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Zen mind beginner’s mind: Highly recommended to anyone interested in meditation. Helped me understand the non-goal aspect of the practice. Gravity’s rainbow: N

Zen mind beginner’s mind: Highly recommended to anyone interested in meditation. Helped me understand the non-goal aspect of the practice. Gravity’s rainbow: Not the easiest read but immensely rewarding. For better or worse some of Pynchon’s vivid descriptions are burned into my soul. Crime and punishment: I’m not into literature but this one is worth it. A great dive into human psychology. Deliverance: intense story, read it in one night. Not sure it taught me much but man it is good. The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Great insights on the way ideology and politics work. Wasted time on a bunch of self help books. Most tips contained in these require you to accept yourself and the world to be applicable. And that’s the hardest bit...

Rerarom 7y ago
Also no self help book can tell you what your goals should be. The best of them say this outright.
- jaxOLantern 7y ago
  True, and even when your goals are inlined with the book the way to get there is unclear. Mental barriers are hard to overcome. The only thing that works for me is non judgmental self reflection.
Kaibeezy 7y ago
I read Crime and Punishment last year and found it incredibly disappointing, considering its massive reputation. Simpletons, idiots, caricatures, buffoons and victims performing lots of hand-wringing, posturing, dithering, swooning and assorted drama. Hard to identify with or care about any of them. Call it entertainment, but I prefer Dickens.
- sdfin 7y ago
  I read Crime and Punishment after reading The Brothers Karamazov. I found Crime and Punishment shallow in it's story and characters when compared to The Brothers Karamazov.
  - jaxOLantern 7y ago
    Did you read "Crime and Punishment" just after "The Brothers Karamazov"? Or could you have outgrown this type of book?
    - sdfin 7y ago
      Yes, I read Crime and Punishment about one year after The Brothers Karamazov. I think The Brothers Karamazov is a great book.
- jaxOLantern 7y ago
  I understand what you mean, the insight on the mind of a murderer is what kept me going. I found the same unecessary drama/silliness while reading "The Master and Margarita", maybe it's a Russian writing style.
  - Kaibeezy 7y ago
    Master and Margarita was on my list, maybe it will stay there a while. For insight into the minds of murderers x 4.5 billion + a few, I just finished Iain Banks' Look to Windward. I didn't think I saw what was coming when it came, but then at the end, I realized I knew it was there all along. The Culture series is underrepresented on this thread. Hello, Contact? Whenever it's convenient to send a module, I'm ready to go.

Rerarom 7y ago

Also no self help book can tell you what your goals should be. The best of them say this outright.

jaxOLantern 7y ago
True, and even when your goals are inlined with the book the way to get there is unclear. Mental barriers are hard to overcome. The only thing that works for me is non judgmental self reflection.

Kaibeezy 7y ago

I read Crime and Punishment last year and found it incredibly disappointing, considering its massive reputation. Simpletons, idiots, caricatures, buffoons and victims performing lots of hand-wringing, posturing, dithering, swooning and assorted drama. Hard to identify with or care about any of them. Call it entertainment, but I prefer Dickens.

sdfin 7y ago
I read Crime and Punishment after reading The Brothers Karamazov. I found Crime and Punishment shallow in it's story and characters when compared to The Brothers Karamazov.
- jaxOLantern 7y ago
  Did you read "Crime and Punishment" just after "The Brothers Karamazov"? Or could you have outgrown this type of book?
  - sdfin 7y ago
    Yes, I read Crime and Punishment about one year after The Brothers Karamazov. I think The Brothers Karamazov is a great book.
jaxOLantern 7y ago
I understand what you mean, the insight on the mind of a murderer is what kept me going. I found the same unecessary drama/silliness while reading "The Master and Margarita", maybe it's a Russian writing style.
- Kaibeezy 7y ago
  Master and Margarita was on my list, maybe it will stay there a while. For insight into the minds of murderers x 4.5 billion + a few, I just finished Iain Banks' Look to Windward. I didn't think I saw what was coming when it came, but then at the end, I realized I knew it was there all along. The Culture series is underrepresented on this thread. Hello, Contact? Whenever it's convenient to send a module, I'm ready to go.