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Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

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Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#221

Post by dottedmag »

rramadass wrote: post #216
dottedmag wrote: post #7

«Systems thinking» by Levenchuk. Masterful distillation of the most important parts of current systems engineering and systems management into a broadly applicable systems thinking approach. The book is now reworked to a course and is currently free: https://eem.institute/open-endedness/systems-thinking/ TBH I read the original (in Russian), and English translation does not seem to be of stellar quality.

I see the course but not the Book? Can you point me to it please?

The course is exactly book + exercises.

I don't see a downloadable file of the english version of the book available anywhere, alas.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#222

Post by svieira »

slothtrop wrote: post #153
svieira wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no necessity of a gap between "is" and "ought" - the assumption that there is presumes that either things are not ordered towards an end or that we cannot known that end. But that's clearly wrong. See Socrates' discourse with the slave boy in Meno and the universal desire for justice and happiness that all human beings posses.

> But that's clearly wrong. Woefully lacking in details here.

> See Socrates' discourse with the slave boy in Meno and the universal desire for justice and happiness that all human beings posses.

What part would you like more elucidation of?

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#223

Post by yboris »

heresie-dabord wrote: post #187
yboris wrote: post #110

One of my all-time-favorite philosophers is Daniel Dennett . He wrote many excellent books through which you can learn how to think better on specific topics and in general. But one of his books he focuses specifically on thinking: Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking https://www.amazon.com/Intuition-Pumps-Other-Tools-Thinking/...

Dennett, theory of humour as a debugging instinct. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262518697/inside-jokes/

I loved that book! Can highly recommend (though it's more-academic rather than lay-person I suspect).

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#224

Post by anthony_romeo »

gwd wrote: post #65

"The Logic of Real Arguments", by Alec Fisher, has had a pretty big impact on me. He develops a framework and some tools to use when analyzing real-world arguments, including extracting "A and B therefore C" statements, and asking questions like, "How would I know if this were wrong?" Then applies it to a number of passages from famous works. Discussing ideas with people with whom I disagree (at least initially) is b…

For another logic text, I really enjoyed Walton’s Informal Logic: A Pragmatic Approach.

It describes arguments as existing within different types of dialectic contexts (e.g. debate, deliberation, negotiation). Arguments that are fallacious in one context (e.g. threatening your opponent in a debate) are not in other contexts (e.g. threatening your opponent in a negotiation). From this, informal fallacies are defined not as inherently bad arguments that must always be avoided, but rather they emerge when one inappropriately shifts the dialectic from one type of argument to another.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#225

Post by dev_0 »

kbrkbr wrote: post #152

If you’re into probability, statistics and/or ML, Judea Pearl‘s The Book Of Why enlighted me kind of. While reading and applying, the suspicion had grown in me that probability is embedded in causality. Specifically when using Bayes theorem I had tweaked notation for me, so P[X|Y] would mean that X depends causally on Y. Then P(Y|X)=P[X|Y]P(Y)/P(X) would clearly show the reverse problem character, and how evidential…

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#226

Post by 0xBDB »

crabmusket wrote: post #36

The Beginning of Infinity: expanded my understanding of what science is, exposed me to Popper's ideas of conjecture and refutation. Many profound concepts which I think about regularly. Thinking, Fast and Slow: introspection about how the mind may work, common biases and traps. I often think about the fast/slow system divide and notice when I just want to coast along doing fast thinking. The Scout Mindset: very neatl…

Thinking, Fast and Slow is still worth it, but anyone thinking of reading it should probably be aware that it's taken a pretty hard hit in the psychology replication crisis. A lot (the majority, at least at one point) of its cited studies have failed to replicate. They may still be true (I think Kahneman has said that he believes most of them will bear out eventually) but worst case there may be entire chapters that are basically no good.

https://www.jasoncollins.blog/posts/re-reading-kahnemans-thi...

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#228

Post by 0xBDB »

soupfordummies wrote: post #160
FedorinoGore wrote: post #77

My top 3 (with a recency bias of course): 1. The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' - most of the book I thought "but it's obvious", but it still made me actively think about system design choices not from the standpoint "how it should be used" but "how can it be misused" 2. Thinking fast and slow - just another reminder that my brain is a lazy bastard and information/awareness hygiene is very important 3. Ho…

RE: Thinking Fast and Slow - I seem to remember a few times where that's been posted here that some say some of the concepts have been disproven/aren't rooted in science. I'm not sure if I'm thinking about the same thing. I've always been intrigued by that book. Also, do you mind explaining a bit about what you mean by "information/awareness hygiene"? I'm intrigued by that as well.

Not so much disproven as unproven. Kahneman has acknowledged that the book has issues.

https://retractionwatch.com/2017/02/20/placed-much-faith-und...

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#229

Post by jdelacueva »

The criminal code.

A penal code includes a closed set of behaviours, also called crimes. In order to commit a crime you need to check if both actus reus (the act) and mens rea (the criminal state of mind). So you have to analyze all the parameters that may apply which may be multiple. How to defend a criminal is a great exercise to become a better thinker and problem solver.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?

#230

Post by mattpallissard »

tolleydbg wrote: post #40

This suggestion is humorous, but absolutely true: Potty Training In 3 Days. Before having children, I thought I was fairly empathetic and introspective, but raising a child helped me realize how superficial those traits in myself were. I'm being completely honest when I say this book made me a better leader and project manager - having a better understanding of the motivations of others, incentivizing those looking t…

> Before having children, I thought I was fairly empathetic and introspective, but raising a child helped me realize how superficial those traits in myself were.

Ditto. I also realized that I am not laid back or easy going, and that I can be quite aggro at times.

Humbling realizations.

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