Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

tim.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

461–470 of 513 posts

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#461

Post by senordevnyc »

breezybottom wrote: post #201
digitaltrees wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cant respond to your last response, probably because it was flagged. But I'll say, after looking at your other posts that drip with disdain and what appears to me to be arrogance masking self loathing I hope you recognize the price you pay for speaking to people that way. You don't know me, who I am or what I have done. And life isn't about the transactional potential of relationships, but saying something like "i…

Maybe, but you're gullible enough to buy self-help books, so you'll probably lose any money you make in a crypto scheme.

Ironically, I can think of a half dozen self help books that you appear to be desperately in need of, given your nasty comms here.

But you’re too smart for all that, right? So smart you spend your time trolling anonymous people online lol

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#462

Post by senordevnyc »

curuinor wrote: post #53
__alexander wrote: post #50

Personally, I see the self-help industry dying because people are starting to realize that it’s just a network of individuals selling products, promoting each other’s products, and creating new avenues to sell more products. I refer to it as the “self-help mafia.” Tim Ferriss kind of created it.

Dale Carnegie created it, Tim Ferriss is a century too late to point as origin.

Why can’t you go back to things like Meditations? Or Proverbs in the Old Testament?

It’s almost like the designation of “self help” is so broad as to be totally useless.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#463

Post by keybored »

mettamage wrote: post #416
keybored wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s not much to it. There’s a difference between performed N and N as reported by the performer.

Why reach for a gun? You want to kill people that proclaim to be better leaders because of a self-help book? I know people drew guns for less but this is the first time I am reading something like this on HN. I’d suggest you’d read a few books so that you don’t have to reach for your gun but can use your words instead. Though the moment you’d claim any of those books helped you will be a bit of an ironic moment but s…

Thanks for the laugh wizard of Metta.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#464

Post by sharadov »

I think there are more nuggets of wisdom in great fiction than these self help books.

Maybe if someone put together a list of fiction books that correlate strongly with self-help categories, it would be immensely useful.

A great fiction book helps you vicariously experience a character's life while self-help is an instruction manual which sadly does not provide the same form of connection.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#465

Post by olooney »

sharadov wrote: post #464

I think there are more nuggets of wisdom in great fiction than these self help books. Maybe if someone put together a list of fiction books that correlate strongly with self-help categories, it would be immensely useful. A great fiction book helps you vicariously experience a character's life while self-help is an instruction manual which sadly does not provide the same form of connection.

Haruki Murakami's entire body of work is basically self-therapy[1] and personally I feel it's been very therapeutic. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is an excellent place to start.

[1]: https://bloomsburyliterarystudiesblog.com/2022/02/i-always-s...

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#466

Post by mettamage »

vidarh wrote: post #458
mettamage wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Textbook? So the whole status dance? The whole status dance was never my thing. Or more like playful banter? Those vibes are super fun, even though I am not much of a banter guy. > The biggest problem with a lot of those techniques is when one side isn't aware - and of course that is often why they were being thought. Seducing someone on pure technique, while possible, screws with many things. One of them is one’s se…

She started off with a lot of push-pull and trying to move me around the venue, and it was very blatant. Like taking me along to talk to her friend, and then brusquely dismissing me only to come to dance with me minutes later. If I'd not immediately recognised what was going on it would've messed with my head. Because I did, it was fun. It was also a very good demonstration of how fucked up those techniques can be -…

Sounds like a whirlwind of an experience! It really becomes a game when you’re both doing it.

Push pull came up naturally through playfulness so I never consciously thought about it. Sometimes it came through spontaneous ballroom dancing. There were a few times where I taught a woman the latin swing. It feels as push pull but as a dance.

> It was also a very good demonstration of how fucked up those techniques can be - she was good at it.

Yea, can relate. I’m still a fan of women that have a similar style to my game. My game is wholesome. Women have mentioned as much. My wife’s style is similar. The first exchange on Tinder was awesome, I immediately yelled “she gets it!” in front of my computer screen :’)

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#467

Post by sharadov »

sanswork wrote: post #151
sharadov wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the writers that I love to hate - hariri, gladwell! Will give it a listen

I wanted to love it since despite being a self help reader I can definitely see a lot of the bad/dangerous advice given all over the place but I often found them really stretching to make stuff negative and being very smug about it which just made it the same issue as the source material. Especially annoying since in most cases there were really solidly valid negatives to go after in the books. It's very much a lets…

I listened to a couple episodes and concur, the overt-criticality and smugness was off putting.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#468

Post by thoughtpeddler »

wisty wrote: post #362

IMO the WORST thing you can use chat for is advice in a field you are unfamiliar with. It's way better at search and grunt work when you already know what you want. All IMO: Syncophancy (and in extreme cases AI psychosis) is a huge problem when you take advice from AI. It's risky to learn a new field as you often just fall for a superficial, glib explaination and just nod along without learning. AI will do that becau…

Chiming in here to say that while yes, often AI/LLMs will tend to agree with you, I have also definitely had many (high context) conversations where the AI/LLM disagreed strongly with me. The danger is in people not having a parallel thread running in their mind while using these systems about 'how agreeable is it being with me right now?' as a meta-axis along which to evaluate the information.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#469

Post by murkt »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #328
Fantosism wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean this with the purest intentions. I've read Never Split the Difference, Never Eat Alone, Getting More, How to Win Friends and Influence People, etc. How do you get it to feel like it's not manipulation? I get all of these books advertise not to lie, but at the end of the day, I'm reshaping my speech to achieve a certain goal, rather than to convey facts. The best line I've come up with is something like: am I s…

I've often felt the same way; I've read some of these and (think I) can spot people using those learned things a mile away, and it immediately raises my hackles up. Management and sales people especially. Touch my shoulder or try to shake my hand palm-down just raise alarm bells. But that's the other side of these books, understanding "the other side" of people. I like to believe it all adds up to a big pile of knowl…

Touching shoulders and shaking hands palm-down is “persuasion” bullshit.

Can’t say anything about other books, but Never Split the Difference is about hearing and understanding other peoples’s wants and opinions. Not this pickup-artist-like bullshit.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#470

Post by digitaltrees »

bildung wrote: post #317
Fantosism wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean this with the purest intentions. I've read Never Split the Difference, Never Eat Alone, Getting More, How to Win Friends and Influence People, etc. How do you get it to feel like it's not manipulation? I get all of these books advertise not to lie, but at the end of the day, I'm reshaping my speech to achieve a certain goal, rather than to convey facts. The best line I've come up with is something like: am I s…

Many people, especially in the tech field, have false perceptions about the inner workings of the human brain. We aren't rational automatons receiving exactly the data that has been sent out by the other automatons. That's for a multitude of reasons, the most obvious of that is the fact that only a very miniscule part of our thought is conscious (about 2% is the last number I've read about it). Even the fundamental i…

Exactly this. And I'll share a similar comment. I found myself repeating instructions to my 4 year old ans getting frustrated. I watched a parenting video that suggested getting down on her physical level and gently touching her shoulder to get her attention. The theory being when she is focused on something fun or interesting she literally can't hear me or shift her attention.

It worked the first time and has reduced my own emotional reaction and create much more peace.

And while I won't suggest it will work for everyone or this is a scientific process with sufficient information (but should be explored) I find resources like this useful.

Post reply on HN