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Life-changing nonfiction books

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Tim Damianidis
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Re: Life-changing nonfiction books

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Although I wouldn't say my skills as an author could achieve a life changing status, I try to believe that what I am writing matters enough to change the systems we live under. My book, although published on Kindle under the title Forty years of slavery: My enslavement, has been buried by search engines because it contains a philosophy that for example explains the truth about "The Atom". It speaks about the life choices we make and the consequences of them, the struggles for employment, drugs and children and so forth. It describes life under a ruling class, I call the Oligarchy, that dictates to us our lives. I think the book applies to the world but I have intentionally made some references to Australia because I don't want it to influence your politics. It was written in a day and edited for three days. I am a new author and the first edition contains some small, minor grammatical errors that are being revised for a re-upload sometime soon. It indicates the haste I felt in publishing and getting the word out. I hope that, if you do read it, that you show some leniency to this rushed attempt to speak the truth. The truth comes before the literary art-form doesn't it?
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A Confession by Leo Tolstoy. It describes his search for the answer to the question:"What is the meaning of life?." I was impressed by how openly he writes about his innermost thoughts.
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Published in 1903, The Autobiography of a Thief by Hutchins Hapgood is one of those books you really get something out of. The link provided is the audio version provided by LibriVox.
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Faustina wrote:Leo Tolstoy
His short story, How Much Land Does a Man Need?, is a personal favorite.
pannc
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And here's another late reply to an interesting question.
I feel sure there must be many books that can alter ones view in sometimes minor, sometimes major ways. However, James Harvey's My God: Welcome To The Reality is a definite candidate for causing a major change in one's view of life. This is not a religious book but the record so to speak of a personal search for an explanation of reality. The blurb on the cover reads:

"The author sets out to prove the reality of our worldly experience and how a Divine Being is absolutely essential to that experience. Along the way current proofs for the existence of God are examined and shown, in the light of huge advances in science, to be easily refuted by the sceptic; but then scientific theory and knowledge are put under the microscope and found to be based on a fundamental misconception. A 'Copernicus' moment in the philosophy of theology."

And Copernican it is. This is no text book but, if it doesn't make the reader at least question his own views, I'd be surprised. A critic with an alphabet of degrees after his name claims not to have followed the discussion, but then the thesis in this book is very much contrary to scientific thought.
Give it a try, it's available on Amazon in Kindle or book form.
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These are the non fiction books that changed my life forever. Each one of them will change your life in certain way.

The power of now: A Guide to spiritual enlightenment. The book explains in detail about the living in the present moment, gratitude, and the importance of being in the now. It is a very powerful book.

The alchemy of thrusting: The race to create the first self-sustaining, nonpolluting, non-infringing, freely accessible energy source known to man, and how close we came. It is a very inspiring story. The book explains the details of fuel cell and the many obstacles the scientists had to overcome to get their invention to work. The book is a great example of the potential of human spirit. You are the place you are looking for: A Guide to personal transformation. It is a very powerful book and explains how your life can be better by taking responsibility for your actions. It is a life changing book. The book explains that, we can't get what we want in life if we are not willing to do what it takes to get it. It is a very motivating book. The book can change your perspective towards life. These are the books that changed my life and it can change your life too.
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer. I'm in my sixtieth year of studying WWII. Still much to learn, and a little more to contribute.
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Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl. This book is based on Frankl's experiences as a Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist. It delves into his theory of logotherapy and explores how finding meaning in life, even in the midst of suffering and despair, can provide the strength to endure almost anything. It is a life-changing book because it challenges readers to confront the existential realities of life while offering hope and inspiration in the search for meaning and purpose.
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Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl was a weird experience for me. The main thing I remember - please correct if I'm wrong - was his discussion of boots in Nazi concentration camps. Experienced prisoners would advise newcomers wearing boots that Nazis hated boots (obviously in addition to numerous other hatreds). The advice was to cut the tops off their boots and fix the laces so they look like shoes. That way you would avoid a severe beating. The newbies would thank them profusely and take their advice. However upon initial inspection, the guards would notice and beat the crap out of them for ruining perfectly good boots. That revealed that no matter how low a person is - even under torture and near total starvation - there are many who will punch downward just to F-up random unknown people for absolutely no reason other than the schadenfreude of knowing their punishment. Human nature hasn't changed in the 80 years since then, so how many millions would create similar indignities under current circumstances? That insight was so disturbing I couldn't read the 2nd part about his theories of logotherapy.
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Paulekotz wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:59 pm Tattoos on The Heart - The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle is a book that shows the struggle of gang life, and how it is difficult to break the cycle once you are in it. Boyle shows that when we show compassion without limits, we can move past a person's past decisions and provide avenues of hope for the future. I truly enjoyed the authors approach to life, sense of humor which permeates this book, and the message it conveyed.
My son, a teacher in a "turnaround school", gave me this book for Christmas. I highly recommend it. It is based soundly in impeccable theology, and, even more awesome, it is written by someone for whom this theology of boundless compassion has become the organizing principle of his life. He lives it. And, reading the book, one can begin to understand why someone would choose to do so.
Harry Marks wrote:I might tentatively add "Thinking, Fast and Slow." I have not even finished it, years after beginning it, but its implications for understanding mental processes are so far-reaching that I keep running into them in the most unlikely places
I must recommend "The Master and His Emissary" in connection to this one. Kahneman and his partner in psychology, Tversky, turned up much evidence that two systems of thought operate in the human brain, "Fast" and "Slow" systems. The slow system allows careful checking of the quick gestalts that the fast system throws together out of experience. An enormous amount of research has explored the different systems and how they are related to each other.

McGilchrist's "The Master and His Emissary" examines similar issues in the context of a left brain system and a right brain system. The left brain process maps roughly into the slow thinking of Kahneman and Tversky, based as it is in careful checking and use of logical structures. Its faults are reductionism and conviction of being "right." The easiest example to illustrate is the philosophy of Zeno, with his famous paradoxes such as Achilles and the Tortoise (which demonstrates that if the tortoise has a head start, it is "impossible" for the swift Achilles to ever catch up. To the left brain, the logic is irrefutable).

The right brain engages in a more holistic assessment of any given situation, and does the work of integrating results from the left brain with "common sense." Music, body sense, metaphor and storytelling are notable attributes of the right brain. With some reservations, I would identify Kahneman's "fast system" with right brain processes.

McGilchrist argues two major points:

1) modern culture has come to be dominated by left brain thinking. As I read, I continually found that my academic discipline of economics checked those boxes. Law does as well, and most academic fields. I would add to his analysis that the cultural fragmentation created by an economy of specialization makes this dominance highly likely. Many of the principles we cherish, such as professionalism and tolerance, turn out to have this downside of fragmentation, with its sidekick of self-righteousness.

2) a restoration of balance is difficult, but may need to be self-conscious in making space for right brain perspectives and the integration of specialized knowledge with overall decency. Without it, however, we have a much greater probability of civilizational self-destruction. His controlling metaphor is "the sorcerer's apprentice" (popularized by Mickey Mouse in the remarkable Disney movie "Fantasia".) I did not realize, before reading this, that the story goes back to a poem by Goethe, who intuitively grasped the cultural issues involved and went on to express them even more profoundly in "Faust".

The book is too long, and in many places too tedious, to recommend as a discussion book here, but it could change your life.
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