111–120 of 185 posts
Very logically made me realise that willpower was really just about changing how you talk to yourself. Essentially learning impulse control.
I lost a deadly, expensive habit and a fair bit of weight. Clean for 6 years.
It helped me understand certain things I experienced in life without consciously knowing about them.
- [0] https://www.robinwieruch.de/lessons-learned-deep-work-flow/
I’ve never found a writer who could discuss humanity writ large — both in masses, and over enormous spans of time — like Herbert. Dune is the easy to read, fast moving approachable yarn that gets you in. The real masterpiece is God Emperor, where we get to see humanity over thousands of years, and we really learn Herbert’s most important lesson: beware the charismatic dictator.
This was a book published in the 70s by DEC. I vividly remember at either the very beginning or the very end of the book there was a section on how to send submissions for consideration in future editions, complete with instructions on how to properly pack oiled teletype tape for shipping. :)
I found a copy of one of the editions of this book in my parent's book stash in the 80s some time after I got a C128. Up until then the C128 had spent most of it's time in C64 emulation mode alternately running a BBS, downloading cracked games while taking some liberties with the telephone system, or playing those games. Starting on that book put me on the path of teaching myself to program.
If the OP is looking for something that changes philosophical outlook, or something that might be relevant today, then I probably disappoint. However in taking the question literally, I'd guess this book set me on the path to the life I live today more than any other single book.
The Tao of Pooh: Benjamin Hoff
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut
TI 99/4a basic reference manual
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson, Sussman
Object Oriented Analysis and Design by Grady Booch
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
Thieves in the Night by Arthur Koestler
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
War and Peace by L.N.Tolstoy
Chapaev and the void by Pelevin
Carlos Castaneda, definitely.
I was doing a post-grad degree in biomedical engineering and that book set me on a path to become a statistician -- exclusively Bayesian at the start, but now well-versed in all sorts of approaches. (Still prefer Bayes, but I'm only dogmatic about it in theory, not in practice.)
Immanuel Kant's critique of pure reason
Gruts by Ivor Cutler. Milk, Sulphate, and Albie Starvation by Martin Millar. I was introduced to Martin Millar by a very close friend who stole very many books. She was good at it, and she stole hundreds of books. In turn I introduced her to Ivor Cutler. We'd sit in her room drinking tea, eating pikelets and jam, listening to Ivor Cutler.