Put me on the path to something like thinking of rationality as something intuitive/S1 rather than something I have to think about with a lot of deliberation/S2.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
I often forget how much this book is “in the water” for me. There’s all kinds of great stuff in here about prioritization, relationships, and self-improvement. It can feel a little like platitudes at time, but it’s really great.
The Design of Everyday Things
This is kind of out there, but this gave me a strong sense of the importance of grounding ideas in their concrete manifestation. It’s not enough to have a good idea; the effects it causes in the world have to actually have the desired good effects, too.
Getting Things Done
There’s alternatives to this, but it made my life better by really helping me adopt a “systems first” mindset to realize that I can improve my life by using systems/procedures and having them well defined and as automatic as possible pays dividends over time.
The Evolving Self
A very dense book about adult developmental psychology. Doesn’t necessarily lay out the best possible model of adult psychological development, but it really got me deep on this and set me on a path that made my life much better.
Siddhartha
Okay, one book of fiction, but it’s a coming of age story and contains something like suggestions for how to relate to your own life. This one was a slow burn for me: I didn’t realize the effect it had had on me until I reread it years later.
I’ve got a few:
GEB
Put me on the path to something like thinking of rationality as something intuitive/S1 rather than something I have to think about with a lot of deliberation/S2.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
I often forget how much this book is “in the water” for me. There’s all kinds of great stuff in here about prioritization, relationships, and self-improvement. It can feel a little like platitudes at time, but it’s really great.
The Design of Everyday Things
This is kind of out there, but this gave me a strong sense of the importance of grounding ideas in their concrete manifestation. It’s not enough to have a good idea; the effects it causes in the world have to actually have the desired good effects, too.
Getting Things Done
There’s alternatives to this, but it made my life better by really helping me adopt a “systems first” mindset to realize that I can improve my life by using systems/procedures and having them well defined and as automatic as possible pays dividends over time.
The Evolving Self
A very dense book about adult developmental psychology. Doesn’t necessarily lay out the best possible model of adult psychological development, but it really got me deep on this and set me on a path that made my life much better.
Siddhartha
Okay, one book of fiction, but it’s a coming of age story and contains something like suggestions for how to relate to your own life. This one was a slow burn for me: I didn’t realize the effect it had had on me until I reread it years later.