171–180 of 1001 posts
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan. It changed the way I see the world, how to have a sceptical mind and not only how but why one should question. And also, it shows to me that, if you don't have a answer for something, doesn't mean that it can not be true. It's just that you don't know. And for a lot of things, this is the correct and only answer that we can have now.
https://www.amazon.ca/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Pol...
And a general +1 for GEB. If you read that as a teenager, you are different for it.
Also, now that we know more about epigenetics, that's another really interesting framework in which to contemplate Jaynes's thesis.
"Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell. Not an easy read, but it deeply changed the way I think about incentive structures and the law of unintended consequences. It's a tough pill to swallow for people (like myself) who cling to utopian ideas, but the older I get the more I realize we must live in the world as it exists, with human nature as it really is. Dreaming of a better world is counter-productive if one does not…
2) Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
1984, and the book-within-a-book in it. Sapiens, recently. It had a profound effect on how I think about people, history and progress... Particularly, the points about group size and all th cultural clockwork required for and limiting our ability to function as large groups. Paul Graham's essays, which are kind of a web book. Practical Ethics, by Peter Singer influenced me a lot (made me study philosophy) but I was a…
https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Painters-Big-Ideas-Computer/d...
- The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan - It gave me the tools required to cut through bullshit and helped me free myself from the shackles of a religious upbringing
- The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins - Gave me the courage to look at things differently when everyone thinks we know it all
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel - It made me question what I was doing professionally and I now have a list of questions to answer whenever I am in a startup to help guide me
- Compersion by Hypatia From Space - It help remove limits to how I can love and care for the people that are important to me.
It made me aware that someone as successful and powerful as Napoleon himself was by a large extent only a product of the people and the mood at the time. What I mean is that it wasn't him who inspired the people; it rather was just the Zeitgeist he was the perfect person for. I'm not a native speaker and can't really put it into words, but it completely changed my view of the amount of influence we really can have in this world, and how much we are a product of our time.
Narziß und Goldmund by Hesse.
Again a lack of words from my side. Whoever is looking for meaning in life should read this book. The last sentence of this book is (at least in German) the literary most perfect and awakening phrase I've ever read. I couldn't sleep for days afterwards.
The Selfish Gene by Dawkins. The gene is the unit of replication, and this affects every process in this universe.