What Hacker News says

pkszgSep 2022

I like to read a wide variety of genre from fiction to human psychology.

For the mind:

Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg - A great book on how to communcate more effectively with others.

Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman -He is the only psychologist ever to recieve the Nobel Prize if I remember correctly. This book scientifically digests human biases and errors and how they influence our every day lives and decision making. Sometimes it a bit too technical for my taste and I like mostly the first part. (its not an easy read) I rarely had so many Aha-moments.

A random walk down on wall street - For investing your income in stocks. What to do and what no to do. Simple, with facts.

Sapiens by Harari -Interesting, I remember it was a great read and fun read. Connecting a lot of dots :)

On programming:

Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann - I am failry a junior web dev, so any material that is clear and explains well is a great source of information and inspiration. This is such a book.

Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective by Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron - Teaches CS from the basics, which for me is a great source since I don't have a CS degree. I complement it with other materials from the internet (such as Harvard's CS50) for learning the fundamentals paralell working in my daily web dev job. Its a long book, so It will take a couple of months, years to go thorugh, but definitely worth the effort.

Fictions I love, without much introduction: Lord of the Rings Dune (first book) Game of thrones books For me JRRs storytelling is outstanding, the books are better than the serires IMO.

Spiritual Books:

(I am not a religous person by any means and I do not follow traditions) Spirituality for me means a deeper connection with the universe. If I really want to dig deeper than everyday work-life stuff I listen/read these books. Usually when there is a great emotional upheaval in my life or when I feel my daily distractions failed on me.

Power of now by Eckhart Tolle - This book gives me the occasional goosebumps, a great summary of all spiritual teachings (before becoming religions) in a really simple way. If you are interested in such, I highly recommend it.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - I see it mentioned here already, no intro needed.

Letters by Seneca - This book is a proof for me that the essential human experience, the core of what makes us human does not change over time. Seneca was a great stoic thinker, who is very relatable by anyone even today (and probably will be for many millenia)

Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Suzuki Roshi - All true spiritual teaching have the same source, but all are expressed differently. This is a great, simple powerful book to read if you lean towards buddhism.

A Course in Miracles (no official author) -Now this is a heavy read. It has a textbook with daily practices also. This is definitely not a book for everyone.

thread

bowsamicMay 2022

Vimalakirti sutra

EDIT: for something more recent: Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

thread

CPLXJun 2021

I became interested through books but ultimately if it’s something you’re interested in pursuing you’d want to find a temple or community and practice with those that have more experience.

Two books I read early on that I recommend are The Tantric Distinction and Zen Mind Beginners Mind.

thread

gdubsDec 2019

The Rise and Fall of American Growth

Sapiens

The Universe in a Single Atom

Reality is not what it seems

The Organized Mind

The Power of Habit

Zen Mind Beginners Mind

Restoration Agriculture

A Random Walk on Wall Street

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying-up

thread

lobo_tuertoAug 2019

If you are still looking for something to help with this I recommend you look into zazen meditation.

Have a look at the book: Zen mind, beginners mind. It was one of the best things I discovered for myself. Hope you'll find it useful.

thread

C1ph3rL0ckAug 2018

Here's some reading I did that helped me:

Zen Mind Beginners Mind - I'm not religious in the slightest but I knew a part of my problem was that I wasn't really being self aware. I had friend that was into meditation and swore it helped him be more self aware. So I picked up this book and read it along side using the Headspace app to get into meditation. I use it as a moment of calm and clarity, to regain my thoughts, and refocus. Especially when I feel procrastination kicking in. It helped me calm down and identify why I was procrastinating and often come up with a plan to deal with whatever was making me want to procrastinate. I found I was often thinking or focusing or stressing about something else instead of focusing on me and my wants.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590308492/ref=oh_aui_deta...

The Now Habit - This was a book a friend of mine recommended to me. They said it helped them breakout of the rut they felt they were stuck in. It definitely helped me a bit. At the very least it helped me identify the things I wanted to do and do them. While also enjoying myself with the "Guilt Free Play" he talks about being important.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QNVP7M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...

7 Habits of Highly Successful People: This book was another friend recommendation, that helped me focus on and deal with my own internal issues that was encouraging my procrastination. I was able to start identifying them and working on them.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01069X4H0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...

It took me about 6 months of diligent work to get myself out of my procrastinating funk and get myself to a place where I was starting to be happy with what I did. I still occasionally break these books out and go over them, I still meditate to help me keep focused, etc. There isn't some quick fix to deal with it, but I believe you can learn to manage and deal with your procrastination like I have.

thread