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I can recommend all books written by Robert Anton Wilson, especially the Cosmic Trigger series, Quantum Psychology and The New Prometheus. Another book that's definitely worth a read, or two, is "The Goal", which teaches you how to think goal-oriented while not being a bore to read.
Epictetus' Enchiridion helped me massively with depression and anxiety over the past few years. I still read a few excerpts from it weekly. Much of it is self evident, but it's reassuring and reinforcing.
The works of Terry Pratchett shaped my sense of humor, and my outlook on life. I would definitely be a different person today if I hadn't encountered Discworld at such an early age. They've made me a optimistic cynic.
I'd highly recommend anybody interested in starting the Discworld books to start with Mort, and then the rest of the Death series in order (Hogfather in particular).
A few have stood out: - "The Defining Decade: Why Your 20's Matter and How to Make The Most of Them Now": it motivated me to find a fulfilling a career in tech (among other things). - "On the Shortness of Life" (Seneca) - Really made me take a hard look at my life, for the better. - "Eat and Run" - Interesting read about an Ultramarathoner. Inspired me to find the motivation for doing "tough things" in general.
https://bookshop.org/books/deterring-democracy/9780374523497
gave me a diff pov on the US/government, in particular. helped start shifting my perspective, break out of the 'indoctrination' of a standard US education, which already included college, gd.
i think it could matter because, if we're going to survive, americans will probably have to start looking at the world a bit differently -- since the US is still, for now, really the sole superpower in the world and effectively sets global policy, including and especially on climate collapse.
i imagine we'll maintain our 'sole superpower' status indefinitely, which doens't bode well for continued organized life on earth, unfortunately, but maybe we can still change our ways. maybe we'll be able to force the 1% to let us live, even in this much-diminished environment.
Evolution of horses, disappearance of the .400 in baseball, where are all the modern Geniuses, and the most integral part- the dominance of bacteria- and how evolution and the progression of entropy/ the 2nd law, does not, against most intuition, generally _lead_ to the increase of complexity, but merely _allows_ for its existence.
I do disagree with him on the premise of "hot-hands," and the bit about joe dimaggio's performance being the most (statistically) outstanding in human history is also unintuitive.
The book does have such a general sense of applicability though, cannot recommend it enough.
Those were life-changing for me: - The Black Swan - Antifragile - Crucial Conversations - Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby
It fairly accessible and yet opened me up to a much more complex world of inner experience than I was able to perceive before reading the book.
- "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy" by William B. Irvine
- "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton G. Malkiel
- "The Real Happy Pill" by Anders Hansen
- "Never Split the Difference" by Chris Voss & Tahl Raz
- "Drug Use for Grown-ups" by Dr. Carl L. Hart
- "Soft City" by David Sim
As a child I was inspired by its radiant optimism about engineering advances extracting men from peril and lifting them to the position of control of their lives and making the most of their circumstance.
The Martian had the same vibes for me.
In response to some questions:
It's not a kids book. It's a fan-fiction inspired by the original books, but written with adults in mind.
You can read it for free at http://www.hpmor.com/.