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Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

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Re: Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

#51

Post by gcanyon »

patrickthebold wrote: post #16

I liked "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

I don't know that I would call it "non-fiction," but its non-fictional aspects have had a huge impact on me: the "focus on the small to unblock yourself" (was it write about your left hand?).

And the concept of "gumption".

But most especially that "quality" is the interface between the observer and the observed -- that what you like is a unique aspect of you and the thing (that you like), and that's okay. That concept has shaped my world.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

#53

Post by gcanyon »

cgriswald wrote: post #27
patrickthebold wrote: post #16

I liked "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

I read this as a young adult and I understood what Pirsig was saying in an intellectual sense, but I didn't really grok the book until I was closer to Pirsig's own age (when he wrote it) and learned 'the hard way'. I also didn't finish the book because I felt like Pirsig was repetitively making the same point. As a result, I have some questions (not necessarily directly for you, @patrickthebold, but for whoever cares…

1. Most definitely

2. The revelation about quality

3. I've read it three or four times, generally about ten years apart. I'm due...

Re: Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

#54

Post by mvncleaninst »

I'm assuming this thread is non-programming related since that's like everything else on this website

Probably Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. And it didn't impact me in a way where I agreed with it, it was more the opposite. It sort of made me realize "oh, this is what bullshit looks like" and I was able to take that and apply it elsewhere

I'll give an example... Hegel sort of works like this: person X says A, person Y says B, there's a disagreement, they both fight to the death and person X enslaves person Y, then person Y goes crazy, turns to religion (I'm not bullshitting here either, he introduces the priest at this point in the master slave dialectic [0]), then person Y affirms their own slavery both physically and mentally. This is the basic process on which "history" happens

Think about this for a second, all of those people who died in the 20th century because of this guy's bullshit. I read his garbage cover to cover, lesson learned: bullshit is dangerous. There's a reason why Hegel doesn't like math. After I read this guy, it made me realize something: non-technical non-fiction is fiction

[0] "As a separate, independent extreme, it rejects the essence of its will, and casts upon the mediator or minister [priest] its own freedom of decision, and herewith the responsibility for its own action. This mediator, having a direct relationship with the unchangeable Being, ministers by giving advice on what is right." (para 228)

Re: Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

#55

Post by gcanyon »

The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker.

Not because of the actual topic, although that's important too; but because of the first 150 or so pages, where Pinker starts by saying something like: you won't believe me about how violence has declined unless I first disabuse you of the notion that the past was nice. He then describes how truly awful pretty much everyone and everything was in the past. It was an eye-opener.

Those who romanticize the past (which is most people) do themselves a grave disservice.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

#56

Post by LeonB »

curious_soul wrote: post #8
LeonB wrote: post #4

I’d like to say - Factfulness or - Sapiens or - Richard Feynman’s various writings …but the most measurable impact was probably from something like - “Strunk and white The Elements of Style” or - “How to win friends and influence people” or - “Oh! Pascal!” Or - “the dictionary” or - some specific bus timetable that enabled a pivotal moment in my life

> some specific bus timetable that enabled a pivotal moment in my life Story time? Don't leave us hanging :)

I don’t know which specific incidents were pivotal, but surely some moment was?

Re: Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

#58

Post by userbinator »

fiforpg wrote: post #48
userbinator wrote: post #6

The C Programming Language Course of Theoretical Physics

There are many different physics courses, so which one was that? In order not to sound solipsistic, I will admit that they all share the subject :P

Landau and Lifshitz.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-fiction books had the biggest impact on you?

#59

Post by kaycebasques »

Six Pillars Of Self-Esteem. Biggest effect on me of any book, by far. The only book that immediately jumped to mind without me needing to check my "read" list.

I vaguely recall The Soul Of Sex giving me a healthier foundation for my own sexuality.

The Power Of Myth and The Varieties Of Religious Experience for general spiritual goodness.

The Selfish Gene has probably had a deep lingering effect on my thoughts about my life as a biological creature.

Every Page Is Page One is very helpful for realizing (what I believe to be) the higher purpose of technical documentation, which is knowledge sharing.

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