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

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

#833

Post by acqq »

vicmanster wrote: post #416
p0d wrote: post #258

I read through the bible every year and each time it shapes my thinking. For example, I was reading Exodus this morning about how we should care for the foreigner. I imagine several thousand years ago this was pretty radical. It also seems very relevant today.

I second that. For a book that's the foundation of our entire Western Civilization it's amazing that so few read it these days. No wonder our civilization is breaking down. Not to mention how mythologies in so many cultures have embedded remnants of its first book, Genesis. Also the inspiration of countless masterpieces of literature like the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (1989), mentioned at th…

Luckily some of the major narration lines, thanks to the modern art forms, are in the very accessible form:

http://www.thebricktestament.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Genesis-Illustrated-R-Crumb/dp/0...

And there are also people who e.g. carefully count the details, so that we don't have to:

https://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/2006/08/who-has-kil...

But of course always check the references. Use the work of textual critics to establish what is in which version of the original text, and compare.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_criticism#Bible

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

#834

Post by superdeeda »

andrea_sdl wrote: post #823

I'll be in the minority then, but to me these are my best books. The Power of Vulnerability by Brenè Brown and Quiet by Susan Cain. The first is not a real book since it's audio only, there is no written counterpart but it changed the way I see, connect, live in the world entirely. I _never_ found something along those lines. While the second book, Quiet, although a little boring in some sides, made me accept my intr…

Brene Brown's Daring Greatly made a huge impact on me! From what I understand it's very similar to The Power of Vulnerability.

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

#837

Post by theodor_shi »

The Denial of Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denial_of_Death

" Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie -- man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates more than twenty years after its writing. "

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

#839

Post by bsrhng »

The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. This is a non-popular example, I found it because I like the series.

The book introduces the context of the scientific revolution and the thinking from which the ideas that we think of as science developed. It tells a very different story than the "dark ages to enlightenment" narrative and shows the seriousness and depth of thought at the time and also of subjects that many dismiss even without thinking, such as astrology.

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