What I wanted to ask you, since you are well-read. Can you pinpoint what is novel about LW, what makes it special, when compared to books like Stuart Sutherland’s Irrationality and Gary L. Drescher’s Good and Real? If someone was going to read Good and Real, Sutherland’s Irrationality and a third book of your choice, what would that person be able to learn from reading the Sequences afterwards?
Drescher’s Good and Real presupposes most of what the Sequences explain, and applies Less Wrongian thinking to specific problems in physics and philosophy. The most overlap is probably between Drescher’s and Eliezer’s discussions of QM.
Sutherland’s Irrationality is a pretty good survey of heuristics and biases, but that’s only one of the main topics at LW.
I don’t know what a third book of my choice would be, since I don’t know what the criteria are, but I don’t know of any book that covers the material in the Sequences that isn’t covered by Good and Real and Irrationality.
I’m an incredible slow reader with no formal education. I’m trying to figure out what I should learn and refine it as much as possible. I’d rather not read a book of marginal importance, otherwise I’ll need a decade before I stumble upon the gist of the matter. I thought asking someone like you, someone who is reading the sequences and reviewing a lot of books, who would be able to point out if there is some redundancy here to spare. I think to remember Yudkowsky saying that Good and Real is basically LW in book form. That’s why I asked. The third book I have been talking about would have been one that captures everything the mentioned ones miss about the sequences. If you would say that the sequences basically capture the content of a dozen books, or that there is a book that captures the content of the sequences, then I could either spare reading the books or vice versa.
I have the same problem with other fields. How long should I bother with certain fields of math, are some completely useless to me? That’s hard to figure out. I’m an average person with no demanding job. What fields of knowledge would most help me to improve my life? What is the most effective way to digest that knowledge?
The #1 book I would recommend in general might be the latest edition of Weiten’s Psychology Applied to Modern Life, which is a summary of scientific self-help. But if you’re a slow reader, I’m not sure what to recommend. I don’t know of any podcasts or video series that cover the same material.
But no, I don’t know of a book that basically captures the sequences. At least not until Eliezer publishes the two books he’s working on.
Yes. Definitely.
What I wanted to ask you, since you are well-read. Can you pinpoint what is novel about LW, what makes it special, when compared to books like Stuart Sutherland’s Irrationality and Gary L. Drescher’s Good and Real? If someone was going to read Good and Real, Sutherland’s Irrationality and a third book of your choice, what would that person be able to learn from reading the Sequences afterwards?
One useful thing on LW is the comments section. Also that it’s fine to post comments years later, and possibly start a new discussion.
Oh, lots.
Drescher’s Good and Real presupposes most of what the Sequences explain, and applies Less Wrongian thinking to specific problems in physics and philosophy. The most overlap is probably between Drescher’s and Eliezer’s discussions of QM.
Sutherland’s Irrationality is a pretty good survey of heuristics and biases, but that’s only one of the main topics at LW.
I don’t know what a third book of my choice would be, since I don’t know what the criteria are, but I don’t know of any book that covers the material in the Sequences that isn’t covered by Good and Real and Irrationality.
I’m an incredible slow reader with no formal education. I’m trying to figure out what I should learn and refine it as much as possible. I’d rather not read a book of marginal importance, otherwise I’ll need a decade before I stumble upon the gist of the matter. I thought asking someone like you, someone who is reading the sequences and reviewing a lot of books, who would be able to point out if there is some redundancy here to spare. I think to remember Yudkowsky saying that Good and Real is basically LW in book form. That’s why I asked. The third book I have been talking about would have been one that captures everything the mentioned ones miss about the sequences. If you would say that the sequences basically capture the content of a dozen books, or that there is a book that captures the content of the sequences, then I could either spare reading the books or vice versa.
I have the same problem with other fields. How long should I bother with certain fields of math, are some completely useless to me? That’s hard to figure out. I’m an average person with no demanding job. What fields of knowledge would most help me to improve my life? What is the most effective way to digest that knowledge?
The books that I’ve seen described as “LW in book form” are Irrationality, Good and Real, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, The Nature of Rationality, and How the Mind Works.
The #1 book I would recommend in general might be the latest edition of Weiten’s Psychology Applied to Modern Life, which is a summary of scientific self-help. But if you’re a slow reader, I’m not sure what to recommend. I don’t know of any podcasts or video series that cover the same material.
But no, I don’t know of a book that basically captures the sequences. At least not until Eliezer publishes the two books he’s working on.