The 10 Books That Will Forever Alter Your Worldview
You know when you read a book and then suddenly you see everything through a dramatically different lense!? These were mine.
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You know when you read a book and then suddenly you see everything through a dramatically different lense!? I love it when that happens.
I’m tracking mini book reviews and quotes from those worldview-altering books here.
2010
Ethics
This book was my first compelling brush with philosophy. After rejecting a Christian-style religious upbringing, Ethics was a very welcome beautiful, rational, masterpiece.
“The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.”
“The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.”
“Do not weep. Do not wax indignant. Understand.”
“No matter how thin you slice it, there will always be two sides.”
“When a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune.”
2011
The Black Swan
This book drastically changed my perception of time and history and life and everything! It is truly an enlightening book on how change does not come uniformly - but as unpredictable surprises. If you have seen a million white swans it still does not justify the statement “all swans are white” (the problem of induction). Mind bending and brilliant.
Before the discovery of Australia, people in the old world were convinced that all swans were white, an unassailable belief as it seemed completely confirmed by empirical…
