Book Review Thread

Thought I'd shoot some value over here in return for what I've learned from you guys.

I've especially focused on reading, meditation and yoga as main habits to strengthen this summer, and as a result I've gone through an plethora of mindblowing literature. 

I'll give each book a rating and put a short description of the book's key lessons. If you want to know more about a particular book I can go into more detail. 

Robert Anton Wilson -  Prometheus Rising

5/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prometheus-Rising-Robert-Anton-Wilson/dp/1561840564

"Imagine trying to make sense of Timothy Leary's eight neurological circuits, G.I. Gurdjieff's self-observations exercises, Alfred Korzybski's general semantics, Aleister Crowley's magical theorems, and the several disciplines of Yoga; not to mention Christian Science, relativity, quantum mechanics and many other approaches to understanding the world around us. That is exactly what Wilson does in "Prometheus Rising". In short, it is a book about how the human mind works and what you can do to make the most of yours. Readers have been known to get angry, cry, laugh, and even change their entire lives. It has practical techniques to break free of your "reality tunnels"."

This book combines and disputes a huge range of different models, theorems and practices to understand reality and the components of the mind. If anyone is interested in why we really do what we do and how to upgrade your conciousness to a superhuman state hit this book up.

Levitt & Dubner - Freakonomics 

4/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freakonomics-Economist-Explores-Hidden-Everythin...

I'm sure most of you have heard of this book, which aside from being entertaining and witty, helped me see that the world is usually not as it seems when we use economic tools to measure situations objectively. Revealing the hidden incentives that influence teachers and sumo wrestlers to cheat is a highlight.

Lawrence Lessig - Remix

3/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remix-Making-Commerce-Thrive-Economy/dp/0143116134

This is useful for pretty much anyone with a business that makes use of the internet or any other shared economy. The author presents a convincing argument that our laws on copyright need a complete overhaul, as they're lagging far behind the culture of creative freedom we're living in after the success of the internet. It also highlights the principles that allowed companies like netflix and google to thrive, and how we can adapt them to our ever-changing shared economy.

Tolstoy - Anna Karenina

4/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anna-Karenina-Wordsworth-Classics-Tolstoy/dp/185...

This book is pretty fucking enormous, but its web of 30 characters really help you to understand the ripples caused by the actions of an individual over a group of people. Though I don't usually read fiction, but Anna Karenina made me more compassionate, aware of how the energy I was emitting affects those around me, and more appreciative of the diversity of people. I was particularly surprised at the sheer personal accuracy of Tolstoy's psychology - it feels as if he's describing subtle social nuances we have a passing awareness of, but haven't put into words.

The Bhagavad Gita

5/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bhagavad-Gita-Classic-Indian-Spirituality/dp/158...

I think it's crazy that a there's a book written that contains guidlines that have shaped humanity for 3000 years and I hadn't thought to read it just because it originates from a different culture. Far from being dry, the lessons are timeless and cover everything, I'd say the intoduction alone (in the edition I linked to above) was as powerful an experience as listening to Tolle for the first time. One idea I haven't read anywhere else is that mind and matter are alternating between 3 states, which is especially practical if you think in terms of physiology. We're trying to move from 1) Solidity, inertia, apathetic energy to 2) Liquid, passion, excitement, laughter, adrenaline to 3) Space, calm, relaxation, purity, presence.

Paul Coelho - The Alchemist

4/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0061233846

Drunvalo Melchizedek - Serpent of Light

2/5

http://www.amazon.com/Serpent-Light-Beyond-Movement-Kundalini/dp/1578634016

An interesting book but nothing too practical to take from it. I liked the story of a crazy mayan ceromony to balance the the sexual inequality women have faced, and he describes a woman given the most powerful orgasm in history by the gods to balance the male/female polarity (lol).

Mark Hyman - The Ultramind Solution

4/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-UltraMind-Solution-Broken-Healing/dp/1416549722

A must-read if you don't have some understanding of nutrition or want to improve your health.

Stephen R. Covey - 7 Habits

5/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Habits-Highly-Effective-People/dp/1455892823

Thomas Campbell - My Big Toe

4/5

http://www.amazon.com/My-Big-TOE-Complete-Trilogy/dp/0972509461

I like this book but unfornunately it's far too wordy and could have been condensed to a third of the size without losing any key points of his model. Check this book out if you want to have your preconcieved notions of what reality could encompass torn to pieces.

Moore & Gillette - King Warrior Magician Lover

4/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscovering/dp/006...

I posted a thread about this book somewhere on here, this book is useful in understanding our masculine archetypes.

Daniel Levitin - This Is Your Brain On Music

3/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/0143142321

I'd recommend this to anyone wanting to understand why humans have made music for thousands of years, how it is effecting our evoltion today, and the princples that make certain works of art stand out on a neurological level. For anyone else you could still watch Tai Lopez's review on youtube called "Is Music A Waste Of Time", he hits all the key points in 15 minutes.

David Wilcock - the Synchronicity Key

4/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Synchronicity-Key-Intelligence-Universe/dp/1...

Another book that will blow yer fuckin mind. It covers some radical scienfific theories and provides extensive evidence, for example that DNA is actually created and shaped by a force resembling gravity - causing him to expand our model of gravity to suggest that this principle of ordering and structuring energy is the link to understanding the greater reality.

Daniel Kahneman - Thinking Fast & Slow

3/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0141033576

Seth Godin - All Marketers Are Liars

4/5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seth-Godin/e/B000AP9EH0

I'm new to marketing and this book really helped be get a grasp of basic principles.

Nancy Friday - My Secret Garden

3/5

Filth.

Currently Reading:

The 4-Hour Body

The New Digital Age

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell