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Comment by spicyusername | Hacker News Reader

I was very influenced by Kurt Vonnegut when I was a teenager. Coming of age is a perfect time to learn that the fact that life is absurd doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't laugh, just the opposite. Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse Five are some of my favorite books of his.

As an adult, I've been very influenced by the late Daniel Dennett and his naturalist philosophy. Books like From Bacteria to Bach and Back or Darwin's Dangerous Idea.

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Agree with both.

If you like Vonnegut, perhaps try the fiction of J.G.Ballard.

Empire of the Sun is rightly famous, it is autobiography - but read that too. If you are American, you might not know that other things happened at the same time as the attack on Pearl Harbor [Yes, it was 8 December 1941 in Hong Kong, but across the dateline, so contemporaneous. IIRC 8am Honolulu to 6am HK is +4 hours].

Vonnegut was such a genius. His books mostly light reading. Funny and fully of goofy sci-fi tropes. All building up to revelatory philosophical lessons about human nature. "We are what we pretend to be" hit me like a ton of bricks. Right up there with "We are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you any different."

Great choices!

I've read Vonnegut sporadically and decided this year to read through all his books. Sirens of Titan is an old favorite I've read multiple times, but I reread it about two weeks ago, and Slaughterhouse Five a few months ago.

Same, I didn't like reading much at all but Kurt Vonnegut really connected with me.

Player Piano has felt more relevant in this new AI age

For another take on Vonnegut, my favorite of his were Bluebeard and God Bless You Mr. Rosewater.

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