8 ms·
I don't doubt it, but reading a book may make a lasting personality change too.
by aheilbut 15y ago
I don't doubt it, but reading a book may make a lasting personality change too.
- pavs 15y agoReading a "good" book definitely has lasting personality changes for me. I can safely say that at-least 15 of the 22 books I have read so far this year, had lasting effect on my personality.
- innes 15y agoChanges in these traits ... were larger in magnitude than changes typically observed in healthy adults over decades of life experiences, the scientists say. Clearly most people don't read good books, or scientists would have seen evidence of their radical personality-changing effect.
- randallsquared 15y agoI'm not sure if you're being sarcastic, but I would say it is certainly true that most people don't read good books. Most people don't read books, in general. Of those who do, most read for entertainment (like me), rather than seeking out great books to have read.
- innes 15y agoNo sarcasm. I have read good books (I think), but am pretty sure that they didn't modify my personality. Normally they result in a couple of days of thinking "wow, that was a good book".
- randallsquared 15y agoI think that a "good book" in the sense used above is a book where you spend the next coupla days thinking about the new ideas from the book, or the new vantage on a subject you thought you understood, or examining your life in light of what you just read.
- dtf 15y agoVery true. Both offer the user an extreme vision, far outside their normal realm of experience. Of course, reading a book on psilocybin can be rather difficult.
- astrofinch 15y agoWhat book do you estimate has the greatest probability of causing lasting personality change?
- Raphael 15y agoThe Bible.
- jarin 15y agoWhat about positive personality change?
- slowpoke 15y agoI do believe there is some positive wisdom to be found in the bible - especially in the teachings of Jesus, and I tell you that as an agnostic atheist. Pity only a tiny fraction of the people who call themselves Christians actually act on those teachings.
- pyre 15y agoI'm sure there are a number of books that could make you very angry/bitter/cynical towards your government depending on the country (and depending on whether or not you already feel this way). Perhaps something about the economics of the drug trade, how the War on Drugs affects it, and some statistics on how effective the War on Drugs has been thus far (for starters).
- jarin 15y agoI read "Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives" back in high school, and it made a profound positive difference in the way that I view the world. I recommended it to my roommate a few years ago though, and I read it again after he was done and found it to be super cheesy and slightly pretentious. My roommate seemed to like it, but I don't know if I would really recommend it to a grown adult anymore.
- shin_lao 15y agoThe Tao Te Ching. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]