I haven't read any others but anti-fragility is the book that has made me think more than any other I've read in the past few years. If you can get past the childish name calling it's worth it - I'll have to read his others next
Anyone who enjoys Sowell's perspective and is interested in (and irritated by) modern politics should also take a look at "The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy".
I have nearly as many answers to this questions as books I have read. Even fiction helps you to understand another perspective, which I think is really one of the great things about reading.
One of the earliest books that gave me a good leap in understanding is the Tao of Pooh. As a preteen, it was my first real taste of philosophy outside of Christianity, and it was something radically different.
As far as impact, probably Epictetus' Enchiridion. It's literally a manual on how to live a good life. It's uncommonly practical advice and started a love for his school of philosophy that still hasn't faded.
>FYI that book is very poorly regarded by mainstream historians and anthropologists for being scientifically inaccurate.
That's a bit of a stretch. It isn't without (legitimate) criticism --as any work of this scope is-- but Diamond is mainstream, and the book has won several scientific awards and a lot of praise.
The over-arching premise, that luck and circumstance played a huge role in the development of civilizations, isn't really disputed. And there are lessons in there for today: not everything you've earned is a product of your abilities.
Indeed it is but mainstream historians and anthropologists are not the arbiters of good science. The criticisms, that I'm aware of, come down to incomplete research on Yali (not a critical aspect of the narrative and absent from The Third Chimpanzee) and an over-enthusiastic pre-emptive argument against a neo-darwinian interpretation of genetic data.
I agree with carterklein13, Guns, Germs, and Steel is near the top of my list of influential books.
I'll second "The Dictator's Handbook". And if anyone is thinking, "I don't need this, I don't have any plans to become a dictator", you're thinking just like I was thinking a few years ago. When finally I read it, I kicked myself for passing on such a great book because of its silly name. This book does indeed change the way you understand the world (Small caveat: the authors stretch their theory to cover some cases such as corporate governance. That part felt quite weak to me. You can just ignore it. The rest of the book more than makes up for this).
And here's another one that's somewhat similar: "Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook". The title is not just a joke, unfortunately. Some coups were indeed carried out following the advice in this book (which was obviously not the author's intention, but life sometimes takes unexpected turns). The second edition of this book was published in 2015, just one year before the attempted coup in Turkey. Armed with the knowledge from this book, you can go and analyze what happened in Turkey and it's going to make a lot of sense.
Also the 48 Laws of Power. Once you start seeing things through that lens, the world looks like both a darker, meaner, but at times surprisingly nicer, place.
"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly."
Not even the emperor of Rome was immune from Sturgeon's law.
人之初
性本善
性相近
習相遠
("When people are born, they all start good, but even though they all start out about the same, you ought to see them after they have had time to become different from one another by picking up habits here and there!". Translation Dr. Linebarger, aka Cordwainer Smith)
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis
An entertaining read about just how fragile and naive western financial systems can be.
Stories of the Law and How It's Broken - The Secret Barrister
Gives a (mostly anecdotal) insight about how broken the English legal system is. I had to pause several times while reading because it conflicted so much with my world view.
His son, Ola Rosling, who continues work on their Gapminder Foundation, was interviewed by Tim Harford on BBC's More or Less: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct0pxk
Understanding Power by Chomsky had a big impact on me. I read it after this compelling blog post by Aaron Swartz (RIP): http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/epiphany
Also around the age of 8 or 9 I read some Erich von Däniken book and got quite excited by what it contained. However, I eventually realised that it was complete nonsense and I got really affronted that people could write books that contained stuff that wasn't true. A useful lesson!
Edit: Another one is "Why People Believe Weird Things":
> A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years and eighteen distinct human species, of which our own is the first.
Metaphors We Live By - George Lakoff, Mark Johnson
It's a linguistics focused book that suggests people use metaphor to understand abstract constructs. It also helped me understand people, conversation, and intent in an especially eye opening way.
Interesting. Metaphors We Live By is near the top of my list of theories that were once a popular mainstream meme that dramatically crashed and burned when applied in the real world. The Democratic Party's embrace of Don't Think of an Elephant did not go well. My memory might be flawed, it usually is.
I'm not old enough to have been aware of the rise and fall of the mainstream movement, very interesting! I am possibly just finding the first look into the theory as tantalizing as everyone else did.
Excellent. If I remember correctly, the linguists sorted into two opposing camps, Lakoff/Johnson on one side, Pinker/Chomsky on the other.
The Pinker argument is that the metaphor aspect is only important during the short period of time when we are first introduced to a new term. Once the term enters our vocabulary, it takes its own unique slot in our minds that is independent of the word origins. Our minds do not have trouble distinguishing between cordless, cellular, and wireless phones once the terms are familiar to us. I'm sure you can find much greater insight than I can provide with a few web searches.
It's a shame you're going to get downvoted by a lot of knee-jerk "ooh, I hate Ayn Rand" types (most of whom have probably never read a word she wrote), but FWIW, I second your mention. Atlas Shrugged is definitely worth reading.
I won't say it's a great book in many ways - Rand's language is a bit awkward and stilted (especially by contemporary standards), and it probably is a bit too long. But in terms of getting to the heart of the divide between those who adhere to an individualist / internal locus of control mindset, and those who don't, it's very enlightening.
Also, FWIW, I enjoyed The Fountainhead more than Atlas Shrugged, and usually recommend that anyone who is new to Rand start with it first.
104 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 202 ms ] threadThe 48 Rules of Power - Robert Greene
Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big - Scott Adams
Basic Economics - Thomas Sowell
The World Is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
The Penguin History of the World: Sixth Edition - J. M. Roberts and Odd Arne Westad
One of the earliest books that gave me a good leap in understanding is the Tao of Pooh. As a preteen, it was my first real taste of philosophy outside of Christianity, and it was something radically different.
As far as impact, probably Epictetus' Enchiridion. It's literally a manual on how to live a good life. It's uncommonly practical advice and started a love for his school of philosophy that still hasn't faded.
edit: I should mention this is a book recommended by Yuval Noah Harari himself. I read it myself and it is a great companion to his fantastic books.
That's a bit of a stretch. It isn't without (legitimate) criticism --as any work of this scope is-- but Diamond is mainstream, and the book has won several scientific awards and a lot of praise.
The over-arching premise, that luck and circumstance played a huge role in the development of civilizations, isn't really disputed. And there are lessons in there for today: not everything you've earned is a product of your abilities.
Indeed it is but mainstream historians and anthropologists are not the arbiters of good science. The criticisms, that I'm aware of, come down to incomplete research on Yali (not a critical aspect of the narrative and absent from The Third Chimpanzee) and an over-enthusiastic pre-emptive argument against a neo-darwinian interpretation of genetic data.
I agree with carterklein13, Guns, Germs, and Steel is near the top of my list of influential books.
I'll add The Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley. It's gems are a little metaphorical, but a great read nonetheless.
The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World - Tim Marshall
And here's another one that's somewhat similar: "Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook". The title is not just a joke, unfortunately. Some coups were indeed carried out following the advice in this book (which was obviously not the author's intention, but life sometimes takes unexpected turns). The second edition of this book was published in 2015, just one year before the attempted coup in Turkey. Armed with the knowledge from this book, you can go and analyze what happened in Turkey and it's going to make a lot of sense.
Also the 48 Laws of Power. Once you start seeing things through that lens, the world looks like both a darker, meaner, but at times surprisingly nicer, place.
Probably should have read it sooner but at least I had plenty of experience to compare against it when I finally did suck it up and read it.
I will add Dictator's Handbook to my queue and raise my hand and 4th the 48 Laws of Power
Not even the emperor of Rome was immune from Sturgeon's law.
("When people are born, they all start good, but even though they all start out about the same, you ought to see them after they have had time to become different from one another by picking up habits here and there!". Translation Dr. Linebarger, aka Cordwainer Smith)An entertaining read about just how fragile and naive western financial systems can be.
Stories of the Law and How It's Broken - The Secret Barrister
Gives a (mostly anecdotal) insight about how broken the English legal system is. I had to pause several times while reading because it conflicted so much with my world view.
Finite and Infinite Games - James Carse
Ways of Seeing
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World
Also around the age of 8 or 9 I read some Erich von Däniken book and got quite excited by what it contained. However, I eventually realised that it was complete nonsense and I got really affronted that people could write books that contained stuff that wasn't true. A useful lesson!
Edit: Another one is "Why People Believe Weird Things":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_People_Believe_Weird_Thing...
> A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years and eighteen distinct human species, of which our own is the first.
It's a linguistics focused book that suggests people use metaphor to understand abstract constructs. It also helped me understand people, conversation, and intent in an especially eye opening way.
The Pinker argument is that the metaphor aspect is only important during the short period of time when we are first introduced to a new term. Once the term enters our vocabulary, it takes its own unique slot in our minds that is independent of the word origins. Our minds do not have trouble distinguishing between cordless, cellular, and wireless phones once the terms are familiar to us. I'm sure you can find much greater insight than I can provide with a few web searches.
I won't say it's a great book in many ways - Rand's language is a bit awkward and stilted (especially by contemporary standards), and it probably is a bit too long. But in terms of getting to the heart of the divide between those who adhere to an individualist / internal locus of control mindset, and those who don't, it's very enlightening.
Also, FWIW, I enjoyed The Fountainhead more than Atlas Shrugged, and usually recommend that anyone who is new to Rand start with it first.
Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
Historical:
The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
General:
Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook