How to Be Perfect

What Hacker News says

1. BrajeshwarDec 2023
   Most of the books I read are influenced by similar threads on HN. This year has not been good overall and it impacted my reading. I need to finish writing the post https://brajeshwar.com/2023/books/

   “How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question” by Michael Schur is a fun book that opens with a good question, “Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?”

   I have been meaning to and this year I finally read The Diary of a Young Girl.

   For 2024, here are some of the ones from my list (sorry for the formatting, copied Markdown from my notes);

   - [Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_War:_The_Fight_for_the_Wo...) by [Chris Miller](https://www.christophermiller.net)

   - [First Principles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Principles_(book)) by [Thomas E. Ricks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_E._Ricks_(journalist))

   - [Greenlights](https://greenlights.com) by [Matthew McConaughey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_McConaughey)

   - How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region by Joe Studwell

   - [Poor Economics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Economics): A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by [Abhijit V. Banerjee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhijit_Banerjee), and [Esther Duflo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Duflo)

   - Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child The Heart of Parenting by [John Gottman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gottman), and Joan DeClaire

   - [The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read](https://www.amazon.com/Book-Wish-Your-Parents-Read/dp/198487...): (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) by [Philippa Perry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_Perry)

   - [The End Of The World Is Just The Beginning: Mapping The Collapse Of Globalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_the_World_is_just_t...) by [Peter Zeihan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Zeihan)

   - [The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation](https://www.amazon.com/Tatas-Family-Built-Business-Nation/dp...) by [Girish Kuber](https://mr.wikipedia.org/wiki/गिरीश_कुबेर), and English translation by Vikrant Pande.

   - [Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming](https://www.amazon.com/Windfall-Booming-Business-Global-Warm...) by [McKenzie Funk](https://www.mckenziefunk.com)

   - [Dieter Rams: The Complete Works](https://www.amazon.com/Dieter-Rams-Complete-Klaus-Klemp/dp/1...) by [Klaus Klemp](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Klemp)

   Show morethread
2. Buttons840Jan 2023
   > Second best is to argue for addition or removal of rules.

   What would we base our arguments for adding or removing rules upon? Financial incentives? Upon what will we base our assumption that financial incentives are important? Logical arguments are great, but after going down a layer or two we find there are only moral arguments. They are not pointless.

   The above was going to be my first response, but then I took a step back and tried to address your argument as a whole.

   I'm guessing you haven't spent much time considering moral philosophy, but even simplified toy examples, like the Trolley Problem quickly move past purely logical arguments and are firmly in the subjective realm. We won't be able to have a philosophical discussion here, but if you want I'd recommend the book "How to Be Perfect" as a relatively fun read on the subject and a good introduction.

   Show morethread
3. wraptileDec 2022
   "How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question" by Michael Schur is my favorite read of the year.

   It's an introduction to the philosophy of ethics through real-life examples and anecdotes by the creator of The Good Place TV show (the audio book even features the shows actors). Unlike most of philosphy stuff you can actually finish it in couple of days and feel like you learned a whole lot!

   In particular it helped me with my ethics choice anxiety and introduced me to Aristotel's "be the best version of yourself" philosophy which is such a liberating way of thinking.

   Show morethread
4. lelanthranJan 2023
   > What would we base our arguments for adding or removing rules upon?

   In practice we use a lot of things to attempt to convince a population to be for/against a law. We do it based on emotion (i.e. how much outrage/empathy/fear can be mustered on this particular crime), a sense of fairness sometimes.

   But almost all the arguments using morals are poor ones - the against argument for female bodily autonomy is argued using morals, for example, and it didn't work.

   Same-sex marriages weren't won by making moral arguments inasmuch the other side lost by making moral arguments.

   When you see an argument based on morals, replace the word "morals" with "my god says so", because in practice that is all it is.

   > if you want I'd recommend the book "How to Be Perfect" as a relatively fun read on the subject and a good introduction.

   Thanks, I'll have a look for it. I'm afraid it seems that I haven't convinced you that arguing from morals is pointless, but I'm going to try one more time :-)

   But, I respect your position, and it is not an uncommon one.

   ... so, parting thought ...

   How can you continue an argument using your moral position as support, when the other party can dismiss your argument by saying that your moral position is inferior to his?

   Show morethread
5. BrajeshwarDec 2022
   Following up on the exciting thread of the good books in 2022, what books have you tentatively planned to read in 2023? I have earmarked quite a few just from the comments in that thread.

   Here are a few I'm excited about;

   - Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

   - How Asia Works: Success and Failure In the World's Most Dynamic Region by Joe Studwell

   - How the World Really Works: A Scientist's Guide to Our Past, Present and Future by Vaclav Smil

   - How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur

   - How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie

   - Impact Mapping: Making a big impact with software products and projects by Gojko Adzic

   - Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price by Madhavan Ramanujam, Georg Tacke

   - Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself by Wes Bush

   - Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry by Catherine M. Pittman, Elizabeth M. Karle

   - The Courage To Be Disliked: How to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness by Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga

   - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

   Show morethread
6. BrajeshwarDec 2022
   Here is another good thread from a few days ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33849267

   Here is the list of some of the good books I read this year https://brajeshwar.com/2022/books/

   Starting this year, instead of writing the list at the year-end, I have decided that I will just write as I read along. Besides the 5 odd I listed from a comment on this thread, here are others I have listed from other threads on Hackernews and Twitter. The URL is a pattern anyway, so it will be https://brajeshwar.com/2023/books/

   - How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur, https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-to-Be-Perfect/Mic...

   - [How to Stop Worrying and Start Living](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Stop_Worrying_and_Start...) is from the popular author [Dale Carnegie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Carnegie) of the [How to Win Friends and Influence People](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influen...) fame.

   - A young girl's diary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl)

   - Greenlights by [Matthew McConaughey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_McConaughey)

   - How Asia Works: Success and Failure In the World's Most Dynamic Region

   - How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future by Vaclav Smil

   - How To Talk: Siblings Without Rivalry by [Adele Faber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adele_Faber)

   - Impact Mapping: Making a big impact with software products and projects

   - Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price

   - Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself

   - Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry

   - The Courage To Be Disliked: How to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness

   - [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_th...) by [Douglas Adams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams)

   - [Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming](https://www.amazon.com/Windfall-Booming-Business-Global-Warm...) by [McKenzie Funk](https://www.mckenziefunk.com)

   - The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read: (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) by Philippa Perry

   Show morethread