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Ask HN: Books or Paper which helped you develop reasoning skills

10 pointsby lovestaco11 months ago
I am trying to improve my reasoning skills because lately I have been making a lot of technical decisions and many are going wrong. Any resource that helped you?

11 comments

DataDaoDe11 months ago
Keep a “decision“ journal. Write down your reasons for your choices. Make predictions and observe the results. Revisit weekly.<p>I did this and it helped me enormously. Not only understanding actions&#x2F;outcomes of myself and others but also flaws I had in tons of my own mental models and behaviors.<p>I would also recommend listening to the „You are not so smart“ and „beat your genes“ podcasts. Both will reference papers and books that provide further reading materials.<p>As far as books go, I got a lot from Nassim Talebs work and the great mental models series.
aristofun11 months ago
No particular book, but 2 hi quality areas that may boost your reasoning and critical thinking skills: philosophy in general (like ancient greek philosophers etc) and theology (from medieval arguments about how many angels on the tip of the needle to modern debates).<p>Historically those were the 2 main intellectual and spiritual drivers behind the creation and rise of modern reason based (as opposed to superstition magical thinking) western society and modern science, etc.
nbernard11 months ago
I found <i>Rational Choice in an Uncertain World: The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making</i>, by Hastie &amp; Dawes, useful.
brudgers11 months ago
<i>Critique of Pure Reason</i> and <i>Philosophical Investigations</i> -- I studied philosophy as an undergrad and only helpful modulo your definition of &quot;helpful&quot; of course. For me, expecting my best decisions to be at least partly wrong and my knowledge to always be incomplete.
yamrzou11 months ago
<i>How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices</i> by Annie Duke
coretx11 months ago
Here you go, Ethics by Benedict de Spinoza. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gutenberg.org&#x2F;ebooks&#x2F;3800" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gutenberg.org&#x2F;ebooks&#x2F;3800</a> &lt;-- Free &amp; legal download.
instagib11 months ago
Critical thinking or engineering ethics courses. Look up the required books and buy one of those.<p>Writing a few papers and critique reading a few on the subjects were helpful.
Quinzel11 months ago
Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman will help you understand why many of the technical decisions you are making are going wrong.
kentich11 months ago
A Practical Guide To Critical Thinking by David A. Hunter
hnthrowaway032811 months ago
Can you please share a few example? Many technical decisions rely on experiences.
hiAndrewQuinn11 months ago
I&#x27;m gonna be that guy and say LessWrong.<p>Yeah, yeah. Say what you will. An addictive forum of people thinking really hard about all kinds of weird topics probably did more for me than any single book I read.