A New Earth

What Hacker News says

1. anonymousnotmeFeb 2023
   Had this tab open, should have responded several days ago, not sure that this will help anybody now. Michael Singer's Books have been very helpful to me so far. The whole problem seems to be one's ego and how to deal with it.

   https://untetheredsoul.com/untethered-soul

   https://untetheredsoul.com/living-untethered

   I also found eckhart Toll's book "A New Earth" are also helpful:

   https://eckharttolle.com/books/

   I found "A New Earth" better/more details than "Power of Now" probably because it was written later and I read it later.

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2. stakkurDec 2021
   I could recommend a hundred, but I'll limit myself to four:

   1. Computer Science: The Pattern on the Stone is a nearly perfect, foundational explanation of how computers work.

   2. The Mind: Brain Rules (John Medina) is a fast, well-organized read on the fundamentals of how your brain works (and how to work it).

   3. History: From Dawn to Decadence (Jacques Barzun) is a dense but brilliant read on the how the past 500 years made the modern world we live and think in.

   4. How to Live: A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle). Don't reject it as 'new age-y'; this book may change how you see yourself. If it turns you off, substitute Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

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3. stakkurSep 2020
   The problem for you is not climate change, it's anxiety. Focus your energy on learning how to manage your anxiety, not how to avoid thinking about specific topics.

   A book I strongly recommend: Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry. A very practical and useful book that changed my life.

   If you're more spiritually inclined, I also highly recommend Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth.

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4. supr_strudlMay 2020
   A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle https://www.amazon.com/New-Earth-Awakening-Purpose-Selection...
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5. chrisweeklyMar 2020
   Right on! I also enjoyed "The Untethered Soul" (Singer), "You Are Here" (Hanh), "A New Earth" (Tolle) and "The Daily Stoic"(Holiday)
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6. atmb4uJan 2020
   Yes, Definitely, books are worth it. I was at the same place as of you ~3 years ago, doubting the value of reading books - so, I can speak to it.

   tl;dr: For breadth, online reading is good enough; while for depth and study, books tend to be the way to go. No matter which medium(book/audiobook/summaries), reading more is always better.

   I can think of at least 4 major differences between online content and books. 1. Comprehensiveness 2. Background research 3. Test of time 4. Focus and grounding

   Let me explain.

   1. Most of the online content is "designed" to be consumed in < 10 minutes. So, it assumes fundamentals or ignores details otherwise are critical to the topic. This is useful for quickly grasping a concept, but if you want to go deeper, books will give you better context

   2. "92% of the online content is designed to prove a point" (Above statement is a made-up one, and I have no idea what percentage of the online content is made up)

   A lot of content available online are valuable and accurate. At the same time, the credibility of online content is questionable, while books tend to be more research-oriented. A person has spent at least 6 months to put together a book, and multiple people spend hours to get it out. Books tend to be more linked to the credibility of the author. Paul Graham's essays (http://paulgraham.com/articles.html), for example, are gems and it doesn't matter if it is consumed as a book or a blog - it does contain valuable content.

   3. Books age well than online content - some of the timeless classics still stay relevant in the current decade or century. More people review them, so more crowdsourced opinions. This might sound contrary to the belief, but this is something I've observed over time.

   4. Most importantly, you may devour the internet for a whole day, and learn a bunch of things but the very next day, because everything was so unstructured, you'd tend to lose clarity and only a few things stick. This is more pertinent to some people than others. So, consuming or learning about new concepts systematically through a book will improve the stickiness of the ideas and be more structured while thinking about it. Books, also tend to be more detailed with more examples to put things in context, to which you can relate to. It gives you time to think and organize. Think about it as taking a structured course, rather than learning bits and pieces from here and there.

   Now, the Pareto Principle (80/20) does apply and reading 20% will give you general context on 80%. But more often than not, on most subjects, 20% does contain in-depth information you'll miss out on.

   Listing a few books I recommend, which I believe are worth reading

   [1] The Science of the Artificial by Herbert A. Simon [2] Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter [3] Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief by Jordan Peterson [4] Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari [5] A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle [6] Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [7] Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche [8] The Origins and History of Consciousness by Erich Neumann [9] The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell [10] Essence of the Upanishads by Eknath Easwaran

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