HackerNews Readings: Maps of Meaning

All Time Past 6 Months

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

Matthew Walker, Steve West, et al.

4.7 on Amazon

19 HN comments

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman, Patrick Egan, et al.

4.6 on Amazon

16 HN comments

The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition

Don Norman

4.6 on Amazon

15 HN comments

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

4.8 on Amazon

9 HN comments

The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility" (Incerto)

Nassim Nicholas Nicholas Taleb

4.5 on Amazon

8 HN comments

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Jonathan Haidt and Gildan Media, LLC

4.6 on Amazon

8 HN comments

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Steven Pressfield and Shawn Coyne

4.6 on Amazon

5 HN comments

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

Michael Pollan and Penguin Audio

4.7 on Amazon

4 HN comments

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science

Norman Doidge

4.7 on Amazon

4 HN comments

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Malcolm Gladwell and Hachette Audio

4.4 on Amazon

4 HN comments

Maps of Meaning

Jordan B. Peterson and Random House Audio

4.8 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl , William J. Winslade, et al.

4.7 on Amazon

3 HN comments

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain

Lisa Feldman Barrett, Cassandra Campbell, et al.

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Humankind: A Hopeful History

Rutger Bregman , Erica Moore, et al.

4.7 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

Siddhartha Mukherjee

4.8 on Amazon

3 HN comments

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AlekanekeloonMay 19, 2021

Yes, one of the central points of his books ("Maps of Meaning", "12 Rules for Life", and "Beyond Order") is that meaning in life is found by taking on personal responsibility. A good starting point is probably his "12 Rules for Life".

zwkrtonApr 25, 2021

Thanks. I try to take the medicine from the poison with regards to JP. Maps of Meaning really helped me fling myself out of a depression as an aspie-kind of a guy. I had such calm and reasoned thoughts of meaninglessness, a kind of zen-depression-nihilist-nothingness. I wasn’t crying or staying in bed all day, but I couldn’t be bothered to care about any aspect of my life. I already don’t like people, hobbies were pointless, work a sisyphantian task, etc. His book was great because it was an academic look into why meaning is important at the basest level of existence, and how it is basically ones responsibility to have a full life by /injecting/ meaning into the world—the more the better! Then I kind of saw through to the anti-progressive undertones and hung up the phone as it were, but I owe him a lot.

retraconAug 4, 2021

I found this to be a remarkable interview, not for anything it elucidates itself. It's old ground and they're rehashing debates from the 18th century really. But it was revealing of Peterson in many ways. Also Harris, but it didn't reveal anything about him I didn't already suspect. (A mercilessly methodical thinker there, to the point of it being a fault.)

Peterson's concept of self is very tied up in his beliefs on this. (So is Harris's but since he believes the self doesn't truly exist I guess that buys some wiggle room.) I got the impression of a man who is an atheist but is unwilling simply to admit it, perhaps because it's too embarrassing and painful after writing something like Maps of Meaning trying to base the foundation for contemporary Western thought, even his own, on Christian metaphysics. It's not that he's arguing in bad faith; he really isn't. But it's fascinating to see a man that intelligent stumble around the edges of his blind spots, as Harris zoned right in on them.