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Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

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Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#121

Post by volkl48 »

miketek11 wrote: post #89

The big ones for me: 1) Antifragile by Taleb (Skin in the Game is so far excellent as well) 2) The Border Trilogy by McCarthy 3) The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky 4) East of Eden by Steinbeck 5) Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut

Taleb's books are something I almost hate to recommend.

I don't like a lot of his attitude (arrogance) and I'm not sure I'd call them all that well written either. He likes to ramble and seems to cram as many "SAT words" as possible into his writing, even when simpler/more commonly used words would done the job just as well.

With that said, they're some of the books that have made me reconsider the world around me the most and he has a very interesting take on the world.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#122

Post by bmpafa »

All of these are novels. In my 20s I felt guilty and frivolous for reading fiction, but eventually I realized I could learn a lot more walking in a protagonist's shoes than I could reading self help etc.

'My Struggle' by knausgard. Lengthy but worth it, even if you only read book 1. On face it's just the angst of some middle class writer, but following him into the recesses of his own introspection is really something.

The borderlands trilogy, Cormac McCarthy. This guy tackles major existential questions in his fairly simple (but dark) stories. it'd help to have basic grasp of Spanish for these books

And maybe my favorite book, Lullabies for little criminals by Heather O'Neill. It's about a little girl who's being raised by a junky and is coerced into prostitution. Obviously a very dark premise, but the way the protagonist experiences it made me think a lot about resilience, relative hardship,etc.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#124

Post by moretai »

zuzuleinen wrote: post #12

I highly recommend 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. This book gave me the courage to take responsibility in my life and start working towards things which are important for myself. As the author once said, you don't get not to pay a price, you only get what price to pay. It actually gave me the courage to leave Berlin and go back to my country(Romania) which even though is more poor and low in quality of publ…

You remember how Ryan Holiday got pretty famous quite a while back? I like Jordan Peterson, but I fear that he's the same kind of phenomenon. He's just curating all these sources, and we view him as a genius and a pancea for our anxiety ridden young adults.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#126

Post by tryonqc »

Book: Vagabonding: an uncommon guide to the art of long-term world travel.

Why ? Opened a world of possibilities to me. Changed my mindset on a lot of topics. His books don't offer many answers, but helped me put my goals / life into perspective.

excerpt: “There is still an overwhelming social compulsion — an insanity of consensus, if you will — to get rich from life rather than live richly, to “do well” in the world instead of living well. And, in spite of the fact that America is famous for its unhappy rich people, most of us remain convinced that just a little more money will set life right. In this way, the messianic metaphor of modern life becomes the lottery — that outside chance that the right odds will come together to liberate us from financial worries once and for all. Fortunately, we were all born with winning tickets — and cashing them in is a simple matter of altering our cadence as we walk through the world.”

there's a full free chapter on Tim's website: https://tim.blog/2010/05/12/living-well-vs-doing-well/

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#127

Post by emodendroket »

bambataa wrote: post #93
emodendroket wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely hated this book.

Why so? It appears to be in vogue at the moment but it doesn’t seem to be saying anything novel.

As you allude to, the basic idea is the same stuff you've heard if you've read anything about "mindfulness." Basically a lite Buddhism -- a lot of your unhappiness comes from a constant spigot of unbidden thought you can't shut off and you can improve your life by learning how to shut it off and be absolutely focused in the present moment, through exercises like meditation. I think this is a bit oversold but not bad.

But that's not really enough to have a media empire and series of books, so the book is larded with all kinds of ridiculous claims, including risible Biblical exegesis, an attribution of various historical atrocities live Kristallnacht to a failure to like In the Now, an extended discourse about how living In the Now can make menstruation a rapturous experience rather than a painful one, and obviously bogus claims about how living In the Now will actually cause the molecules of your body to spread out and make your body less dense.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#128

Post by taeric »

perseusprime11 wrote: post #118
hudon wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to understand why he uses religion so much as I did (I've always considered myself an atheist), his lecture series here goes into it in much greater depth: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22J3VaeABQD_IZs7y60I... He's dedicated his life in trying to explain why the atrocities of the 20th century happened and how they can be prevented. I believe he sees our rejection of religion as part of the probl…

But still that means he wants to believe in something that does not exist. The fact that we depend on God and religion is what actually takes our sight out of what is right in front of us which is family, kids, neighbors, little things, etc. Why do we need to attribute these things to God? Can’t we all be nice to each other without God?

Have you read him? More, are you even trying to represent his position?

I don't think you have to fully understand or agree with him. In large, I don't. Your paragraph, though, is a gross deliberate misunderstanding of his view. :(

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#129

Post by sampl »

teddyh wrote: post #97

I keep coming across this blog post, and each time I read it, I find myself liking it: 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-yo...

Some good points that article, but the “ABC” speech in Glengarry Glenn Ross is not a good compass to guide your life.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#130

Post by taeric »

moretai wrote: post #124
zuzuleinen wrote: post #12

I highly recommend 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. This book gave me the courage to take responsibility in my life and start working towards things which are important for myself. As the author once said, you don't get not to pay a price, you only get what price to pay. It actually gave me the courage to leave Berlin and go back to my country(Romania) which even though is more poor and low in quality of publ…

You remember how Ryan Holiday got pretty famous quite a while back? I like Jordan Peterson, but I fear that he's the same kind of phenomenon. He's just curating all these sources, and we view him as a genius and a pancea for our anxiety ridden young adults.

Nothing wrong with curating sources, is there? Yes, in large he is sharing his learnings from studying old sources. Mostly religious. Not all Christian. But mostly.

I think he would be delighted if he got more people to go to the sources. I could, of course, be wrong.

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