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Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?

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Re: Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?

#151

Post by stinkytaco »

observation wrote: post #109

One book more than any other: The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Why? Darwin opens up the door of Deep Time when he explained his discovery. An appreciation of the immensity of time happens to be linked to explanations of how and why things are. Wolfe also deals with Deep Time but in the context of society. What Gene Wolfe does is he creates books where you need to read between the lines, you need to create hypot…

You would probably enjoy Anathem by Neal Stephenson. It's also about deep time.

Re: Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?

#155

Post by afarrell »

RealityNow wrote: post #83

Debt, the first 5,000 Years (David Graeber) - Learned that most of history has been communist (eg. hunter gatherer societies), shops of the past were run on credit (eg. tally sticks), money/capitalism tended to emerge with the rise of the state, taxing to feed soldiers for war, and that the drive to pay off one's debt fueled a lot of the cruelty of mankind (eg. Hernan Cortez, Casimir). 21 Things they don't tell you a…

> money/capitalism tended to emerge with the rise of the state, taxing to feed soldiers for war

There is actually a musical about the way that the US federal government and financial system were founded in order to be able to provide capital for warfighting.

Re: Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?

#156

Post by sirspacey »

vpribish wrote: post #141
shubhamjain wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Debt, the first 5,000 years - for understanding money and finance from the ground up Having picked this a few weeks ago, I am finding it hard to finish because of the ponderous writing. I admit that first few chapters were a revelation, but the cultural verbosity regarding everything becomes wearing quickly. "The Ascent of Money" is much better primer on the evolution of financial system.

I started "The Ascent of Money" and was very happy with the first half or so - then I set it aside for a few years and worked for a hedge fund. When I picked the book up again I couldn't stand how basic, boring, and mistaken the second half was. I wish I could follow your example and suggest a better book :)

enlighten us - what did you learn?

Re: Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?

#157

Post by stinkytaco »

Just a few that haven't been mentioned, because I cross over with several others:

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bitman. Not so much my mental model, but it's the only book I could ever say "changed my life".

Implementation - (https://www.amazon.com/Implementation-Expectations-Washingto...) This is a great discussion of how best intention in government go awry once they are implemented. It explores how each step makes sense, but something always seems to go wrong.

The Day the Universe Changed (slightly cheating since this was the companion to the TV show, but stands as an excellent book) - How certain innovations changed the way the world works and the way we see ourselves.

Re: Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?

#158

Post by MK999 »

spookyuser wrote: post #43

What is a Mental Model? I've heard this word tossed around so much recently and I still don't feel like I understand what it means.

if you are unsurprised by events then your mental model is very good its an understanding of the world that allows you to predict behavior, political events, markets, etc

Re: Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?

#160

Post by selimthegrim »

lolive wrote: post #105
etplayer wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Foucault's Pendulum What's this about? >Critique of Pure Reason What did you find particular challenging to your worldview? As a side note, you may be interested in Critique of Pure Tolerance which has an essay by Robert Wolff and Marcuse. Have you seen The Dialectic of Enlightenment ?

Foucault's pendulum is Dan Brown power 1 billion. A super story about the secrets of history. I never managed to read it (it IS dense). But as a audiobook, it was superb.

I read it during a particularly horrendous stretch of my first stint in grad school, mostly in my car outside the DMV in Goleta. A very effective set and setting for finishing it.
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