Post: #101

(06-23-2014 08:09 AM)SwayMe Wrote:  

(09-26-2013 03:39 AM)TrueStory Wrote:  Power - Jeffrey Pfeffer - this book is fundamental for anyone trying to achieve success in business. It breaks down principles on how to become more influential. Good read.

Are there any other books worth mentioning regarding political games or strategy and psychological warfare.

I did a research and only came across Robert Greene & Machiavelli

I know this is an old thread, but it deserves a bump into the limelight.

Anyways, to answer this question, read Greene's books and he constantly refers to the older books where he got his research. Follow the breadcrumbs.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #102

I've seen a lot of mentions of "Think and Grow Rich". I've read it several times over the years, and listened to the audiobook I picked up of it. I get the concepts in it, but it never "clicked" for me. The author states early in the book that it will only hit you when you're ready, but that just seems frustrating. I think it should be required reading at some point in life, but I can't put it on my "changed my life" list of books.

Post: #103

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was the book that opened me, as a teenager, up to what a book could be -- more than a story, but a thought-provoking journey of discovery about the world and myself. I looked at the world in a different, more mature light after digesting that book.

No Exit by Sartre was another book that opened me up to a deeper, more philosophical understanding of life and other people. The concept that "Hell is other people" really struck a chord with me, and pushed me to read a lot of other books that I don't think I would have otherwise read.

Post: #104

Rules of the Game by Neil Strauss was what introduced me to the concept of Game in the first place. I'd be in a very different place in my life right now if not for chancing upon that book.

Post: #105

Between silk and cyanide - One of the most extraordinary books I have ever read. Leo Marks was a young genius of 23, sent to SOE (Special Operations Executive) in WWII. He was involved in training agents to encrypt their reports, and in deciphering some of the 'uncrackable' codes. It is an extraordinary, true, account of raw humanity, and it is Mark's personal memoir of his time in SOE, during which agents were often knowingly and unavoidably sent to their deaths.

If you're a crypto geek you'll love it, obviously, as all the codes are presented for you to try to crack(not a necessary part of enjoying the book). But beyond that, it is an extraordinary and beautiful illustration of the work of SOE in training and deploying agents, and the ingenuity, danger and intrigue it involved.

The most famous poem, which was also a cipher, was this one, given to Violette Szabo, shortly before she was arrested, tortured, and executed by the Nazis:


The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours.

The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause.

For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours.

Warning: however tough you think you are, you may well be reduced to tears by this book. It is extraordinarily compelling.

Post: #106

how about Blood Meridian by Cormac Mccarthy

Post: #107

Churchill: The Last Lion (William Manchester)

Post: #108

I really can't just name one. In no particular order:

The Bible (particularly the NT)
The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway)
The Game (Neil Strauss)
Summa Theologica (St.Thomas Aquinas)

Heartiste's blog (not technically a book, but who cares) really showed me what the dark side of game is. While reading one day, I came across his post on love, and I was floored. I spent the rest of the day thinking about how Roissy/Heartiste was a more embittered version of me, just 10 or 15 years down the road. Suddenly, a lot of my life started to make sense.

Post: #109

Bukowski's Women.

Post: #110

Athol Kay's "Married Man Sex Life" which introduces loads of red pill concepts for a married man to use.

Post: #111

I don't think that any one specific book has decisively changed my life, but rather my worldview has undergone various paradigm shifts throughout the years based on many diverse fragments of information gleaned from many different books and written materials.

I remember that my worldview took its first radical turn when I became acquainted with the writings of Ayn Rand several years ago. Prior to that period of my intellectual evolution, I had been a pathological altruist for most of my life and so as you can expect I really tended to get the shit end of the deal.

Ayn Rand's philosophical ideas on ethics and morality were my first encounter with Red Pill thought. I had previously imbided Blue Pill society's strange ideal that altruism is equated with good while self-interest is associated with evil, but thanks to Ayn Rand's insight I realized that human action can be divided into not two but three moral categories, namely 'altruistic', 'rationally selfish' and 'irrationally selfish', and that rational selfishness/self-interest, a moral perspective of cooperation based on mutual interest without self-sacrifice on one extreme and without trampling other people's rights for irrational self-interest on the other extreme, is the most natural posture to take. I also learned about how certain groups within society use shaming tactics against those who refuse to conform to their own altruistic ideals.

Since then, I have become more individualistic and have made a conscious effort to put my own interests before those of unrelated others. This all started with Ayn Rand and recently has culminated with my discovery of the Manosphere and its Red Pill philosophy.

Post: #112

"The No Limit Person" - Wayne Dyer. An audio book, out of print, of like 8 or 9 cassettes. One of his earliest works, recorded from a live appearance in Detroit in the early 80's. It came at one of the most pivotal points in my life, given to me by my GF's dad who was an Amway guy that had bookshelves full of that stuff. I listened to it for years, and still do on occasion as I ripped it to digital.

Coincidentally the GF's dad just passed away and his wife wrote to me and told me on July 4th. I was on a roof top drinking and it instantly brought me to tears, and I pretty much had to leave a party. If you ever read Rich Dad/Poor Dad, this was my Rich Dad, my first mentor and there for me at a time in my life when I most needed it. He gave me one of the best examples I have ever had in my life.

Post: #113

The Bible
Atlas Shrugged
Married Man Sex Life
The Rational Male blog

Post: #114

48 Laws of Power Taught me to understand how people use manipulation to gain influence.

The Art of War Taught me to how to employ strategy and how to override my emotional response.

The Rational Male[/b] Taught me the true nature of women.

What the Buddha taught Taught me that attachment leads to suffering.

Mastery Taught me that with sustained practice, any goal is achievable.

Post: #115

One book that really affected when I was 20 is The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.

I think Richler is my favourite novelist and while this isn't my personal favourite of his (check out Solomon Gursky Was Here), the main character's struggles were easy to empathize with and I've always had a soft spot for the bildungsroman. Full of interesting perspectives on life and some lessons on how to have a good one.

The novels centers on Duddy Kravitz, a poor Jewish kid growing up in Montreal in the 50s. The main plot is about Duddy trying to build something in this world to become a "somebody", basically doing all he can to hustle his way out of poverty. Follows his many entrepreneurial pursuits; from selling porn and stolen hockey sticks to making Bar Mitzvah movies to real estate. Often genuinely hilarious, had me laughing aloud regularly, I've always thought Richler was under-appreciated, he's one of the funniest and most honest writers I've ever read.

There's one quote that really shook me when I first read it, its when Duddy's rich uncle is doling out some advice to him. He tells him "You're two people. The scheming little bastard I saw so easily, and the fine, intelligent boy underneath that your grandfather, bless him, saw. But, you're coming of age soon and you'll have to choose. A boy can be two, three, four potential people, but a man is only one. He murders the others."

It really solidified the idea for me that with all of the options modern life can present to you, you just need to make a choice sometimes. I used to have issues with being decisive and waffling between the direction I should take. This book, and that quote especially, really made me reevaluate that part of myself, which ultimately stemmed from being afraid of choosing wrong. Now I have goals that I'm working towards consistently about where I want to be in life and more importantly who I want to be. Books can really impart some of life's most impactful lessons.

Post: #116

1) Long walk to Freedom

2) Freedom at Midnight

3) Motorcycle diaries - Hasta la Victoire, Siempre.

Post: #117

Any book worth reading is worth re-reading. Why? Because each time you revisit a book, or any other work of art, you'll take something new away from it. You'll likely have a much different interpretation of a book you read at eighteen if you were to read it again at twenty-seven, or thirty-six, or fifty-two, etc.

It's too difficult for me to choose a single book that's changed my life, so here are several:

"The System" by Doc Love, AKA Thomas Hodges
Although much of the advice shared in the book may seem antiquated now (e.g. getting a girl's HOME phone number), at the time I read it in 2002, it made for a nice introduction to red pill philosophy. Doc Love's theory on "interest level" still holds up. Essentially, it doesn't matter how interested you are in a girl, but how interested she is in you. If you want to attract female attention, you're much more likely to get it by being a "challenge" than by making grand overtures.

"The Mystery Method" by Erik Von Markovik, AKA "Mystery"
Without a doubt, this is one of the best pick-up guides ever written. I first learned of Mystery from reading another book, "The Game" by Neil Strauss. I didn't hate Strauss' book, but I found it to be a bit disappointing at the time, as it didn't contain nearly as much "how-to" practical knowledge as I'd hoped. Fortunately, Mystery ended up writing his own book, which more than made up for anything left out in "The Game".

"Bang" and other articles written by Roosh V.
Before reading Roosh's work, I may have known what it took to be a player, but through reading his work, I discovered what it meant to truly have game. For a long time, I made the mistake of making women my whole life instead of just a part of it. But Roosh's articles stressed the importance of becoming well-rounded by educating your mind, strengthening your body and developing seduction skills -- to not just be a player, but to have real game. Through him, I also discovered the Chateau Heartiste blog, another awesome resource for red pill wisdom.

Other books I've greatly benefitted from:

"The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli
Any book by Robert Greene
"The Art of the Deal" by Donald J. Trump
"The Manipulated Man" by Esther Vilar

I'm currently working on reading several other books, which I've really enjoyed reading so far and will surely add to a list of future recommendations once I've finished them.

Post: #118

Mystery Method and Jesus Never Existed.

Post: #119

The game by Neil Strauss
Mystery method by Erik Von Markovic, aka Mystery.

The first book was an excellent eye opener for me in the sense of the possibility of learning game.

The second book is a very analytical deconstruction of the interactions between men and women in the sexual sense. The openers, routines and the peacock theory are very cheesy but the book is very worth in my opinion.

Thanks to those books later I discovered Roosh and Roissy (now heartiste) blogs and this forum.

Post: #120

The Dangerous Passion by David Buss - A really interesting look at why jealousy exists

Post: #121

(07-23-2016 02:09 AM)LeoneVolpe Wrote:  Any book worth reading is worth re-reading. Why? Because each time you revisit a book, or any other work of art, you'll take something new away from it. You'll likely have a much different interpretation of a book you read at eighteen if you were to read it again at twenty-seven, or thirty-six, or fifty-two, etc.

This has been true with me and The Way of the Superior Man. I first read it about 10 years ago and I revisit it every couple years and different chapters end up 'clicking' for me when once they had made little sense. Even the same passages that I had interpreted one way end up meaning something different (but equally valuable) to me after reading with more life experience.

Post: #122

Rich Dad Poor Dad:

I read this book a few years ago, I was living payday to payday barely making it and wasn't at all happy with my life.

There was no one in my family who wasn't barely scraping by week to week and without reading this book I feel like I would be just like all of them now.

Bang

This one needs no introduction.

The Ice Man

The Story of Richard Kuklinski, contract killer for the Mafia.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of this book as I'm really into things of this sort but the main takeaway I had from it was how it helped me in a situation I was experiencing at the time.

A close family member of mine who suffers from schizophrenia was going through an extremely rough patch which nearly cost me my job / my housing / a lot of money & my sanity over the course of 3 years.

The book helped me to understand that although I was at the end of my tether with my family member, I could not blame them for it when it wasn't their fault as to how they were wired (like the Iceman himself)

It allowed me to think about things from their perspective (which wasn't something I was wired to do being extremely selfish and self centered at the time) & eventually manage to get the situation under control.

Personally I feel like I'd be a very different person now if I would not have read this book at that moment in time.

Post: #123

The two books that have had the most impact on me:
Pimp - Iceberg Slim
Much of the received wisdom of Game elders was being spit by Slim over 50 years ago. Long before this whole Red Pill business, Slim demonstrated you get better results by being firm with women.

The Stranger - Albert Camus
Life has whatever meaning you give it, and if you aren't careful someone else might make that decision for you.

Post: #124

(08-07-2014 06:46 AM)strengthstudent Wrote:  Nassim Taleb's fooled by randomness, black swan and especially the book anti-fragile have been hugely influential for my life. My life basically revolves around the anti-fragile concept.

How have you implemented Antifragile?

I find the concept impressive and seemingly very powerful. But actual examples are thin on the ground, e.g.:

"OK now I do X, which is antifragile because A,B,C. As opposed to Y, which is fragile"

Interested to hear how you apply it - please PM me if it's tangential to the thread!

Post: #125

(07-10-2015 12:10 AM)HighSpeed_LowDrag Wrote:  Rules of the Game by Neil Strauss was what introduced me to the concept of Game in the first place. I'd be in a very different place in my life right now if not for chancing upon that book.

This book opened my eyes to game at the tender age of 16 as well.