Michael Pollan's "How To Change Your Mind"
Jocko Willink's "Extreme Ownership"
Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
371–380 of 747 posts
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#372Ecclesiastes. Short book of wisdom so jam-packed with truth I challenge anyone to read it and disagree with the message it shares. Always relevant but especially so in these challenging times.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#373"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig takes you deep into the philosophy on what is 'quality'. Once you see it you can't unsee it. A powerful excerpt from the book: 'So the thing to do when working on a motorcycle, as in any other task, is to cultivate the peace of mind which does not separate one’s self from one’s surroundings. When that is done successfully then everything else follows natura…
Really tried hard reading that book given all the praise it got...but I just couldn't make it past like 20% mark
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#374C Radhakrishnan - Bhagavad Gita_ Modern Reading and Scientific Study. Intellectually very challenging. Even though it is a religious book for many people, it can be read as just a normal story. It teaches one about how to live life, not by set of defined rules, but by providing a proper explanation and through understanding. It's a book which is usually dated to 5000 years or 7000 years. It`s a very well-balanced sto…
Might as well recommend the Holy Bible or the Koran. Also good books with good stories.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#375Earlier quoted context omitted.
But take Dune with a grain of salt; I read them, but the books after the first get a bit, I dunno, wishy-washy? Vague? Philosophical? I wanted to like it because the universe it describes is compelling, but the stories themselves lose a lot of luster. Interesting to see what they'll do in the upcoming movie / series, whichever it was though. It's great in terms of worldbuilding, and it's influenced a lot of other stu…
Don't bother with the books past the first and maybe the second. Dune itself should be treated as a standalone masterpiece of worldbuilding.
Messiah and Children are sometimes published in one volume since Messiah's so short, so you may as well read both if you're going past the first book. And if you've done that you may as well finish the arc with God Emperor.
Reading past that is, truly, not worth it. Story's over, stop reading.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#376The Fountainhead Or anything Vonnegut or Philip K Dick A personal "brain expanding" book for me was The Miracle Planet but timing is everything, as an 8 year old who had only been reading children's books it taught me that you can read through anything with persistence The Bible has a lot of mind games & plot twists. I read it as an atheist seeking better perspective on a couple thousand years ago
I can't take anyone reading Ayn Rand seriously anymore; it's what all the selfish right-wingers read and take as gospel, those that take a massive shit on everyone but themselves - Trump to name but one. And it's ironic because Rand herself was fervently atheist and hated conservatives as they turned to religion and nationalism in the 50's.
I found the stories in Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged to be compelling enough that I could both empathize with (some of) the characters while at the same time disagree wholeheartedly with their choices.
They're good books for trying to find out _why_ you agree or disagree.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a good book. That 'identical demographics' part is perhaps a tautology? They're mostly male, because they're mostly male? Of course we understand there are 1000 reasons for the disparity, discussed elsewhere.
I don't think it's a tautology to say HN's users are mostly male because the group it draws from is mostly male. There's room for competing theories like some quality unique to the website. To put my thought in bad ASCII flowchart form: Male tech startup people -> Male HN users -> Male-dominated interest areas -> Male author recommendations
Ah! I see.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#378Rationality: From AI to Zombies by Eliezer Yudkowsky Many people think of themselves as rational and have mastered the basics (understand the scientific method, know how to systematically solve difficult problems, etc) but are still constantly fooled by their human, imperfect brains into irrational thoughts and actions - both in day-to-day life and when pondering larger questions (science, engineering, policy, philos…
I’d recommend this one too.
There’s a nice clarity to it and it’s probably the most impactful book I can think of for improving your thinking long term.
For an example of the writing style: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-...
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#379Super serious question. Of the 278 comments that have been posted to this thread in the last 8 hours, has anyone suggested a single female author? I looked for a while and saw exactly zero. Isn’t that kind of notable?
Oh man, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is AMAZING on so many levels. A common thread with these books seems to be exploring consciousness and definitions of self. As a bonus it does stuff I find more from women authors, like quietly question gender roles without making a scene about it, question slavery, ownership, etc. Similar a bit to the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells but on a whole other level. Its a wonderfu…
Can second both Ann Leckie (her new book "The Raven Tower" is also a great page-turner) and N.K. Jemisin (who did totally blow my mind with her Broken Earth Trilogy).
Ursula K. Le Guin also appears down below; The Left Hand of Darkness was a profound read.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#380Anything by Hermann Hesse. Not mind bending. No Twists. No roller coasters. Just a calm conversation with the author and yourself. And yet, it had a profound impact on me. One poem I revisit every once in a while: https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=119749 If you understand German, I do believe it needs to be read in its original tongue. The translations I found thus far were not entirely convincing.
Good shout - my written German has been fading from lack of use so might just grab these.