Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#421

Post by javajosh » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:03 PM UTC

xyzzyz wrote: post #346

javajosh wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from playing twice, I can't think of a statement that could exclude you from choosing arbitrarily between A and B, since within the conceit of the problem there is no way to exclude B with a mere statement.

You probably need to come up with a statement that’s true, but is made false by the act of getting B.

So, "I don't have B"? But the system is mutable, and we can easily see that the proposition is true, and then (possibly) false. Then you have to say "I will never have B". But that's not necessarily true! You would need either an oracle, some sort of iterative evaluation, or a perspective from which the entire interaction is a single static object, something like a tree of outcomes, which you allow to be used in the evaluation (e.g. one possible implementation of an oracle). I find all of this highly unsatisfying.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#422

Post by jeffreyrogers » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:03 PM UTC

Pandabob wrote: post #14

The first time I read Talebs Black Swan was pretty mind bending. It's a intriguing mix of philosophy, history and the application of probabilistic thinking. It's also a great aggregator book. It introduced me to the works of Kahneman, Tetlock, Poincare and Mandelbrot.

Taleb can be extremely pompous and annoying, but his books are truly original[0], and I think likely to alter how you think about the world. Many people hear words like "anti-fragile" or "black-swan" and know sort-of what they represent, so decide there's no reason to read his books, but those concepts are just the tip of the iceberg of Taleb's larger way of thinking.

[0]: By original I mean there aren't other books like his. If anyone else tried to write like Taleb it would be absurd, but he makes it work.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#423

Post by Minor49er » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:04 PM UTC

evo_9 wrote: post #324

VALIS by Philip K Dick. It explores the nature of reality through the lens of mental illness / madness.

Seconding this recommendation. The way the story was told became very surreal. It's an experience unlike any other that I've had while reading fiction.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#424

Post by james_s_tayler » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:04 PM UTC

ivolimmen wrote: post #318

binaryorganic wrote: post #299

Super 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?

The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do by Judith Rich Harris. Read this before getting kids. Awesome...

Heard a famous ADHD researcher recommend both this and Steven Pinker's Blank Slate for helping parents digest the science on why they can't engineer outcomes for their kids.

Gotta put both these on my list.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#425

Post by Syzygies » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:05 PM UTC

Just published "The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions" by Jeffrey D. Sachs.

An economic history of the species, more academic than "Guns, Germs, and Steel", without the flashy zebra bites. Not as meta as "Sapiens".

Radicalizing, even if one believes one already knows.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#426

Post by carapace » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:05 PM UTC

skilesare wrote: post #94

All the things by Christopher Alexander(Start with timeless way...explore the pattern language...move on to Nature of order...then others.) Zen and Lila by Pirsig Beginning of Infinity by Deutsch.

Nature of Order is (IMO) probably one of the most important books of the twenty-first century.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#427

Post by gitrog » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

jredwards wrote: post #410

gitrog wrote: post #406

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut was probably the most recent one for me. I guess the book in its entirety is probably fairly mild by modern sci-fi comparisons, but without wanting to spoil anything there is a certain species in the book whose outlook on life immediately changed my perspective of reality.

I always preferred Cat's Cradle.

I read Slaughterhouse 5 first, so that might be why I prefer it, even though I really enjoyed Cat's Cradle. But beyond that, I felt that Slaughterhouse 5 tied into reality more for me. It just felt more relevant, if that makes sense, but it could totally just have been due to my mindset at the time.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#428

Post by yalok » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

combatentropy wrote: post #309

Mere Christianity , by C. S. Lewis. Any of his nonfiction works have a style of writing that I seldom find. He has a dedication to reason and a step-by-step approach. The Elements of Style , by William Strunk and E. B. White. I liked writing since I learned how to. I didn't find this book until I was 17, and it unlocked me to write in a way that better helped others. The Language Instinct , by Steven Pinker. I guess…

+1 for Mere Christianity

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#429

Post by crimsonalucard » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

gitrog wrote: post #392

crimsonalucard wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either everyone on HN is a sexist, or a less reasonable explanation: women are just not interested in writing books on mind bending concepts. Obviously, everyone here is a sexist. Wake up people! Stop oppressing women! There was an Ask HN topic on finding technical books on nursing and some idiot pointed out to me that all the authors were women. He said as if people were being sexist. Obviously there aren't as many…

In the throes of your rant at someone making a perfectly accurate observation you seemed to have made a false dichotomy. The options aren't just that everyone on HN is sexist nor that women aren't interested in writing books on mind bending concepts, but another reason, as has been mentioned above, is that women for most of human history weren't allowed to write. From there it becomes rather obvious why there are les…

>is that women for most of human history weren't allowed to write.

Isn't this sexism? Read my argument again. I literally said that the reason why there are more men then women authors on mind bending concepts is because of Sexism. We are in total agreement.

I know of Ursula K. Le guin. If you read her biography you'll read about all the hardships she had to go through to get her work published. As a woman her books were burned for not being about parenting or cooking. Left hand of darkness was especially heretical and many such books were burned in public book burnings back in the day.

Just google "Ursula K. Le Guin Book burnings" and look at all the results on google. That's the extent of all the hardships she had to go through.

Some people may tell you that nothing of the sort happened and that she won some kind of award for her book called a Hugo Award, but they would be lying sexists.

There are less women authors than men authors because there is active suppression that has been going on since Ursula K. Le guin was born. We are NOT in disagreement here.

The disparity has nothing to do with a general choice and disinterest in science fiction by women. Women have no choice in every matter where there is a disparity with men. Women and men are biologically equal in every possible measure. Any statistical difference is a form of inequality and sexism enforced by MEN.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#430

Post by breakattn » Tue, May 12, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

pftburger wrote: post #333

binaryorganic wrote: post #299

Super 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…

I concur with Ancillary Justice. I love the way that you have to work out what is happening through successive detail. Plenty of surprises. A genderless society is very hard to get one's mind around.