# Do you have any go-to books...? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 23, 2016, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871 "2016-02-23T11:51:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![quantumleap2016](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f08c70/32.png) [@quantumleap2016](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quantumleap2016)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/21 "2016-02-25T03:15:42Z")
I think it also depends on where you need inspiration…for example since I am working on a fiction book I am reading fiction books to stay motivated. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/22 "2016-02-25T21:24:12Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Norton Juster’s _The Phantom Tollbooth._ +1 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/23 "2016-02-25T21:46:17Z")
The writings of Michel de Montaigne, who wrote in the 1500’s and created the essay, and, it has been said, was the first blogger - writing his thoughts down and seeing where they went. A great way in is a book called **How to Live: A Life of Montaigne** , which I discuss in this thread: [Wonderful, wise book - How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne... - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=593556) ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/24 "2016-02-25T22:52:11Z")
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Walden By Thoreau, Tao Te Ching, and almost everything by Heinlein, Pratchett and A.A Milne. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/25 "2016-02-25T23:52:34Z")
Richard Bach: “Illusions - The adventures of a reluctant Messiah” ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/26 "2016-02-25T23:59:05Z")
When I need inspiration, I usually read books that most people call depressing. It’s kind of cathartic, I guess. Besides anything by Stephen R Donaldson, I often fall back on [Armor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_%28novel%29)by John Steakley (think Starship Troopers with more nihilism and less politics). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/27 "2016-02-26T00:11:40Z")
Not so much recently, but back in the day I was never far from my copy of Kernighan & Ritchie. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/28 "2016-02-26T00:15:41Z")
The king of one-liners, Maxims of François de La Rochefoucauld. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/29 "2016-02-26T00:16:27Z")
> [@Nightfall1](#): > > Looking out for #1 > By Robert Ringer > Whenever I get down about the world or about my place in the world. Picks me right up. Then you’ll also want to read _How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World_ by Harry Browne, which I think came out some years earlier. Robert Ringer had first published a book called _Winning Through Intimidation_ which was a how-to-get-rich book that largely taught you how to be Donald Trump. _Looking Out For #1_ came out somewhat later, in which he largely repudiated everything he had written in his earlier book (at one point, even explicitly), but I thought the whole book was very much just a rip-off of Browne’s work. ETA: I do, however, live my life to this day by the wisdom of Ringer’s “Iceball Theorem”: One hundred million years from now, when the Sun is burned out and the Earth is a frozen ice ball, _none of this will matter._ ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/30 "2016-02-26T03:06:38Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. On a similar note **Zen to Go** by Jon Winokur, which is just a short collection of quotes, some from Zen masters, others just Zen-like quotes by celebrities. But Pirsig’s book is part of why I’ll eventually own a 60s Honda motorcycle. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/31 "2016-02-26T03:40:16Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Robert Ringer had first published a book called _Winning Through Intimidation_ which was a how-to-get-rich book that largely taught you how to be Donald Trump. _Looking Out For #1_ came out somewhat later, in which he largely repudiated everything he had written in his earlier book (at one point, even explicitly), but I thought the whole book was very much just a rip-off of Browne’s work. I have read both of Ringer’s books several times, and haven’t got the idea that he had repudiated \*anything \*from his first one. Can you give a quote? ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/32 "2016-02-26T04:16:36Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Norton Juster’s _The Phantom Tollbooth._ There has been a copy of this on my nightstand since I was given one as a birthday present on my 9th birthday. Another book that tends to put me back together when I’m flying apart is “A Girl of the Limberlost” by Gene Stratton-Porter. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/33 "2016-02-26T06:05:05Z")
I’ll third, or fourth or fifth Pratchett, especially the Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching novels. His vision of witchcraft, which has nothing to do with spells, incantations, or dancin’ about without yer drawers, is instead about First Sight (seeing what’s _really_ there), Third Thoughts (thinking about what you’re thinking, and, crucially, _why_), and, most importantly, doing for them as can’t do for themselves. Sometimes, the most magical thing you can do is scrub a floor. Pratchett’s tough-minded, warm-hearted humanism is the ideal to which I strive, and so often fail, to emulate. Veering aside from the OP a bit, when I’m frazzled or anxious, I’ll watch YouTube videos of luthiers making violins, or cobblers making shoes, or hatters blocking hats. Watching a craftsman or -woman make something with her own hands is tremendously soothing and centering for me. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/34 "2016-02-26T08:06:32Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I have read both of Ringer’s books several times, and haven’t got the idea that he had repudiated \*anything \*from his first one. Can you give a quote? Sorry, I read those about 30 years ago when they were new-ish, so I don’t remember much in detail (except for the Iceball Theorem). That was definitely the impression that I remember coming away with. I do remember that, at one point, he explicitly wrote something along the lines of “You don’t need to intimidate everybody” or something like that. Anybody else here remember these books enough to help us out here? ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/35 "2016-02-26T08:41:01Z")
_The Anatomy Of Melancholy_. ---
**Author:** ![Nightfall1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/36 "2016-02-28T02:45:35Z")
When Ringer used the word Intimidate he didn’t mean being a bully or pushing people around. He meant it as in having all your ducks in a row. Knowing what you want and being prepared to go after it. Having all the paperwork done. Being able to walk away from a deal if it doesn’t suit your needs. Laying it all out, what you want and what the other person wants. Having both sides being happy with the deal. If just one side is happy you’ve made money on that deal but you lose future deals with the unhappy person. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871/37 "2016-02-28T19:38:16Z")
Catch-22 has been my “bible” for all my adult life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-go-to-books/746871.md?page=1)