What Are You Reading Right Now? [Book Recommendations & Insights]

[Zenterus]

Insight: One of the reasons that humans have a weird relationship with their anus, genitals and sexuality is because those aspects of us remind us of our inherent animalistic nature and thus become a gateway towards deeper existential realizations about our fallibility and, ultimately, mortality.

 

[LordFall]

13 hours ago, oOo said:

@LordFall I'll stick to 'proving I'm right' as opposed to avoiding the act of being straightforward in conversations then. 

If you find that your conversational style is working for you then there is no need to change it. If you find yourself lacking the ability to convince people of the merit of your ideas due to over-combativeness like I sometimes fell into then I would give reading the books a go! 

9 hours ago, hyruga said:

The issue with this book is that Robert Greene often write in an archaic way which sounds sophisticated but isn't very convincing end of the day. Most of the stories are easily forgotten. There is also a lack of application in the book.

Also, the book title was probably a result of him trying to pack many different topics into one book rather than a heartfelt aim to make a book on human nature. The topics also don't seem to be coherent. You can get more if you just research the book topics on your own.

That's a fair critique. For me, I find his writing style refreshing and captivating. I read other books that touch more directly on business and psychology concepts so for me technical knowledge is not what I lack; seeing how these concepts have shaped our civilization is what I find really interesting.

He shares a story in Chapter 7 about Lyndon B. Johnson's rise from congressman to senator, and eventually to US President. He gained immense influence by befriending powerful figures using that exact principle: making others feel important rather than flaunting his own importance. It led to him being able to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

He ended up being a mixed figure and having a horrible effect on the Vietnam War but learning how he grew up poor and thus had a vested interest in improving the rights of all Americans and used years of persuasion to do so was fascinating. 

There's also another story on how the Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton kept his men alive after getting stuck in the ice for over a year in extreme conditions and the psychological principles that made that possible. I personally found it very memorable.

A book like this requires taking notes and linking it to concepts you already understand and building a web of knowledge around it. I do it with my commonplace book through Obsidian. If you listen to it as an audiobook at the gym then yeah probably you'll zone out and forget much of what was said and find the book bland. 

@Natasha Tori Maru That makes sense! It's also helped me in business and serving clients by understanding their motivations and incentives on a deeper level, reflecting on my own blind spots, and finding win-win solutions that work for both parties even when we aim at different goals. 

Edited 10 hours ago by LordFall

[Hasson_Miah]

On 12/10/2026 at 3:01 AM, LordFall said:

That's cool, I should read more enlightenment and non-duality books. It's a topic of life that still scares me so I think I subconsciously avoid looking into it too much.

It's starting to be an area of research that calls to me more and more though, often when I read technical stuff it feels a bit shallow and like I'm bypassing deeper knowledge. 

I don't know what non-duality means but yes. As a Muslim although the author is Christian and heavily leans onto his faith the book is nothing I've ever come across before and really was a key towards me having a greater acceptance of everything. 

That directly led to me having more control and pushing the needle for my success over and over again.

[Joshe]

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