When comparing Rationality: From AI to Zombies vs Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Slant community recommends Rationality: From AI to Zombies for most people. In the question“What are the most influential books every programmer should read?” Rationality: From AI to Zombies is ranked 22nd while Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is ranked 32nd. The most important reason people chose Rationality: From AI to Zombies is:
Your intelligence is being used to defeat itself. Learn how to stop that.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Will make you smarter
Your intelligence is being used to defeat itself. Learn how to stop that.
Pro Mindblowing ideas
From (friendly) AI to (philosophical) zombies. Also Pebblesorters. And why humans are insane.
Pro Fictional interludes
These are quality science fiction short stories in their own right.
Pro Funny
Pro Engaging
Pro Referenced all the time
Programmers seem to love this book. The whole reason I read it was that my professors referenced it all the time in college, and I see references to it all the time when looking up how to use this, that, or the other new tool I've been learning to use.
Cons
Con Not enough citations
Just Google it.
Con Has some highly technical references in places
Things like physics (relativity, quantum mechanics), mathematics and computer programming. Scared? Didn't think so.
Con Long
The chapters are relatively short and digestible essays and short stories. The problem: there are 333 of them. On paper, this would take volumes, but this is an ebook. You'll get a lot out of it long before you finish though.
Con Not actually a programming book
But that wasn't what the question was. The question was what are the most influential books.