The Surrender Experiment
Autobiography of a Yogi
Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
111–120 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#112Modern Physics and Anti-physics by Adolph Baker. Understanding what science is as process and theory helped me distinguish science and pseudo-science in a major way.
Also: A Pattern Language, The Design of Everyday Things, and An Introduction to General System Thinking, the latter by Gerald Weinberg
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#113Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. Bottom line: judge your success in life by how well you make your decisions, not by your outcome. You have full control of your decisions, and often no control at all over their results.
A similar line of thinking is Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts. A good discussion on the book can be found here: https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-make-better-d...
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0735216355/ref=tmm_h...
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#114Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom (https://www.amazon.com/Closing-American-Mind-Education-Impov...) was a book I had to read multiple times. It gave me a new understanding of how deep culture and environment really do influence your opinions of the world. I spend a lot more time reflecting on my own opinions about the world and I'm much more mindful of the opinions I declare publicly because of this book.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#115“Our Mathematical Universe” by the cosmologist Max Tegmark.
https://www.amazon.com/Our-Mathematical-Universe-Ultimate-Re...
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#116Mutual Aid by Kropotkin
Was brought up in a very toxicly pop-libertarian household, and it really opened my eyes to how much all of nature (including human culture more specifically) depends on working together towards common goals.
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#117One book that changed me was reading Master and Margarita in Russian for the first time. It was the first book I started reading I could not put down until the end. Gained a lot of appreciation for literature at that time. The other book that I enjoyed and changed me was ‘The Wisdom of Insecurity’ by Alan Watts. I was a fan of Alan Watts works through his lectures already and it was wonderful to hear his ideas in wri…
Thanks for mentioning Bulhakow. This is my all time most favourite book.
I mean, come on, the devil himself vs the communist party of Russia, sprinkled with loads of humour. What else do you need?
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#118"Baghavad gita" and "A new kind of science"
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#119'A Little Life' by Hanya Yanagihara
and
'In Order to 'Live' by Yeonmi Park
Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?
#120Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. Bottom line: judge your success in life by how well you make your decisions, not by your outcome. You have full control of your decisions, and often no control at all over their results.
If you enjoyed Marcus Aurelius, you'd probably enjoy reading Seneca.
"On The Shortness of Life"[1] is my favorite work of his, though there are many other gems among his letters.
[1] - https://tripinsurancestore.com/4/on-the-shortness-of-life.pd...