161–170 of 341 posts
Shifted my sense of self in ways I cannot describe. It is logical but not intellectual and transformative in a strange way.
Enlightenment is Not What You Think by Wayne Liquorman, a contemporary Advaita teacher.
Ishmael by Daniel Queen.
The Four Agreements by Don Ruiz. It's a short and simple book about four rules of life which you can use anywhere. 1. Be impeccable with your word. You can read this as "don't swear", but it's not about that. It is about the constant and continuing things we say to ourselves that make us feel bad. We don't even know we do this. And it's not about big things, it's about the thousands of small reprimands we give oursel…
I've only read it in a hurry but it had some rather odd bits For example, re 1. : > Every human is a magician, and we can either put a spell on someone with our word or we can release someone from a spell. We cast spells all the time with our opinions. An example: I see a friend and give him an opinion that just popped into my mind. I say, "Hmmm! I see that kind of color in your face in people who are going to get ca…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried to read it in my middle thirties and felt like I wasn't prepared enough to understand it. Should I just go through it without trying to get everything?
The book is basically a Lisp tutorial using metaphors rather than code examples.
The World of Null-A I found a yellow-paged first edition on my parents' shelves as a young kid, and was heavily shaped by the idea of a character (and society) that trained themselves to think clearly. This included years of training on how to channel (and ground) one's emotions, and a constant and deep understanding of "the map is not the territory". Or, in other words, our mental models are just that, and should be…
The Gospel of John. A palpable sense of mystery is maintained from start to finish, but it arguably does better than any other book in the Bible at giving a deep look into the person of Jesus as he was seen and believed in by the early church. Additionally, there is a subtle sense of humor as the gospel author clearly enjoyed language and word plays and describes multiple misunderstandings that occur because of the a…
2-Diffusion of Innovations by Everett M. Rogers. This book makes "Crossing the chasm" a simplistic introduction for laggards
3-The Art of War by Sun Tzu
4-If Nature Is the Answer, What Was the Question? By Jorge Wagensberg
5-Sacred hoops by Phil Jackson
6-Fear from freedom by Erich Fromm
7-Michelangelo biography of a genious
8-Blindness by Jose Saramago
9-On writing by Stephen King
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. While it's also a tale of travel and self-exploration (the rediscovery of identity after a nervous breakdown and shock therapy), mostly the book is about thinking. I was a different person after identifying with the narrator who also lived in the mind, and asked questions about basic concepts like 'quality', or qualia of events, objects, roles, and the sub…