For me, the following are near the top: "The Opposable Mind", by Roger Martin "Antifragile" by Nassim Taleb "The Conscious Universe" by Dean Radin
I'll caution readers here against Conscious Universe as pseudoscience rubbish.
Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
281–290 of 747 posts
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#282After reading "The Machine that Changed the World," by Womack, Jones, and Roos, all product management paradigms besides Just-In-Time seem irredeemably sub-optimal, almost provably so. The book is about the Toyota Production System, and how Toyota's product management paradigm of JIT alone caused Toyota to become the largest car manufacturer in the world over Ford, GM and all the entrenched American mass producers.
I agree. However, this pandemic has proven that JIT leads to outages when part of the supply chain is suddenly disrupted by external forces. On the other hand, what production system wouldn't have been hit (as hard?) by the corona virus? Interesting!
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#283Anything by Hermann Hesse. Not mind bending. No Twists. No roller coasters. Just a calm conversation with the author and yourself. And yet, it had a profound impact on me. One poem I revisit every once in a while: https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=119749 If you understand German, I do believe it needs to be read in its original tongue. The translations I found thus far were not entirely convincing.
I used to like Herman Hesse, and gradually realized the straight line from Hesse to Nazism. His distinct lack of human understanding is what bothers me at core. His female characters barely exist except as mirages in the eyes of men, and his male characters are little more than intellectualized brains. It's the type of book one likes as a teenager / young adult and realizes is BS later.
I've only read Siddhartha, and it didn't paint the author like you've done it.
Maybe I've completely misunderstood the book, but my key take away is that : true enlightenment (and by enlightenment you can say, true knowledge), only comes from life experience.
And that takes quite some human understanding, specially when we've grown to value information and theory, to the point where we build a perceived complete understanding of matters, only to later realize it's an illusion.
Things like talking about the concept of Love, Grief, Hate and any other complex emotions, end up falling short no matter how you read about them, either from a technical point of view, or simply from a character from a short story. You can't truly empathize until you've lived it.
Like it's not your knowledge to own unless you've experienced it, no matter what shape or form, and maybe that deserves some sort of respect.
Maybe that reflects on our lack of appreciation for a lot of things we take for granted.
Is it wrong that he wrote it through the lens of a intellectualized male character that didn't give enough focus on women? I don't know. It's his narrative after all.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#284"The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck"
The free sample is enough to get the core message: the Konmari method can also apply to obligations, not just objects. It's not a fascinating book, just an interesting concept. Most of the book covers the exceptions and caveats of its own technique, a rare approach in this genre. Its premise is similar to Mark Manson's "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck", but without the aggressive self-help bro tone.
"No More Mr. Nice Guy"
This book is for nice guys who never get what they want. The answer isn't "be a selfish asshole for once", but "if you want something, ask for it" and "don't expect unsolicited generosity to be rewarded in specific ways". This book is a healthy fix to an unhealthy behaviour.
"Influence: Science and Practice"
The gang of four made a book about programming design patterns. Cialdini made a book about influence design patterns. It's easy to read, and full of examples.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#285After reading "The Machine that Changed the World," by Womack, Jones, and Roos, all product management paradigms besides Just-In-Time seem irredeemably sub-optimal, almost provably so. The book is about the Toyota Production System, and how Toyota's product management paradigm of JIT alone caused Toyota to become the largest car manufacturer in the world over Ford, GM and all the entrenched American mass producers.
Until a major event like a pandemic comes along, and shows that Just in Time can be a bit fragile in those circumstances.
https://www.marketplace.org/2020/02/27/justintime-manufactur...
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#286For science fiction, Dune is a must, and Children of Time is probably the most mind-bending sci-fi I've read since. Both create imaginary worlds that are so detailed and plausible that they make you see our world in a new light.
But take Dune with a grain of salt; I read them, but the books after the first get a bit, I dunno, wishy-washy? Vague? Philosophical? I wanted to like it because the universe it describes is compelling, but the stories themselves lose a lot of luster. Interesting to see what they'll do in the upcoming movie / series, whichever it was though. It's great in terms of worldbuilding, and it's influenced a lot of other stu…
Don't bother with the books past the first and maybe the second. Dune itself should be treated as a standalone masterpiece of worldbuilding.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#287Guns, Germs and Steel. Actually, any well researched history book. View on the world gets changed drastically, and usually for better.
'Why nations fail' is about the same subject and much better supported, incase you are interested.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#288The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins The book is written to convince the reader that evolution is valid. But to me, the shocking thing was to really understand the religious argument for the first time, and understand why evolution challenges that world view. In a nutshell, there is a web of related arguments which support the belief that God exists. One of them is that the eye is so complicated, that it must have…
I suppose your praise is more due to Darwin's original book, although it is much less accessible nowadays - Dawkins does indeed explain it well.
The thing that struck me was how Darwin's ideas achieved such quick adoption, even in that most pious of times, where to avow yourself an athiest was unthinkable. It's an idea, once you are exposed to it, is so immensely powerful and perhaps even to say in hindsight obvious - that the truth of it almost bowls you over. The eldritch horror it must have inspired in the religious mind at the time can only be imagined. And yet it could not be seriously challenged - because it was so clearly TRUE.
One of the most staggering intellectual achievements of mankind. Philosophers since Ancient Greek times had been speculating on the causes of being (some even came close to guessing something like evolution) but they were just that, guesses. Then finally we get Darwin, and bam, no guesses, here is the answer (I acknowlege several others got just pipped to the post on it). That such a simple idea lurked just out of our understanding all this time, but took such staggering genius to unlock...
Wow!
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#289A piece of fiction that has never failed to make me think every time I read it, is: The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy by Stanislaw Lem.
One of the tenets of getting your mind bent is reading things that are antithetical to your own world view. For this reason I read and had my mind bent by Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind - Graham Hancock.
Finally, I offer The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barber. I have read a lot about food, nature, etc. but Barber nails the heart of the problem with our current (really recent past, in light of the pandemic) food culture. From farms and restaurants to the consumers (we are not just eaters) he shows how there could be another way that is more sustainable, as well as being more delicious.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
I adore Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , but for Philip K Dick at his most mind-bending, I’d instead go for Valis
I love Valis and it's probably his most mind bending, but I wouldn't recommend starting there. That book works best when you've already been exposed to his bizarre mind-bending style, and also understand a bit of the context of Dick himself (since Valis is semi-autobiographical). My recommendations are Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly. And then re…
All good picks! I was thinking of mentioning Ubik myself. I’d add A Maze of Death also.
Thinking about it, yeah, Valis is probably best saved for much later. That’s the same order I read Dick, and knowing a bit of his background and having seen his recurring tropes in fictional form, it added a whole new dimension to see them crop up in... pseudo-autobiographical form? I’m not even sure what to call it!