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Ask HN: What book changed your life?

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Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#251

Post by nprateem »

escapegoat wrote: post #127

_The Mind Illuminated_ Hasn't changed my life yet but it might (found it three days ago out on hoopla.com). I say this as someone who has given meditation practice a good college try (more than a year at a time of daily practice) on a couple of occasions. Most books say just keep going and you will eventually fart pixie dust. This book says you can reach advanced practice in under a year BUT requires a consistent one…

Check out Goenka's lectures on YouTube - search "Goenka 10 day". Blew my mind. So much clearer than TMI

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#252

Post by themodelplumber »

DonHopkins wrote: post #45

Cellular Automata Machines: A New Environment for Modeling Published April 1987 by MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262200608. http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cellular-automata-machines http://books.google.com/books?id=HBlJzrBKUTEC&printsec=front... http://www.researchgate.net/publication/44522568_Cellular_au... https://github.com/SimHacker/CAM6/blob/master/javascript/CAM...

I'm curious, how did the book change your life? What kind of problems did the authors model using their approach? I'm new to the topic, thanks for any input.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#253

Post by specialist »

nanomonkey wrote: post #135

The Listening Society by Hanzi Freinacht. It taught me that there is indeed a direction for society to go beyond PostModernism, that is constructive and nuanced. Also explained why it is so rare for people to move into such a stage of development. The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Showed all of the archaeological evidence for vast time periods where alternate governance models were put into p…

Ditto The Dawn of Everything. I binged on everything Graeber thru the apocalypse. Debt: the First 5000 Years rewired my brain. FWIW, I enjoyed everything Jill Lepore the same way; they're good compliments.

Will give The Listening Society a try, thanks.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#255

Post by screye »

TillE wrote: post #55

As a young teenager, Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World. A brilliant series of essays about critical thinking. More recently - I hesitate to recommend it because the trilogy is unfinished, but still - Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle books have redefined what is possible with fantasy fiction, with incredible depth and subtlety and literary flourishes. It has flaws for sure, but I can't think of anything that…

Kingkiller moves the fantasy fiction genre past its LOTR-esque roots.

Every word is a joy to read. I haven't read anything else that brings as big a smile on my face. Kingkiller's literary qualities are head and shoulders above anything in fantasy fiction. Every word, every metaphor and every description is chosen with care, so as to convey the exact emotion that the author wants you to feel. I hope the final book comes out soon.

Kingkiller is eternally compared to Sanderson's books. But, to me they are completely different writers. Sanderson's books are written competently, but the fun is in the story and interweaving pieces. Sanderson embodies the ultimate refinement of fantasy fiction tropes to produce something that's faultless, yet traditional.

On the other hand, Rothfuss is crafting something that does not lend itself well to comparison. It is perfect, because it is what it is meant to be. In some ways, Kingkiller feels closer to Shakespeare than any contemporary fantasy fiction work.

I am inclined to refer to Rothfuss as the Einstein to Sanderson's Von Neumann. A more-apt but weeb-esque comparison would be Rothfuss's Berserk to Sanderson's FMAB.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#257

Post by Minor49er »

Buttons840 wrote: post #200
geocrasher wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoy the NWT translation, it's in modern English but also very true to the original text. https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/ It's also available in the JW Library app. Both are 100% free, no signups or membership, and makes reading so much easier and more enjoyable.

Be aware that the NWT is a translation produced by a single church, a single sect of Christianity. Those wanting to study the Bible as a literary exercise should consider a translation accepted by more than only one sect of Christianity. Another comment here suggests an interesting translation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30735352

It's important to compare translations and understand why they exist and where they differ. Books like "New Age Bible Versions" by G. A. Riplinger give insight into changes with modern versions like the NIV and NKJV that make deliberate alterations to the text. But even still, it's important to remeber that translations like the KJV has replaced words like "She'ol" and "Hades" with "hell", or even replacing the name of God with "God".

I personally find myself comparing the KJV with the original Greek as well as the pre-Challoner version of the Douay-Rheims when I want more insight into certain passages.

Commentaries also provide interesting insights. They typically cite the translations that were used as well so you can see how their conclusions were drawn

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#259

Post by carabiner »

skilled wrote: post #39

I think the only book I can recall having a direct impact on my conscious awareness was The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle[0]. The book is very easy to read and quite enjoyable with everything that it includes. I definitely recommend to check it out. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Now-Guide-Spiritual-Enlightenme...

I liked PON but it did seem to fall under the "thanks I'm cured" or "happiness is a choice" school of personal development. It works for some people, maybe those who sometimes fall under a bad mood once in a while, but doesn't do much for real mental illness. It's like telling a lifelong alcoholic that drinking is a choice or an overweight person that eating is just a choice. How do you stay on that horse if you fall off it nearly every waking hour?

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life?

#260

Post by BSOhealth »

throwawaybbq1 wrote: post #192

"Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman" - sort of like an autobiography of Richard Feynman but from recordings of some conversations. I'm a scientist and this resonated with me a lot. "The Game" - very immature and sophomoric book. I was given this book by an acquaintance who was also geeky like me. I was painfully shy of girls until grad school, and this book gave me much needed confidence to talk to the opposite gender.…

"Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman" is so good. I read it, or listen to the audio book through my library via Libby, at least once a year. It portrays Feynman as so “normal” relative to his achievements and then makes his ideas much more accessible, such as the Feynman lectures. Sort of the sense of, if he can do it so can I.
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