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Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?

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141–150 of 225 posts

Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?

#141
Nineteen Eighty Four- George Orwell

I read this in high-school, and I can see very clearly how it has influenced my thinking up to the current day (and I'm 45 now). I would definitely say this book was a big part of influencing my to my strongly anti-state / anti-government position. I was so angry at the end of that book, and that still resonates with me today.

Orwell might not have been a libertarian himself, but his book helped make at least one, whether that's what he intended or not. :-)

Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?

#142
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would second the 4-Hour Workweek, yet I am still searching for a profitable idea. How long did it take you from reading the book to reaching the ability to quit your job?

It took me about four years. It would've been faster if I knew then what I know now.

Go on...

Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?

#147

The divided mind / healing back pain - Books by John E. Sarno. To give you a background I have struggled with back pain all my life. After dozens of MRIs, X rays, physiotherapy, ayurveda, yoga, posture exercises, and spending almost 100,000 in the last 15 years on this, a simple book saved me. The effect was so powerful that I could feel the symptoms fading while I was reading it. It gave me my life back. A few weeks…

I haven't read the book, but from watching the video it sounds like the main idea of it is to practice mindfulness.

Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?

#148
post #43

The Toyota Way - one of the most important books I've read to help understand why companies are dysfunctional. I knew corporate America (and even many startups) were so dysfunctional, but I didn't know what could replace it. The Toyota Way shows a bright path to the ideal. And makes me realize how far we are from that.

Its not the tools its the ideology that matters is basically why many companies are dysfunctional, from what I remember reading about Toyota Way

Re: Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?

#150

The divided mind / healing back pain - Books by John E. Sarno. To give you a background I have struggled with back pain all my life. After dozens of MRIs, X rays, physiotherapy, ayurveda, yoga, posture exercises, and spending almost 100,000 in the last 15 years on this, a simple book saved me. The effect was so powerful that I could feel the symptoms fading while I was reading it. It gave me my life back. A few weeks…

I haven't read the book, but from watching the video it sounds like the main idea of it is to practice mindfulness.

Not sure if it is that simple. The main idea at least as per what I understood is that there is nothing wrong with your back or structure.

People with multiple herniated discs, "pinched nerves", etc never have back pain yet people with no structural abnormality suffer from paralyzing pains.

The reason is your mind. The logic being your brain tries to hide difficult emotions aka stress and most specifically repressed anger (which you may be even unaware off) by creating physical pain by creating oxygen deprevation in some nerves (which is totally harmless like a cramp but feels like the end of the world to you).

So the pain is real and measurable even though harmless. Regardless, this creates fear and you start believing that the problem in your disc bulge, herniation, etc which is causing it. This is my own interpretation but it's the fear of pain more than pain that makes it into a debilitating pain.

Once you add all the advice on sitting like this and standing like that and getting into the car like this plus problems from your MRI, X Ray and more and more things you are doing wrong, you start believing there is something actually very wrong with you. Yet is not the cause of it but just your repressed emotions.

So long story short as soon as you start believing your body is fine and it your emotions causing the pain, the pain loses its purpose and goes away (that's why people who have been struggling for years get better in 2 to 3 weeks).

The best part is you don't even have to fix the emotions, Just knowing your issue is not structural will make you better.

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