this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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What clicked and made you have a different mindset? How long did it take to start changing and how long was the transformation? Did it last or is it an ongoing back and forth between your old self? I want to know your transformation and success.

Any kind of change, big or small. Anything from weight loss, world view, personality shift, major life change, single change like stopped smoking or drinking soda to starting exercising or going back to school. I want to hear how people's life were a bit or a lot better through reading and your progress.

TIA πŸ™

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer, which argues against speciesism and the ethical treatment of animals, as well as "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Foer, which delves into the moral complexities of eating animals and factory farming. Both these books have convinced me to go vegan. I've been vegan for a decade now and don't regret it one bit.

As a side effect, I've also become more health conscious, because a strict vegan diet doesn't provide everything, so I did a lot of research into what I'm eating, what my body needs (and doesn't need) etc. As a result I feel like my health has improved a lot - my hairloss has mostly stopped, my complexion has improved, also I used to have a skin condition which is now under control, no depression episodes, and I rarely fall sick.

It's been an ongoing process of learning though. Most recently I've found out about Choline, which has a critical role in neurotransmitter function and affects your mood, and thankfully I found that my diet already has enough Choline in it, so it wasn't a worry or anything. But it's always interesting knowing what's in what your eating, things your body needs etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Designing freedom, by Stafford Beer

I'd been a software engineer for 15 years. In that time, in all the jobs I've had, I'd never once worked on anything that actually made people's lives better, nor did I ever hear anyone else in tech ever really dive into any sort of meaningful philosophical interrogation of what digital technology is for and how we should use it. I made a few cool websites or whatever, but surely there's more we can do with code. Digital technology is so obviously useful, yet we use it mostly to surveil everyone to better serve them ads.

Then i found cybernetics, though the work of Beer and others. It's that ontological grounding that tech is missing. It's the path we didn't take, choosing instead to follow the California ideology of startups and venture capital and so on that's now hegemonic and indistinguishable from the digital technology itself.

Even beers harshest critic is surely forced to admit that he had a hell of a vision, whereas most modern tech is completely rudderless

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This Is Vegan Propaganda: (And Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You) by Ed Winters. I think it's tough to read this book and not be vegan before it's finished, it's an extremely well considered and compelling book for for anyone who likes having their views challenged.

It changed my life profoundly in both outlook and actions, as it did everybody in my life who I suggested read it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

'Thich Nhat Hanh - Heart of the Buddah's Teachings'. I didn't become a Buddhist, but it gave me some really useful mental tools to be happier.

I had a bit of a fucked up childhood, left home at 15, was really angry & bitter for a while. I was already many years into a general attempt to let go and be happier, I believe the knowledge from that book has made me happier and more resilient.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

The Earthsea β€œtrilogy”