Posted: May 04, 2012 5:38 pm
Loren Michael wrote:ASOIAF is the best fiction, hands down. It's the The Wire of fantasy.
Seconded. That series are the only fiction books I have read since AP English in high school. I do want to start reading fiction again though.
Loren Michael wrote:
Nonfictionwise, I don't have a favorite, more a top 5, and most of these are my favorites because they've had a strong effect on the heuristics I tend to use in my understanding of the world. The Stuff of Thought by Pinker, The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama, Nonzero and The Moral Animal, both by Robert Wright, and A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine are the current five I tend to keep in my brain.
Interesting you are a big fan of Wright. He actually did a talk at my university and during the reception we got into a verbal brawl over whether the "moral progress of humanity is a sign that there is some type of plan to the universe." I'm not simply going to dismiss him because he thinks there may be some type of supernatural being responsible for human progress, but that did lower my opinion of him. Nevertheless, his lecture was largely about how much conflict owes to the fact that people think gains are nonzero, and I thought it was fascinating and true. He spoke of how people once believed in many gods, but only served one god. They viewed defeats in battle as a sign that their god was more powerful than their opponents' god. However, eventually they came to give the ultimate insults to their opponents by simply denying that their gods existed, and this contributed to the development of monotheism.
In regards to The Moral Animal, I find evolutionary psychology fascinating as well. It has so many implications for policy that I simply cannot believe how few people have drawn the connection. In fact, that is why I loved The Blank Slate so much. I also loved How the Mind Works. I studied evo psych in college largely because of these.
Fukuyama came and gave a lecture at my university as well, but I MISSED IT. Tragic. I just looked up the book on Stoic joy - it looks fantastic. I will definitely add it to my list.
Loren Michael wrote:
I think Wright was the most influential for me. My top five prior to reading Wright probably would have been some combination of Dawkins, Shermer, Sagan, and Harris' books. I think I've almost totally lost my appreciation for them now.
If I were to list my top five, I'd say:
The Blank Slate - Pinker
Eating Animals - Jonathan Safren Foer
The Rational Optimist - Matt Ridley
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
The God Delusion - Dawkins
These books have been the most influential in shaping my outlook in life. Amazing what a few good books can do to your life.