Loneliness
Ever felt the need for social connection? This book dives into the history for human social connection and why we are deprived of it in today's modern world. Although this book is not a cure for anything you might be going through, it helps you get a new perspective towards your life and how to revitalize your social needs.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
10mentions
8people
2008–2025years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- FYI, see Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection by John Cacioppo and William Patrick to understand the relevant Science.
- A book on this interesting subject: Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection by John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick.
- Fiction: Nicholas Nickleby (Dickens). Dickens' prose is like a sugared donut. Rich and enjoyable in small bites, cloying as a steady diet, so this is heavily interspersed with other reading.
Non-Fiction:
Global Crisis (http://www.amazon.com/Global-Crisis-Climate-Catastrophe-Seve...) Excellent history of the climate disaster known as "the Little Ice", and the social, political and economic disruptions it produced. Due to where the records are best, lots of stuff from China, some from Japan, and various parts of Europe (particularly England) but it takes a genuinely global perspective on a decades-long event that may have reduced the human population of Earth by as much as 1/3. Data rich and extremely well-written, it gives some insight into how humans are apt to respond and adapt in the face of climate change (the first generation or two is not pretty, but new institutions, attitudes and adaptations do come along.)
Loneliness (http://www.amazon.com/Loneliness-Human-Nature-Social-Connect...) Recent science on the effects of social connection and the lack thereof, by one of the premier researchers in the field. Highly recommended for people who are feeling out of the loop (I work at home and recently changed cities, and recognized I was lacking a bit in human contact even for someone who is very comfortable on their own.)
The Civilization of the Middle Ages, Norman Cantor: a somewhat dated by still useful account of medieval civilization, from it's Roman roots to the early Renaissance.
Other recommendation: http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Theorem-TJ-Radcliffe/dp/099375... Speculative fiction with big ideas (the nature of god, the role of science, the universality of evolution) and character-driven action (I am the author, so take the recommendation for what you will.)
- I just put the first one my reading list.
Judging by what I see on amazon.com, Storr analyzes the life of some famous people that apparently managed to be happy through work despite 'inferior relationships'.
The one I've read is 'Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection' by John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick. It quotes a lot of studies that statistically link feeling disconnected with all sorts of things you want to avoid, including health problems.
Of course, instead of having friends, you can try to avoid loneliness by getting rid of your social needs, in a kind of ascetism. I never managed to do that. On the other hand I read that Alexander Selkirk, the stranded sailor who inspired Robinson Crusoe, suffered terribly from loneliness the first one and a half years, but then got over it completely. Later, back in Scotland, he even regretted his time on the island. I was wondering if this story was true, and if there were other examples.
- I discovered the fountainhead last year and I found it fascinating although it becomes more and more awkward as you progress. At the end it seemed to me like a journey into a sick mind, which makes it all the more interesting.
I would recommend semi-autobiographic books by sick minds.
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, by Robert Pirsig who was actually treated by electrotherapy in a psychiatric ward. He ended up writing a not so sick book with a philosophy I find a lot more convincing than Ayn Rand's.
Valis, the novel in which Philipp K. Dick describes how he more or less fails to make sense of his religious (or whatever) experience. It's sold as science fiction, but that's just a weak way of saying that book is completely crazy. Since it is semi-autobiographic, the characters are much more alive than in anything else I read from Philipp K. Dick.
And if you want to know why Howard Roark has a low life expectancy:
Loneliness, human nature and the need for social connection, by John T Cacioppo and William Patrick. This is non-fiction.
- old books? i can imagine the shit/hallucinated-like generative AI we would have if the training weight was restricted to public domain stuff...
i think when chatGPT was around version 2 or 3, i had extracted almost 2 pages (without any alteration from the original) with questions that considered the author from this book here, https://www.amazon.com/Loneliness-Human-Nature-Social-Connec...
now it's up to you to think this is okay... but i bet you are no author
