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Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

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Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#91

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

I read this too. I loved the first 30%. Couldn't put it down. After that he gets into modern history and inserts his own opinion and politics into the facts, which I found distasteful and distracting. He's also very hostile to religion. I'm agnostic so I agreed with most of what he said, but it seemed so unnecessary and again distasteful and distracting.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#93
post #35

Righteous Mind, Why good people are divided by politics and religion by Jonathan Haidt (also applies to classic nerd feuds like Mac vs windows vs Linux) The Mom Test, how to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you by Rob Fitzpatrick (worst title ever, book is great)

The Righteous Mind is brilliant. It gives an excellent framework by which to understand today's events better.

Seems somewhat of an odd tagline "why good people are divided by politics"...

All people are divided by politics.

Perhaps it's one to give a read though.

I swear I'm noticing a systemic failure at a global level of people to recognize they are always-on 24/7 political machines living inside an always-on 24/7 political machine and it's mostly Garbage In, Garbage Out.

That's the default mode of operation. Most people are wrong about most things. Couple that with the fact we are de-facto tribal animals that can't turn our politics off. All you get is one big, giant disagreement where everyone is likely wrong and nobody will admit it.

But I keep noticing patterns in everyones language... Patterns that make an assumption that the crazy political debates we find ourselves in are somehow an abnormal state and the world has "descended into madness" or "we've gone mad" or "it seems people have really lost their minds lately".

This pattern crops up over and over again. It's like no man, look at the hardware and software producing the outputs. This is the output the system is designed to produce. We haven't "lost our minds" or "gone crazy", we were always this batshit insane and this is always the protocol we have operated on.

Curious what the framework the book lays out and what resemblance it bears to my own framework...

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#94

The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa. I find it the textbook on meditation and it has largely transformed my life.

1. I would agree: I discovered it a few weeks ago and it changed my understanding of both how my mind works and the practice of meditation (after 5+ years of on/off practice, retreats and many many books). I found the explanations so clear that I'm going for a 6 weeks retreat to his center in a few days.

2. In the same vibe I was recommended Shinzen Young "the science of enlightenment"[1], which has very enthusiastic reviews from many masters, including Culadasa. I haven't read it yet.

[1] printed in 2016, https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1591794609/

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#95
post #73
post #37

Favorites that I read in 2018: * Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep ) * Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4806.Longitude ) * Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss (…

I also enjoyed Longitude when I read it, but it's been described as "suffer[ing] however from a major flaw, it is a distortion of the real history it is claiming to relate." https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/dava-sobel-tries-her...

I have not read it, but judging by the synopsis on Goodreads, it seems to gloss over any developments during the Islamic Golden Age. Is this judgement accurate?

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#96
post #52

>(Read in 2018) * Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215758.Shake_Hands_with_... Still reading it every few weeks and its hanging over my head to finally finish it. Not something you want to read, but a book like few i have read before.

Oooh. Added to my list.

I read Man's Search for Meaning this year and man that's a bleak, hard-hitting book. Just such a gripping experience reading that.

I've recently bought a copy of The Gulag Archipelago which is a historical account of the Gulag in Soviet Russia.

Will definitely add Rwanda to the list. I think these books are so important to read. They're absolutely horrifying, but lest we forget where those ideas lead people.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#98

Michael Pollan: How to Change Your Mind [1] Not just about an utterly fascinating topic (psychadelic drugs), in terms of history (LSD turning from a scientific wonder drug to illegal), his personal experiences, and the neuroscience behind it, but also just extremely well-written -- a real page-turner. A crazy potent combination of science, spirituality (from a skeptic), and narrative. I expect his book will be a sign…

Truly a great read

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Righteous Mind is brilliant. It gives an excellent framework by which to understand today's events better.

Seems somewhat of an odd tagline "why good people are divided by politics"... All people are divided by politics. Perhaps it's one to give a read though. I swear I'm noticing a systemic failure at a global level of people to recognize they are always-on 24/7 political machines living inside an always-on 24/7 political machine and it's mostly Garbage In, Garbage Out. That's the default mode of operation. Most people a…

The tagline is meant to emphasize that even good people are divided by politics, and the book is meant to target people who didn't find that obvious.
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