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Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

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Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#171

Post by torben-friis »

lambdatronics wrote: post #93

I think it works: I put in "Zero to One", "The Idea Factory" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" -- one of the top results was "We Are Never Meeting in Real Life." This was reviewed on Amazon as "Not For a White Male Forty-Year-Old Software Engineer." https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1WB4G83DRI8PV/re...

The problem is, there's a line between "things I don't consider because they're out of my comfort zone / I don't even know they exist" and "things I don't consider because I consider them to not have quality".

You give me a novel from a niche author from the middle East, I'm game; you give me a cash grab book signed by a teen youtuber and I'm probably out.

I'm not sure this site can tell the difference.

Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#172

Post by jjk166 »

Rumperuu wrote: post #25

Very interesting—I certainly wouldn't have expected the antithesis of Mein Kampf and Revolt Against the Modern World to be Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking . Honourable mentions include the Bible (NIV) and The C Programming Language .

I tried Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto, got Why Does He Do That: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men as the third result, which I also got as the second result when I tried the King James Bible and The Satanic Bible

Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#173

Post by aglundahl »

kashyapc wrote: post #163

I realize, the site's aim is to help you escape the "echo chamber". But I've recently been mulling over this other idea from Seneca (writing 2000 years ago!) on limiting the number of books you read, hard as it is, for an avid reader: [...] Be careful, though, about your reading in many authors and every type of book. It may be that there is something wayward and unstable in it. You must stay with a limited number of…

On a similar note in Seneca's letter to Serenus (On the Tranquillity of Mind):

"Even in our studies, where expenditure is most worth while, its justification depends on its moderation. What is the point of having countless books and libraries whose titles the owner could scarcely read through in his whole lifetime? The mass of books burdens the student without instructing him, and it is far better to devote yourself to a few authors than to get lost among many."

I think it can be very valuable to go down the rabbit hole sometimes and study the author and read their less popular works. But of course, after a while you will get diminishing returns.

Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#174

Post by Viliam1234 »

kqr wrote: post #103
gcatalfamo wrote: post #26

I think there is a genuine need for escaping echo chambers but every attempt is usually aimed just showing the opposite side/narrative. If I am conservative I won’t be open to be shown the most leftist content, and viceversa, while instead I might be open to be shown more balanced views that might gradually carry me out of my echo chamber instead of reinforcing it. edit: this an OT comment more related to the echo ch…

I think in order for the opposite thing to work, you have to approach the material with the understanding that "There are people who believe this stuff as firmly as I believe the complete opposite. If you asked them, they say, with absolute conviction, that I'm nuts. How might that happen? What if they're right? What could I have missed?" This engages System 2, hard. And it's so easy to slip back into System 1 and co…

It is generally good to try seeing things from the other person's perspective, but it is also possible that sometimes the other person is simply wrong. Just because an idea is wrong, that doesn't magically prevent millions of people from following it.

Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#175

Post by throwawaygulf »

"The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure"

This book perfectly describes what caused radical leftism to seep into Bay Area (Portland, Seattle, etc.) software culture. If you have leftist activist employees or coworkers, I highly suggest this book for them.

Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#176

Post by MeinBlutIstBlau »

lambdatronics wrote: post #99
werber wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve pretty actively read stuff in that vein for years trying to connect the religious tie to right in America. It’s fascinating

How familiar are you with religious-right people in real life? I can't stand reading about it b/c I grew up in the thick of it: brings back bad memories.

For myself at least where I live, they tend to be targeted at older men and women trying to reconnect with religion when they're vulnerable around the midlife crisis age. Most "religious right" are purely single choice voters that just happen to care about money the exact same way a libertarian would. The only difference is they think a God divinely gods them as opposed to an atheist who does not.

Almost all of these books are written by a lay person who basically parrots back interpretations or speeches from bishops, preachers, etc. They literally add no value to the system. They just milk an audience to be frank. You wouldn't read "The simple of of not giving a Fuck" would you? Likewise now, if you say on the title "Turning the other cheek" and put a picture of Jesus walking with a child on a beach and now you've got 99.99% of the christian self help books.

The funniest thing that comes to mind is it's no different than the South Park episode "Christian Rock Hard" where Cartman starts a christian rock band. All he does is rewrite already made songs but add some christianic sayings or phrases. That is entirely that industry. They don't tell you anything new or something you can't just search on some forums anymore.

Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#177

Post by porb121 »

onecommentman wrote: post #167

I think this could be more impactful if it focused on short form/summary/critique recommendations. Recommending someone from the left to read a book by Solzhenitsyn, or someone from the right to read a book by Maya Angelou is a hefty time commitment with little promise of proportionate intellectual gain for the time invested . But to have recommendations on good counterpoint short form content (short stories, journal…

> But to have recommendations on good counterpoint short form content (short stories, journal articles, essays) might get someone who is busy with life and career to spend a few minutes.

It's one book.

Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#179

Post by cortesoft »

kevinpet wrote: post #137
kqr wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think in order for the opposite thing to work, you have to approach the material with the understanding that "There are people who believe this stuff as firmly as I believe the complete opposite. If you asked them, they say, with absolute conviction, that I'm nuts. How might that happen? What if they're right? What could I have missed?" This engages System 2, hard. And it's so easy to slip back into System 1 and co…

I tried to read "The End of Policing". I got half way through chapter 1 before the author stated, as support for his argument, that The Bell Curve was "overtly racist". Now, you could argue that lots of racists like that book, that the authors might be motivated by bias, etc etc, but no credible reviewer at the time it came out would call it "overtly racist". This is retroactive moving of the goal posts, and the word…

This seems to all hinge on an overly specific definition of 'overt'.... while it's definition is something done openly with no attempt to hide, sometimes it is used for effect, to say something unintended is actually so apparent that it almost seems like it must have been done intentionally.

You might want words to be narrowly defined and used, but that isn't how language works.

Re: Show HN: An anti-book recommendation tool, to help you escape your echo chamber

#180

Post by kelnage »

I provided two books as requested - an old favourite (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams) and a recent fantasy novel (The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin). My recommendations were... unhelpful? Lots of children’s books and comics (including Calvin & Hobbes), peppered with the occasional P. G. Wodehouse.

The latter is particularly strange to me, since Douglas Adams was a huge fan of Wodehouse, used very similar humour, and even wrote forewords for Wodehouse re-printings.

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