5 Nonfiction Books That Will Blow Your Mind…
What’s the point of reading if you don’t gain something new, it may be a fresh perspective, a new skill, it may be a death of an old limiting belief or forming a new one, it can be anything that just makes your mind wonder and say Wow!! I didn’t know that before.
If you are constantly reading about things that you already know, then sooner or later you’ll lose interest in reading them. It is essential to challenge yourself to read about things that you don’t know or about things that you are curious about. Step out of your comfort zone once in a while that is how you can expand your mind, broaden your perspective, learn about new things, form new and better beliefs and challenge the old ones.
As Nassim Taleb said, “I don’t like books that just state the obvious, I’d like to be surprised.”
So here are 5 books that will surely surprise you in one way or the other and keep your inner animal of curiosity alive. Each of these books is one of its kind and is capable of blowing your mind.
1. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
As the title says It’s a brief history of humankind that is broadly divided into three distinct revolutions:
The cognitive revolution
The agricultural revolution
The scientific revolution
The book talks about History, societies, religion, capitalism, the invention of money, happiness, the importance of fiction, and how it helped us in becoming the most significant species on planet earth.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
This book will tell you that all of the things you believe in such as nations, money, justice, laws, human rights, & gods are like pearls that are held together by a common thread called your imagination.
Do you know what’s the most powerful thing a human can do? And no one else can,
“We can imagine things that don’t even exist.” The stories we share, help us make sense of the world around us, assist us in our survival, and cooperate in large numbers. All of these stories define who we are and what we believe to be true.
Sapiens can cooperate in extremely large numbers and in many flexible ways with other sapiens. Social instincts in our ancestors enabled them to form friendships and hierarchies, and to hunt or fight together. That is why no other species have been able to build societies as sophisticated as ours.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲’𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝):
The sapiens were living a fairly comfortable life hunting and gathering until a grass called wheat domesticated us and we did the “Wheat bargain” it was the first time where sapiens sacrificed their bright present for a not-so-bright future.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
We are entering a new age where sapiens can reinvent themselves not just at the physiological level but at a conscious level only if we use our powers wisely because it’s always our pursuit of unlimited desires that has been our biggest enemy.
This book will give you a sneak peek into our history where we have come from and where we are headed, If you want to know more about human cultures, religion, history, a bit of the future, and yourself in just a few hundred pages then pick this up. This book will shake you to the core.
2. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
I’d like to recite a quote for this book because I have read it multiple times in the past 12 months and I’m always amazed by the fact that I always discovered something new, every time I read it.
“A good book is like a good friend. It will stay with you for the rest of your life. When you first get to know it, it will give you excitement and adventure, and years later it will provide you with comfort and familiarity.” — Charlie Lovett
Naval talks about building wealth, and learning happiness, yes you read that right “learning happiness.” (Apparently, happiness is a skill that can be learned), authenticity, specific knowledge, philosophy, freedom, leverage, & building judgment.
All of these concepts are discussed & expressed in a very unorthodox way. The book is a masterpiece because it teaches you to unlearn things before you learn them & helps you think clearly, right from the first principle basis. The sheer wisdom which has been laid out in this book is just phenomenal.
This book dives deep into the two most discussed topics in recent times: Wealth & Happiness.
During reading this book you’ll stop after almost every other paragraph & you’ll just stare at the walls to just think & absorb the wisdom which is showered upon you by this book.
Apart from that, you’ll discover:
1. The significance of finding & building specific knowledge and how you can leverage that to build wealth. Both of these combined will help you to earn from your mind, not your time.
2. In the age of leverage, one good judgment can win everything. Moving along the pages of this book you’ll learn how to be a clear thinker & make better judgments.
3. You’ll learn how to be happy & how wealth has little role to play in it. Happiness is our default state, but we are so used to living in the customized state that we are finding it hard to go to default again.
4. Choose to be yourself, there is no one exactly like you, & no one in the world is going to beat you at being you.
There is so much to learn from this book. If you are serious about your life, happiness, & personal growth then I plead with you to read this book.
3. The Courage To Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga
This book is a distillation of Adler’s philosophical & psychological ideas & teachings, taking the form of narrative dialogue between a philosopher & a young man.
The book is broadly divided into 5 nights of dialogue between the philosopher & the young man, and they discuss topics we don’t want to discuss or accept.
Here’s a short list of the topics discussed
- Trauma doesn’t exist.
- People fabricate anger.
- People always choose not to change.
- Unhappiness is something you choose for yourself.
- All problems are interpersonal relationship problems.
- You’re the only one worrying about your appearance.
- The Desire for recognition makes you unfree.
- Why am I only interested in myself?
- Workaholism is a life-lie.
If you have any arguments/beliefs that contradict the above statements then I believe you should give this book a read.
Every part of this book was a revelation to me. At the start of every dialog I was like “how that can be?” and then I got shifted to “Oh!! That’s how it is” and this shift is a death of my old beliefs which I held so dearly in my subconscious mind.
Lessons like separating our tasks to avoid interpersonal problems, behaving in a certain way to achieve a goal, denying the cause & effect scheme of things, and a lot of other deep lessons. It is a true masterpiece.
It challenges you to think & see your problems from any realm of life in a different way be it relationships, anger issues, anxiety about the future, or the lies we tell ourselves & continue to remain our miserable selves. It has the potential to change your life. Although it’s quite subjective still it has a lot of lessons that can come in handy in the journey called life.
4. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
Homo Deus is a brief history of tomorrow where the author gives you a sneak peek into what the future holds for us.
Homo sapiens is the most dominant species on planet earth but how long will it be that way?
With the rapid advancements in technology, computers & AI, there is nothing that can stop us. But what if the things and technologies we are creating will become the source of our destruction?
With problems like famine, plague & war solved, what will be our next course of attention?
These are some of the many questions which are being asked by the author and made some valid predictions about our future that will shock you to the core.
The book is divided into three parts
1. Homo sapiens conquers the world.
2. Homo sapiens give meaning to the world.
3. Homo sapiens lose control.
𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:
The data religion:
The most dominant religion in the not-so-distant future is the religion of data. You must be experiencing it right now, dataism offers groundbreaking technologies & immense new powers. It will be everywhere & will control everything, and humans are destined to merge into it.
The great decoupling:
Humans are in danger of losing their economic value because intelligence is decoupling with consciousness. We will soon become a “useless class”. The idea that humans will always have a unique ability beyond the reach of algorithms is just wishful thinking.
The curse of 24/7 connectivity:
We may reach a point when it will be impossible to disconnect from the all-knowing network even for a moment. Disconnection will mean death and the shift is happening right in front of our eyes.
The book will make you understand our species, it aims to broaden our horizons & make us aware of a much wider spectrum of options. It will question the progress that we are making as a species. It’s an eye-opener, you’ll have a hard time putting it down.
5. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
The four agreements is a book that is based on Toltec wisdom. This book is like a mirror that shows us our true self, how only humans punish themselves endlessly through self-limiting beliefs, by taking everything personally, & how gradually our belief system is being conditioned by society
The author outlined four agreements that we must make to ourselves to unlearn the conditioning that is being installed in us by society. So that we will be able to love/accept ourselves a little more & judge ourselves a little less.
Here’s a brief of the Four Agreements discussed in the book:
Be impeccable with your word:
The most powerful words in this universe are the words you say to yourself. Don’t use them to blame yourself, use them to embrace yourself. Stop telling lies to yourself. We must make an agreement with ourselves and use our words in the direction of truth and love for ourselves.
Don’t take anything personally:
If someone says you are stupid. If you take this abuse personally then deep down you do believe that you are stupid. You take it personally because you agree with whatever was said. What people do, say, & the opinions they have is a reflection of the agreements they have made with themselves; it has nothing to do with you.
Don’t make assumptions:
We have this tendency to make assumptions about everything because we do not have the courage to ask questions. But the trouble starts when those assumptions feel like truths. We try to make someone else wrong just to defend our assumptions. To get out of this trap is to replace assumptions with questions.
Always do your best:
This is about taking action on the first three agreements & always doing your best in following these agreements & don’t beat yourself for it if in some situations your best is not what you were expecting it to be.
This book can heal your soul & also keep you grounded.
Thank you for reading till the end and giving your attention to this article.
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