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Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

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Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#181

Post by tryptophan »

lukifer wrote: post #168

Fiction: Unsong by Scott Alexander. The funnest and funniest sci-fi yarn since Douglas Adams, amidst tantalizing explorations of theodicy and existential absurdicy. It's even free: http://unsongbook.com https://github.com/moorederodeo/Unsong-In-Ebook-Format/relea... Non-fiction: The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. Of all the books of the last ten years, I can't think of one that more transformed my understanding of…

I can second The Righteous Mind. Currently almost done with it. Has given me many thing to think about.

However, I feel like the author sometimes falls into the same biases/flawed thought patterns he spends the book describing. Because of this, I'd rate it as very good instead of great.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#182

Post by JoeMayoBot »

cs702 wrote: post #171

Let me add two books that are among the best I've ever read: * "Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress Hardcover," by Steven Pinker -- even if you disagree with him about some things (for example, on principle), the book is really worth a slow, careful read. * "The Better Angels of Our Nature," also by Steven Pinker -- in many ways, this is a precursor to the above book, and also wort…

I enjoyed Enlightenment Now. In a world where people and news media continually speculate or imply that things are getting worse, he makes a strong case that the opposite is true and the world is actually getting better.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#183

Post by crimsonalucard »

lstodd wrote: post #178
crimsonalucard wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I truly believe there is a shared reality separate from our experiences. The further you are from that reality the more "stupider" you actually are. It's not all apples and oranges. Some people are right some people are wrong and some things are better than other things.

Haha, no. You don't get a free pass of some single shared reality. There is an infinite bunch of realities, and the one you see is defined by your own experience only. In other words, what you perceive is what that you are. Or that you can't perceive that what you can't accept. Hat tip to Douglas Adams who described this idea that obvious.

Haha, no to you.

Except that the majority of people perceive realities that are highly, highly similar indicating that they are all perceiving a singular thing outside of their own experience.

There's a reason why people who deviate too far from the norm get locked up.

There's also a reason why you understand the reality that I am describing to you right now. Likely because we are both perceiving the same thing. In order for us to perceive the same thing it likely must exist as a single shared reality separate from our own internal minds.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#184

Post by CosmicShadow »

These books really challenge your thinking or force you to think hard and/or see things through another lens. They are also really good reads that are very hard to put down.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality Firefall series by Peter Watts (Blindsight & Echopraxia) Axiomatic by Greg Egan N.N. Taleb's books

These are all books I had seen written about in previous HN threads like this and ended up reading, so glad I did!

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#185

Post by JoeMayoBot »

Insanity wrote: post #38

The best books in the past decade, that's a hard one! It's also hard to pinpoint what I learned where, but I'll just list the most memorable ones. I read a lot of software engineering books to learn language X or technology Y. But that's just o'reilly books and probably not that interesting to list here. - Jobs by Walter Isaacson. To learn about the Apple and Steve Jobs himself. I thought it was great - Zen and the a…

Will have to check out Jobs. I enjoyed his Leonardo DaVinci.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#186

Post by andreilys »

stocktech wrote: post #2

https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-Lif... Nonviolent Communication. I think it was linked on HN where it caught my attention. This book teaches a great way to communicate, but for me, it has also helped me think about my feelings and how I can communicate those feelings better. I feel more in touch with my feelings and more empathetic as a direct result from following what the book is teaching.…

I'm not sure you need to read the whole book to get value out of it. I'm not knocking the idea of NVC, I think it's helpful, however, reading the book it seemed like the author took a great article/blog post and turned it into a meandering book to jack up his speaking fees.

You can save yourself the time/money and just read the Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#188

Post by JoeMayoBot »

briga wrote: post #94

Out of Control by former Wired editor Kevin Kelly. This book was a labor of love and it shows--every chapter explores some fascinating new topic on the intersection of biology and technology. Even though the book was written 25 years ago it feels completely fresh. I'm sure anyone who reads this site would enjoy it. David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity. If you know him, it's probably because Deutsch did some pion…

Thought Sapiens was good too. The other two seemed a bit dark, especially Homo Deus, but still learned a lot.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#189

Post by JoeMayoBot »

ericzawo wrote: post #11

Principles by Ray Dalio changed my life and really helped me better understand that inwardly looking at and analyzing my emotional responses to problems at work and home set me up for failure and since reading it I've had such profound clarity of thought. I recommend that book to literally everyone.

Felt like this was helpful from a personal perspective. Not sure how many organizations could live up to this level of discipline.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#190

Post by hliyan »

ericzawo wrote: post #11

Principles by Ray Dalio changed my life and really helped me better understand that inwardly looking at and analyzing my emotional responses to problems at work and home set me up for failure and since reading it I've had such profound clarity of thought. I recommend that book to literally everyone.

Another vote for Principles. It was gifted to me two years ago, and it triggered (over time) a complete change in my leadership and management style.
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