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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?

#161

Post by phaedrus »

bottled_poe wrote: post #10

Goedel, Escher, Bach - an eternal golden braid. This book is so rich with philosophical content it will change you.

When I first encountered this book, I was working as an outside hand at a small town hardware store trying to save up enough money at $5.85 / hour to afford to move to go to college. It cost me $10 in gas every day just to get to work, and I am deathly allergic to almost every outside plant in Oklahoma, so it was a miserable few months. At lunch time I would go to the local library because it had air conditioning, and I happened to check out this book. For the next 8 weeks, reading this book on breaks was the taste of escape into the life of the mind.

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

#162

Post by internetman55 »

gajjanag wrote: post #144
bmpafa wrote: post #122

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 somethin…

Fiction is in general severely underrated among STEM people today, with many arguing for how it is a waste of time, etc. I was fortunate enough to grow up in an environment where I had good access to it, and a healthy level of support for my interest. THe thing I find funny about this is that many of the "STEM legends" such as von Neumann, Ulam, Einstein and others had read a lot of classical literature. Einstein him…

If someone in real life told me that fiction is not worth the time, I'd instantly write him off as at best a moron who has mastered some technical skills.

Edit: he may manage to become not a moron in the future, I just mean that I would proceed under the assumption that he is at this time a moron.

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

#163

Post by trentmb »

gajjanag wrote: post #144
bmpafa wrote: post #122

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 somethin…

Fiction is in general severely underrated among STEM people today, with many arguing for how it is a waste of time, etc. I was fortunate enough to grow up in an environment where I had good access to it, and a healthy level of support for my interest. THe thing I find funny about this is that many of the "STEM legends" such as von Neumann, Ulam, Einstein and others had read a lot of classical literature. Einstein him…

I wish I had the discipline to read more. Even when I finally get myself to sit down with a book I always find myself zoning out.

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

#164

Post by Isamu »

swagtricker wrote: post #152
Zaheer wrote: post #141

The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Especially interesting read in today's political climate - pivotal nonetheless

I tried. Twice. As a privileged white man in America trying to understand the black experience. However, I could only get about 2/3 of the way through before giving up. I empathized with his early agony and injustice, but the fact that he turned it into a hate for white people and a religious fixation was way too much for me. In the end I saw the only difference between his view and the views of the Klan was his brou…

It's worth getting all the way through. He becomes transformed at a certain point, and realizes his earlier beliefs were wrong. Malcolm wanted to delete or revise the earlier part of the book at that point but Alex Haley prevailed to keep it as it was.

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

#165

Post by gringoDan »

+1 to whoever mentioned Seneca's On the Shortness of Life, or any of the Stoic writings.

The Old Man and the Sea. People either love or hate this book, but it had a profound impact on me.

The Moral Animal, by Robert Wright. Made me consider how much of human behavior can be explained through evolutionary biology.

The Truth, by Neil Strauss. Incredibly vulnerable memoir that will make you reflect on your own relationships and what you want out of them.

In general, I think that you can learn much more from classic fiction than any new business book. Books that have been read & discussed for the past 50+ years have much more staying power and timelessness than a TED talk that led to a publishing deal.

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

#166

Post by otakucode »

bottled_poe wrote: post #10

Goedel, Escher, Bach - an eternal golden braid. This book is so rich with philosophical content it will change you.

I personally think Hofstadtler is one of the few people around currently who actually is on the right track to understanding the fundamental nature of consciousness. Although I would recommend 'I Am A Strange Loop' for a more direct dive into that specifically, GEB is great for an introduction to some of the twists and turns of self-reference, feedback loops, etc.

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

#167

Post by Isamu »

needz wrote: post #140

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Letters from a Stoic by Seneca. I guess you could say any book on Stoicism, really, as the others I would mention also fit that bill.

I became interested in Marcus Aurelius when Hannibal admonished Agent Starling to read him.

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

#168

Post by z5h »

kyoob wrote: post #136

"Finite and Infinite Games" by James Carse. Makes me think a lot about the rat race versus a life lived for a higher purpose. My copy is pretty worn out from my carrying it around a rereading it. If you like graphic novels, the ending of "Asterios Polyp" made me gasp and put the book down and walk outside to mull it all over.

I've bought, read, given "Finite and Infinite Games" several times. I actually remember the day I bought it (first copy), nearly 20 years ago!

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

#169

Post by fsloth »

john37386 wrote: post #23

Maybe you can start from scratch with the root foundation of your personnality. Sometimes we don't understand why we react to some situations. So, I did this Myer Brigg online test at 16personalities.com I red the description of my personality and it was like reading in my head. I bought the longer version and it really helped me better understand myself. Hope it can help you too. ENTP

I think it's essential to realize people have different ways to behave and that's fine. That said, MBT has a lot of negative things about it.

While the wikipedia page of MBT succeeds in hiding the critique to the end it's luckily there [1]. 'Psychometric specialist Robert Hogan wrote: "Most personality psychologists regard the MBTI as little more than an elaborate Chinese fortune cookie"'

Katherine Briggs and Isabel Meyers (a mother and daughter) should be considered as literary authors at most rather than psychologists [2][3]. Katherine apparently had a lot of ideas about personalities in general and she wrote them down. But it's not like she did massive field work or performed anything that could be recognized as credible research.

Luckily some enterprising consultants recognized her work was easy to sell. The rest is marketing...

People find comfort in lot of things. I don't mind people turning to charlatans like horoscope readers if they know what they are getting into.

MBT is entertaining fiction that is marketed by profiteering consultants as an actual psychometric tool. Fiction can be valuable in understanding the world but it is not a scientific instrument. The fact that it is marketed as such makes it very distasteful.

The only well respected psychometric model that has not failed in one way or another that I'm aware of is the five-factor model [0].

The main problem with MBT is when people think they can use it in some structured manner. The marketing around is so solid it succeeds in fooling some people into actually employing MBT consultants. People in actual workplaces have suggested forming teams based on a balancing made through MBT analyzes.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indi...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Cook_Briggs

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Briggs_Myers

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

#170

Post by billfruit »

bmpafa wrote: post #122

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 somethin…

Perhaps on a similar vein, I recommend Montaignes Essays, even though it is not fiction, he lets you peek into his deepest thoughts, is a masterful lesson in understanding one's own self and other people.
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