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Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

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Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#331

Post by Insanity »

fredley wrote: post #172

Most recently How Not to be a Boy , by Robert Webb (of Mitchell and Webb, Peep Show fame). An autobiography of his childhood and early career, but also observed through the lens of how masculinity's cultural demands damage men, and those around them. All written by someone who's very funny. He summarises the first few chapters in a brief video, so you have an idea what you're in for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6…

I will check that out. David's autobiography was a bit disappointing to me unfortunately

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#332

Post by [deleted] »

emodendroket wrote: post #288
rgbrenner wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this definitely depends on where you are. In the US, 1 in 4 are evangelical [0].. and 24% believe the bible is the literal word of god [1]. 0. Pew paper, no longer available.. so wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20090304020453/http://pewforum.o... There's probably more up to date poll on this somewhere though. 1. http://news.gallup.com/poll/210704/record-few-americans-beli...

I feel like this is one of those things that people say but, when push comes to shove, don't actually believe. Does anyone actually believe in the firmament described in the creation story?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#333

Post by emodendroket »

hudon wrote: post #81
philangist wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I loved the message of self-reliance and "bearing your burden" in the book personally, it really reminded me of Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Could've done without all the religious metaphor but I understand the point of it being there.

If you want to understand why he uses religion so much as I did (I've always considered myself an atheist), his lecture series here goes into it in much greater depth: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22J3VaeABQD_IZs7y60I... He's dedicated his life in trying to explain why the atrocities of the 20th century happened and how they can be prevented. I believe he sees our rejection of religion as part of the probl…

So many people want to take away all the doctrines that make Christianity distinctive and then turn around and still call it Christianity. I can't understand the point of this exercise. What exactly does he think is the point of Christianity, if he doesn't believe in God?

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#334

Post by emodendroket »

Zaheer wrote: post #141

The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Especially interesting read in today's political climate - pivotal nonetheless

I enjoyed the book, although I felt like he was overawed with and naive about how harmonious Saudi Arabia (and the greater Muslim world) actually is. But that's easier to say from today's perspective, where we're all familiar with sectarian warfare between Muslims.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#335

Post by sireat »

zuzuleinen wrote: post #12

I highly recommend 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. This book gave me the courage to take responsibility in my life and start working towards things which are important for myself. As the author once said, you don't get not to pay a price, you only get what price to pay. It actually gave me the courage to leave Berlin and go back to my country(Romania) which even though is more poor and low in quality of publ…

12 Rules for Life reads like a skilled astrologer would write: many vague clouded truisms, lots of exceptions, covers pretty much all bases.

No wonder people are getting insights out of the book. It is practically impossible not to!

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#336

Post by majewsky »

Mahn wrote: post #312
bitL wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think happiness is just a result of our brains filtering out unpleasant facts, we learn that the whole childhood; how can you be happy if: 1. the whole nature is based on preying on the weak, and that's mandatory for survival; right now some animal "kid" is being eaten alive by some predator without "empathy" of any kind 2. at this very moment some person that might be relatable to you in some special way (l…

If you frame happiness like that, then yes, it'll be hard to be happy. But happiness, I think, is not an objective state that you get to when all your expectations, desires and wants are met. That's just the story our primitive animal brains tell us, but the reality is that happiness is an inner mental state, and the influence that external factors have on us is just our own imagination. We choose to be unhappy. By f…

I think it doesn't sound counterintuitive. The thing that's counterintuitive is that we're not in this state all the time (myself very much included).

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#337

Post by n00bulat0r »

dmschaab wrote: post #273
react_burger38 wrote: post #220

I recommend the Book of Mormon as it is one of the most introspective books you can find. It comes across much clearer than many other religious books like the Bible (even though the Bible I recommend as well) because it has a common narrator who fills in the gaps for you and helps you understand the links between stories. It also is fairly scientific in its premise-- if you do an experiment by reading some of it and…

I'm going to take a page from Bezos and "disagree and upvote". I think the Book of Mormon (which I will hereafter abbreviate as BoM) is worth reading once, even if you are just curious about its contents. But I would not elevate it beyond elaborate fiction as its adherents do. I have been meeting with Mormons from our local ward for several months now, and these are my conclusions after long hours of research into bo…

I find many of these insights to be thoughtful and helpful - thanks you guys !

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#338

Post by taeric »

moretai wrote: post #134
taeric wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing wrong with curating sources, is there? Yes, in large he is sharing his learnings from studying old sources. Mostly religious. Not all Christian. But mostly. I think he would be delighted if he got more people to go to the sources. I could, of course, be wrong.

Not neccessarily anything wrong with him. It's just our tendency to flock to these figures to the answers of our problems, and perhaps they fix a couple people for a five year span, but a new generation washes in, and another guy will get his shine. Information doesn't fix anything. He's just cashing in.

This comment is leaving me with some pause. Quite frankly, I didn't even know the name of the author, and would have stared at anyone blankly that said it. Still would, oddly.

I did enjoy his reading of his book. And I will admit that I found some of the ideas more compelling than I would have thought seeing them on paper. In particular, the religious overtones are somewhat offputting to me, on paper. Will see how I feel about them after a few day's reflection.

To the point of this post, however. If he his being pushed as a savior of some sort, I agree that is misguided. However, based on their merits, many of the arguments were compelling and I'm interested to see where they can be taken.

So, to that end, I'm not sure what the criticism "he's just cashing in" has to do offer here. What, exactly, are you accusing him of? Successfully presenting his arguments? Is that really such a bad thing?

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#339

Post by jonnybgood »

Balgair wrote: post #258
sarabande wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This book was not worth the hype for me; I read the whole thing, but regret purchasing it. - It sorely needed an editor. Echoing other's sentiments, it could have been - It used a gratuitous amount of Bible quotes, which 1. weren't necessary to make his point, 2. were often referenced as if they were data, and how people actually behave, rather than anecdotes/fiction I got suckered into to buying the book because the…

Peterson is very good at speaking and lecturing (practice makes perfect!) and I enjoy his work. That said, his tack is largely an updated stoic philosophy. A good idea, don't get me wrong. Still, if you liked his book, I'd go back and read more about stoicism. Here are some suggestion, but if anyone else has others, please chime in: https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Thrift-Editions-Marcus-Au... https://www.amazon.co…

> updated stoic philosophy

No, it's not. Stoicism has much more depth and the Stoics would not agree with Peterson on many things. Stoicism also doesn't need to be updated.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?

#340

Post by Balgair »

jonnybgood wrote: post #339
Balgair wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peterson is very good at speaking and lecturing (practice makes perfect!) and I enjoy his work. That said, his tack is largely an updated stoic philosophy. A good idea, don't get me wrong. Still, if you liked his book, I'd go back and read more about stoicism. Here are some suggestion, but if anyone else has others, please chime in: https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Thrift-Editions-Marcus-Au... https://www.amazon.co…

> updated stoic philosophy No, it's not. Stoicism has much more depth and the Stoics would not agree with Peterson on many things. Stoicism also doesn't need to be updated.

I mean, his 12 points are pretty stock Stoicism, with a 21st century spin. By my reading, he's not entirely stoicism, true, but he sits in the adjacent seat. If he is this popular with (as I see it) his re-skinned stoicism, then the conclusion that 'stoicism needed an update' is not unreasonable, as it seems to resonate better with the re-skin than without. Caveats, obviously, apply.
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