Top Hacker News Book Recommendations in Science & Math (all time)

All Time Past 6 Months

Memories, Dreams, Reflections

Carl Jung, James Cameron Stewart, et al.

4.7 on Amazon

3 HN comments

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket

Benjamin Lorr

4.4 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia

Christina Thompson

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries

Safi Bahcall, William Dufris, et al.

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder

Richard Louv

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe

Robert Lanza and Bob Berman

4.4 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Organic Chemistry

Paula Bruice

4.4 on Amazon

3 HN comments

The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes

Donald Hoffman, Timothy Andrés Pabon, et al.

4.4 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can't, and What Can Be Done About It

Mark Seidenberg

4.6 on Amazon

2 HN comments

A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence

Jeff Hawkins, Richard Dawkins - foreword, et al.

4.4 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality

Ben Orlin

4.6 on Amazon

2 HN comments

The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data

Kevin Mitnick

4.5 on Amazon

2 HN comments

The Big Fat Surprise (Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet)

Nina Teicholz

4.6 on Amazon

2 HN comments

The Lost Words

Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

4.8 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition

Jeff Lowenfels

4.8 on Amazon

2 HN comments

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fpolingonMay 19, 2021

Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl

You may also try Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung

But in general there is no such book as there is no universal meaning. One has to find it oneself.

rendallonJuly 5, 2021

Peterson is a Jungian, which is why I brought it up. Check out Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Gustav Jung himself, for a fun accessible entree. Basically, the theory is that humans are deeply wired to use stories to understand the world, and some stories are even embedded in our subconscious.

8bitsruleonJuly 8, 2021

"A promising counterbalance to these trends is to develop alternative ways of being that increase and diversify the “crowd within” - and drive an ongoing inner discourse ....
It’s to look more often within, and behind, to develop depth and soul.... And we could do worse than to turn to Jung for a starting point in that journey."

There's so much to Jung's work that finding a way in to the core can be difficult. I once studied several of his collected works. To learn whether his ideas might have value for one's journey, his own journey and motivations are revealed in memoir Memories, Dreams, Reflections. His 'evidence' is the universality of human experiences ... his own and those of his patients.

To get to some of the core ideas (without dilution), try the two books of Vol 9. Archetypes... (which arrives at key idea 'Individuation') and Aion (gets into self, ego, shadow, anima/animus). These aren't easy reads, but many have found the effort rewarding.

Edit: Joseph Campbell's ideas (specially TV series The Power of Myth) might be a more widely accessible way to learn about this path.

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