Hacker News Books

> A lot of this can be interpreted as a way to shun yourself from the world and not face reality. But can't anyone do that with anything helpful?

There are lots of texts on rising above worldly pleasures, and some are very good. I'm a particular fan of Ekhart Tolle's work, and I enjoyed the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying... The Tao of Pooh, and the Te of Piglet got me through a difficult adolescence.

As with any idea, though, simplifying it too far tends to lose important subtleties. The mental austerity mentioned in the original post is likely to strike a resonant chord with many men who wished they had better self-control, and who wished they were acting with more general agency in their life. Men are complete suckers for certain ideals of manhood, certain archetypes that are well presented. If this is something that interests you, I can strongly recommend the books Iron John by Robert Bly, King Warrior Magician Lover by Robert Moore, and the excellent Way of The Superior Man by David Deida.

I find this quote by Alan Watts particularly poignant, and perhaps an antidote to the original post:

"We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4)

HN and tech spheres can tend to have more people (especially male) who struggle with socialising with others and romance on top of every other part of the human condition. To that end, I recommend (in order):

Robert Glover - No More Mr. Nice Guy
Mark Manson - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck
Mark Manson - Models

For those looking into reading into masculinity (to understand yourself or other masculine people:

David Deida - The Way of the Superior Man
Moore & Gillette - King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
Zan Perrion- The Alabaster Girl

Disclaimer: Some of these books I recommend are not going to be based on much research and science, or delve into more abstract forms of thought and draw inspiration from other sources (e.g. Eastern). Nevertheless I believe they are useful frameworks of thought that can provide value, and it's good to engage more "mythical" ideas at times.

Good reading to become a mature (ie not just childish) anti-authoritarian: "Prometheus Rising" by Robert Anton Wilson and "No more Mr Nice Guy" by Robert Glover. I would also throw in "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover" by Robert Moore, and maybe an occasional dose of LessWrong.com (helps to know of cognitive bias pitfalls if one wants to dance to one's own tune). Rand, Aurelius, Thoreau, Emerson and Nietzsche might be cool too, for the philosophically inclined (what they all have in common is the belief in defining your own values, not just following others blindly).

Of course, the way I see it, being anti-authoritarian is just a corollary effect of being a mature, competent, self-validated man who is following his own purpose in life. Of course such a man is going to have trouble with those who want to foist their value-systems on him through threats, psychological manipulation, or subterfuge.

King Warrior Magician Lover
by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette

http://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscover...

King Warrior Magician Lover, by Robert Moore and Douglas Gilette. It is a deeply insightful book about the path to a mature masculine psyche written by a highly respected Jungian psychologist (Moore) and a mythologist and counselor (Gilette).

I recently finished reading this book and their four subsequent volumes, each of which goes into great detail about the four archetypes. Reading them has given me much stimulus for thought and personal growth.

http://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscover...