The Dark Beyond the Stars left a strong impression in me that human life is the most precious thing in existence, even if it’s someone you don’t like. The universe would be so empty without it. Millennial here.

Also Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I know there’s controversy around his writing but his observation that 10,000 hours seems to be a requirement (but not a guarantee) to become a master at something was inspiring to me. Around the same time I realized people often attribute intelligence to someone’s success when it turns out that person put in long hours and hard work. If you spend a lot of time thinking/working at something, you may likely appear very intelligent. I found this incredibly motivating; I’ve seen many people with a sense of “I’m not smart enough” when it’s really “I haven’t put enough time into it”, and I try to encourage these people to pursue their interests anyway, and that they can do it. Usually it’s around math/CS topics.