Waking Up
Sam Harris
19 people recommended it in 11 threads, 2014–2022.
What people on Hacker News said
Waking Up was good from the point of view of understanding the science behind 'the self' and meditation.
One mind-bender from the book: some people have undergone a procedure to separate the left and right sides of the brain as treatment for rare disease. Following this procedure, the left and right sides can independently answer questions (sometimes simultaneously) posed by researchers, frequently offering conflicting answers.
Scientific and philosophical reasoning for why the self is an illusion. Covers a lot of ground without getting too heavy: Buddhism, mediation, neuroscience, religion, and more.
It's a great neuroscientist-based look at meditation. I'd highly recommend it if you're interested in meditation but put off by all the mumbo jumbo you get from many other sources of meditation info.
I've been interested in mindfulness meditation for years, and this book is what finally helped frame it in a way that went down nicely for me.
My time on Earth is best partitioned into before and after I started the project of spirituality without religion (the book's subtitle).
Where it comes up
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- Ask HN: What book changed your life? 2022 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List? 2018 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: What book that you read in 2015 significantly affected how you think? 2015 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before? 2020 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade? 2019 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Which is the best spiritual book you have read? 2019 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Best books on the psychology of religion? 2018 · 1 recommendation
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- Summer Reading List 2017 · 1 recommendation