I started reading Paul Graham's Hackers and Painters this weekend, in somewhat of a random order. I've read five essays so far and have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. It is not so much that they are introducing me to new ideas as expressing in an interesting way ideas I've had for a while. So I found myself not so much saying "I'd never thought of that before" as "I'd never thought of putting it that way before".
Clearly, I'm coming at the book already sharing many of Paul Graham's views. I'm not sure the book would convince people who hold alternative views to change their mind. This is evidenced by the strikingly bi-modal distribution of ratings on Amazon.com:
But certainly I'm recommending the book to non-hacker friends as well as to friends I already know share a lot of the same perspective.