The most important book in my life was Solzhenitsyn’s “One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, which I read in my teens. Because while I’ve always read obsessively, all I read up till then was formulaic sci-fi, often re-reading the same one over and over. It taught me that other kinds of books – “serious” books – were worth trying. I still like me some good ol’-fashioned Space Opera, but Solzhenitzyn led me to a lifetime of challenging myself to read big complicated books that try to be more than entertainment. Even though “Ivan Denisovich” is small and simple. And perfect.
On Sun, Nov 16, 2014 at 1:08 PM, Charles Haynes <[email protected]> wrote: > Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama by Daniel > Goleman > > As a rationalist and skeptic, I had been extremely suspicious of "woo woo" > claims about meditation, but I was interested is Dan Goleman's research > into meditation and stress and I was intrigued by the "scientific dialog" > claim. I was reading along with a rather skeptical attitude when I ran > across a chapter talking about an experiment that Paul Ekman did with a > trained meditator, in which he suppressed his startle reflex. That should > not be possible! Digging further I discovered that meditation does seem to > have objective measurable effects and I now meditate daily. Because of this > book. > > -- Charles > > On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 12:57 AM, John Sundman <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > I was happy to see The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the > > Bicameral Mind on the list in the Chronicle (although it's more than 30 > > years old. Closer to 40, I think.) I remember reading it shortly after > it > > came out, and while some of its conclusions seemed a bit of a stretch, it > > was certainly provocative & answered questions that I had never thought > > about but which are in fact interesting & legitimate. > > > > If I had to choose 1 non-fiction book that has changed my mind it would > be > > Hofstadter's Goedel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. (It too is > dates > > from 1970's but if Jaynes gets in, then I'll assume Hofstadter can too.) > > This book changed me in two ways. The first was in tying together the > > various ideas about recursion, self-similarity, and of course the Strange > > Loop, and the provocative thesis that strange loops are at the core of > > self-awareness & consciousness (which I believe is very likely on the > right > > track & which has certainly influenced me as a novelist; all of my work > > touches on this central idea in one way or another). > > > > The second way that the book changed me was in convincing me that I could > > understand concepts that had scared me away before I read it. I graduated > > from college in 1974, a few years before I read GEB. In college I didn't > > take a single math ("maths") course or course in logic. After college I > > spent 2 years in the Peace Corps, most of that time living in a mud hut > on > > the edge of the Sahara, a full day's travel from reliable electricity or > > running water. I was interested in agriculture & my philosophy was pretty > > romantic -- still feeling the after effects of the whole hippie thing. > GEB > > showed me that what I really love, where I'm really at home, is in the > geek > > world where ideas & fixations like his predominate. > > > > jrs > > > > > > > > On Nov 14, 2014, at 5:29 PM, Thaths wrote: > > > > > This post > > > <http://chronicle.com/article/What-Book-Changed-Your-Mind-/149839/> of > > > people talking about the books that changed their minds made me > > wonder.... > > > > > > Which book made *you*, dear Silk lister, change your mind? How? > > > > > > A handful of books have had such an impact on me. I need to whittle it > > down > > > to one. > > > > > > Thaths > > > PS: The annual Silk List Book Recommendations thread is starting early > > this > > > year. > > > > > > > -- - Tim Bray (If you’d like to send me a private message, see https://keybase.io/timbray)
