Books which we have read and recommend

DarkKnight

Cro-Magnon Man
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Hi, I thought it was helpful to have a list of books that we have read and recommend. I have just finished up reading pre-suasion and Velasco also mentioned reading it in his post about the honesty frame. That book IS basically game and disects things like peacocking, preselection, investment, ego depletion etc. A very worthwhile read.

Other books that come to mind and are good reads:

The Prince by Machiavelli
The Iliad and Odyssey by Homer
Winning through intimidation by Ringer
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Lord of the rings by Tolkien because I am a nerd
A song of ice and fire (lol last book was in 2010 or 2011, sixth one still hasn't come out)
There are plenty more but I have forgotten a lot of titles and some of them are just too nerdy to mention, haha.
 
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Velasco

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Glad you liked the book, DarkKnight :)

Here's a excellent list of the best books on persuasion put together by persuasion extraordinaire, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame:

 

Chrance

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Books I Recommend:
Moby Dick by Melville
The Value of Science by Henri Poincare
War and Peace by Tolstoi
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway
The 3 Critiques of Kant
Everything by Schopenhauer
Dragonball and DBZ (manga but idgaf)
The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer
Mystery Method by mystery
The Bible (only the King James Version)

Books I don’t recommend:
The Count of Monte Cristo (sorry Frenchmen)
Great Expectations (sorry Englishmen)
Anything by Napoleon Hill
A Song of Ice and Fire (sorry @DarkKnight)
 
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Protean

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Great thread @DarkKnight Here are some of my favorites:
  • Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss - I’m only half way through but my god what a read. While the book is about negotiation, many of the rapport building strategies are absolutely applicable to pick up.
  • Influence by Robert Cialdini - If you haven’t read this drop everything and get it off Amazon now. It’s that good.
  • The Shallows by Nicholas Carr - While I didn’t agree with everything Carr wrote, he convinced got me to kick my mindless browsing of YouTube and Reddit. It’s the antidote for internet addiction.
  • Moneyball by Michael Lewis - Even if you aren’t a baseball fan read this book. Really opened my eyes as to how wrong conventional wisdom can be and the edge one gains from using more effective strategies.
  • The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling - While the book is for improving as a business, I’ve applied many of their strategies on a personal level to great effect
Reading is so important guys. Most people read less than one book a year but we’re striving for more than most people right ;)

- Protean
 

DarkKnight

Cro-Magnon Man
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@Protean It just seemed to be an obvious missing post. I recall some blogposts from Blackdragon (at least I think it was him) where he recommends some good books.
 

Train

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A life-changing book I've read is "No More Mr. Nice Guy" by Robert A Glover.

As a recovering "nice" guy, the book held a mirror to myself and said "That's you." It called out the root of why I do typical nice guy things. For approval. I wasn't aware fully until I read this book.

I recommend it for any guy that ever wonders why girls go for the jerks. Or wonders why their niceness is not appreciated. Eye-opener.

If you apply the concepts, it's intoxicating to not hold your true self back for approval.
 

ulrich

Cro-Magnon Man
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Pre-suasion by Robert Cialdini is probably the best book I have ever read on influencing people.

Two warnings, though.
1) For some reason it is a very heavy read. I fell asleep ten times while reading it. But the information is golden.

2) It doesn’t cover seduction on detail but it’s amazing nevertheless.
 

Glow

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This book helped me a lot, and will probably help a lot of people with unstructured goals get to new heights.

No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Bryan Tracy.
+1

Just checked him out again across youtube last week.
Helped me set up a few new good mental models and doings that has lead to a feeling of power-up and obvious stronger results already.
thnx
 

James D

Cro-Magnon Man
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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery (Since I'm French I might be biased but the original French version of the book is one class above)
 

alleniverson

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Here are a few books that I've read (or re-read) over the past couple months that I highly recommend...

Snows of Killamanjaro (short stories collection) by Ernest Hemingway. The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber is my favorite story in the collection. It's a great lesson on women and kind of Fight-clubby. It's impacted everyone I've recommended it to.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. This is an amazing science fiction book that you will absolutely tear through. It may kind of fuck you up too.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. It's kind of a gay-book (like homosexual) but it is an amazing work of fiction. .

The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. So much of what he writes about is so relevant today. It may change your perspective on money and its relation to time, as well as how your really want to spend your life. There is also actionable advice in there on how to make this lifestyle happen. And yes, the 4hww is possible.
 

Velasco

Modern Human
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  • Influence by Robert Cialdini
  • Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini (Chapters 1-6)
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (Principle 3 in 'Fundamental Techniques in Handling People' and Principle 9 in 'Be a Leader')
  • Nudge by Richard Thaler (Chapter 3)
 

FrancoDanko

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  • A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)
    by Barbara Oakley
  • The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance
    by Joshua Waitzkin
In addition to some of the other recommendations. These books help you approach learning in a different way that is more efficient in that marries logical and creative thinking. Something which is undoubtedly going to serve you well if going out in the field becomes more and more impossible in your region e.g. the UK where I'm based where we're in tier 4 (where rumours of a tier 5 or a national lockdown again are beginning to circulate at the time of writing).
 

Rakkum

Cro-Magnon Man
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  • A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)
    by Barbara Oakley
  • The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance
    by Joshua Waitzkin
In addition to some of the other recommendations. These books help you approach learning in a different way that is more efficient in that marries logical and creative thinking. Something which is undoubtedly going to serve you well if going out in the field becomes more and more impossible in your region e.g. the UK where I'm based where we're in tier 4 (where rumours of a tier 5 or a national lockdown again are beginning to circulate at the time of writing).

Would also definitely recommend The Art of Learning! Some parts reminded me of Cody's conceptualizing.
 

West_Indian_Archie

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Dune - Frank Herbert; (The first 6 books that he wrote I can vouch for)

But why Dune? There's a ton of politics and in-fighting in the book - but there's plenty of conversations where you are in the minds of the players (unlike say the Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire theories - where we only witness the moves of the master players, never their thought process), see their plans. Moreover Herbert emphasizes tone, body language, volume, reading micro-reactions etc, which to me are the best part.

Keep in mind, it's fiction - but the prose rings true because he's taken a lot of the nonverbal aspects of conversation and conflict and put in your mind.

It's the sort of detail that guys should be bringing to their game if they want to play it at the "Jedi Mind Tricks" level.

Conversational Fodder for females

- The 36 Questions that Lead to Love - https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/style/no-37-big-wedding-or-small.html
- 5 Love Languages - https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/the-5-love-languages-explained

Pop/Relationship psychology has always been chick crack. Astrology, Tarot, etc.

The easiest lead in is "Do you believe in..."and then get her to go off on it.

I'm still looking to read a good book on acting.

WIA
 
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