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Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#561

Post by ohbleek »

michaelbarton wrote: post #63

“How to change your mind” by Michael Pollen. I read a lot of books, and this is one that caused a change in my life. The succinct summary is that psychedelics are misunderstood and there is more and more research showing their potential, especially in the treatment of trauma. I had a difficult childhood. It’s something I still struggle with personal interactions because of this, even after years of therapy. After rea…

As someone that works in psychedelic research I must say that this book did more for the acceptance of psychedelics as a legitimate therapy with mainstream America than anything, ever.

The number of “straight-laced”, “9 to 5” people that have mentioned this book to me when they find out what I do is so high I pretty much expect it at this point. I personally was bored reading the book but only because I am so familiar with the space and I don’t find his writing terribly interesting but I truly believe his book did more to legitimize psychedelics than anything that came before it. People used to think I was some fringe weirdo before that book, now I’ve had strangers tell me I’m “their hero.” That’s not a joke. I’ve had two different people, on two different occasions say that to me, and both of them mentioned his book.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#562

Post by mderazon »

scrozart wrote: post #559
BatteryMountain wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in a similar headspace as you - not a druggy but went that shamanic route. 2x Ayahuasca ceremonies and 5 grams of mushrooms a few years ago... changed my life. I recommend only doing mushrooms once or twice a year at most for larger dosages and once or twice a month at most if doing 2g or less. If you do it more regularly you may have diminishing returns. Cannabis I'd do at most once a month if at all. San Pedro…

Forgive me - what is San Pedro?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_cactus

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#563

Post by themeiguoren »

paperskull wrote: post #548

In my case I mostly listen to audiobooks and take notes. My top 3 favourites based on the amount of notes taken for this year: Creativity Inc: Fun read about the conception of Pixar Studios and why having a different process amd focus than other studios have led them to create so many award winning films. Ties in to some other books on adapting the process in order to generate better/more creative outcomes that have…

Who's the author for Immune? There seem to be quite a few books with that title.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#565

Post by tayo42 »

atq2119 wrote: post #409
tayo42 wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I mostly agree with you, but your argument would be stronger if you didn't just blame everything on "overdoing" it. My understanding is that psychedelics work by disinhibiting certain self-regulatory mechanisms in the brain. This means a bad trip can come simply from a person's past, e.g. if they have some unprocessed trauma that's usually repressed, the result can easily be ugly. I agree with you that people who alr…

Just in that reply? I only brought that up because that reply kept talking about stuff like panic attacks. I tried to lay out other reasons in the first comment.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#566

Post by tayo42 »

acjacobson wrote: post #369
tayo42 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your post is basically my problem with how people talk about bad trips. You made the term "bad trip" ambiguous, scary and sound random. You're saying something might happen but no one can tell you what. Yeah that's horrifying, what is this horrible thing, Ill let my imagination run wild. But if you can be clear about the risks and how to avoid them I think you'll come out fine. I don't think if psychedelics were play…

Maybe I can give an anecdotal example that is less ambiguous. I have a fair amount of experience with psychedelics. I have had both uncomfortable trips and once what I would characterize as an actual bad trip. In the case of the bad trip it was a normal dosage, less than 2 grams of mushrooms (cubensis), and wasn't mixed with anything else. In terms of effects I would describe it as feeling like you are losing your mi…

You wouldn't classify that as something like an uncomfortable introspection? I think if in general people were more clear about what the psychedelic experience is you wouldn't be caught off guard like that.

> you are losing your mind, and you will never be yourself again.

I feel like is a pretty common thing to come up, especially with lsd which lasts forever. If people were more prepared for what will come up (I actually tell people about that scenario if tripping for the first time comes up). Thats what i mean, is it better to say "oh the trip can go bad for any unpredictable reason" or we talk about in more clear terms then "bad trip" about what can actually be uncomfortable while on the drugs.

I think saying "you might feel like your losing your mind, but your not, youll feel better at the end" is less horrifying then "bad trips"

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#567

Post by singlow »

OnionBlender wrote: post #136
singlow wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read snowcrash as a teen but Cryptonomicon was my reintroduction to Neal Stevenson as an adult and it got me hooked.

Is it worth the effort? I've picked up snow crash a few times in the past 20 years and found it a hard read. I really want to enjoy it but I find it hard to swallow. I suppose it has been hard because it doesn't take itself seriously. My sci-fi reading history has been: - several William Gibson novels between 1995-2008 - Most of the ender's game series and home coming from 80's to 2008. - Between 2008 and 2018 I read…

I have reread snow crash since my first read of it as a teen and did not enjoy it as much. I like his newer stuff much more. But at the time, and my state of mind, it was very influential to my view of technology, the internet and society so it has a very special place in my scifi cannon.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#568

Post by floydnoel »

skinkestek wrote: post #414

Probably "The Goal". After reading "the Phoenix project" a couple of years ago a good deal of it was predictable but that doesn't prevent it from being very interesting. (To be completely honest I listened to it instead of reading it myself, but I still think it counts.) Another interesting audiobook is "The Minuteman" maybe only available through Audible. It is a story of part of the fight against nazism in America.…

I didn’t read The Phoenix Project yet, but I got a sale on its sequel, The Unicorn Project. I got a couple chapters in and found it almost repulsive. At the start a “rockstar” developer gets blamed for something that isn’t her fault, and sent to a shit team. It then gushes about how amazing the rockstar is by highlighting what text editor she uses, and how she can back up a server while it’s on fire, and how she’s the most in-demand consultant in the world, along with a million other clichés. It’s the only book I have ever returned. It’s like a manager dreamt up the “perfect” employee cog and wrote a book about it.

I mostly bought the book because I had heard good things about TPP, but I was turned off after trying to read the sequel. Would you please elaborate on what you found valuable about it? I’d like to read it (I read a lot) if it’s actually useful, but I haven’t heard much about how or what was valuable about it. Just that people seem to enjoy it. I’d love to hear more about why, if you’re so inclined!

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