Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?

Fantastic question.<p>The selfish gene - for understanding human behavior<p>Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - for understanding how to be content<p>Debt, the first 5,000 years - for understanding money and finance from the ground up<p>Wright Brothers - for understanding how technological breakthroughs happen<p>Snowball (Warren Buffet), Andrew Carnegie and Rockefeller biographies - for understanding the mental mindset to win in business (it&#x27;s not what you think)<p>Hackers and painters - for understanding startups and how&#x2F;why they work<p>Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - for understanding beauty in the routine<p>Essentialism, the disciplined pursuit of less and Walden - for understanding how &quot;stuff&quot; gets in the way of happiness<p>Les Miserables - for understanding love

Debt, the first 5,000 Years (David Graeber) - Learned that most of history has been communist (eg. hunter gatherer societies), shops of the past were run on credit (eg. tally sticks), money&#x2F;capitalism tended to emerge with the rise of the state, taxing to feed soldiers for war, and that the drive to pay off one&#x27;s debt fueled a lot of the cruelty of mankind (eg. Hernan Cortez, Casimir).<p>21 Things they don&#x27;t tell you about Capitalism, Bad Samaritans (Ha Joon Chang) - Learned that free trade is generally bad for developing countries, countries need to build out high productivity industries to grow their economy in the long term and avoid a balance of payments deficit (unless blessed with oil or something), manufacturing is vital to a country&#x27;s economy and its service sector, &quot;free markets&quot; are a constantly evolving political definition with numerous inherent double standards, the only reason most of us in first world countries are paid well has nothing to do with our own superior ability (eg. bus driver in India vs. Norway), but due to immigration control and the institutions we inherit.<p>Also looking for more book recommendations, so feel free to send some my way!

Masters Of Doom - The value of an unbalanced life and focused hard work. Also, how to start a startup. A really fun read, to boot.<p>Fooled By Randomness - a) Survivorship bias. b) If you look at revealed preferences, people choose regular small gains with a rare huge loss over regular small losses and a rare huge gain even though that choice is -ev. c) Much more!<p>Hackers and Painters - One of the most insightful, subversive, and surprising texts out there.<p>C Interfaces and Implementations - Great examples of good API design and how to build clean modular code.<p>The Paleo Manifesto - Explains how the origin of religion was probably as a set of models for coping with the transition from hunting&#x2F;gathering to civilized agriculture. The part of the book where he points out that the story of the fall of man in the Bible is probably the story of this transition is super interesting.<p>The Game - Made me realize that the narrative told by boomer and gen-x parents about how to attract a woman is probably doing young men (and women) more harm than good. I would not try to treat this as a how-to manual, though. A fun yarn.<p>Starting Strength - After years of fumbling around in the gym this cut through a lot of bad ideas about fitness, exercise, strength, and health. It lead to the first real (and lasting) progress I&#x27;ve ever made physically.<p>Understanding Comics - Understanding art and visual communication.<p>Surely You&#x27;re Joking, Mr. Feynman! - Up there with Hackers &amp; Painters in its rate of insight &amp; surprise per page.<p>Fail Safe Investing - Thought provoking ideas about why we invest and how best to go about doing that. (The ideas stand up, IMO, but some of the concrete advice on how to implement those ideas is very dated.)<p>Good Calories, Bad Calories - It turns out that even scientists can be dishonest and corrupted by politics.

In no particular order ...<p>I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter - strongly influenced my beliefs about how consciousness works<p>Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter - made me think more deeply about so many topics<p>Animal Liberation by Peter Singer - made me both an animal advocacy activist and strongly influenced me towards a consequentialist moral<p>Neuropath by R. Scott Bakker - more on how consciousness works, this time through a work of fiction<p>The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin - strongly influenced my beliefs about political systems<p>The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins - changed how I thought about animal behavior and what living things do<p>Republic, Lost by Lawrence Lessig - strongly influenced my beliefs about US government<p>Manufacturing Consent by Herman &amp; Chomsky - made me rethink my view of the media and news

Goedel, Escher, Bach -- If you&#x27;re reading this page you will dig this book.<p>Guns, Germs, and Steel -- how circumstance drove civilizations. Fun storytelling even if it&#x27;s a bit too &quot;just-so&quot;. definitely trains you to look at any situation and seek it&#x27;s origins with less initial judgement.<p>The Visual Display of Quantitive Information -- gets at the essence of communication and medium. more than it seems!<p>The Alchemy of Finance -- &quot;reflexivity&quot;, but if you&#x27;re also interested in Soros or some finance storytelling it&#x27;s worth it.<p>The Selfish Gene -- as everyone else has said.<p>The Prize -- the history of oil. huh? yeah. Likely to change how you look at the history of technology, government, power, the saudis, and geopolitics.

Hmm. Not to repeat, I think I must dig deep into the archives...<p>Korzybski, Alfred. Science and Sanity. Institute of GS, 1958. [1]<p>The Institute of General Semantics has a current website [2], is on Facebook, and has several articles on Wikipedia.org [3].<p>One of the mind-bending premises (Wikipedia.org):<p>&quot;Non-Aristotelianism: While Aristotle wrote a true definition gives the essence of the thing defined ..., general semantics denies the existence of such an &#x27;essence&#x27;. [...] In general semantics, it is always possible to give a description of empirical facts, but such descriptions remain just that—descriptions—which necessarily leave out many aspects of the objective, microscopic, and submicroscopic events they describe. According to general semantics, language, natural or otherwise ... can be used to describe the taste of an orange, but one cannot give the taste of the orange using language alone.&quot;<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books&#x2F;about&#x2F;Science_and_Sanity.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books&#x2F;about&#x2F;Science_and_Sanity.html</a>? [2]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.generalsemantics.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.generalsemantics.org&#x2F;</a> [3]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Institute_of_General_Semantics" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Institute_of_General_Semantics</a>

Poor Charlie&#x27;s Almanac -- can&#x27;t beat Charlie Munger when it comes to explaining how the world works.<p>Fooled by Randomness, Black Swan, Antifragile -- Nassim Taleb reviles lots of new ways to think, first in finance, then everything in later books.<p>The Origin of Wealth -- Similar to Antifragile with a lot of mental models packed in on many different subjects: economics, business, biology, ...<p>The Design of Everyday Things -- the bible of design. Read it to know why everyday frustrations with tech are probably not your fault. His book Emotional Design is a good compliment.<p>The Essential Drucker -- &quot;essential&quot; reading for anyone in management or scaling a startup.<p>History, and why the world is the way it is today:<p>Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari<p>Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond<p>The Birth of Plenty, William Bernstein<p>They Made America, Harold Evans -- fantastic history book with each chapter telling the detailed story of a businessperson or inventor in U.S. history

Mindstorms, by Seymour Papert - for understanding the relationship of learning and technology; a smart, humanist, empathetic approach to education [See also: The Children&#x27;s Machine; Deschooling Society]<p>Clock of the Long Now, by Stewart Brand - for the concepts of deep time and the long now; appreciating a sense of how we experience time and our place in history [See also: Time and the Art of Living]<p>Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbott - creative parable that&#x27;s very helpful for conceptualizing abstract concepts of topology and higher dimensions<p>Thinking in Systems, A Primer, by Donella Meadows - great introduction to systems thinking, which is a useful lens for appreciating the complexity of all sorts of complex phenomena<p>A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander - great work of urban design, useful framework for looking at design systems and how pieces fit together on different scales [See also: Death and Life of Great American Cities]<p>Oulipo - A Primer of Potential Literature - nice introduction to the Oulipo and ideas of constraint as creative &#x2F; poetic device [See also: Exercises in Style; Eunoia]<p>Impro, by Keith Johnstone - great primer on improvisation, really made me appreciate its impacts beyond just the theater, for example the importance of status in social relations<p>The Power Broker, by Robert Caro - unbeatably rich and compelling look at how power and politics actually work, for better (power gets things done) and for worse (power blinds and corrupts)<p>Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard - beautiful, meticulously observed study of the natural world close at hand; made me appreciate the power of looking deeply and persistently<p>Le Ton beau de Marot, by Douglas Hofstadter - remarkable exploration of language and translation, in all its magic and complexity…both deeply personal and deeply researched, a must-read for lovers of language<p>The Library at Night, by Alberto Manguel - turned me on to the various lenses through which we can conceive of and appreciate libraries; their vast power and potential<p>Moby Dick, by Herman Melville - for really hammering home the grand, powerful potential of great literature and well-wrought language [ See also: Don Quixote; Infinite Jest]

Poor Charlie&#x27;s Almanack. It&#x27;s a compilation of talks and essays from Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet&#x27;s business partner. This book has single-handedly changed my invest strategies and mindset. Instead of trying to buy low and sell high, Berkshire Hathaway holds a large cash position, until they find something they consider to be a sure bet, take a large stake and hold. I now have the quote &quot;Be right and hold tight&quot; written at my work table.

An anthropology textbook in college called &quot;Culture as given, Culture as choice&quot; - basically the good parts of Sapiens minus the preachy, questionable aspects.<p>Another college textbook, &quot;Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century&quot;, I think is the best book you can read if you want to understand our capitalistic societies today.<p>&quot;Incognito&quot; was great for exploring models from cognitive neuroscience, in same vein as Hofstadter works.<p>French Enlightenment thinkers - esp. Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, who are not only awesome but in my opinion articulate the core of what&#x27;s actually worth defending in Western civilization, not to mention are formative of actually good political views.<p>German idealism, really starting with Kant to lay groundwork, and working up through Hegel, has hands down been the most wild and impactful philosophical journey I&#x27;ve taken. I don&#x27;t recommend it unless you have some formal background or unusually strong appetite for philosophical reasoning, or (not including Kant) you&#x27;ll probably just dismiss it or simply not be able to meet the exorbitant time demands required to reach a satisfying level of understanding.<p>Writers like Borges, Calvino, theater of the absurd - just plain, intellectually stimulating fun.<p>Disclaimer, I like contemporary &#x27;critical theory&#x27; tinkers too, because they make you think outside the box.

No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover. Raised as a peaceful kid whose introversion taught me to try to control my world and keep things to myself, I am now more aware of how much healthier it is to set boundaries and just let the world run its own course. Immensely happier!

The <i>Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality</i> fanfic by Eliezer Yudkowsky provides an interesting introduction to some ways of thinking that may be new or surprising.<p><i>Schild&#x27;s Ladder</i> by Greg Egan is interesting for considering models of reality (also his other books).

Getting More - Stuart Diamond. I still think this is the best book on the art of negotiation.<p>Getting Things Done - David Allen. If you have adult ADHD like me, and you haven&#x27;t read this, it&#x27;s the first system that&#x27;s really worked for productivity for me.<p>Man&#x27;s Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl.<p>Living Buddha, Living Christ - Thich Nhat Hanh.<p>Cosmos - Carl Sagan.<p>The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin.<p>The One who Walks Away from Omelas - U.K. LeGuin.<p>Wild Seed - Octavia Butler.<p>The Heike Monogatari - (tr. Helen Craig McCullough) “The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall. The proud do not endure, like a passing dream on a night in spring; the mighty fall at last, to be no more than dust before the wind.” If you need a comparison. this is the Japanese historical equivalent of Game of Thrones combined with a bit of MacBeth. The rise and fall of two shogunate families, and an analysis of the tragic flaws of character that brought their fall about.<p>Les Miserables - Victor Hugo.<p>Small Gods - Terry Pratchett.<p>Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad.<p>The Guide - R. K. Narayan.<p>Evidence - Mary Oliver.<p>All of Us - The Collected Poetry of Raymond Carver.<p>Silence - Shusaku Endo.<p>The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald.<p>The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Murakami Haruki. This and the next four are odd choices, perhaps, since it&#x27;s a surrealist book, but IMO books that force your imagination to work hard do as much for creativity and fresh ideas as any of the more popular methods.<p>The Well-Built City (The Physiognomy &#x2F; Memoranda &#x2F; The Beyond) Jeffery Ford - Surrealist novellas best described as about the protagonist living and achieving agency within the constructs, dreams, and nightmares of a &quot;Great Man&#x27;s&quot; mind.<p>Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson.<p>Gravity&#x27;s Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon.<p>Dhalgren - Samuel L. &quot;Chip&quot; Delany.

Bargaining for Advantage : Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People<p>The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion<p>Lies my teacher told me : everything your American history textbook got wrong<p>Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion<p>Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life<p>Thinking, Fast and Slow

The Republic - Plato - why societies form the way they do<p>Either&#x2F;Or - Kierkegaard - as a father of Existentialism his views on society helped put things in perspective for me<p>It&#x27;s All About Time - John Furey - surprised I don&#x27;t see this mentioned more - how people organise their thinking based on a time-based motivational model <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Its-All-About-Time-Companies" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Its-All-About-Time-Companies</a>

Two that I almost never see on these kinds of lists, but really think they should get more acknowledgement:<p>&quot;Crucial Conversations&quot; - breaks down how to have what might otherwise be an uncomfortable conversation about anything. I really think everyone should read it.<p>&quot;The Enchiridion&quot; - A stoic guide, boiled down, short, and very very relatable even in the modern age.

&quot;Money: whence it came from and where it went&quot; by John Kenneth Galbraith -title is self explanatory.<p>&quot;Darwinian fairytales&quot; by David Stove -the antidote to Selfish Gene; funnier too.<p>&quot;Prediction, Learning and Games&quot; by Cesa-Bianchi and Lugosi -the right way to think about sequential machine learning -a toss up with &quot;Conformal Prediction&quot; by Shafer, Gammerman and Vovk<p>&quot;Decline and Fall of the Roman empire&quot; and &quot;Italy and her invaders&quot; (by Thomas Hodgkin) have had huge impacts on my understanding of civilization. Couldn&#x27;t help but; it took years to read them all.<p>Recently &quot;The Attention Merchants&quot; by Tim Wu -how advertising has screwed up humanity since snake oil merchants, and how we&#x27;re on the cusp of another revolution in this field.<p>I actually strongly disliked Hofstadter&#x27;s book.

I&#x27;m in the middle of the biography of Robert Moses, &quot;The Power Broker&quot; by Robert Caro and just finished re-reading &quot;A Portrait of Dorian Gray&quot; by Oscar Wilde. As a fairly successful yuppie that came from Not A Whole Lot, it&#x27;s really knocked me down a few pegs and made me realize that being a pompous ass about my exercised social mobility isn&#x27;t all that special.

A few weeks back I read &quot;The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion&quot;. It was very insightful. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up immediately recommending it to many of my friends.<p>The author does a good job at getting the main points through. He ends each chapter with a summary of the discussed points, and at the end of the book he sums em all up again.<p>Not a book, but I&#x27;ve been consuming many Jordan Peterson videos on YouTube. He has presented me with many new arguments and ideas which I hadn&#x27;t previously considered.

I&#x27;m bracing for a serious downvote... I have to admit that Anthony Robbins had a big influence on my thinking, particularly with &quot;Awaken the Giant Within.&quot; The message was - you can control how you feel.<p>Nearly twenty years later, I can see the limitations of his ideas - the danger of creating an arbitrary belief system for yourself and the selfishness of simply deciding what you want and rigging everything in your existence to get it. I also came to believe it&#x27;s OK to not be happy all the time. But I will always respect Robbins&#x27; direct explanations of human motivation and how it can be nudged.<p>That and &#x27;Single Variable Calculus; Early Transcendentals&#x27;; the universe is about change and math can model nearly all of it.

&quot;Godel Escher Bach&quot; and &quot;I am a strange loop&quot;.<p>I only made it half way through GEB, however the latter is a bit easier to get through.<p>For me, these books marked the beginning of a lifelong journey of &quot;self&quot; contemplation and intellectual&#x2F;philosophical exploration.

From AI to Zombies by Yudkowsky. Interesting framework and thoughts about knowledge, perception and how we deal with biases.<p>Can be downloaded for free&#x2F;pay what you want here <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;intelligence.org&#x2F;rationality-ai-zombies&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;intelligence.org&#x2F;rationality-ai-zombies&#x2F;</a>

The synoptic gospels and NT, but to choose one book from the NT, ...<p><i>The Epistle of James</i> - as it has some strong counterpoints to other parts of the NT particularly the contrast of Pauline notions of grace with charity&#x2F;works.<p><i>Emperor&#x27;s New Mind</i>, Penrose - probably my biggest take away from it was to consider how human perception works alongside, and co-mingles with, physics.<p><i>Web of Life</i>, Capra - considering holistic nature of life, one&#x27;s connection to the World at large; emergent patterns, complex structure birthing from simplicity (goes well with what I recall of Gleick&#x27;s <i>Chaos</i>).<p><i>Zen and the Art ...</i> - what is value, what is valuable to me, whither&#x2F;whence&#x2F;wherefore value; how should I relate to my children (long before i had any) and how to challenge them philosophically.<p><i>Republic</i>, Plato - the first book that really set me thinking about the structure of society, about inequalities. And of course about stepping out of The Cave.<p>Koran &amp; Hadith (partial readings, ie whole sections; couple of major hadith only) - [redacted]; but greater understanding of Islam and of religion in general; taught me to watchfully avoid being tainted by the labels people give themselves and look instead to their actions.<p><i>Mein Kampf</i> (partial reading) - ideas have intrinsic moral value, that we should judge ideas on their merits and not by who has them; we should be careful about tarring people by simple association.<p><i>Art of War</i> - preparedness, looking to supply lines, avoiding conflicts, not entering &quot;battles&quot; you know you&#x27;ll lose (which I&#x27;d take as &#x27;learn nothing from&#x27;).<p><i>Christianarchy</i> - what it means to be a Christian, who is and isn&#x27;t &quot;in&quot;.<p><i>Agrarian Justice</i>, Paine - what is my place politically and economically in the world, whence do I derive the &#x27;rights&#x27; to own what I do, whether such ownership is good.<p>Worth noting here that the ideas and impressions I got are unlikely to be what you will get, we react to books based on who we are, our frame of mind, moods, etc.. Most of these books I read as a late teenager, that at least in part boosts their impact. The impact is not necessarily the purpose of the book, quite the opposite in some cases.

What is a Mental Model? I&#x27;ve heard this word tossed around so much recently and I still don&#x27;t feel like I understand what it means.

Here&#x27;s some: with why I like them<p>Thinking, problem solving related:<p>Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock: accurate forecasting<p>Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman: how to avoid bias<p>Misbehaving: like thinking fast and slow but more hilarious<p>The checklist manifesto by Atul Gawande: the power of simple process<p>From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin: lots of mental models to add to your latticework<p>Business management:<p>The Outsiders by William Thorndike: capital allocation<p>The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz: some mental models for managers facing the real-life struggles of startups<p>Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake masters: for the chapter on what kinds of business are always going to be tough (i.e. ones in perfectly competitive industries)<p>Worldview:<p>The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why violence has declined<p>The making of modern economics by Mark Skousen (audiobook): explains various economic ideas through telling the history of the fathers of those ideas.<p>Investing:<p>You can be a stock market genius by Joel Greenblatt: where to look for undervaluation<p>The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham: Buffett&#x27;s thoughts in Buffett&#x27;s words, neatly categorised by topic<p>Competition Demystified by Bruce Greenwald: how to identify a high quality business

I am That by Nisargdatta Maharaj. Shifted my perception of who&#x2F;what I am.<p>Not a book but Marshall Rosenberg&#x27;s many lectures, audiobooks and workshops on nonviolent communication. I am now able to set boundaries in a peaceful way, and see myself and everyone, no matter what their actions, through eyes of effortless compassion.

Just a few that haven&#x27;t been mentioned, because I cross over with several others:<p><i>How to Cook Everything</i> by Mark Bitman. Not so much my mental model, but it&#x27;s the only book I could ever say &quot;changed my life&quot;.<p><i>Implementation</i> - (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Implementation-Expectations-Washington-Programs-Foundation&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0520053311" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Implementation-Expectations-Washingto...</a>) This is a great discussion of how best intention in government go awry once they are implemented. It explores how each step makes sense, but something always seems to go wrong.<p><i>The Day the Universe Changed</i> (slightly cheating since this was the companion to the TV show, but stands as an excellent book) - How certain innovations changed the way the world works and the way we see ourselves.

[1] Balthasar Gracian, &quot;The Art of Worldly Wisdom&quot;<p>Timeless classic, 300 short maxims containing sage advice, written in beautiful prose. One of those books you can read just a few pages whenever you feel like. Currently re-reading it for the third time since I first read it 10 years ago. Still updates my mental model.<p>[2] James Allen, &quot;As a man Thinketh&quot;<p>At 21 pages, by far the most impactful piece of work on an impact-to-effort ratio. Very simple, yet very true. Changed my mental model completely, also 10 years ago, and also a book I&#x27;m re-reading for the third time.<p>[3] Nassim Taleb, &quot;Black Swan&quot;<p>A much more modern business book on the now-mainstream concept of &quot;Black Swan&quot; events. But the true value of this book goes beyond the concept – it changed my view of statistics, knowledge, empirical scepticism, philosophy, cognitive biases, societal dynamics, and sure, made me quit investment banking.<p>[4] Brian Greene, &quot;Fabric of the Cosmos&quot;<p>Mind-blowing primer on physics, all the way from Newtonian physics, to General Relativity, to Quantum Mechanics, to String Theory (and beyond). Concepts explained without a single equation.<p>[5] Douglas Hofstadter, &quot;Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid&quot;<p>What a unique masterpiece. Covers a wide range fascinating concepts through the three geniuses in Math, Art, and Music. Most mind-blowing is his meta-writing style, using short fictional dialogue interludes (sprinkled with easter eggs) to convey each concept in very subtle manner. The joy when you see it.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sacred-texts.com&#x2F;eso&#x2F;aww&#x2F;index.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sacred-texts.com&#x2F;eso&#x2F;aww&#x2F;index.htm</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wahiduddin.net&#x2F;thinketh&#x2F;as_a_man_thinketh.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wahiduddin.net&#x2F;thinketh&#x2F;as_a_man_thinketh.pdf</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Black_Swan_(Taleb_book)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Black_Swan_(Taleb_book)</a><p>[4] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Fabric_of_the_Cosmos" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Fabric_of_the_Cosmos</a><p>[5] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach</a><p>UPDATE: format

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. I come from a very religious background and it helped shape my way of thinking around superstitious thoughts of all kinds.

<i>Complexity: The Emerging Science At The Edge of Order And Chaos</i> was a good read. I strongly recommend reading <i>Jurassic Park</i> at the same time, as the two were both influenced by the recognization of complexity as a &quot;thing&quot; in the late 80&#x27;s&#x2F;early 90&#x27;s. The two are really about the same thing, but JP tells it through dinosaurs.<p>While I have the floor, I&#x27;ve mused lately that <i>Jurassic Park</i> is like the perfect scary morality tale for young researchers. You hear cautions about endogeneity and omitted variable biases, simultaneity...but the worst that will happen if you mess these up is your paper is wrong. Crichton described a world where lack of scientific discipline led to <i>getting eaten by dinosaurs</i>.

Modeling the world generally (as in, why mathematics works and can apply to the real world):<p><pre><code> =Bertrand Russell= * An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth * A Theory of Knowledge * Logic and Knowledge =W.V. Quine= * Word and Object * Mathematical Logic =Norbert Weiner= * Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine =Smullyan= * Diagonalization and Self Reference </code></pre> Squishy Human Things:<p><pre><code> Thomas Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Norbert Weiner - The Human Use of Human-Beings Bertrand Russell - A History of Western Philosophy Karl Popper - The Open Society and Its Enemies Daniel Dennet - Consciousness Explained E. Abbot Abbot - Flatland</code></pre>

Courage : The joy of living dangerously - by Rajneesh - for giving that extra push to take risks and live on edge.<p>It is a highly opinionated work, with full of questionable arguments and logic. And, I am not sure whether it resulted in good or bad, but certainly, it has made an influence.

• The Prize<p>• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich<p>• The Lean Startup<p>• Poke the Box<p>• The Elements of Computing Systems<p>• The Death of Common Sense<p>• Up the Organization<p>• The Personal MBA<p>• The Wisdom of No-Escape<p>• The Adapted Mind<p>• Brain Rules<p>• Getting Things Done<p>• On Writing<p>• Steal Like An Artist<p>• George Orwell: A Collection of Essays<p>And these are technically not books, but Glenn Greenwald&#x27;s &quot;Speech to the Massachusetts ACLU&quot; and the Christopher Hitchens speech criticizing the proposed Canadian hate speech law.

Stanislaw Lem, Golem XIV.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Golem_XIV" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Golem_XIV</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;english.lem.pl&#x2F;works&#x2F;apocryphs&#x2F;golem-xiv" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;english.lem.pl&#x2F;works&#x2F;apocryphs&#x2F;golem-xiv</a><p>„Golem XIV” is one of Lem&#x27;s most far-fetched intellectual adventures: for the purpose of this book Lem constructs the character of a supercomputer of the future that infinitely overshadows human intelligence. Golem, whose history we follow from its birth until his inexplicable departure from the human world, not only mercilessly criticizes humanity, claims of our culture and delusions about allegedly refining mechanisms of evolution, but also creates a breathtaking vision of further development of artificial intelligence – beyond our cosmos and cognition available within its limits.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;english.lem.pl&#x2F;works&#x2F;apocryphs&#x2F;golem-xiv&#x2F;67-lems-opinion" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;english.lem.pl&#x2F;works&#x2F;apocryphs&#x2F;golem-xiv&#x2F;67-lems-opin...</a><p>&quot;Mine is also the thesis regarding the relationship between genetic code and various species in which individuals serve only as code&#x27;s amplifiers - however Golem&#x27;s opinion is somewhat exaggerated. This concept - that Richard Dawkins called &quot;the selfishness of genes&quot; - I published three years before him.&quot;<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;english.lem.pl&#x2F;works&#x2F;apocryphs&#x2F;golem-xiv&#x2F;69-a-look-inside-golem-xiv" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;english.lem.pl&#x2F;works&#x2F;apocryphs&#x2F;golem-xiv&#x2F;69-a-look-in...</a><p>Instructions (for persons participating for the first time in conversations with GOLEM)<p>1. Remember that GOLEM is not a human being: it has neither personality nor character in any sense intuitively comprehensible to us. It may behave as if it has both, but that is the result of its intentions (disposition), which are largely unknown to us.<p>[...]

On Having No Head by Douglas Harding had a profound effect on my introspection. It simply points out who you really are from your subjective.<p>It bypasses the religious mumbo jumbo that so often gets bundled in guides to spirituality by using scientific experiements. Highly recommended!

Almost all books by Harry Browne. Specifically &quot;How I found freedom in an unfree world&quot;.

&quot;The Design of Everyday Things&quot; by Donald Norman describes mental models that I apply all the time when designing products or processes.

<i>Critique of Pure Reason</i><p><i>Philosophical Investigations</i><p><i>The Moon is a Harsh Mistress</i><p><i>Foucault&#x27;s Pendulum</i><p><i>Snopes</i> == <i>The Hamlet</i>, <i>The Town</i>, <i>The Mansion</i>.<p><i>A River Runs Through It</i><p><i>Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World</i><p><i>A Pattern Language</i><p><i>The Analects</i><p><i>Bhagavad Gita</i><p><i>Apology</i><p><i>The Republic</i><p><i>Touch the Earth</i><p><i>The Pity of War: Explaining World War I</i><p><i>The Civil War: A Narrative</i>

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Art-Reading-Minds-Henrik-Fexeus&#x2F;dp&#x2F;9187173107" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Art-Reading-Minds-Henrik-Fexeus&#x2F;dp&#x2F;91...</a><p>Learned how to read peoples emotions more reliably.

Asimov&#x27;s The Foundation Trilogy was the best sci-fi I&#x27;ve read. Then there are a lot of other types, e.g Porter mgmt theories.

Innovator&#x27;s dilemma &amp; Innovator&#x27;s solution- why big companies almost always get beaten by startups and how to overcome this<p>10x Rule by Grant Cardone - you must take 10x more action than you think to get success<p>Awaken the Giant Within - you can motivate yourself to do anything via the &quot;Pain Pleasure Principle&quot;<p>Bold: How to go big, make wealth, and change the world - some strategies from Musk, Bezos, Diamandis&#x2F;Singularity U<p>The Art of Profitability - Coca-cola from a 2-Liter costs $.02&#x2F;oz , Coca-cola from a restaurant costs $.20&#x2F;oz<p>my full list here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;9SD8b6" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;9SD8b6</a>

Influence by Robert Cialdini. Models by Mark Manson. Eloquent Ruby by Russ Olsen.

hitchhiker guide to the galaxy: it taught me how small the earth is. And therefore we should use the limited time we have wisely. Also, Don&#x27;t Panic.

Fiction: Peter Watts - Blindsight Nonfiction: Gödel Escher Bach CS: David West - Object Thinking

not going to repeat what&#x27;s already been said so I will just add one:<p>The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler about human creativity. This was a heavy read but mind-bending like no other, literally had to put it down every now and then to contemplate&#x2F;write&#x2F;sketch what I just read. Fascinating!<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.goodreads.com&#x2F;book&#x2F;show&#x2F;30676.The_Act_of_Creation" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.goodreads.com&#x2F;book&#x2F;show&#x2F;30676.The_Act_of_Creatio...</a>

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations - David S. Landes<p>Agree or disagree with his findings, but it was the first book I read as a teenager that tried to connect seemingly disparate things into a single narrative - culture, technology, luck.<p>Jared Diamond had a similar, but more simple premise.<p>I still think of certain passages of Landes&#x27; book to this day. The impact of clockworking, the start of the modern tech industry. The impact of protocol and bureaucracy, especially the Spanish one.

I&#x27;m on a streak of reading Neuromarketing&#x2F;behavioral economic type books. 1. Predictably irrational is particularly good. Especially the first half. 2. The Confidence Game explains the steps of how con trick people to fool themselves. 3. Buyology is very focused on purchases&#x2F;retail. 4. Brainfluence. I&#x27;m halfway through it. Mostly bite-sized chapters and it&#x27;s similar to Buyology, but I prefer this book.

The first is the Millionaire Next Door. Gave me a better idea of how to manage my finances and what kind of spending habits to look for in a partner. If you are a tightwad then don&#x27;t marry a spendthrift. Vice versa. [<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2vAmbW8" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2vAmbW8</a>]<p>The second is On Writing Well. This book changed my view regarding how to write and how important it is to write well. As an engineer I regret how much I avoided writing in school. Now I play catchup after realizing lawyers and others with client facing jobs write much better emails. [<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2vTXu27" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2vTXu27</a>]<p>And here are three other books that would be recommended by few on HN.<p>The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I used to hate going home until I realized the clutter of stuff made me miserable. [<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2wwvS5h" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2wwvS5h</a>]<p>Why Men Love Bitches. 100% serious. This book is over the top but I stopped being a doormat in relationships and looked for partners with more self confidence. [<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2wwcYeZ" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2wwcYeZ</a>]<p>The Low Down on Going Down. Yes the title is cheesy, but again I am 100% serious. I think a lot of us have unhealthy expectations due to Internet porn and this book sets the right attitude for the physical component in a relationship.[<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2vTSY41" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2vTSY41</a>]<p>And companion book: [<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2wwSpyY" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2wwSpyY</a>]

Our Marvelous Native Tongue by Robert Claiborne. This book tells the history of the English language, from its Indo-European roots to the Anglo-Saxon period to Shakespeare until the modern language it is today. It&#x27;s the book that initially got me interested in language and linguistics, and now 10 years later I&#x27;m doing a master&#x27;s in Computational Linguistics &#x2F; NLP.

The Urantia Book[1]<p>There&#x27;s a peculiar richness, depth, and inventiveness to it that has kept me coming back to it on occasion for over 20 years of intermittent reading. I haven&#x27;t come across another book quite like it. Of the few people who have heard about it, most bounce right off after skimming it, very understandably so.<p>But taken as a human project it&#x27;s really quite an extraordinary piece of work. Having written short fiction and most of a novel before, I feel like I have a sense of the hard work it takes to master the craft of writing, and I have a lot of respect when I see not just good writing but writing that innovates, keeps pushing. The Urantia Book is like a fractal in its simplicity vs the narrative spun out from the seed ideas. The mental model is to merge both a science mindset and spirituality.<p>Recommend the iPhone app of it (is free, and has a quotes collection included).<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Urantia_Book" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Urantia_Book</a>

Food Rules by Michael Pollan - for understanding food and nutrition<p>Sapiens - for understanding what it means to be human<p>The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant - for understanding groups of humans (civilization)<p>The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks - for understanding investing<p>Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin To Munger by Peter Bevelin - for understanding mental models in general

40 hours a week - tim ferris, this book, even though its dated and not applicable in my life, there&#x27;s a chapter that really boost my confidence about what is the worse things that could happens, it really help me experimented with new stuff, break out my conservative mind, realize its ok to be weird and have made me perceive a different views on problems.

The Origins of Order by Stuart Kauffman - Reality is autocatalytic of life.<p>Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - civilization as a struggle of producers vs. looters; selfishness &gt; altruism; the love of money is the root of mostly good.<p>A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram - Simple rules can yield arbitrarily complex behavior. Therefore reality is inherently computational from the lowest levels.

Predictably Irrational is essentially required reading for anyone who is making decisions for a product.<p>The Information by James Gleick. Remember, Africa has had long range, distributed, fault tolerant wireless communication networks since before Europe had reliable clocks.<p>Euclid&#x27;s Window by Mlodonow. The entire arc of history in a sweeping curve towards, ultimately, machine learning.<p>Reading Doc Smith&#x27;s lensmen series (particularly the chronologically first 2) helped me recognize how very much pop science culture shapes perception. A futurist in the 20s thinking about interstellar travel has delightfuly different ideas. Wrong ideas, but hey.<p>Peter Hamilton&#x27;s sci-fi, particularly the 6 Commonwealth Books: they&#x27;re so different and so surprising and very happy to present a glowing and balelful view of capitalism in an expansionist universe.<p>Everyone in the west should.be required to read Ways of Seeing by Berger.

By far :<p>Things hidden since the foundation of the world - René Girard<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.goodreads.com&#x2F;book&#x2F;show&#x2F;337517.Things_Hidden_Since_the_Foundation_of_the_World" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.goodreads.com&#x2F;book&#x2F;show&#x2F;337517.Things_Hidden_Sin...</a>

– Economics &#x2F; sociology –<p>A Farewell to Alms <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0691141282&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0691141282&#x2F;</a><p>Cartesian Economics <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;1616407395&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;1616407395&#x2F;</a><p>The 10,000 Year Explosion <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0465020429&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0465020429&#x2F;</a><p>The Righteous Mind <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0307455777&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0307455777&#x2F;</a><p>Mindstorms <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0465046746&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0465046746&#x2F;</a><p>– Philosophy –<p>Tao Te Ching <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0060812451&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0060812451&#x2F;</a><p>Meditations <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;1545565678&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;1545565678&#x2F;</a><p>– Autobiography –<p>Surely You&#x27;re Joking, Mr Feynman <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0393316041&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0393316041&#x2F;</a><p>Recollections of Eugene Wigner <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0738208868&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0738208868&#x2F;</a><p>– Fiction –<p>Fahrenheit 451 <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;030747531X&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;030747531X&#x2F;</a><p>Dune <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0441172717&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0441172717&#x2F;</a>

The Emperor&#x27;s New Mind, by Roger Penrose<p>The Tao of Physics, by Fritjof Capra<p>Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukav<p>The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris<p>The Road to Serfdom, by Friedrich Hayek<p>The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert Heilbroner<p>The Story of Philosophy, by Will Durant<p>Grammatical Man, by Jeremy Campbell<p>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig<p>Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The Moon is a HArsh Mistress Robert A. Heinlein The Foundation Series Isaac Asimov Both books provide macro economic examples, and sound philosophy such as &quot;There aint no such thing as a free lunch&quot;, and enlighted self interest

Wolfram, Stephen. A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media, 2002. [1]<p>Wikipedia: &quot;The thesis of A New Kind of Science (NKS) is twofold: the nature of computation must be explored experimentally, and the results of these experiments have great relevance to understanding the physical world. [...] [Wolfram] argues an entirely new method is needed to do so because traditional mathematics fails to meaningfully describe complex systems, and there is an upper limit to complexity in all systems.&quot;<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wolframscience.com&#x2F;nks&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wolframscience.com&#x2F;nks&#x2F;</a>

Thinking in Systems: A Primer<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-Meadows&#x2F;dp&#x2F;1603580557" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-Meadows&#x2F;dp...</a>

How to Design Programs. It helped make explicit the very concept of mental models.

The Ender&#x27;s Series - For the essence of xenophobia and subjective realities.

Outliers - the 20 or so page epilogue at the end titled &quot;A Jamaican Story&quot; had been the best writing I&#x27;ve read thus far that struck a chord and helped me understand &quot;white privilege&quot;.

Among my recent reads:<p>1. Finite and infinite games, by James Carse<p>2. Antifragile, by Nassim Taleb (IMHO the book rambles on a little too much; some of his hour long YouTube talks convey the ideas almost as well)<p>3. Obedience to authority, by Stanley Milgram

_The Innovator&#x27;s Dilemma_ made me start thinking critically about the kinds of projects large organizations attempt, and why they often fail. It&#x27;s kind of a depressing book, actually . . .

Essais - Michel de Montaigne <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Michel_de_Montaigne" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Michel_de_Montaigne</a>

I recently finished &quot;The Singularity Is Near&quot; (2005) by Ray Kurzweil. I&#x27;m surprised it hasn&#x27;t been mentioned yet.<p>Super optimistic author and indeed a great book to think about after reading it.

Theosophy: An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man, <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rsarchive.org&#x2F;Books&#x2F;GA009&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rsarchive.org&#x2F;Books&#x2F;GA009&#x2F;</a><p>The First and Last Freedom, J Krishnamurti <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jkrishnamurti.com&#x2F;krishnamurti-teachings&#x2F;view-text.php?tid=30&amp;chid=56839&amp;w=" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jkrishnamurti.com&#x2F;krishnamurti-teachings&#x2F;view-tex...</a>

On Intelligence - taught me how our brains work<p>Sapiens - How the world works<p>Biographies of Steve Jobs and Einstein - Taught me that even geniuses dont work in a vaccum<p>Lean Startup and essays from PG - taught me how to start a business

The Dance of Gods novels by Mayer Allan Brenner, free download here: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mayerbrenner.com&#x2F;download&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mayerbrenner.com&#x2F;download&#x2F;</a> They are like a Discworld where magic and programming are basically the same, of sorts, with a large, sprawling world with overlapping storylines. It&#x27;s a great read and I came away with many interesting lines of thought whilst reading a very fun story.

In no particular order and probably not remembering all:<p>The signal and the noise - Nate Silver;<p>Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb;<p>Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb;<p>1984 - Orwell;<p>Man&#x27;s search for meaning - Viktor Frankl;<p>Diplomacy - Henry Kissinger (not only international politics but also deep-thinking strategy that can be used anywhere);<p>Meditations - Marcus Aurelius;<p>Superforecasting - Philip Tetlock;<p>Propaganda - Edward Bernays;<p>Pitch anything - Oren Klaff;<p>Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond;<p>How to win friends and influence people&amp; Stop worrying (both by Dale Carnegie);<p>The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins;<p>Trust - Francis Fukuyama;

Start with No<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Start-Negotiating-Tools-that-Pros&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0609608002" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Start-Negotiating-Tools-that-Pros&#x2F;dp&#x2F;...</a><p>Contradicts conventional wisdom about negotiation goals and tactics. Very actionable advice about using interrogative led questions and avoiding the pitfalls of making assumptions during negotiations.

1984. A very powerful book. It really made a strong impression on me and definitely changed my views on politics, propaganda, governments and so on.<p>Capitalism and freedom. Helped me to understand capitalism and American right-wing ideology.<p>The grapes of wrath. Actually, I haven&#x27;t read the book, only watched the movie. It puts into perspective what we see happening with refugees in Europe.

- The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch<p>- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari<p>- Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark<p>- Statistical Rethinking by Richard McElreath

Early on I got into a box of my dad&#x27;s old NLP books (not Natural Language Processing, the other NLP.)<p>&quot;Structure of Magic&quot; vols I and II, &quot;Frogs into Princes&quot;, &quot;Trance-formations&quot;, and a couple of others.<p>NLP grew out of the application of Chomsky&#x27;s Transformational Grammar to recordings of very effective psychological therapists. (Virginia Satir, Fritz Perls, and Milton Erickson.) By the way, this is the same Transformational Grammar that leads to the Chomsky Hierarchy of languages. Neat, eh?<p>Anyhow, the NLP people rapidly developed a powerful model of subjective reality and replicable results in theraputic settings (e.g. the &quot;Five-minute Phobia Cure&quot; algorithm, among many others.) The capability to reprogram belief structures engenders a change of self-definition even if you don&#x27;t use it.<p>&quot;Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid&quot;<p>&quot;System design from provably correct constructs : the beginnings of true software engineering&quot; about Dr. M. Hamilton&#x27;s Higher Order Software.<p>Everything by Robert Anton Wilson. (That&#x27;s not a title, I mean everything he wrote.)

This is not book, but it has &#x27;content&#x27; and an &#x27;author&#x27;. A Coursera course: &quot;Model Thinking&quot; by Scott E. Page<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.coursera.org&#x2F;learn&#x2F;model-thinking" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.coursera.org&#x2F;learn&#x2F;model-thinking</a>

The one book that has reconfigured some aspects of how I deal with people and has helped me in day-to-day life is &quot;Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive&quot; (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;a.co&#x2F;0QoTla6" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;a.co&#x2F;0QoTla6</a>).

- The Lean Startup, by Eric Rives<p>- The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson<p>- The Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim<p>- On the shortness of life, by Seneca<p>- 1984, by George Orwell

Bernardo Kastrup - Why Materialism Is Baloney<p>Has a lot of impact on current AI theory.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.goodreads.com&#x2F;book&#x2F;show&#x2F;20543665-why-materialism-is-baloney" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.goodreads.com&#x2F;book&#x2F;show&#x2F;20543665-why-materialism...</a>

Rational Meaning: A New Foundation for the Definition of Words<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books&#x2F;about&#x2F;Rational_Meaning.html?id=vHWY02aTgRsC" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books&#x2F;about&#x2F;Rational_Meaning.html?i...</a>

I would add also:<p>The prince -- Machiavelli (to loose ingenuity)<p>The little prince -- Saint-Exupéry (to recover some ingenuity)

Most books by Robert Anton Wilson

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Six-Pillars-Self-Esteem-Nathaniel-Branden-ebook&#x2F;dp&#x2F;B007JK9BAY&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Six-Pillars-Self-Esteem-Nathaniel-Bra...</a><p>Hands down

Our Mathematical Universe - Max Tegmark<p>Being and Nothingness - Sartre<p>Chaos - Gleik<p>Surely You&#x27;re Joking, Mr. Feynman! - Feynman

Yesterday I was reviewing answers in this thread. Some might be applicable:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=14477851" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=14477851</a>

Marshall McLuhan&#x27;s &quot;Gutenberg Galaxy&quot; and &quot;Understanding Media&quot;. Buckminster Fuller&#x27;s &quot;Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth&quot; (and other books and essays of his).

I’m really enjoying Open Andre Agassi’s autobiography. It’s beautifully written and makes me think about what it really means to want something. You can definitely get very far hating what you do.

Beyond Good and Evil, by Nietzsche.<p>A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson.

The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham<p>A Guide to the Good Life - William B. Irvine

The Diffusion of Innovation, by Dr. Everett Rodgers. He discovered the concept of the Early Adopter in the 1950s. I would trade all the startup advice on the internet for that one book.

<p><pre><code> 1)Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari</code></pre> 2)The design of everyday things 3) &quot;Surely You&#x27;re Joking, Mr. Feynman!&quot; In no particular order.

Reading a book by a human mind works pretty much like training a neural network. You get tuned and change in a way that you might not see even if you don&#x27;t remember.

Blindsight (Peter Watts) - read it some time in university and it has completely changed how I think about things. Figuratively speaking turned my mind inside out.

Dao De Jing - Lao Tzu<p>A Thousand Plateaus - Gilles Deleuze + Felix Guattari

The Divided Self (R. D. Laing). Bit dense at times, and perhaps not relevant to many on HN, but a truly fascinating examination of the edges of sanity.

Meditations - Marcus Aurelius <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;g.co&#x2F;kgs&#x2F;PkoSGf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;g.co&#x2F;kgs&#x2F;PkoSGf</a>

Poor no more - Robert Chester Ruark A Coffin Full of Dreams - Frisco Hitt Oblomov - Ivan Goncharov The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil

This cognitive science&#x2F;cognitive linguistics books were a hinge point for me:<p>George Lakoff:<p>- Philosophy In The Flesh <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2xFTKU7" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2xFTKU7</a><p>- The Political Mind <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2vU9rF1" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2vU9rF1</a><p>Gilles Fauconnier, Mark Turner:<p>- The Way We Think <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2xFv4ep" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2xFv4ep</a><p>Benjamin K. Bergen:<p>- Louder Than Words <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2wwsMhv" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.to&#x2F;2wwsMhv</a>

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson<p>Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman

Life:<p>The Disappearance of the Universe<p>Programming:<p>Effective Java - straight forward pragmatism<p>Learn You a Haskell for Great Good - took me down the rabbit hole of Haskell, which is just a natural mindbender

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey- Particularly for Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood chapter

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gitopanisadasitis.github.io&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gitopanisadasitis.github.io&#x2F;</a>

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace<p>Antifragile by Nassim Taleb

Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. The book tells you all there is to know about ego and will change the way you see yourself.

&#x27;I Am That&#x27; by Nisargadatta Maharaj<p>&#x27;The First and Last Freedom&#x27; by J. Krishnamurti: Mainly because of what he says regarding Free Will. Later I read &#x27;Free Will&#x27; by Sam Harris, and I think Sam explains the same idea in more detail. Citing &#x27;The First and Last Freedom&#x27;: &quot;Thought is nothing else but reaction; thought is not creative.&quot;<p>&#x27;The Grapes of Wrath&#x27; by John Steinbeck<p>&#x27;The Little Prince&#x27; by A.S.Exupery: when I was a child it made me reflect about society.

Antifragile - way to think about situations in terms of upside&#x2F;downside exposure

Mind is a myth - UG Krishnamurti<p>Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter<p>Unweaving the rainbow - Richard Dawkins

HC Verma concepts of physics

The Go-Getter by Peter B. Kyne and Bach&#x27;s Jonathan Livingston Seagull

The Sugar Barons: Family, Corruption, Empire, and War in the West Indies

The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant<p>^ This book more than any other

&#x27;Deschooling society&#x27; by Ivan Illich.

Ego, Hunger and Agression by Fritz Perls.

Paul&#x27;s Letter to the Galatians

Object Thinking by David West

Millennium series by Tejaswi

The Black Swan. By far.

The mom Test

Sapiens<p>Desert Solitaire<p>Meditations<p>Walden<p>Meditations<p>Thinking Fast and Slow

- Deep Work<p>- Sapiens

Blindsight

Candide

One book more than any other: The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.<p>Why?<p>Darwin opens up the door of Deep Time when he explained his discovery. An appreciation of the immensity of time happens to be linked to explanations of how and why things are. Wolfe also deals with Deep Time but in the context of society.<p>What Gene Wolfe does is he creates books where you need to read between the lines, you need to create hypotheses to understand what&#x27;s going on. I won&#x27;t describe it further because it may lose some of the import, it&#x27;s probably the most important fiction book written in the 20th century.<p>What I&#x27;d like is a photograph of Peter Thiel&#x27;s library, I&#x27;m fascinated by the range of ideas, the meta-ideas he explores. Maybe @sama can smuggle in a camera or we could hijack a roomba.

Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Non-Fictions, 1999.<p>I first encountered Borges as a 15 year old student in high school. I am now 56. The book was ficciones. It changed my life.<p>Borges read everything. What made him the genius that he was, is that he remembered everything that he read, and he was consequently able to make droll observations across cultures and epochs.

I think I may be stupid, in that I can only really get details of a model I already sort of understand from most books -- I need it pretty short&#x27;n&#x27;sweet to get a major model revision.<p>That being said, two <i>papers</i> that have radically changed my mental model are:<p>Einstein&#x27;s 1905 paper -- I&#x27;d never actually thought about what a <i>clock</i> or <i>time</i> was before, or what it meant for two events to happen &quot;at the same time&quot;.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hermes.ffn.ub.es&#x2F;luisnavarro&#x2F;nuevo_maletin&#x2F;Einstein_1905_relativity.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hermes.ffn.ub.es&#x2F;luisnavarro&#x2F;nuevo_maletin&#x2F;Einstein_1...</a><p>A 2007 summary of MS&#x27;s approach to (topological) quantum computers significantly changed my model of how physics worked -- likely because I hadn&#x27;t gotten particularly far in physics before, but also because topological effects seem like they&#x27;d be more prevalent than I had initially conceived of (and we might need to rewrite physics to include topological features more explicitly).<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;abs&#x2F;0707.1889" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;abs&#x2F;0707.1889</a>

Ludwig Wittgenstein: Duty of Genius was a great ride, as well as a fantastic introduction to powerful ideas about communication and non-scientific disciplines&#x27; wish to imitate science.<p>The Autobiography of Malcolm X makes a brilliant case for angry speech, making the mainstream portrayal of figures like Gandhi and MLK Jr. seem like straight-up whitewashed propaganda.<p>Delusions of Gender is a fierce analysis of the nature&#x2F;nurture discussion that rears its head over and over, explaining various mistakes people when interpreting results, both at the research level and at the journalistic level.<p>Marx&#x27;s Inferno reinvents Marx in a super clever way.

Trying to avoid repeats...<p>M.T.W Gravitation<p>The Hitchhiker&#x27;s Guide To The Galaxy

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