81–90 of 539 posts
I know it's trite to say it, but in my early 20s reading Atlas Shrugged helped me regain my bearings. And, no, it did not turn me into Peter Thiel.
There’s one chapter about misunderstood words. The word “mother” was highly regarded by one character. They loved their mother, so to call someone a mother was a deep and powerful complement. The other character hated their mother, the word had a hypocritical meaning to her.
So when the first character complemented the second with the deepest most heart felt honor they could muster, the second character left them without a word.
"The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size" by Tor Norretranders
I know it's trite to say it, but in my early 20s reading Atlas Shrugged helped me regain my bearings. And, no, it did not turn me into Peter Thiel.
Mrityunjay is a story of a great warrior who by sheer chance of luck ends up being a lower-caste charioteer.
The book showed me that life is not black and white, talent is not all that’s needed to succeed and how luck and pragmatism plays a huge part in your life. It also helped me understand what Krishna stands for and what Dharma is. Fascinating theme that is still relevant today.
I picked it up as I was becoming interested in Buddhism and felt it would give me insight into from a “western convert” perspective (it did).
But it also opened my mind to environmentalism—not that I had been closed to it as such, just less interested.
More unexpectedly, it opened my mind to unconventional romantic relationships. I remain, in principle if not actively in practice, polyamorous to this day. Even since, I’ve realized that I’m demisexual (which is on the asexuality spectrum), and the same part of the book which helped me embrace poly also helped me embrace demi and reconcile the two.
Man's Search For Meaning. Again, overcoming the worst situations and finding joy anywhere.
How to Practice. Understanding what you are feeling and why you are feeling it.
Emotional Intelligence. How the amygdala sends signals to the brain, why it does that, and how to recognize your negative reactions.
And all the Discworld books, to find joy and humour in everything. GNU Terry Pratchett.