I would highly recommend the following books:
1) Gettings things done (It is kinda plain, but if you stick through it, you will get some great advice on time management techniques)
2) How to win friends and Influence People (Probable the best book on communication and interacting with people that I have read.)
3) Good to great (Great advice on building a company)
4) The 80/20 Principle (Great advice on time management and doing more with less)
5) The millionaire teacher (Great advice into playing the investment market game for people who have never invested before.)
What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
291–300 of 316 posts
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
You write that people have a number of different learning styles. What do you mean by learning styles? What kinds are there?
VAK(T): Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, (Tactile). It's been argued that tactile and kinesthetic learners can be lumped into the same group, hence the parentheses. It's also hard to define exactly what the differences between the two are.
[this is a digression on learning styles]
Ah. The VAK model. I looked briefly for scientific support for this "theory" on the Internet, but I couldn't really find any. Wikipedia suggested it's a theory with little to no support, and other locations didn't show ANYTHING that would convince me such a thing as "visual" or "auditory" learners exist. Below is a bit of my thinking on the subject.
I am inclined to think that these "learning styles" are bogus, that every person can and will learn in many different "styles" depending on the situation, specifically it's been shown that every normal (and even very young) human can learn just by observing other people's behavior. (One of the classics - Bandura: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observational_learning)
I met many people (mostly in the soft skills training circles, same people who tend to work in psychodynamic therapy systems but went to business training for the money) who claim that "there are people of different learning styles and you should take that into account when instructing them/teaching them", but when I ask about details, nobody can explain what's the difference between these learning styles, and what is the belief that they even exist based on (e.g. a "source" :).
I could go on, but I think you get the point :)
While I do understand people may consciously prefer certain learning _settings_ (much more than a "style"), I doubt it's the categorization of a learner that makes or breakes such a complicated topic as "changing a habit" or "making a change in life" [based on a book / other 'intervention'].
[edit: read up the Criticism section on this Wikipedia page if you are interested in the validity of auditory/visual/kinesthetic model - VAK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles]
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#293The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Everything You Want by Mike Hernacki There are many inputs that affect success: intelligence, hard work, work ethic, emotional balance, determination, and even luck. I believe that the single most important of these over which we have the most control is determination. This book is provides a pretty good recipe to cultivate your own determination. I'm even going to tell you t…
> The secret is: "I am willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want." Like step over people? Screw the ones who love me? Be unethical? Ignore other parts of my life? Plus, who said that (a) I know what I want, (b) what I want is good for me (c) what I want is good for society in general, anyway? Not to mention that the whole premise is BS. As if by knowing this "secret" will help anybody. A regression to miracl…
> Like step over people? Screw the ones who love me? Be unethical? Ignore other parts of my life?
You define your 'want'. Based on your comment, you are setting your sights too low.
Instead of 'I want a fancy car', try 'I want to obtain a fancy car in the fastest way legally possible while staying within social bounds and not hurting anyone.'
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Does it go by how many people they killed? A combination of number and method. Death camps, for example, count very heavily, as do things like deliberate starvation. The intent to exterminate should also be factored in, but that's frequently difficult to determine after the fact. Of course, none of this matters to people who simply want to make a moral equivalence between every leader of every country through histo…
> "do things like deliberate starvation." So putting pressure on international bodies to enforce crippling sanctions should count, right? > my rule of thumb is, when you're feeling morally conflicted about who 'should have' won the Normandy invasion in 1944, your morality is a bit off-kilter. My rule of thumb is: when you assume that all "our" killing is for "good" and "their's" is for "evil" your morality (as well a…
> So putting pressure on international bodies to enforce crippling sanctions should count, right?
You really want that moral equivalence, don't you? OK, OK, Bill Clinton is Literally Stalin. Next, we equate Gandhi and Pol Pot. Happy?
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#295Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha. It's a guide to Vipasanna meditation, the central practice of Burmese buddhism. Two reasons why HN readers might find it interesting: a) The author claims to have gained enlightenment - yes, enlightenment with a capital 'E', the thing the original Buddha achieved under his tree, and he claims that you can do the same. b) if you're thinking "ok, this writer's a new age nutca…
Thanks for sharing, I was looking for something like this.
I noticed the ebook is free: http://integrateddaniel.info/book/
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#296If you don't mind, I would like to share two more books that I have found to be extremely useful:
Illustrated C# 2012 (And previous version: 2010, etc). http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-C-2012-Daniel-Solis/dp/143...
Of all of the books I have read/browsed regarding C#, this has to be the clearest, most concise on that I have had the pleasure of reading. The material is presented in an understandable manner and the author provides the reason "why" you are doing something rather than just list a series of "do this" steps.
To me, this is the most important quality in a book: Succinctly convey your point so that the reader can truly learn what you are trying to get across.
I do have one other book to recommend for you Rubyists. While I say this is for Rubyists, the concepts in the following book are extremely helpful for other OOP languages as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Object-Oriented-Design-Ruby-...
I hope this helps; I have spent many hours going through books that sort of meander around the point, have extra fluff, etc. So when I come across two truly stellar gems like the above, I would like to share with others so that they, too, can save some time learning a programming language or paradigm.
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
Economics in One Lesson (Superpower: Understanding the fundamentals of economics...and wandering down the dark,Austrian path eventually) Austrian economics is the opposite of a superpower. It's a mental device for rationalizing the present state of the world so that you never have to act .
It gives you an interesting perspective on things which is always good. You will see a lot of the subchapter type arguments mentioned in the news and the like and at least now you have one perspective on the issues which even if you don't agree with it forces you to articulate your own side better. It's a really good book for a layperson to start thinking about the economics section of the news. It's written well, to…
Whether Austrians are happy with the status quo is an entirely political/class matter.
When banks get bailed-out by government, they're unhappy. When trade agreements and refusal to enforce labor laws pushes down wages and lengthens hours, that's "the free market".
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#298The book that has changed my life the most, so far, has been The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson and Sussman. In 2010 I started a job that was far, far ahead of my skillset. I'd written fewer than 10,000 lines of code in my life, and I was completely ill-prepared for the work I was supposed to be doing. I picked up SICP about a month or two into that job. Fast forward a year, and I felt t…
Thanks, my sister egged me on to cleaning out our childhood closets at our parent's house this past weekend. Lots of old stuff, unused for years, sat there gathering insignificance. Looking at the pile of junk and stuff that was still salvageable and donateable, I saw SICP in a box of textbooks. And rescued it.
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
Free software never dies.
It's important for budding programmers to build confidence in themselves. Forcing them to work with other programmers at the very beginning destroys confidence and makes them hate the work.
How exactly would programming for themselves in a vacuum build any sort of positive confidence?
Open source builds up that portfolio everyone wants to see, and working on a project provides mentors to help give new developers guidance.
Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Also you are now claiming the exact opposite of what you said earlier: "Evil is a BS theological notion". But now you want to tell me what is objectively wrong? I dare you go ahead and try, haha.. For one, I fail to see where I claim the "exact opposite". Throughout the discourse I maintain that "evil is a theological notion" and one that doesn't describe reality (the two go hand in hand). I also fail to see the "d…
Throughout the discourse I maintain that "evil is a theological notion" and one that doesn't describe reality (the two go hand in hand). You cannot tell me what I mean by the word "evil". You can tell me how you interpret it, and I can tell you, and did so a lot of times, that you got it wrong. But then the ball just kinda flops around in your half of the court, repeating the same initial false claim about what I sai…
>You must be some kind of masochist, because you STILL keep going on about that strawman. I told you, over and over again, I have my own compass for what I consider "good" or "evil", and anyone who isn't trying to be dense would know what that means. I never used to explain behaviour, but to describe.
And you must be dense because I'm not interested in what YOU do with "evil", but in what people do in general. I don't even know you, so it should be _obvious_ that I did not start this thread with _your_ usage of "evil" in mind.