Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

451–460 of 1001 posts

Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?

#451

Post by pure_ambition »

Townley wrote: post #163
robotron wrote: post #25

Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance This helped me understand the duality of the logical/mechanical and the creative/artistic. Then merging the two.

My go-to vote as well. Some of my favorite passages pertain to the awareness of-and management of- one's internal motivation and thought process when attempting to do good work. "So the thing to do when working on a motorcycle, as in any other task, is to cultivate the peace of mind which does not separate one’s self from one's surroundings. When that is done successfully then everything else follows naturally. Peace…

Excellent quote. Thank you for sharing.

Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?

#452

Post by laughinghan »

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

"Wait a minute--this Snow Crash thing, is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?"

"What's the difference?"

This was the original definition of a "meme" as coined by Richard Dawkins: instead of humans choosing what to think, what if ideas self-replicate using human minds as hosts? Religions, languages, agriculture, chemistry, the word "like", uptalk, literally any thought or behavior pattern can be framed this way.

See also: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/17/the-toxoplasma-of-rage...

Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?

#454

Post by rthomas6 »

* The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. It introduced me to an entire world I didn't know was there before. Straight up Vipassana meditation is better, but it's less accessible, and this book started me on the path. Parts of it cross the woo threshold for me, but the book can fundamentally alter how one sees reality. We are not really how we appear to be. It is possible to greatly attenuate suffering. There is no taking his word for it; you can see it for yourself.

Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?

#457

Post by scott_s »

3minus1 wrote: post #298

* The Selfish Gene - our bodies are vessels for DNA as they travel through time. Also colony insects and birds are fascinating. * Thinking Fast and Slow - study after study shows that we exhibit so, so many cognitive biases, as our minds take shortcuts. there are some things you can do to recognize and mitigate these biases. * Imagined Communities - the notion of a "nation" is only 300 years old and has no objective…

"The Selfish Gene" was a revelation to me. I read it during college, as a break from my math, CS and physics classes. It felt like having an evolutionary biology course on the side.

Re: Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?

#459

Post by devit »

For personal development, social behavior and relationships these two sets of books are the best theory available, and significantly better and more fundamental than anything else I found written on the topic.

- Models: Attract Women through Honesty + The Subtle Art of not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson

- The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy + More than Two by Franklin Veaux and Eve Rickert + Opening Up by Tristan Taormino

Post reply on HN