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Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

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Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#81

Post by pas »

mjlee wrote: post #34

I really enjoy books on neuroscience that change the way I think about perception. Phantoms in the Brain by V S Ramachandran - a book about how the brain organises itself in bizarre edge cases. The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes us Human. The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes us Human by the same author is also worth reading. Admissions by Henry Marsh - An experienced…

It's not a book, but a great infotainment lecture series by Robert Sapolsky (the intro to human biology course at Stanford, 2010)

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL848F2368C90DDC3D

And of course cites Sack, and a lot of amazing research/studies/results.

The caveat is that some results are not that solid, and he mentions priming, which we know does not replicate.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#82

Post by zedr »

fit2rule wrote: post #69
Eldt wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feel free to share

I think the fact that Dawkins has become the very thing he so violently resists - a violent, intolerant fundamentalist who brooks no further questioning of his own authoritarian narrative - is evidence enough that there is still much, much to be discovered about the way life works. His is a cultural view, and we know for a fact that all culture is a lie which must be re-told in order to persist. The more the human mi…

> "God" may not be a "he" sitting "on a cloud", but may indeed just be the New Question beyond every Old Answer.

Excuse my frankness. That's not a fact. That's unfalsifiable woo-woo.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#83

Post by ykevinator »

zedr wrote: post #8

The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins. It describes what science believes life to be, and it can be very upsetting. Understanding it, however, made me a more confident and happier person than I was before.

Second this, it's excellent

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#84

Post by fit2rule »

zedr wrote: post #82
fit2rule wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the fact that Dawkins has become the very thing he so violently resists - a violent, intolerant fundamentalist who brooks no further questioning of his own authoritarian narrative - is evidence enough that there is still much, much to be discovered about the way life works. His is a cultural view, and we know for a fact that all culture is a lie which must be re-told in order to persist. The more the human mi…

> "God" may not be a "he" sitting "on a cloud", but may indeed just be the New Question beyond every Old Answer. Excuse my frankness. That's not a fact. That's unfalsifiable woo-woo.

Yeah, well maybe God is the sum total of everything, including your much-despised woo woo .. which, in my opinion, is the opposite of the kinds of totalitarian schools of thought that threaten our cultures, time and again.

Without the woo and whimsy and make-believe, what have we got left in our cultures? If we kill religion we may as well kill theatre and literature and all the other things which require this unmeasurable substance in order to be viable ..

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#85

Post by fit2rule »

thatswrong0 wrote: post #76
fit2rule wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the fact that Dawkins has become the very thing he so violently resists - a violent, intolerant fundamentalist who brooks no further questioning of his own authoritarian narrative - is evidence enough that there is still much, much to be discovered about the way life works. His is a cultural view, and we know for a fact that all culture is a lie which must be re-told in order to persist. The more the human mi…

That's not counter-evidence, that's just a big ol' ad hominem.

Dawkins' himself says he still left the window open 0.1 units wide. Fact!

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#86

Post by fit2rule »

oosh9Shi wrote: post #70
fit2rule wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't get that impression at all. What I walked away from was a feeling of dire unease at the popularity of Dawkins' opinion that human beings are machines that can be broken and manipulated by their environment, and that social scientists can exploit this fact to their own ends, in industry, culture and war. It may be 'true' inasmuch as the fact that applying his theories give predictable results, but even the mo…

I don't know this author, and I feel this discussion may turn to a flame, so sorry to put oil on the fire, but I'm quite perplexed by your argument. For all I know, maybe you're right, but it sounds a lot like you're rejecting a scientific argument because you don't like the result, which is what science has always had to fight against from the beginning. Maybe you could articulate your objection based on science rat…

Maybe feelings are enough evidence that the science is still out on the existence of a human soul.

An authoritarian hell bent on altering culture to suit his own will is never going to convince me otherwise.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#87

Post by base2john »

mjlee wrote: post #34

I really enjoy books on neuroscience that change the way I think about perception. Phantoms in the Brain by V S Ramachandran - a book about how the brain organises itself in bizarre edge cases. The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes us Human. The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes us Human by the same author is also worth reading. Admissions by Henry Marsh - An experienced…

also great read is Tales from Both Sides of the Brain by Michael Gazzaniga.

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#88

Post by enitihas »

Highly recommended for everyone: "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahenman.

If you have difficulty interacting with people

1. How to win friends and influence people (Easy read) 2. Seven habits of highly effective people (Harder read)

To learn how to write well: On writing well

To understand how large products are made: Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT

Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

#90

Post by enitihas »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #36
t-writescode wrote: post #3

Thinking Fast and Slow. I recommend this to absolutely everyone. It’s a huge study on how everyone thinks, even when they think they’re above thinking like that. Truly amazing!

Is the whole book actually worth reading? I mean the concept is very simple (although extremely important) and can be explained concisely in a couple of minutes - why a 500-pages book?

The concept of almost all books can be explained in very few pages. The benefit of going through the book is it deepens your understanding, and you will be able to remember it much longer than what you will by reading summaries.
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