I’m gonna make a list and hit the library

  • mommykink@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror (2010) by Thomas Ligotti was referenced heavily in writing Rust Cohle’s character in True Detective season one. After falling in love with the series, I picked up the book and… wow. If you’re into some misanthropic nihilism written by a succinct fiction author and not an unnecessarily verbose philosopher, it’s a good read.

    Currently also reading Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right (2017) by Angela Nagle. I just started last night but it’s changed a lot about how I see the current alt-right, where they came from, and how to effectively counter their arguments (and why conventional counterarguments don’t work).

  • 001Guy001@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Not sure if they all fit entirely but:

    • The Story Of Stuff (Annie Leonard)
    • How The World Works (Noam Chomsky)
    • Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Dan Ariely)
    • The Hidden Brain (Shankar Vedantam) / Idiot Brain (Dean Burnett)
    • The Myth Of Choice (Kent Greenfield) / The Paradox Of Choice (Barry Schwartz)
    • The Free Will Delusion: How We Settled For The Illusion Of Morality (James B. Miles)
    • Getting Free: Creating An Association Of Democratic Autonomous Neighborhoods (James Herod)
    • The Best That Money Can’t Buy (Jacque Fresco)
    • No Contest: The Case Against Competition (Alfie Kohn)
    • MaungaHikoi@lemmy.nz
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      1 year ago

      Predictably Irrational is really good.

      I feel like I read Chomsky’s books at a key point in my life where I didn’t really get all of it but it primed me for later learning. Good list overall 👍🏼

    • SighBapanada@lemmy.caOP
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      1 year ago

      I’ve been meaning to start reading some Chomsky & Alfie Kohn! Both very revolutionary writers from the reviews I’ve been checking out

  • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net
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    1 year ago

    When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm by Michael Forsyth and Walt Bogdanich. A cutting expose into the forces that are shaping our society that most don’t see.

    The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America—and How to Undo His Legacy by David Gelles. Gives you a better understanding of the philosophies that shaped corporate offshoring, outsourcing and sell offs from the 70s to today.

    Currowan: A Story of Fire and Community During Australia’s Worst Summer by Bronwyn Adcock. A revealing firsthand account of what it’s like to live through the catastrophic real life effects of climate change.

    A Good Place on the Banks of the Euphrates: Stories from the War Against ISIS by Warren Stoddard II. A frightening and inspiring collection of short stories and diary entries from the perspective of an internationalist fighter on the ground.

    The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton. A digestible collection of reassuring practical tactics to understanding personal attitudes and behaviours as framed by some of history’s most influential philosophers.

  • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Against the Grain

    Internal Combustion

    Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia

    These all caused me to examine aspects of modern society that we usually just accept blindly

  • Zeram@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter

    • Ocelot@lemmies.world
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      1 year ago

      Reading this (or trying to) is like being on drugs. You go from “What in god’s name is the author smoking?” to some kind of nirvana.

  • smellythief@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Guns Germs and Steel. I remember feeling, after I read it, that I saw things differently. But now the ideas presented in it seem the most natural things in the world, and I can’t imagine I ever thought otherwise. Or maybe I had the same views before but not historical foundations for them… I can hardly remember now.

    • redballooon@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      It’s a book that historians scoff at. It’s all narrative and no science apart from few cherry picked examples.

      “Our Fake History” has an episode on it, and as a topic it’s spot on for that show.

  • FarraigePlaisteach@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Every time there was an experiential experiment in the book, I put it down and tried it for myself. I possibly changed more over the course of reading that book than at any other period in my life.

  • novibe@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    The Ego and Its Own, by Max Stirner.

    Made me see individualism, society and ideology completely differently.