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Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?

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Re: Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?

#211

Post by SDRB59 »

tomp wrote: post #60

One of the most important books in my life has been The Way of Zen by Alan Watts (I listened to it as an audiobook). It changed the way I think and feel (or at least how I react to feelings). Other interesting books about philosophy/spirituality are Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle The last one is the least recommended, I'm not sure I got anythi…

+ Jonathan Livingston Seagull and, if you like this, you'll really like 'Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah'

Re: Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?

#212

Post by timtas »

I recently read "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt [1], and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a foundational understanding of economics. "One Lesson" is meant as a claim that the book is pure "signal." And it is.

Even more terse and incisive is the 150 year old essay that inspired Hazlitt to write his book, Frédéric Bastiat's "What is Seen and What is Not Seen." [2] It's uncanny how well this essay holds up today.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_in_One_Lesson

[2] http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basEss1.html

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