Essays
57% recommend43% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Personal, wide-ranging essays that read like conversation with a humane, funny, brilliant friend. Approachable despite their age, they show a 16th-century mind at work and prompt reflection on your own life.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…major religions - The Conquest of Happiness (Bertrand Russell) - On Aggression (Konrad Lorenz) - Crowds and Power (Elias Canetti) - LSD, My Problem Child (Albert Hofmann) - Huis Clos (J.P. Sartre) - Essays by Michel de Montaigne - The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Ibn Rushd)
on “Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read” ↗Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Essays by Michel de Montaigne Self Reliance by Emerson Theory of Moral Sentiment by Adam Smith A Treatise of Human Nature by Hume And the memoir of my vote for the most interesting man who ever lived, Humphry…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗…In Praise of Idleness, Bertrand Russell Antifragile, Nassim Taleb The Long Way, Bernard Moitessier Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, Rene Girard The Wu-Tang Manual, RZA Meditations, Marcus Aurelius Essays, Michel de Montaigne We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live, Joan Didion
on “Ask HN: What are some good books?” ↗Here are a few I enjoyed in 2016 by genre: Business - Making Things Work by Yaneer Bar-Yam Investing - Charlie Munger The Complete Investor by Tren Griffin Essays - Michel de Montaigne Complete Essays ($.99 on Kindle!) Physics - At Home in the Universe by Stuart Kauffman Software - An Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language Current Events - Superintelligence…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…almshouse that is there to this day [0] (along with many other historical connections). Thanks for posting this, as I also spotted a link to an article about sheltering-in-place with Montaigne [1] whose 'Essays' would definitely be the book I'd grab if I could only take one into lockdown. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackville_College [1] https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/04/07/sheltering-in...
on “The Fabulous Forgotten Life of Vita Sackville-West” ↗Some authours and books offer deep introspection of human lives, that you learn and realise things about yourself from reading them: I got that feeling from reading Montaigne's Essays. Anatomy of Melancholy by Burton and Samuel Johnson's essays also are effective in a similar vein. Plutarch's Parallel Live's is the essential book on politics, after reading it, when you read the newspapers…
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗Essays by Montaigne. The best way I can describe Montaigne is it’s like talking to a brilliant, compassionate best friend.
on “Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?” ↗Penguin's Great Ideas series [1] is a collection of abridged (i think) versions of popular/influential books, or essays by influential writers, the "On Friendship" one by Montaigne is a few of his essays from his Essays [2] Short essays brilliantly eloquent, accessible pragmatic philosophy. [1]: http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/greatideas...…
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗After you read Meditations, follow up with Essays by Montaigne and then Markings by Dag Hammarskjold. Thank me later! PS - don't just read, take notes and write your own reflections. That's the way to learn.
on “The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius” ↗The Essays of Montaigne. While it is a massive time, he wrote in so much detail into his own thought process, we are given a peek into his mind. He also digests thousands of aphorisms, maxims, parables and quotes…
on ““Study Death Always”: Seneca’s advice for living centered on dying” ↗…Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy is probably the best example I can think of that illustrates what I like about books from that period: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_of_Melancholy Montaigne's Essays and the works of Robert Boyle and Margaret Cavendish are excellent too though, if you're interested.
on “Catnip Immunity and Alternatives” ↗Michel de Montaigne, his Essays are awesome and touch a wide range of subjects. The 100+ chapters in three books require an investment that will payoff.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗I was looking for someone to mention stoic literature! For that matter I'd like to add another author - Michel de Montaigne and his Essays. It offers a very humane look inside his thoughts about the world and makes you think about your own life and how you look at it, too.
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗…Gunther * The Mythical Man Month - Brooks Philosophy: * A Journey Around my Room - de Maistre * Anger, Mercy, and Revenge - Seneca * Schrödinger - What is Life? * Man's Search for Meaning - Frankl * Essays - Montaigne * Ethical Intuitionism - Huemer * The Consolations of Philosophy - de Botton * A Manual for Living - Epictetus * Meditations - Aurelius Psychology / Meaning / Purpose / Science: * Purpose…
on “Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?” ↗Perhaps Montaigne's Complete Essays as well (In the translation of M A Screech), since he lucidly summarizes most of what developed till his time, and also analysed and explained in very clear and understandable manner how it all affected…
on “Ask HN: Learning about philosophy” ↗