Ask HN: What single book has had the greatest impact on you?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14923552

by jtmarmon • 9 years ago

2 1 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm always interested in hearing book recommendations, but sometimes you hear one and it's clear the book totally changed the recommender's perspective on something and made them wish more people would read it. A lot of us have a singular book like that.

An example (and the inspiration for this post) is this comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14922949

Mine would probably be Deep Work by Cal Newport

veli_joza• 9 years ago

"The Mind Illuminated" by John Yates proved to be exactly what I needed to start practicing meditation.

A lot of us consider our work a craft and spend lifetime perfecting tools. Unfortunately, we neglect the most important tool we have - our mind. It turns out we can improve our focus by consistent practice (and that's only one of many benefits of meditation).

Opening chapters of this book provide a basic model of awareness & focus, which demonstrates that we are rarely in control of our thoughts. I found it fascinating. The rest of book provides a well defined path to train and improve working of mind through introspection.

Although I could find no actual credentials for author (he claims to be neuroscientist), his observations and explanations are so far very consistent and consistent with my own. Also, religion and mysticism are absent from the book, except when referencing traditional practices.

BTW I've also recently read Deep Work. It's a fantastic book and it made me change some habits, but the style turned me off. I did not enjoy cherry-picked anecdotal 'proofs' and persistent convincing.

Ask HN: What single book has had the greatest impact on you?

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