The Mulla Nasrudin books by Idries Shah. These tales, some of them very old, represent patterns that repeat again and again, in different guises in life. As you absorb them you start to recognize your own behavior patterns in response to analogous situations, which gives you the option of changing your response over time.
Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
381–390 of 747 posts
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#382Technopoly by Neil Postman Industrial society and it's future by Theodore Kaczynski Both these books drastically changed my perception of technology. The role we think it has and the effects and consequences it does have. The main take away is that a technology contains an implicit bias that is absorbed by the user. More plainly put "to someone with a hammer, everything is a nail" applies to all technology.
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Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#383Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
This book makes every bit of life advice you receive afterwards feel shallow. It feels like a reference to western thought.
It's also very well translated and reads very easily, and is very short. I read about a chapter every morning when I feel motivated, and certain passages really stick in my head.
It also helps to read whenever you feel overcome with emotion because of something.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#384So many good suggestions here! I'll try adding two more [1] "So Good They Can’t Ignore You" by Cal Newport. It changed the way I look at my career and how I view my personal development. [2] ADP 6-22 Army Leadership and the Profession by the US Army. Looking past the militaristic stuff, it made me change the way I see leader/subordinate relationships and how to start becoming a person others can depend on and look up…
I just want to comment that the Army publication you listed is really good. While you can only learn so much about leadership from books, the military is one of the best organizations at explaining what leadership is. There is another pub from the Marines that is similar and equally high quality. I think it is called "Leading Marines" or something like that.
Also, FYI, all of these publications are free online. Here is the Army one you linked to: https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/ARN2003...
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#385Earlier quoted context omitted.
Despite all the praise it got, I really struggled with that book. I hated it so much that I had to check if I didn't pick the wrong book by accident. I found that it's a very polarising book. It's life-changing for some, and garbage for others. There were a few insightful passages, but most of the book was pretentious rambling. It was difficult to understand what the author was even trying to say, with his head so fa…
> It's life-changing for some, and garbage for others. I feel this way about Catcher in the Rye. My English teacher recommended it to me obviously on the basis that I was an angsty teenager that would identify with Holden Caulfield. But what a pile of crap it is. I still want back the hours I wasted on reading that stupid boring book.
That's a weird recommendation. I think you might have viewed it differently as a bit of a retrospective or perspective piece.
I can't possibly so how the teacher thought suggesting that book to an angsty teen to be a good idea. That's the time kids need to have their world opened, not their angst re-affirmed. Very strange.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#386Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harari
Will forever change how you look at humanity, society, and technology. Lot's of eye openers and in general it causes you to shift your frame of reference entirely.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#387"Permutation City" by Greg Egan is mind-bending in a way similar to The Matrix, except taken up a few notches. Explores the consequences of consciousness being just a pattern. Would it continue if the pattern is paused? Seems yes, since we survive being unconscious. So we move in space and time, but still consciousness feels continuous. What if you pause it, destroy it, recreate it somewhere else. Would it not contin…
And the way the book kicks off is great. The story starts with the first letter of the first page. You're thrown right in.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#388Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram. Ingram is one of the most advanced meditation practitioners in the west, and this book is a painstaking mapping of the development of attention. I’ve read nothing like it.
This book was really interesting, and ultimately made me decide meditation wasn't worth it for me. (I'm not saying it isn't worth it for others, just that the outcome of meditation that he describes doesn't seem like something I want).
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#389The Unfettered Mind by Takuan Soho and Psychology of Intelligence Analysis by Richards J. Heuer Jr.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#390Super serious question. Of the 278 comments that have been posted to this thread in the last 8 hours, has anyone suggested a single female author? I looked for a while and saw exactly zero. Isn’t that kind of notable?
Oh man, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is AMAZING on so many levels. A common thread with these books seems to be exploring consciousness and definitions of self. As a bonus it does stuff I find more from women authors, like quietly question gender roles without making a scene about it, question slavery, ownership, etc. Similar a bit to the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells but on a whole other level. Its a wonderfu…
Hated Ancillary Justice. Just found it boring. Well-trodden ground.