Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 254 posts

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

#221

Post by binarray2000 »

RealityNow wrote: post #199
cgmg wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Learned that free trade is generally bad for developing countries The consensus among experts on the matter is that protectionism has a negative effect on economic growth and welfare, while free trade has a positive effect. There are challenges to be sure, but free trade is most definitely a net positive for developing countries. Countries whose governments prevent their citizens from engaging in international trad…

Well read "Bad Samaritans" to see why the consensus amongst economists is wrong. There isn't a single first world country that developed under free trade. The US and the UK were highly protectionist with steep tariffs, and it was only after they gained world dominance that they started opening their borders and demanding free trade from everyone else. The economic "miracles" of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were all highl…

The point you make about protectionism is a very good one. But it doesn't tell the whole story.

Isn't it interesting that in books about the economic development of the "first world" you never read about imperial politics? It boils down to how looting of other peoples resources and selling/keeping these people as slaves is the key reason for the riches in the "first world" (particularly its western part). And how protectionism came after (or in parallel, in later phases) to protect the looted. And how the West still does the looting of other peoples resources today and (thanks to that) keeps and grows its riches. And how the only thing that has changed is that it doesn't do the slave trade anymore, but how it still uses and profits greatly from the slave labour.

Maybe someone can recommend a book on this.

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

#225

Post by spookyuser »

ismail wrote: post #54
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.

Have been reading and researching for my postgrad and in some cases "Perspective" & "Mental models" are used interchangeably. However i like to think of it in this way: Perspective: The point of view from which something is looked at Mental Model: A mechanism or thought pattern to make sense of something or understand something about some situation You can never break out of your perspective of looking at the world.…

Very interesting, thank you.

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

#226

Post by pbhjpbhj »

The synoptic gospels and NT, but to choose one book from the NT, ...

The Epistle of James - as it has some strong counterpoints to other parts of the NT particularly the contrast of Pauline notions of grace with charity/works.

Emperor's New Mind, Penrose - probably my biggest take away from it was to consider how human perception works alongside, and co-mingles with, physics.

Web of Life, Capra - considering holistic nature of life, one's connection to the World at large; emergent patterns, complex structure birthing from simplicity (goes well with what I recall of Gleick's Chaos).

Zen and the Art ... - what is value, what is valuable to me, whither/whence/wherefore value; how should I relate to my children (long before i had any) and how to challenge them philosophically.

Republic, Plato - the first book that really set me thinking about the structure of society, about inequalities. And of course about stepping out of The Cave.

Koran & Hadith (partial readings, ie whole sections; couple of major hadith only) - [redacted]; but greater understanding of Islam and of religion in general; taught me to watchfully avoid being tainted by the labels people give themselves and look instead to their actions.

Mein Kampf (partial reading) - ideas have intrinsic moral value, that we should judge ideas on their merits and not by who has them; we should be careful about tarring people by simple association.

Art of War - preparedness, looking to supply lines, avoiding conflicts, not entering "battles" you know you'll lose (which I'd take as 'learn nothing from').

Christianarchy - what it means to be a Christian, who is and isn't "in".

Agrarian Justice, Paine - what is my place politically and economically in the world, whence do I derive the 'rights' to own what I do, whether such ownership is good.

Worth noting here that the ideas and impressions I got are unlikely to be what you will get, we react to books based on who we are, our frame of mind, moods, etc.. Most of these books I read as a late teenager, that at least in part boosts their impact. The impact is not necessarily the purpose of the book, quite the opposite in some cases.

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

#227

Post by tinsilver »

tinsilver wrote: post #169

The Republic - Plato - why societies form the way they do Either/Or - Kierkegaard - as a father of Existentialism his views on society helped put things in perspective for me It's All About Time - John Furey - surprised I don't see this mentioned more - how people organise their thinking based on a time-based motivational model https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-About-Time-Companies

On the topic of mental models, others have mentioned Feynman - but here's a discussion on why he was such an unusually effective scientist partly because of his use of less common mental models http://jamesclear.com/feynman-mental-models

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

#228

Post by steelframe »

austenallred wrote: post #120
pklausler wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Selfish Gene is a great book but human behavior is hardly its main topic.

Yup, that's just the mental model I gleaned from it

Selfish genes can result in completely altruistic and sacrificial behavior in an individual.

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

#229

Post by Exuma »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #58
Exuma wrote: post #24

https://www.amazon.com/Six-Pillars-Self-Esteem-Nathaniel-Bra... Hands down

What's the gist of the premise? 370 pages for a list of six items seems a bit inflated (forgive my judgment but am a slow reader and love efficiency)

All I can say is... I stopped reading self-help books 10 years ago because they all bored me to tears. I HATE fluff. I hate repeated ideas and concepts, I hate long intros... I usually will stop reading books 30% in because it's like "I get it".

This book, however, is written by a guy who basically died at 87 and studied self-esteem since he was very young. So basically he's studied the same topic for 60 years, and his ability to convey certain concepts is absolutely profound. He truly understands the concepts down to the core. And it's such a hard thing to explain when you get past the 'surface level', but he repeatedly does over and over throughout the whole book. I probably have over 100 passages highlighted on my Kindle, of particular sentences or paragraphs where I put the book down and was like........... DAMN.

I've referred the book to 2-3 people and they all were blown away. It's a book in a league of it's own. I heard of the book from my friend who mentioned it's his #1 self help book out of his favorite 10, and I can definitely see why.

Basically it just comes down to how well he can talk about such an abstract topic in many different ways, without repeating himself, and eventually one of those ways will 'click' for you.

I find it's also affecting me day to day, in a positive way, which is something books like this have never really done in the past. I tend to like/absorb the info but I don't vibe with the author or their knowledge on the subject enough to commit to whatever exercises they say to do, etc.

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

#230

Post by lackbeard »

RealityNow wrote: post #199
cgmg wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Learned that free trade is generally bad for developing countries The consensus among experts on the matter is that protectionism has a negative effect on economic growth and welfare, while free trade has a positive effect. There are challenges to be sure, but free trade is most definitely a net positive for developing countries. Countries whose governments prevent their citizens from engaging in international trad…

Well read "Bad Samaritans" to see why the consensus amongst economists is wrong. There isn't a single first world country that developed under free trade. The US and the UK were highly protectionist with steep tariffs, and it was only after they gained world dominance that they started opening their borders and demanding free trade from everyone else. The economic "miracles" of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were all highl…

I think Japan is actually a counterpoint to your argument. Post WW2 was not when it became a first-world economy. I'm pretty sure that when it first industrialized in the late 19th century, it did so under free-trade. (Its government wanted protectionist economic policies but the British forced free-trade on them!)
Post reply on HN