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Ask HN: What books influenced your moral compass?
I'd love to hear what books influenced you when you were younger and how. I am trying to stock up on books that would benefit my son to read (and me as we read them together).
Native Son by Richard Wright really hit me hard in high school. I'd love to hear what had a big impact on you.
- eamag 2y ago- Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky - and also somehow The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
- PaulHoule 2y agoCan animals be moral? by Rowlands https://www.amazon.com/Can-Animals-Moral-Mark-Rowlands/dp/019024030X https://www.amazon.com/Can-Animals-Moral-Mark-Rowlands/dp/01... Also Analysis of the Self by Kohut https://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Self-Psychoanalytic-Narcissistic-Personality/dp/0226450120 https://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Self-Psychoanalytic-Narcissi... which is difficult going but helps draw a circle around the concept of "self-centeredness"
- rbanffy 2y ago- The Paul Street Boys (Ferenc Molnár) - The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Machado de Assis) - Cousin Bazilio (Eça de Queirós) - Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Paulo Freire) All these as a teen. I don't think my moral compass had much plasticity after that.
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- chasing0entropy 2y agoThe Four Agreements. Totally changed my approach on professional and dating relations. I hear the concept is not unique but the brief, clear nature of the author spoke to me in my 20s. The explaining theory is a little out of the box (ideas are seeds, your memory is soil, your attention is super powerful fertilizer) but if you aborb the basic concept, you will be forever changed.
- wannabebarista 2y agoIn undergrad, reading these two books really changed my outlook. I went in skeptical and a little conspiratorial and these helped bring me closer to reality and even a little hopeful. - The Cost of Rights (1999) by Stephen Holmes and Cass Sunstein - A Theory of Justice (1971) by John Rawls
- k310 2y agoWalden, by Thoreau The Myth of the Machine, by Lewis Mumford Cloud Hidden, by Alan Watts Computer Lib/Dream Machines, by Ted Nelson (Technology purpose and arrow) The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer Small is Beautiful, by E. F. Schumacher
- disjunct 2y agoI was hoping to see Thoreau here. I'd also recommend his book Walking, maybe even to be read before Walden. It identifies and preempts a lot of what the 'mindfulness' industry deals with and reorients it all around an idea of wilderness. But I'd also be careful reading Walden. I don't think it's a literal instruction manual as some have taken it.
- lbhdc 2y agoI Am a Strange Loop, by Hofstadter. I thought his idea of consciousness as a gradient was really interesting. Hofstadter said this idea made him a vegan. It did the opposite for me, eating a person has more or less the same moral perils as eating a cow. It didn't change my mind about eating animals, but eating people seems more or less okay.
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- thx888 2y agoThe Chronies of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - I properly discovered it while reading to my kids
- kingkongjaffa 2y agoIshmael by Daniel Quinn > the world doesn't belong to man, man belongs to the world. and The Little Book of Humanism
- DataDaoDe 2y agoThe Old Man and the sea - Hemmingway - so many things, with every reread I find something new. The Heart of the Buddhas Teaching - Thich Nhat Hanh, useful prayers, concepts for understanding and dealing with life and a moral compass for going through it. The Way of Zen - Alan Watts, opened my eyes to different forms of religious experience Also a lot of psychology and philosophy books in undergrad were foundational to my thinking. The Moral Animal, the Moral Landscape, The Blank Slate, The Republic and Plato’s writings on Socrates, Tao te Ching, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the Tanakh and parts of the Talmud, but many of these were more academic, still holistically they have shaped my thinking and moral compass.
- foxandmouse 2y agoHere are a few books that come to mind: Siddhartha – I highly recommend doing some background reading to get the most out of it. Everything in the book is a metaphor. For example, the question of whether to take the "Big Boat or Small Boat?" down the river is actually a deeper reflection on personal choices in the pursuit of nirvana or enlightenment. When You Hear Hoofbeats, Think of a Zebra Slaughterhouse-Five – Honestly, just read some Kurt Vonnegut. He’s probably the greatest American writer of all time. Also, here's a great list: https://i.redd.it/cjuf9k91d6g71.jpg https://i.redd.it/cjuf9k91d6g71.jpg .I’m sure I’ve missed some of my favorites, but I just wanted to share because reading has given me so much perspective on the world. I’m really grateful it’s something I enjoy.
- cblum 2y agoOther than the Bible, that would be Dune and Starship Troopers. I can't really put my finger on how specifically they influenced me, but I often find myself recalling scenes and quotes from those two books when discussing deeper topics with family and friends.
- aziaziazi 2y agoHow to win friends and influence people - Dale Canergie It showed me different ways to interact with other humans. Influenced me by giving me tools, confidence, and making me want to step out of my confort zone.
- austin-cheney 2y ago* A Thousand Splendid Suns * Foundation and Empire * On Liberty * Good to Great Those books shaped how I interact with other people, which is: * I will move forward. I am not waiting for you to make a decision. If you need time then it’s on your own time and can catch up at your liability, otherwise it’s absolute empathy and self-sacrifice in all things. * As for other people I want to avoid people that state firm conclusions lacking evidence or measures. I consider that stupidity but it could just be bias or autism. Either way it’s a problem. If people do that and can’t help but talk about themselves then they are definitely either autistic or a sociopath. If those people are charming then they are definitely sociopaths.
- aristofun 2y agoThe bible obviously
- axiologist 2y agoRobert S. Hartman: Freedom to live https://archive.org/details/freedomtoliverob0000hart https://archive.org/details/freedomtoliverob0000hart
- hiAndrewQuinn 2y agoprobably Heart of Darkness maybe also Yukio Mishima's tetralogy
- unfixed 2y agoAtlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand 1984, by Orwell Walden, by Thoreau Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse But really, the one that had most direct impact in my life was Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. Not in my vision of the world but in my lifestyle.
- maxbrt 2y ago1984, George Orwell Permanent Record, Edward Snowden My Early Life, Winston S. Churchill Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand Edit: To some extent probably also: The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas Don Quijote, Miguel de Cervantes
- firefax 2y ago1984
- atmosx 2y agoPlato’s “Apology”.
- fiftyacorn 2y agoErnest Bevin by Andrew Adonis is a biography of Bevin from his poor roots to being in charge of the TUC during labour. It's interesting to note that when Churchill had to decide between backing Beaverbrook or Bevin he chose Bevin, and why you see Bevin next to Churchill in the famous VE day photos. Bevin approach of working with business to achieve collective bargaining outcomes that worked for both sides, and demonstrates how hard fought this battle was. He wasn't perfect, but an interesting man
- rasulkireev 2y agoThis might be one of the weirdest answers, and it is not exactly what you asked for, but Naruto the Anime/Manga had a huuuuuge impact on my personality. Even wrote a post about it: https://www.rasulkireev.com/naruto-influence https://www.rasulkireev.com/naruto-influence
- jwagon19 2y agoThe Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin