I guess it could as well be a lecture, talk, video etc, I don't want to rule something out just because of the format.
I actually wrote a longer comment, but I had to invoke the names of other authors. Better not. Either way, I love the book.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Real-Analysis-Long-Form-Mathematics-T...
[0] Library Genesis's comics section helped with that http://libgen.io/comics/index.php
It's a very insightful read on how you can see the world differently by simply asking questions (even if you never get an answer)
https://www.amazon.com/More-Beautiful-Question-Inquiry-Break...
And Ray Dalio’s Principles.
Both of those gave me personal aha moments. Neither was what I expected but both delivered.
I've mentioned the book on several other threads [2], so I'll avoid repeating here.
Along the same lines of expanding the ability of your body/mind, one that I'm currently reading is "What doesn't kill us" [3]. Pretty fascinating to think that we have a lot more control over our immune system than originally thought.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501...
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17606274
[3] https://www.amazon.com/What-Doesnt-Kill-Environmental-Condit...
The underlying reasons exposed by the book are timeless and universal. As I read the book (which, again, is 20 years old and focuses on the hard drive industry) I recognized all the pitfalls my previous company went through as it was trying to adapt to public Cloud.
This book is a powerful lens to look at disruptive innovation, well-written and very thoroughly researched. A must read if you’re working in technology IMO.
made me realize that although RL is brittle and slow it can still be super effective the problem domains I care about (robot locomotion).
I work on a habit building platform so read almost all books and papers on habit building and behavioral science. This recent book by James Clear has summarized the key points of what's known about building and replacing habits. It's easy to read and most importantly - practical.
James Clear, the above author has the blog where he writes about habits extensively: www.jamesclear.com
Tiny Habits is a habit program created by Stanford Prof BJ Fogg - www.tinyhabits.com
21 Day Hero (shameless plug) - is a place where you start building habits through 21 day challenges. We're transitioning however to full-on habit building journey, through an app and other tools/programs - www.21dayhero.com
Selfication - http://www.selfication.com/ - is also a great blog in the behavioral science direction
Best apps out there is Fabulous, Spar!, Habitica, Pacifica and many others.
If you want this all in one - our team actually have this secret habit landscape map done, which includes all books, apps, researchers, blogs in the habit space. Haven't shared publicly yet. But can email it to you if you wish
As an introvert and a social recluse, this book is a goldmine; it eased a lot of confusions in my head about how society and class structures work, and taught me to better avoid the pitfalls of consumerism and peer pressure.
...the cheap, and therefore indecorous, articles of daily consumption in modern industrial communities are commonly machine products; and the generic feature of the physiognomy of machine-made goods as compared with the hand-wrought article is their greater perfection in workmanship and greater accuracy in the detail execution of the design. Hence it comes about that the visible imperfections of the hand-wrought goods, being honorific, are accounted marks of superiority in point of beauty, or serviceability, or both. Hence has arisen that exaltation of the defective, of which John Ruskin and William Morris were such eager spokesmen in their time; and on this ground their propaganda of crudity and wasted effort has been taken up and carried forward since their time. And hence also the propaganda for a return to handicraft and household industry. So much of the work and speculations of this group of men as fairly comes under the characterisation here given would have been impossible at a time when the visibly more perfect goods were not the cheaper. - p162
Hands down the best autobiography I have read. I personally learned a lot about how a brand is created rather than a business. How businesses were built even before VC capital was a thing. And how life is all about making tradeoffs.
Those ideas and principles of building a successful Google, from making great product, build the great culture and hiring the smart creative people.
- Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future
By Eliezer Yudkowsky
First book in a long time which really made me see the world differently and taught better thinking.