explain why, they speak my language, and help me understand myself and the world around me, kind of like my favorite bands do. Hard to put into words.

[AndrewLiptak]

A bunch of books: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (as well as several of the sequels), American Gods by Neil Gaiman, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, The Magicians by Lev Grossman, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, and a bunch of others.

[jackschultz]

These threads are posted a lot, but I still like reading the comments for new book recommendations if I see a match. Also, hopefully this can show people how great fiction is. I've seen comments that shun people for liking fiction compared to non.

For me:

Lonesome Dove

100 Years of Solitude

Catch-22

The Sellout (very relevant again)

East of Eden

Kafka on the Shore (and all the stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman)

[KKPMW]

"The problems of philosophy" by Bertrand Russell. ~8 times.

"The abolition of man" by "C.S. Lewis" 3 times.

"The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times" by René Guénon. 3 times, and planning to set a weekend for another re-read soon.

[hpoe]

I've reread the Abolition Of Man recently and found his conjecture that there may yet come a time when using psychology and technology a small group of people may be able to control everyone else eerily reminiscent to the way ML is being used to custom craft ads that push one opinion or another.

[weka]

The Count of Monte Cristo (Robin Buss version)

[abower]

Adam Hall's Quiller series. Good to revisit every few years and the mechanism of building to a crisis, then starting after the resolution and backing up is fun. Not for everyone though as it's cold war vintage spy stuff. Feels real though, not like Hollywood versin of Bond. Banks of course, Use of Weapons is great. Just hit 51 and finally reading Dune now, so keep that in mind, but would also suggest Cryptonomicon as i have started it several times, put it down and then come back and had to start again several times.... but i find it interesting enough to keep trying!

[lukifer]

I used to read The Illuminatus! Trilogy [0] once every year or two, though that's slowed down; I feel like I've gotten something new out of it every time.

I'm now taking a second pass through Unsong [1], simply because I enjoyed the first read so much.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy

[1] http://unsongbook.com/

[loganwedwards]

I read East of Eden by Steinbeck twice. It's a long read, but a great story. In fact, I don't really remember any of the story, so perhaps a third read is in my future.

[cududa]

Triumph And Tragedy of Lyndon B Johnson (his effectiveness to pass legislation fascinated me)

Harry Potter (comfort series)

Charlie Wilson’s War (it’s hilarious and informative),

Game Change (a sobering reminder of the 2008 election and how we got to today),

Lincoln’s Melancholy (on his depression).

I’ve read lots of books twice, but the above are the only I can find in my library I’ve read 3 or more times. Outside of Harry Potter, I view the figures in those books most responsible for turning points in our nations history.

[rfrey]

I can tell you that I've started Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs at least five times. Probably doesn't count.

[psychomugs]

The Catcher in the Rye and Norwegian Wood. A goal is to read them both in Japanese, as the former was translated by the author of the latter.

[BrandoElFollito]

Harry Potter.

I read most of the tomes a few times and some parts as well.

I do not like everything but the overall atmosphere (especially in the first few books) is amazing.

[vzidex]

Catch-22. It's not at all related to tech, but it's the funniest book I've ever read and I feel it helps keep me grounded.

[5letters]

I second this one. A book good both for laughs and for a cynical but not entirely inaccurate look at organizations and human behavior.

[snide]

I read East of Eden every couple years. I find it settles me and makes me believe in the goodness of Humans every time I read it.

[syndacks]

So this is one of the few books that I have re-read. First I read it in high school, secondly as an adult. I was severely let down. I'd go into details why, but I think this sums it up pretty well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_of_Eden_(novel)#Reception

_timshel_

[MaurizioPz]

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - great story and also quite a nice introduction to rationality. There's also an audiobook https://hpmorpodcast.com/?page_id=56

[thebillywayne]

The Dune series is so rich in ideas and imagery. I've read it (print and audio) more than 20 times.

[me_smith]

The Hobbit - Tolkien Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth Book 1) - Goodkind Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth Book 6) - Goodkind Ender's Game - Card 1984 - Orwell

I'm looking to read Asimov's Foundation series again. Maybe spend more time with Hyperion.

[ganstyles]

The Power Broker

The excellent series on Lyndon Johnson by the same author as The Power Broker

The Three Body Problem series

[dustingetz]

Joy of Clojure https://www.manning.com/books/the-joy-of-clojure-second-edit...

[photawe]

Code Complete - 2 times: clearly it's a good book. The selfish gene - 2 times - that's not programming wise, but it's an awesome book to get your thoughts rolling.

[Okkef]

I've read all of discworld by Terry Pratchett at least three times. I'm almost finished with my second sequential reading. It's comfort food in book form for me.

[photonemitter]

Second this.

In the ongoing protests etc. I’ve realised how much the stories about Vimes have shaped my ideas of what a policeman should be.

[ajstiles]

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, every three years or so.

[criddell]

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller and Neuromancer by William Gibson. Both of these I've read twice.

The Dog Stars held up well on my second reading. Neuromancer did not.

[zeroxfe]

1984 -- my all-time fav book. I've read it more than 10 times, because it's a beautiful dystopian love story that moves me like no other.

[geoah]

The sprawl (neuromancer etc) and the Jean le Flambeur (quantum thief) trilogies. Both are packed with very interesting concepts and characters.

[jrs235]

The Underachiever's Manifesto: The Guide to Accomplishing Little and Feeling Great

and

The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development

[kencausey]

Every book published by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. and Iain M. Banks (I need to make more of an effort to do the same for Iain Banks. :)

[hwj]

Bible.

Even rereading the same chapter sometimes makes me discover something a wasn't aware of when reading the text before.

[2rsf]

If you are into that, try learning Hebrew and join a Rabbi there are endless books and discussion interpreting the bible.

[booknobook]

I and Thou by Martin Buber Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse On Having No Head by Douglas E. Harding

[stratosgear]

Roger Zelazny's, the Amber series. I only like Corwin story arc. Must have read them 5 or 6 times...

[lennyscales]

- Sapiens - Richard Dawkin's books

[vavooom]

Would recommend checking out Guns, Germs, And Steel if you liked Sapiens. More grounded in research and less hypothetical story-telling on what drove human development in history.

[xutopia]

Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan. It just is amazing in so many ways but it is hard to describe.

[thanato0s]

The little prince. I don't count how many read anymore.

I'm not kidding either. Best book ever.

[ckarmann]

The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin

Harry Potter - JK Rowling (re-read it all when the last book came out)

[pier25]

- Sapiens

- The Lord of the Rings

- Siddhartha

- Chaos: Making a New Science

- The Death Gate cycle books

- Neuromancer

- Head First Design Patterns

- Valis

- Dune

- The name of the rose

I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones off the top of my head.

[tonyhb]

"Island" - Aldous Huxley.

"Principles" - Ray Dalio.

"On the shortness of life" - Seneca.

[chrisa]

Fiction: The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Non-fiction: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

[chrismatheson]

All the Ian M Banks Culture series. Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon

[justinzollars]

Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, Dune, Shoe Dog, On The Road

[tkjef]

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Read it every year from 3rd grade to 8th.

[dmasi]

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson on audiobook about a dozen times.

[peter-m80]

Various from Isaac Asimov. Specially from the robots saga

[playingchanges]

The Razors Edge - Somerset Maugham

Siddhartha - Herman Hesse

The Hobbit - Tolkien

[gao8a]

Stranger in a strange land - Robert Heinlein

[Slumberthud]

The Disappearance of the Universe - 4 times

[novalis78]

“How to get what you want” by Raymond Hull

[starpilot]

Anna Karenina, 3x in two translations

Skunk Works

Intelligent Investor

Man Who Was Thursday

[Apreche]

AKIRA

[british_india]

“Time Enough For Love”, by Robert Heinlein. It’s the life story of a man who lives 2,300 years.

[cecja]

The Art of Electronics

The Hitchhiker

The Idiot

The Wealth of Nations

and sadly Concrete Mathematics... not because it is a bad book but because I suck at math.

[filtercoffee37]

Invested by Charles Schwab.