181–190 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.
“The Design of Everyday Things” changed the way I see literally everything. You’ll never look at doors the same way again, and prepare to forever be frustrated by poorly designed objects, and delighted by incredibly well designed ones. There is no better book on the philosophy of UX, imho.
I read Freakonomics and Guns, Germs and Steel in college and was initially 'amazed' by it. Now, I see it as mass market rubbish used to influence a particular demographic. But that goes for pretty much everything really. Catcher in the Rye in high school. Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People". I think books can "change the way you think about almost everything" when you are younger, naive and idealisti…
The key part of that quote (whether it's real or not) is the "and uses his own brain too little" part. It's not as helpful to read a book mindlessly like you're watching television and I think you're missing out on so much by just reading technical manuals. You need to form your own opinion about what you're reading by drawing on your own experience and things you've learned.
I'm pretty sure you didn't develop your way of thinking by yourself. You were influenced by mentors and other people's thoughts and opinions. So why would you intentionally stop evolving? How do you know you've reached some "optimal mental state"?
As an aside, if you're into well-written technical books that are enjoyable to read, check out Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/
Writing thoughts down changes everything.
"The selfish gene" changed the way I define life, opened my eyes to virtual life, and morality of selfishness vs. altruism.
"Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life" changed the way I view the life and material existence. Whereas before I viewed them as two separate domains, after I see them as a spectrum.
Chinese classic taoism treaties: "Dao De Jing", and "Zhuan Zi", offers a via-negativa way of thinking and view of existence, the values are beyond words.
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. Bottom line: judge your success in life by how well you make your decisions, not by your outcome. You have full control of your decisions, and often no control at all over their results.
https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Stoic-Meditations-Wisdom-Persev...
Animal Farm was a really important book for me. I picked it up aged about 10 or 11 and I remember being really struck by how easily the pigs were able to exploit the other animals' grievances with humans to secure their own power. It felt like a grown-up story with some quite powerful, disturbing meanings under the covers. So I told my English teacher about it and all she told me in response was to go look up the Rus…
A People’s History of the US A Pattern Language The Alphabet Vs The Goddess Aloud: Voices From the Nuyorican Poets Cafe The Fire Next Time