When I was 18, I read Gödel Escher Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid on Minds and Machines in the Spirit of Lewis Carol, by Douglas R Hofstader. It's a book that won a pullitzer prize in the 1970s and is about maths and formal logic, but really gives you a flavour of how consciousness might come about.
Not a book recommendation, but Star Trek TNG has had a huge influence on my life and was (and still is) one of my biggest inspirations to get into engineering. It’s also filled with philosophy as well as things like leadership advice, etc.<p>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 (<a href="https://youtu.be/vMKtKNZw4Bo" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/vMKtKNZw4Bo</a>), and just general Philosopher King speeches from Picard (<a href="https://youtu.be/Jph2qWXJ-Tk" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/Jph2qWXJ-Tk</a>)
"A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy [1]. An autobiographical story of Tolstoy's "search for meaning" when he was, I believe, around the same age. A masterpiece in around 80 pages.<p>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.<p>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.<p>It's a book on thoughtful frugality, if you will.<p>1: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession</a><p>2: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lund_Fisker" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lund_Fisker</a>
At that age I can only recommend to you to read fiction as well. Classic literature and philosophy will enrich your mind.<p>Instead of tech/science books, let me throw something else at you:<p>Jacque Fresco "The Best That Money Can't Buy" [1].<p>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.<p>David Graeber "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology" [3]<p>===<p>[1] <a href="https://www.amazon.de/Best-That-Money-Cant-Buy-ebook/dp/B0773TB3GX" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.de/Best-That-Money-Cant-Buy-ebook/dp/B077...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Robert-David-Steele/dp/1583944435" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Robert-David-Steele/dp/1583944435</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.amazon.de/-/en/David-Graeber-ebook/dp/B00MAPBIYA" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.de/-/en/David-Graeber-ebook/dp/B00MAPBIYA</a>
I'd highly recommend "rich dad poor dad."<p>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.
Looking back on what I read when I was around your age, I think I benefitted less from reading entire books straight through than I did from browsing through magazines and books as my interests led me. I spent a lot of time in libraries, wandering the stacks and reading rooms and stopping to read whatever caught my eye. Bound volumes of old general-interest magazines—<i>The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Strand Magazine</i>—were particularly absorbing, though I also dipped into a lot of books.<p>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.<p>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.<p>[1] <a href="https://archive.org/details/notesqueries12unse_0" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/notesqueries12unse_0</a><p>[2] <a href="https://archive.org/details/blackwoodsedinb191unkngoog" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/blackwoodsedinb191unkngoog</a><p>[3] <a href="https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-magazine_1903-03_106_634/mode/2up" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-magazine_1903-03_106...</a><p>[4] <a href="https://archive.org/details/authenticaccount01stau" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/authenticaccount01stau</a><p>[5] <a href="https://archive.org/details/russiannihilisme00buel" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/russiannihilisme00buel</a><p>[6] <a href="https://archive.org/details/cottonkingdomtra00inolms" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/cottonkingdomtra00inolms</a>
The answer I really want to give, but which isn't very helpful, is: go to a bookstore or to Amazon, find something that looks interesting to you, and buy it.<p>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.<p>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.<p><a href="https://www.sportsfirings.com/?p=1401" rel="nofollow">https://www.sportsfirings.com/?p=1401</a>
I have a list books on my mind but if I have to choose one, I would say "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn" by Richard Hamming. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Art-Doing-Science-Engineering-Learning/dp/1732265178" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Art-Doing-Science-Engineering-Learnin...</a>
Read “ The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists”. It’s ultimately a work of fiction but there are some mind fuck ideas and perspective shifts there that are worth toying around with as a young man and searching for your own balance between his ideas and your vision of yourself.
Why not buy three?
1. Should be Required reading for any rising senior at High School- Psychocybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. I got this for my 43 birthday and you will have a huge head start over others.
2. Flow- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi masterclass in writing exposition. Essentially how to find happiness in everything in life
3. The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime- cringy title but packed with practical nuggets on how to earn a living and create wealth outside of the scripted 9-5/30 years of employment. Very in your face but I am trying hard to apply what this book teaches.
Good luck!
Omg, please do me a favour and read this book:<p>Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter And How To Make The Most Of Them Now<p>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.
Non-violent Communication
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71730.Nonviolent_Communication" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71730.Nonviolent_Communi...</a><p>The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36072.The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36072.The_7_Habits_of_Hi...</a><p>Principles by Ray Dalio
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34536488-principles" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34536488-principles</a>
Psychology of Money is a light read that might give you some foundation for finances as you enter adulthood.<p>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!
Thinking Mathematically by Mason, Burton, and Stacey. It helps with solving math problems and in the process teaches heuristics to improve self-awareness and observational skills.
This is a very interesting book: "Quantum Economics: The New Science of Money"<p>It covers economics, finance, history and quantum physics in an engaging way.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40051046-quantum-economics" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40051046-quantum-econ...</a>
Last non-fiction book I read was “A Plague Upon Our House” by dr. Scott Atlas. Good one, can recommend, but it might be too depressing for a birthday, it’s about COVID and modern politics.<p>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.
I expect I'll get a lot of flak for this one, but I'd like to suggest the "4 hour work week" by Tim Ferriss. I've read it at about the same age and it had a profound effect on me.<p>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.
"I could give you no advice but this: to go into yourself and to explore the depths where your life wells forth" -Rilke<p><a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke#Letters_to_a_Young_Poet_(1934)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke#Letters_to_...</a>
I would have benefitted from reading “Ego is the Enemy” and any title on mindfulness from Jon Kabat Zinn. But at that age I was probably too hot headed and insane and immature to actually read them. Sigh. So instead I learned everything the hard way.
Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is always worth having a look at.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but I greatly enjoyed it at around that age.<p>Ed Thorp's autobiography "A man for all markets" is fun, in particular if you're interested in maths, gambling or finance.
Not a book per se but read about the Philosophy of anarchism. More specifically the social and human aspects of it.<p>And stay way from "Anarcho-capitalist" there are not anarchist even if they dream about it...
I'm pretty sure I'll get downvoted, but Ashlee Vance's book on Elon Musk. Hear me out. I'm not recommending it for Elon's story but more to understand how to build companies, understand complex problems, look for great talent and how to build better systems by looking at things from a slightly different perspective. I read it when I was 18 as well and I learnt that Tesla wasn't actually (not entirely) Elon's acheivement. It was actually JB Straubel's passion project. As an engineer, I deeply admire JB and the things he has acheived (by being at the helm of Tesla), and what he will acheive through Redwood Materials, his new recycled batteries project. If his resillence and stint at Tesla/Stanford etc are any indication, we can soon expect some revolutionary things from him (once again).<p>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.<p>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.<p>My two cents.
It is -- and it isn't -- fiction, but "The Crow Road" by Iain Banks has been useful to me to reflect on what inter-generational relationships and communities mean and how they develop over time. Enjoy your literary journey.
I'm huge on investing. I believe building wealth is extremely important and 18 is a great time to start.<p>Therefore, I would recommend "The simple path to wealth" and "The little book of common sense investing".
David Allen - Getting things done<p>Steven Pressfield - The War of Art + Turning Pro<p>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)