Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?

Re:Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same ... by sova on Tuesday May 12, 2020 @09:11AM (#23153564)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson features a bifurcated world where a scholar-monk-class of mathematicians lives in walled-off areas that mingle with the rest of the world only on fixed dates. Some every year, some every ten years, and others only every 100 years. There is a lot more to it, but I don't want to give anything away.

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Re:Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same ... by tryauuum on Tuesday May 12, 2020 @09:13AM (#23153579)

Anathem features an awesome world, but I wouldn't call the book mind-bending.

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Re:Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same ... by HaydukeLives on Tuesday May 12, 2020 @02:00PM (#23157334)

Anathem is definitely my favorite Stephenson book. I've read all of his books except for his newest book, and I have yet to finish Seveneves - I didn't want it to end, so I put it down.

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Re:Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same ... by geuis on Tuesday May 12, 2020 @10:39AM (#23154481)

I concur. I’ve probably read Anathem a dozen times or more over the years. It’s had a significant impact on how I look at the world.

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Re:Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same ... by aerovistae on Thursday May 14, 2020 @03:42PM (#23184384)

Snow Crash by the same author changed my thinking. The idea of an ideology as a conceptual virus really transformed my thinking towards religion. I was already an atheist, but it really made me see it in a new light-- the way religion can consume people's minds and seems to spread from one to another like a sickness.

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