Five inspiring books I read in 2018.
and all the other ones.
This post was inspired by Craig Coffman’s The Books I Read in 2018
The Top 5
Philosophy is one of the most interesting subjects you can study, particularly when you apply it to your own life. It is specially impactful when an author takes philosophical ideas and turns them into a work of art. I chose these five books because they do that, and they inspired me and captured a theme I’ve been reflecting on.
- Siddharta by Herman Hesse
- The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories by Arthur Machen
- Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
- Hiking with Nietzche by John Kaag
- Power by Jeffrey Pfeffer
1. Siddharta. Herman Hesse
When someone seeks, said Siddhartha, then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.
What I liked about it:
- Yes, it’s a cheesy choice, but it has a good mix of philosophical themes, it’s a fun read and it’s short and sweet. Plus it’s not my first time reading it.
- An allegorical life of Gautama Buddha, in which Siddhartha encounters the historical Buddha. (himself?) and rejects his own teachings, it’s like an Ouroboros of a story
- Synthesis of Indian, Buddhist and existential philosophies
2. The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories by Arthur Machen
Every branch of human knowledge, if traced up to its source and final principles, vanishes into mystery.
What I liked about it:
- I’m a Lovecraft fan, I was so happy to find another author who writes stories that freak you the hell out on an existential level, a fancier way to say this is–I like cosmic horror: The “fear and awe we feel when confronted by phenomena beyond our comprehension, whose scope extends beyond the narrow field of human affairs and boasts of cosmic significance”
- The stories express beauty, adoration, wonder, awe, mystery, sense of the unknown, desire for the unknown, mysticism, paganism, it gets weird.
- Machen is skeptical of the materialistic view of the world, but not in a religious way, it’s hard to explain, but these stories make you feel a sense of displaced reality.
3. Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care.
What I liked about it:
- Before reading this I felt like all the sci-fi I had been reading was boring and pretty much all about the same idea, yeah killer AI… This story though is BIG. It’s like an Asimov novel, only it was written in a totally different time, with a completely different perspective, and it’s a bit darker..
- Takes place in a different backdrop, that of Chinese history and culture, and sees the world through that view.
- Has a wide lens view, it’s dealing with massive scales of time and space, it proposes new ways of understanding old problems. For example I learned of a new take on Fermi’s Paradox in this book–The Dark Forest, to paraphrase: When two civilizations meet, they will want to know if the other is going to be friendly or hostile. One side might act friendly, but the other side won’t know if they are just faking it to put them at ease while armies are built in secret. This is called chains of suspicion. You don’t know for sure what the other side’s intentions are. On Earth this is resolved through communication and diplomacy. But for civilizations in different solar systems, that’s not possible due to the vast distances and time between message sent and received. Bottom line is, every civilization could be a threat and it’s impossible to know for sure, therefore they must be destroyed to ensure your survival.
- It’s hard sci-fi, it really deals with the sciences INCLUDING the social sciences as well and the dynamics of “intergalactic relations”
4. Hiking with Nietzche by John Kaag
One needs to physically rise and set off, this transformation happens at a sudden prescience and sentience of the future, of seas open once more of aims once again permitted and believed in.
What I liked about it:
- Reading Nietzche has definitely been life changing for me, and this books is kind of all his philosophy in a condensed form–with the story of the author intertwined.
- Nietzsche believed there was no separation between the person and their philosophy, this is a reflection on Nietzche’s philosophy told through the personal journey the author took following Nietzches footsteps, first as a young person, then with his family.
- It gives us a brief but powerful summary of Nietzche’s life and thought.
- It’s a personal and moving story about a man who revisits the Nietzche’s life and finds in it different things at different stages of his life, with one singular call to action–don’t let yourself wither.
5. Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t by Jeffrey Pfeffer
The two fundamental dimensions that distinguish people who rise to great heights and accomplish amazing things are will, the drive to take on big challenges, and skill, the capabilities required to turn ambition into accomplishment. The three personal qualities embodied in will are ambition, energy, and focus. The four skills useful in acquiring power are self-knowledge and a reflective mind-set, confidence and the ability to project self-assurance, the ability to read others and empathize with their point of view, and a capacity to tolerate conflict.
What I liked about it:
- I usually don’t like “self help” books, since often times the simply state obvious ideas over and over again, this book has taught me so much about navigating organizations, power structures and just the day to day life of human interaction.
- It’s a book that gives concise simple case studies and shows us the author’s premises in a systematic yet easy to read fashion.
- What you learn here can actually help you change at the very least your perspective on dealing with large organizations of people.
All the other ones
Diving deeper into Nietzche & Hesse
A wild longing for strong emotions` and sensations seethes in me, a rage against this toneless, flat, normal and sterile life. I have a mad impulse to smash something, a warehouse perhaps, or a cathedral, or myself, to commit outrages…
–Steppenwolf, Herman Hesse
- Steppenwolf Herman Hesse
- Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe
- Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse
- Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzche
- The Will to Power by Friedrich Nietzche
- Neo-Nihilism: The Philosophy of Power by Peter Sjösted H
Siddharta rabbit hole
Society & philosophy
In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.
— Society Of the Spectacle, Guy Debord
- Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
- Madness & Civilization by Michel Foucault
- Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by Judith Butler
- The Courage of Hopelessness by Slavoj Zizek
- Between the World and Me by Ta Nehisi Coates
- But what If We’re Wrong? Thinking about the Present As If it Were the Past by chuck Klosterman
- The Rise and Fall of Nations by Ruchir Sharma
- October by China Mieville
Techno pessimism
But now we know there has been no one great disaster — only the slow-motion disaster of capitalism converting every living thing and idea into property
–Autonomous Annalee Newitz
- Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
- Blindsight by Peter Watts
- Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer
- Void Star by Zachary Mason
Non Fiction
On the day the Gjallerhorn is blown, it will wake the gods, no matter where they are, no matter how deeply they sleep.
Heimdall will blow Gjallerhorn only once, at the end of all things, Ragnarok
-Norse myhology, Neil Gaiman
- Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray and What it Means for Modern Relationships by Christopher Ryan
- A Beautiful Constraint: How To Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and Why It’s Everyone’s Business by Adam Morgan
- Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Trendy but I did not like as much
- Sapiens
- Homo Deus
- Getting to Yes
- Barking up the wrong Tree
