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Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

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Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

#241

Post by bcbrown »

icey wrote: post #130

Meditations, originally written by Marcus Aurelius, but translated many times over. More as an introduction to stoicism; choosing the translation that works best for you is ideal. Hays and Hicks translations are most often recommended but if you can peek inside the book to see what language resonates the best with you. Stoicism helped me build the ability to care about the things in my power to change, and not stress…

Here's my favorite quotes from Meditations:

"Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts." P59

"Awaken; return to yourself. Now, no longer asleep, knowing they were only dreams, clear-headed again, treat everything around as a dream." P76

"It's normal to feel pain in your hands and feet, if your using your feet as feet and your hands as hands. And for a human being to feel stress is normal - if he's living a normal human life. And if it's normal, how can it be bad?" P76

"You can hold your breath until you turn blue, but they'll still go on doing it." P102

"Leave other people's mistakes where they lie." P122

Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

#242

Post by scandinavegan »

Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao-tse (Laozi). This is my favorite translation:

http://www.wright-house.com/religions/taoism/tao-te-ching.ht...

The text gives advice on both how to behave on a personal level and how to lead (and therefore what to expect from a good leader). It promotes the idea that ambition leads to strife and conflict and that the path to happiness is to be content with what you have. It also promotes the abandonment of pride and ego: Do your work and walk away, do not concern yourself with getting credit for what's been achieved. Be like water and flow around problems instead of butting your head against them. Be malleable, do your thing, and don't worry about what others are doing around you.

When it comes to how to lead, it says you should micro manage, and that the best leader is invisible. They make the group members think that they achieved it all themselves.

A lot of the things go against the current climate of ambition, greed, and always being visible in social media. How can you increase your salary without taking credit for all the good things you do? How can you be productive, and show others how productive you are, if you abandon ambition and are content? I still find that it calms me to think about the ideas, and that it feels like someone has my back when I don't want to become the center of attention. I just want to do my work and my hobbies, being happy with what I have, and not trying to maximize my salary or social standing.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

#245

Post by jonathansizz »

pklausler wrote: post #120

"The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins. It describes biology from the perspective of the gene as the unit of natural selection, rather than the organism or the species, and demonstrates the power of that perspective to explain much about the natural world. But then, the author generalizes the concept of a gene to that of the replicator , which is any kind of pattern that influences its environment to produce copies of…

But please continue by reading more rigorous work on evolution, or you run the risk of being badly misinformed. I suggest, at a minimum, a decent textbook. Here I'd recommend Douglas Futuyma's Evolution.

Follow this up with some key works in the field, such as Gould's early critique of naive adaptationism, The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme.

Also consider different perspectives such as the those described in following books, which take, respectively, drift- and mutation-first approaches to evolution:

The Origins of Genome Architecture, M Lynch; and Mutation-Driven Evolution, M Nei.

Above all, know that evolution is far more complex, subtle (and interesting) than The Selfish Gene would have you believe.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

#246

Post by neves »

pokler wrote: post #166

Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky. I knew the United States was complicit in some nefarious things, both domestic and abroad, but wow, that book really blew my hair back.

Which Chomsky book do you all recommend to read first?

BTW, I'm talking about the politic ones. I've studied him in computer science and physicology, but just saw interviews and read articles about politics.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

#247

Post by SwellJoe »

scandinavegan wrote: post #237
SwellJoe wrote: post #196

Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. I read it over 20 years ago. I've been a vegetarian/vegan ever since. There were probably other things I read or saw that contributed to the decision, but that was, I think, the primary catalyst.

I don't know if I ever started reading the book, or if I never gave it a chance, because I was so put off by Singer's utilitarianism. I turned vegetarian in the mid-nineties because my first girlfriend was vegetarian. It coincided with media focusing on unnecessarily long animal transports in the EU, and I quickly realized I didn't want to take any part in factory farming. My wife turned vegetarian after meeting me,…

Well, the utilitarianism has also stuck with me, and I lean that way on a lot of philosophical/ethical questions. I didn't really realize it until a few years ago while dating someone relatively well-known in utilitarian/rationality circles and had some eye-opening conversations with her and her friends about rights and the like (lots of things I'd never really thought through to their logical conclusions led to a softening of my stance on some stuff).

I spent a lot of years being a natural rights libertarian, but when it comes down to it, I can't figure out where "rights" derive from. What's the first principle that says anyone has a "right" to anything? That's not to say I don't believe in civil rights as a just cause, or that human rights should be upheld, I just think they are a construct of sentient beings...not endowed by a creator or by nature. Utilitarianism has some reasonable answers on the question of rights, among other things.

I understand the discomfort people feel in comparing humans to animals, but I found it challenging in a good way. I've always had serious doubts about the arguments people make about humans being unique; I haven't believed in a soul since I was a child. So, Singer's arguments, even the uncomfortable ones, weren't such a huge leap.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

#248

Post by vram22 »

0x445442 wrote: post #45

Shibumi - Trevanian; I've read the book three of four times now and I'm not sure why but the characters and the characterizations just resonate with me.

Read that years ago. Some good lessons in it.

Another one on similar lines is Taipan by James Clavell. Also King Rat by Clavell.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

#249

Post by dakrootie »

inerte wrote: post #122

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy. We know the "rich", people who spent $10M on a Yacht as a parking space for their 1M private jet which they use as a cellar for their $10k wines. And we think millionaires are like that but on a smaller scale. ACTUALLY... most folks who have $1M liquid are hard working, cheap, frugal (still cutting coupons from ads). The reason why this book is s…

Yes! This book changed my life. Keep trying to convince friends and family that you get rich by saving money, not spending it.

Re: Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?

#250

Post by dano »

mcone wrote: post #8

The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge, a professor at MIT. Some might call it a business book. It focuses primarily on teaching readers to use "systems thinking" to turn companies into learning organizations that respond and adapt to change. That's useful advice to those in management positions, but I have to be honest and confess that the chapter on personal mastery changed my life in a big way. It put into words some…

This is a great and worthwhile read. His exposure of positive and negative cycles and methods of interrupting the negative was eye opening. I've used his words on many an occasion to "wake up" the audience and break a negatively reinforced conversation.
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