Anyone who works with other human beings can make improvements to his/her professional interpersonal skillset by reading Influence by Cialdini.
Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
81–90 of 248 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#82From a software engineering standpoint: - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (doing all the exercises is key). This book helped me think about how programs run, how state is stored, how you can build out asynchronous computation, and how you can build your own languages. - Designing Data Intensive Applications. This book profoundly changed how I think about application performance and data. It describe…
I came here to comment HPMoR. It's a little embarrassing because the book is very cringey at times, full of itself, and for those who care, quite sexist. But it has some incredible lessons in how to think rationally, especially in situations where most people don't believe you or are very used to doing things a certain way even when that way has bad consequences.
My favorite part of the book is when Harry goes around trying to collect the signatures of people who believe (on flimsy evidence and against their better judgement) that another character has committed attempted murder. Their refusal to directly advertise their beliefs (thus subjecting themselves to later scrutiny if they're proven wrong) is a direct reflection of how people in real society like to take intellectual and strategic positions without accepting any of the risk or responsibility of being wrong.
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#83Trigger warning: This is a self-help thread. It may expose you to suggestions of self-help books and pop-sci of dubious quality.
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#84Socrates
Plato
Alexis de Tocqueville
Notebook of Nicholas Tesla
Deep insight into non-engineering nature often brings out a solution that can be applied toward engineering/computer science.
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#85In USSR there was a very popular method of problem solving developed by Altshuller called TRIZ[1].
It seems that it is still being used in some other countries like Japan, S. Korea to improve manufacturing processes.
I read the books but I don't think it helped me to become a better problem solver...
I wonder if anyone looked at it too.
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#86Anything that enhances your insight for wisdom.
Philosophy comes to mind. As it helps you think out of the box.
The big 3 philosophers and stoics are a great place to start. Explore the differences of western and eastern philosophies too once you get a taste for the west.
You'll naturally come across mental models this way rather than have to read a farnam street blog on.
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#87In USSR there was a very popular method of problem solving developed by Altshuller called TRIZ[1]. It seems that it is still being used in some other countries like Japan, S. Korea to improve manufacturing processes. I read the books but I don't think it helped me to become a better problem solver... I wonder if anyone looked at it too. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ
Triz is included in the list of "liberating structures" [0] - facilitation techniques that have become fairly popular in the agile community (scrum.org trainers definitely talk about them). So yeah, it's being looked into :-)
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#88Bit of a generic answer.
Doing the problem sets from a good university course.
Some problems might take you hours to solve, but it will develop your stamina for thinking hard.
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#89The Beginning of Infinity: expanded my understanding of what science is, exposed me to Popper's ideas of conjecture and refutation. Many profound concepts which I think about regularly. Thinking, Fast and Slow: introspection about how the mind may work, common biases and traps. I often think about the fast/slow system divide and notice when I just want to coast along doing fast thinking. The Scout Mindset: very neatl…
Came here to say Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman and The Black Swan by Taleb.
I don't know if it's strictly applicable to OP's question - but these books shaped how I see the world more than anything in life - and I think my view is way more accurate and I'm infinitely happier as a result.
In these conditions, I think problem solving becomes a lot easier...
Re: Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?
#90“Out of the Crisis” by Demming: helped me see the best way to manage projects isn’t always about fixing problems, it starts with reducing uncertainty.
“Seeing like a state”, “Knowledge and Power”, and “Antifragile”, top down control of a system always clashes with bottom up understanding, so experts in a field need humility when working with a new system and need to learn from the people who work with it every day.
“Critique of Pure Reason”, there are things we can’t know using only logic, so don’t try to use it to understand everything.