Ask HN: What are some good inspirational and uplifting books? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What are some good inspirational and uplifting books?

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Hey HN. I'm in a bit of a rut. Feeling with no sense of goal, unmotivated to do basic shit, and falling back into dangerous old habbits. I have a nice job and still perform well on it. I'm just trying to became inspired as opposed to "smarter", which is what the technical books I usually read do.

And yes, going back to therapy is on my line of sight :D

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I'll give a casual read that became one of my favorite books:

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

It's got some tech aspects to it since the main character is starting to get into using programming to investigate a mystery and that bit definitely feels motivating. We all have a bunch of problems that we deal with in every day life that we just need a little push to start solving. But it also is just a solid mystery book that's somewhat rooted in history with some great characters (although I think the main character and his love interest are kind of the blandest of the bunch). I don't want to say anymore since I'll get into spoiling it but I'll leave you with this:

festina lente

Love this book, would recommend it to anyone who's interested in a good mystery.

I loved Sourdough by Robin Sloan, will check out this one too.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33313.Kitchen_Confidenti...

Even if you have zero interest in the culinary world, you'll still enjoy the stories - and maybe even get motivated by some of them.

The crappiest CRUD-app making Java job in a toxic office is a cushy vacation compared to the life of a chef :)

cooking is one of my favorite hobbies. Will definitely check it out.

Mere Christianity by CS Lewis, Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

> Mere Christianity by CS Lewis

Opens the book by talking shit about atheists and how atheism is not a real philosophy, and basically says it is not even worth commenting on.

I put it down immediately.

> Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Unfortunately, this has been thoroughly discredited [0]. But if the point of the list is not to be accurate but to feel good (and I'm not being sarcastic, OP asked about books to feel better) then of course anything is fair to recommend.

[0] https://retractionwatch.com/2017/02/20/placed-much-faith-und...

You're making a blind sweeping generalization here.

As has been repeatedly pointed out in the past[1][2][3], it is only the priming-related chapter (called 'The Associative Machine' in the book) that put "too much faith in under-powered studies". Not the entire book!

The book is a synthesis of forty years of Kahneman's research and his collaboration with Tversky. A wide range of topics are covered; and it still absolutely merits reading.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24048650

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22054603

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21757524

Has the whole book been discredited or just one chapter in the book?

Hmm I don't know. I liked the book when I read it but then I looked up the criticism (and the eventual retractions) and got a bad taste in my mouth.

It would better to know which parts are ok, definitely.

Voila https://replicationindex.com/2020/12/30/a-meta-scientific-pe...

I thought it was only the priming stuff that had been dis-credited?

I like his honesty in his response to the blog. Personally, I get a lot of value out of Thinking Fast and Slow.

If you're into audiobooks, I recommend "You're It! On Hiding, Seeking, and Being Found", a series of talks by Alan Watts [0]. I'm not sure if it can pull you up out of the rut, but it may help you to get out of it sideways.

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6583629-you-re-it-on-hid...

I really enjoyed Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. It's more of a kick in the pants than an inspirational book, but it actually helped me think about (and act on) my priorities.

Seconded. Great book

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by him is also good.

*Master of Doom*

My takes (in random order):

- Both Johns already bagged years of professional game development experience before ID was formed. Romero started submitting games to magazines in mid-80s and Carmack in 1989. This probably explains why they managed to push out games so fast.

- John Carmack went from Apple ][ tile mapped games (Shadowforge and Wraith) to horizontal smooth scrolling (Commander Keen) in about 1 year, and to ray caster (Wolfenstein) in about 1 year, and to BSP (Doom) in a bit more than 1 year, and to real 3D (Quake) in 2.5 years. And this is only the rendering part. He was super focused and super efficient.

- Tools are really important to rapid iteration. Romero's 2D editor (forgot the name) was used throughout the early years, which says something.

- Early programmers *have* to deal with assembly language routinely. This probably dispelled a lot of "magic" and one of the primary reasons why some of them were so good. Essentially everyone who programs games for long enough is a low level programmer. I wonder if modern programmers should take the same grinding.

- This is probably controversial but I believe Romero leaving ID tipped the balance and I find ID games starting from Quake 2 are less interesting.

- Everyone who wants to get serious about tech should take a few weeks off and concentrate on learning and working on difficult stuffs. Preferably more time but a few weeks should be the minimum.

Jubilee, Margaret Walker.

A tree grows in brooklin, Betty Smith.

Cutting for Stone, Abraham Varghese.

They are not light reading. But you do feel like you are a better person after you’re done reading them.

wow! All are unheard books for me. Will for sure check them out! Thank you!

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl.

Good luck.

Seconded.

It shall bring you down emotionally, then build you up again - but stronger.

The World as Will and Representation, Vol 1, by Arthur Schopenhauer.

It is still a very original book, and will strongly influence your thoughts on basically everything: love, music, literature, architecture, science, religion.

Volume 1 is also amazingly accessible, and often very funny. If you don't like dry philosophy books which must invent their own language systems, but still fail to bring their basic points across, you will be in good company - because Schopenhauer hates them. He frequently reminds the reader that if someone has truly and fully understood something, he can explain it in simple sentences. And Schopenhauer delivers.

https://www.amazon.com/World-Will-Representation-Vol/dp/0486...

It has been a long time since I've had an interest in philosophy. I was one of those "humanities" kid that read stuff I wasn't at all muture enough to go through. And I remember loving some bits I read from Schopenhauer. Perhaps its time for me to relive that interest.

"Seek and ye shall find."

Read the New Testament and then the Bhagavad Gita. Jesus's words are uplifting but there's a lot of information that he gave the disciples that didn't make it into the Book. The Gita can be viewed as the "missing manual".

- - - -

I just lost my cat recently and had a birthday, so I'm in a deeply existential mood.

"All things are impermanent." It's as true as true can be. One day the cat is here, fluffy and meowing. The next day the cat is gone, and unlike the one in the story the cat is not ever coming back. Everything is like this: temporary, transient, contingent, impermanent.

The only thing, if anything, that we can "take with us" or that outlasts us is the effect we had on the world around us while we were alive. That is the closest thing to a "possession" you'll ever have.

So look to that. If you seek meaning in life, try helping people. Be kind. Cherish every moment. Feel and express love.

Hope this helps. :)

Thank you for those kind words. I have two 2yo twin cats as well and the thought of not having them around is tough. Will check out both recommendations. I've never heard of Bhagavad Gita and it seems incredibly interesting.

You're very welcome.

It's hard to lose someone you love. I knew this day would come (or, more precisely, the other way 'round: me predeceasing the cat, would be so much worse for my friends and family...

There's a old Buddhist tale:

A family has just finished construction of their new home, and the tradition there is to get a kind of of banner or scroll of wise words to put over the household shrine, to honor and bless the new home. So they go to the local monk and commission him to make it. He paints a scroll and calls them to come pick it up. They arrive and read it:

    Grandfather dies.
    Father dies.
    Son dies.
    Grandson dies.

Naturally the family are taken aback, and respectfully ask the monk to redo it. He calls them back the next day and tells them, "I tried and tried. I arranged the lines in every combination, but this is the best order."

So, yeah, I knew this day would come...) but it's still hard.

Enjoy the Gita, I recommend reading many different translations, and don't settle too early on an interpretation (i.e. some people believe it was a real battle while most believe it's pure allegory, things like that. It's part of a huge epic story, the Mahabharata.)