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#1
05-18-2006, 07:37 AM
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Books that made you look at things differently
I can think of a few works that made me think differently about stuff, and I think helped me to think more clearly and percieve how things work more closely to reality than previously. Here's some of them:
1. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins A titanically great book, this has a final chapter that actually spawned a whole new science: Memetics. Here, Dawkins posits the notion of a meme. As a gene is to genetic evolution, a meme is to cultural evolution. A meme can be an idea, a tune, a phrase, or anything that sits in your head, comes out of your mouth/typings/writings and gets transferred to another brain. Examples: "Sup, bro", "It's not even close", and so on. It gave me a fundamentally different view of how society, religion, politics and generally systems of thinking and acting work. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme 2+3. 1984 - George Orwell and Dune - Frank Herbert These two books gave me a good insight into political power, and power groups. The first was really about how power groups try to maintain their power by manipulation of mind and thought, whilst Dune (though a work of Science Fiction) made it very clear that sometimes motives of people are not clear, and their motivations may easily hide very deep intentions. As is said in the book 'Seeing the trap is the first step in avoiding the trap'. A sort of introduction to 2nd and 3rd level thinking. 4. Assorted works of Dilbert - I'm not kidding I started reading these when I was working for a big outsourcing IT firm. I couldn't believe how much I learnt about stuff going on around me, from being a 'team leader' (which I was, of 25-30 guys + gals!) without actually getting any extra pay, right through to how throwaway comments on your self-assessment pay review forms can and will be dragged out at some later date to justify you not getting a raise. Any of you had the same? 
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#2
05-18-2006, 08:36 AM
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Re: Books that made you look at things differently
Fame in the 20th Century by Clive James
The book is designed as an entertaining and funny read about celebrities and fame. But there's a deeper theme running through it, about how television and the Hollywood star have changed and perverted our perception of reality, sometimes dangerously so. It made me stop and think about what's real and how life would be without television and the media. It's also an excellent compendium of 20th century icons and a must read for anyone who wishes to get up to speed with 20th century popular culture. Highly recommended. What Remains to Be Discovered: Mapping the Secrets of the Universe, the Origins of Life, and the Future of the Human Race by John Maddox. This is a truly fascinating book about science, written by the former editor of Nature (a prestigious science journal). The first thing that strikes you about this book is the writing style; the author writes with a clarity and precision I've never seen before or since. The book is written to be understand by a layman. The writing is so clear that the author lets you into his mind, and for a while you see the world from the privileged perspective of someone who's been at the forefront of scientific development for 25 years. You come out the other side and little wiser and somewhat in awe of science. This book shook any notions I had that science had slowed down, or that most major discoveries have been made. How Brains Think: Evolving Intelligence, Then and Now - William H. Calvin A fascinating book that explores intelligence from the perspective of neurons, synapses, and the physical structures in the brain, in a non technical and interesting manner. The author is a neurophysiologist, and goes into detail about how the brain stores and retrieves information and makes decisions, with a lengthy discussion on how these factors affect intelligence - and what intelligence is. The insights in this book are nothing short of profound - it will change the way you view consciousness and intelligence.
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#3
05-18-2006, 02:11 PM
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Re: Books that made you look at things differently
food revolution , by john robbins.
along with fast food nation (eric schlosser), these books got me to stop vacillating on what i eat (back and forth for a decade on vegetarian/not vegetarian/partial vegetarian). by the end of this book, i was convinced i'd never eat meat again. the quiet zone rules...i'm quite certain i'd never write that post in oot.
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#5
05-20-2006, 07:56 PM
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Re: Books that made you look at things differently
[ QUOTE ]
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Just a brilliant book that made me look at the world, and what it means to be alive in it, differently. ~D [/ QUOTE ] This was my choice too. I try to give it a read about once every year and a half, and never feel like I fail to get something new out of it. It's the book that got me started on books about the nature of thought. You've got to put a lot into it to get a lot out though. ==arbitrary
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#6
05-28-2006, 06:02 PM
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Re: Books that made you look at things differently
lots of good books in this thread.
i'll give two a few on a theme consciousness explained - dennett the illusion of conscious will - wegner how the mind works - pinker the first two are quite challenging, both because the subject matter is difficult and the theses go straight against popular thought. wegner's writing is second rate, but the ideas are clear enough. the third one isn't as eye-opening, but pinker is a great writer and the topics are much more accessible, so it may be a good appetizer for the heavier stuff.
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#7
05-30-2006, 12:23 PM
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Re: Books that made you look at things differently
[ QUOTE ]
how the mind works - pinker [/ QUOTE ] Pinker sometimes ruffles a lot of feathers in the field when (psychologists perceive that) he speaks for everyone. I'd like to read this book anyway, though.
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#8
05-28-2006, 05:42 PM
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Re: Books that made you look at things differently
[ QUOTE ]
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Just a brilliant book that made me look at the world, and what it means to be alive in it, differently. ~D [/ QUOTE ] Damn. I guess I'm gonna have to read this. I bought it half a year ago, but it's so freakin big. Mine is: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn It's a fiction, but it reads kind of like a philosophy lecture. The main argument made in the story is based on some false premises, because the book is fictional, but it does a great job of making you rethink things that you take for granted.
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#9
05-28-2006, 06:00 PM
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Re: Books that made you look at things differently
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#10
05-28-2006, 07:28 PM
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Re: Books that made you look at things differently
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [b] Ishmael by Daniel Quinn It's a fiction, but it reads kind of like a philosophy lecture. The main argument made in the story is based on some false premises, because the book is fictional, but it does a great job of making you rethink things that you take for granted. [/ QUOTE ]
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