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A comment on Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same ... by fchu on Tuesday May 12, 2020 @02:09PM (#23157479)
This is precisely what Mortimer Adler suggests in his book "How to Read a Book", to read above your current levels this is only how you grow your mind.

Strong advice but I feel it's much harder nowadays to go down that route when there are distractions like YouTube videos that are easy to watch and make you feel you're learning when really it's scratching a superficial curiosity itch with no depth.

That said, to answer OP's question, I got Mortimer's book called "Great Treasury of Western Thought" that has compiled quotes from Western classics into key themes (the human condition, love, religions, etc), and it provided the missing link between getting meaty samples of key concepts, versus actually reading ALL the classics (the book started as the the index or 'syntopicon' of the 'Great Books of the Western World', a full compilation of Western works)

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Re:Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same ... by Balgair on Tuesday May 12, 2020 @02:39PM (#23157896)
Aside: The Syntopicon by Adler et. al. is an amazing resource. It is nearly incomprehensible and is keyed to specific editions of The Great Works of the Western World. But, my lord, if you get the ducks lined up in a row, the Syntopicon is an amazing piece of work.
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