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How to live an intellectually rich life

utsavmamoria.substack.com

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Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#311

Post by WillAdams »

crims0n wrote: post #263
andrepd wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a dreadful list in my opinion. Absurdly Anglocentric (esp. Americo-centric). I'm not saying they're bad books but a really far cry from "among the best humanity has produced". Not a single south-american novel? Not a single romance language book as a matter of fact? I highly recommend you diversify your reading choices.

Open to suggestions.

Elsethread, I suggested Nobel Prize Winners --- just start at the beginning, see what is in your local library which interests you, and skip over the authors who have ceased to be relevant enough to be in the stacks.

One notable highlight, which I'm pretty sure was the first work by a Nobel Laureate I read is Herman Hesse --- I'd recommend his _Magister Ludi_ (also published as _The Glass Bead Game_)

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#312

Post by WillAdams »

Balgair wrote: post #295
WillAdams wrote: post #32

For my part, one of the most striking things which I recall from my youth was reading Dumas' _The Count of Monte Cristo_ and the Abbé Faria contending that everything a gentleman needed to make his way in life was contained in less than 100 books --- which he had memorized the content of, and could impart to the young Edmond Dantes. A naïve younger me tried to brute force this by reading one non-fiction book from eac…

I'll assume you've run into Mortimer J. Adler's Great Works of the Western World and are familiar with the selection. For those not in the know, the 60 volume set was done by a somewhat sparse group that included many people like Isaac Asimov and William F. Buckley Jr. (what a spread there). The thing that always made GWWW a killer collection was Adler's syntopicon to the 58 other volumes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…

Interesting, I have a facsimile version of the first edition of _Roget's Thesaurus_ which orders concepts numerically, and I always wished for a reference list to match.

Agree modern indexing is great for researching terminology, and wish it could be more easily extended to concepts, but not sure modern Large Language Models with their compression/hallucinations/outright-errors are workable yet.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#313

Post by WillAdams »

crims0n wrote: post #136
WillAdams wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read more than half of those, and every time I see that list, I really wish that almost every book would be paired w/ one which enhances/comments on either the book or that same theme. e.g., _Kim_ by Rudyard Kipling should be paired w/ Robert Heinlein's _Citizen of the Galaxy_, or _The Grapes of Wrath_, which was cribbed from Sanora Babb's notes w/o permission should be paired w/ her _Whose Names Are Unknown_: h…

I really like this idea. I didn't even know about Whose Names Are Unknown... added it to the queue.

Previous discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42133491

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#314

Post by jahbrewski »

losteric wrote: post #294
jahbrewski wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you American, by chance? I am, and this resonates with something a Japanese woman recently told me. I asked her what she thought some of the negative traits of Americans are, and here’s the first thing she said: “You bounce around too much. From thing to thing to thing.”

We (Americans) have this culture of individualistic self-invention, consumer identity as a lifestyle (intellectual/artistic pursuits included), and the felt experience that worth/belonging/security is contingent on performance or achievement. Plus struggles with emotional intelligence and trauma (esp. among men), perpetuating that internalized conditionality. I know so many people that got burned out and around their…

I've found myself finding more satisfaction and joy out of doing fewer things, but going deeper. Instead of picking up a new sport, I've gone deeper into running. Instead of learning a new instrument, I'm going deeper into the piano. Instead of re-inventing my business, I'm doubling down on what's worked in the past.

It's not the right mindset for every stage of life, but it's working well at the moment!

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#315

Post by throwaway2037 »

crims0n wrote: post #70
WillAdams wrote: post #32

For my part, one of the most striking things which I recall from my youth was reading Dumas' _The Count of Monte Cristo_ and the Abbé Faria contending that everything a gentleman needed to make his way in life was contained in less than 100 books --- which he had memorized the content of, and could impart to the young Edmond Dantes. A naïve younger me tried to brute force this by reading one non-fiction book from eac…

I am about a quarter of the way through Modern Library’s top 100 and it has been a worthwhile journey. It is “just” literary fiction but it is among the best humanity has produced. I have learned so much about the human condition, my ability to articulate ideas has improved tremendously, and I feel like my mind has been “freed from the tyranny of the present” (to quote Cicero). https://sites.prh.com/modern-library-to…

The first flaw with any cannon: It nearly excludes women. I looked through the first half of the list. I only saw two books written by women.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#316

Post by BrawnyBadger53 »

incomingpain wrote: post #117
jhickok wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think engaging with works of fiction is just as important. Like anything, if a work of fiction engages and challenges you, and you are an intentional reader, it exercises very important muscles.

fiction absolutely can be intellectual. 1984, 451 Fahrenheit, anything dostoevsky or heinlein. in fact, by adding that intellectualism is what makes these stand out. But i do specify non-fiction because I wouldnt say most fiction is intellectual; or if you try to approach some fiction you'll quickly dig deeper than what's actually there and then it's just you superimposing. The example i like is colour metaphors. Sha…

Non-fiction slop also exists. You can just not read the slop. Yeah, you probably aren't getting much out of reading generic fantasy novel with self insert protagonist #12373838 but you also aren't getting much out of generic self help book with surface level advice #1537484. I'd argue fiction sticks better and brings more empathy and feeling behind what it tries to teach than non fiction does usually but is best for teaching things through situational understanding. Not everything condenses well into that format though.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#317

Post by hollerith »

concerndc1tizen wrote: post #305
hollerith wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>every viable plot of land is used for farming. It is? Not in the US!

Try using Google Maps in Satellite View. You'd be hard pressed to find land that isn't used agriculturally. IIUC, the land that is unutilized or has forest, is either protected, too hilly, too dry, etc.

Consider New England, where in its early days most inhabitants consisted of farming families. Where there were farms and cow pastures, there is now mostly forest.

There are a few farms remaining in New England, yes, but in general farmers consider the soil there not worth farming compared to places like Iowa and Southern Illinois (where all the land really is utilized for farming) even though in the past most the (sizeable) population of New England made a living farming.

We know that most of the forest in New England is suitable for farming because there are still stone walls running through it: these wall were made of stones encountered by farmers while plowing (when the forest was farmland).

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#318

Post by mikhailfranco »

iandanforth wrote: post #126
crims0n wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am about a quarter of the way through Modern Library’s top 100 and it has been a worthwhile journey. It is “just” literary fiction but it is among the best humanity has produced. I have learned so much about the human condition, my ability to articulate ideas has improved tremendously, and I feel like my mind has been “freed from the tyranny of the present” (to quote Cicero). https://sites.prh.com/modern-library-to…

Anyone who puts "Ulysses" at the top of a best books list is suffering from expertitis. Ulysses has a massive user experience problem. It's hard. Dense, convoluted, absurd. If your friend asks you for a good book, you don't recommend it. The only time you do is when your college English major, or advanced highschooler, who is bored with the tropes of even very good novels wants to stretch themselves. Then you hand th…

If you think Ulysses is dense, convoluted and absurd, try Finnegans Wake.

I prefer The Ginger Man to both. Glad to see it make the cut.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#319

Post by vonnik »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #90
Y_Y wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this idea, and the lost is full of gems, but I see a couple of issues. If you actually intend you or anyone else to read these and stay sane I'd remove the mathematical tables (there is value in reading these, but only for a very rare soul), the Bible (lots of really dry stuff about begetting and knowing), the complete works of Shakespeare (hard to understand without careful study, way too long to cafefully st…

Shakespeare is worthwhile but much easier to understand when you see it performed, which is how it was meant to be experienced anyway.

Highly recommend Shakescleare for anyone reading Shakespeare, esp students:

https://www.litcharts.com/shakescleare/shakespeare-translati...

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#320

Post by [deleted] »

rexpop wrote: post #88
brojustchill wrote: post #64

Bro, that was a lot of text... I mean, chill. Life is simpler then that. Enjoy your flaws and get along with things as they are, without the need of a "framework" to navigate life

Congrats, yours is the most condescending comment on this site today. That sounds like you have already got a framework that works for you, which is great for you. Too bad it's a framework that drives you to upbraid innocent strangers on the internet. Not everyone can take action on the words "just chill." We're all in different places in life—think of it as a state space model. The same vector of force results in di…

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