Ok this question is a shameless attempt to find out what the HN community has been reading in 2013 but the caveat is that the book must have had a meaningful impact in the way you live your life. That's fairly open ended and can include anything such as new programming languages learned, health and fitness, investment philosophy, relationships and so on. Choosing one book is an artificial constraint but it does help with focusing on that one big change. Also the book doesn't have to be from 2013 only that you read it during the year and it in some way changed your life.
The most significant book for me was in the area of health and fitness as I finally read The 4-Hour Body (2010) by Tim Ferris. I'd read about many of the topics he covers before but they just didn't stick until The 4-Hour Body. What I like about Tim's approach is that one should experiment to see what works rather than following a rigid plan. I tried many of his suggestions and some worked for me while others didn't. The binge day was particularly bad so now I just follow the same plan every day; as well I had to increase the amount of carbs before my last meal of the day to get a better sleep. But experimentation and tracking my results has made all the difference from other diet and exercise changes I've attempted in the past. It's definitely worth the read even if experimentation and tracking are the only things you get from the book.
Thanks for a great community and I look forward to your suggestions.
I'll choose Daniel Kahneman - Thinking, Fast and Slow (http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman-ebo...).
The way it changed my life was to make me actually think more about the way my mind operates, the decisions I make and the way these decisions affect my life. As a consequence, there were a few books I read later that were loosely related to this one in the way that they all refer to the way people think.
Barry Schwartz - The Paradox of Choice
Steven Pinker - How the Mind Works
Nassim Taleb - The Black Swan; and Fooled by Randomness
Leonard Mlodinov - The Drunkard's Walk (quite similar to Fooled by Randomness)
Carol Dweck - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Neil Postman / Andrew Postman - Amusing Ourselves to Death
Rolf Dobelli - The Art of Thinking Clearly (just started)
On my reading list now:
Quiet by Susan Cain - mentioned already
The Better Angels of Our Nature - Steven Pinker
Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs and Steel
Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash
Jared Diamond - The World Until Yesterday
Also, did not quite change my life, but very recommended:
Neal Stephenson - Anathem.
You may have to struggle through the beginning, but as soon as I understood the way the world he devised operates, I was thrilled completely.