This list is copyleft EXTROPIAN READING LIST A brief reading list for extropians has been thoughtfully provided in the list's introductory message. This is a much more comprehensive reading list that I compiled by gleaning references form people's postings and from comments and recommendations made by various extropians. This is version 2.0 of this resource list and has many changes from the original. See the end of this list for the history and rationale of changes. I'll try to maintain this list for whomever is going to keep the extropian FAQ when it finally gets built. Feedback is always welcome. My address is shortly below. Positive reviews get added to the comments, and the + column gets incremented. Negative reviews get added to the comments, and the - column gets incremented. I try to keep people's names with their comments, but I'm not always successful. Occassionally, a comment is so forceful, and sufficiently detailed, that I have to separate it from the material it's detialing. In this case, the comment is in the notes section at the end of the list. This list is now formatted for standard line printers. I tried to keep each line under 80 characters wide and each page around 55 lines long. Additionally, I sorted titles accordin to their plus popularity, with a general weighting. (a 3-1 comes ahead of a 2-2, and a 2-2 ahead of a 1-0). Most of the self-improvement books were submitted by Jim Meritt. He has asked that he be copied on any comments, advice, criticism, or recommendations you'd care to make in the personal transformation end of extropianism. Please copy hime when you have comments about self-improvement. jmeritt@rod.mitre.org (Jim Meritt) In the immortal words of Bartles and Jaymes - "Thank you for your support." Richard Johnson Send requests, comments and changes to rdj%adpgate.uucp@apple.com and if that fails, then send them to richard@agora.rain.com ======================================================================== ======= Organizations ================================================== + - Extropy Institute 3 0 P.O. Box 57306, Los Angeles, CA 90057-0306. Tel: 213-484-6383 CompuServe: 76436,3157 Internet: more@usc.edu SUBSCRIPTION RATES for a year/two issues: USA: $8 ($18 institutions) Canada and Mexico: $9 (Institutions $20) Overseas: $12 (airmail) (Institutions $22) BACK ISSUES: #7: $4; #6: $3; #5: $3 MENSA - an organization of very smart people. 2 0 Good as a source of references and place for ads. World Future Society 1 0 publisher of "Futurist" and source of many interesting books; organizes conferences, etc. Unity-and-Diversity World Council 1 0 "... to foster an emergence of new universal person and civilization" 1010 Flower St., suite 401 Los Angeles, CA, 90015-1428 Scientific and Medical Network 1 0 based mostly in Europe, not advertised; members are well-known scientists (including some Nobel prize winners) interested in non-conventional topics. talk to sasha@cs.umb.edu if interested. Institute of Memetic Research 1 0 Publishes the "journal of Ideas" contact: moritz@well.sf.ca.us The Foresight Institute 1 0 nanotechnology (Too famous to give address) The Planetary Society 1 0 65 North Catalina Avenue Pasadena, CA 91106 Publishes Planetary Report ======================================================================== ======= Organizations, continued ====================================== + - The Consortium for Gaia Development 1 0 very small group in Cambridge, Mass. Publishes "The Gaia Review" contact sasha@cs.umb.edu Cryonic organizations: - Alcor 1 0 - Citizens for an extended lifespan 1 0 - The venturists 1 0 - Lifepact 1 0 - The reanimation foundation 1 0 Institute of Noetic Sciences 1 0 475 Gate Five Road, Suite 300 Sausalito, CA, 94965 Tel. (415) 331-5650 The Foundaton for Economic Education 1 0 Irvington-on-Hudson, New York 10533 Publishes "The Freeman." (Ideas on Liberty) - mostly free-market. Lindisfarne Association 1 0 A bottomless well of wisdom. Really. Vernadsky Institute (Russia). 1 0 Comprised of the last (hopefully) starving extropians on Earth. Interesting activities in meme distribution, etc. Talk to sasha@cs.umb.edu if interested Global Education Associates 1 0 Publisher of "Breaktrough" Club of Rome - Founded in 1968 under FIAT auspices; 1 2 published lots of interesting "Reports" on global problems, futurology, etc.: - "Mankind on the turning point" - "The Limits to Growth", etc., etc. The CoR has been strongly denounced by various sources. See Note [CoR] at the end of the list. ======================================================================== ======= Periodicals ==================================================== + - Extropy (see address above) 4 0 Scientific American 4 0 Discover 2 0 NY Times, Science section 2 0 Physical Review Letters 1 0 Reason 1 0 Liberty 1 0 Science 1 0 Science News 1 0 OMNI 1 0 Boston Globe, Health and Science section, Tuesdays 1 0 Futurist - magazine of World Future Society 1 0 Technological Forcasting and social change 1 0 - scholarly journal MIT Technology Review 1 0 UTNE Reader 1 0 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list will be available eventually. ETC. (what is this?) ======================================================================== ====== Software ======================================================== + - Cascade Correlation 1 0 use anonymous ftp to: ftp.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.206.173) files are in: /afs/cs/project/connect/code files: cascor1.lisp Original common list version C-C cascor1.c C version by Scott Crowder, CMU rcc1.lisp Common lisp version of recurrent C-C rcc1.c C version, translated by Coner Doherty, Univ. Coll, Dublin also, in /afs/cs/project/tr are relevant technical reports (compressed postscript files). ======================================================================== ====== Philosophy, Metaphysics ========================================= + - The Turning point Fritjof Capra 3 0 "A reconciliation of science and human spirit for a future that will work" The Retreat to Commitment Bartley 1 0 Presents the espistemology of pancritical rationality. Presentation is a bit tedious and overly defensive and academic. Still the best book on the subject I've ever seen. Science, order and creativity David Bohm, F. David Peat 1 0 "A dramatic new look at the creative roots of science and life" Goedel, Escher, Bach Douglas R. Hofstadter 1 0 Fantastic book!!! -- Alexander Chislenko Gaia James Lovelock 1 0 Earth as a living organism - classic. Structure of Scientific Revolutions T. Kun 1 0 Classic! Paradigms, growth, etc. -- Alexander Chislenko The Omega Point as Eschaton Frank Tipler 1 0 God as a testable hypothesis of quantum cosmology. "Zygon" vol 24 (1989) [Two questions - is this an article in a periodical? & Is the same Tipler who did all those physics texts?] Optimism I F.M. Esfandiary 1 0 It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand Jerome Tuccille (sp?) 1 0 ======================================================================== ====== Other Metaconcepts ============================================== + - Pacific Shift William Irwin Thompson 1 0 Excellent book on radical transformations of consciousness and societies in the global culture by a genius author. Mind Children Hans Moravec 1 0 Uploading, robotics, AI, advances in computation, fun. (Very extropian book.) Ecology of Computation B. A. Huberman 1 0 I haven't read this yer, but an old issue of Extropy refers to two papers in here by Eric Drexler and Mark Miller, with intersting titles. -- Peter C. McCluskey Great Mambo Chicken and the Ed Regis 1 0 Transhuman Condition ======================================================================== ====== Spontaneous Orders ============================================== + - The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime Hawking & Ellis 1 0 Speculations on the geometry of the universe, some quite wild (such as Goedel's universe, which has closed time- like curves at a radius of log(1+sqrt(2)) about any point). Warning: Assumes you know "Gravitation". -- Peter C. McCluskey The Philosopher's Stone F. David Peat 1 0 Chaos, syncronicity and the hidden order in the world. A new Science of Life Rupert Sheldrake 1 0 Formative causation and morphic fields - new paradigm on how the Universe stores - and develops - its laws. The Presence of the Past Rupert Sheldrake 1 0 Latest and fullest book on formative causation The Global Brain Peter Russell 1 0 "Speculation on the evolutionary leap to planetary consciousness" Excellent! -- Alexander Chislenko Knowledge & Decisions Thomas Sowell 1 0 An eloquent discussion of spontaneous order. ======================================================================== ====== Physics ========================================================= + - Gravitation Misner, Thorne, & Wheeler 2 0 The standard book on General Relativity, often referred to as MTW. The Many Worlds Interpretation of Dewitt & Graham(e) 2 0 Quantum Mechanics Many Worlds Paul Davies 1 0 I have a copy of both. Could publish the ISBNs at the weekend (copies not currently at hand) if that would help, but I suspect that the Dewitt book is no longer in print. The Dewitt book is technically superior and historically more interesting (containing Everett's doctoral thesis and seminal article) than Davies' book, whcih is a pale subset of the Dewitt book. I suggest anyone interested in many-worlds concentrate on obtaining the former. -- Michael Clive Price The Anthropic Cosmological Principle Barrow & Tipler 1 0 The most mind-boggling book I have ever read. Its main idea is the hypothesis that the universe exists because we observe it - and how that hypothesis could be falsified. Along the way they explain why we see 3 spatial dim- ensions, the evidence that we are the first intelligent race to appear, what substrate intelligent life might run on after the last proton decays, why intelligent life can't change the openness or closure of the universe, and much more. -- Peter C. McCluskey Quantum Mechanics Near Closed Timelike David Deutsh 1 0 Lines (Physical Review -D-, Nov. 15, 1991) Why time travel causes no paradoxes if the many worlds interpretation of QM is correct. ======================================================================== ======= Chaos ========================================================== + - Chaos James Gleick 2 0 Readable introduction for the non specialist. Controlling Chaos Ott, Grebogi, Yorke 1 0 Physical Review Letters V64#11, March 1990, pp1196-1199 Experimental Control of Chaos Ditto, Rauso, Spano 1 0 Physical Review Letters V65#26, December 1990 pp3211-3214 ======================================================================== ====== Nanotechnology ================================================== + - Engines of Creation K. Eric Drexler 7 0 Unbounding the Future K. Eric Drexler 5 0 Nanosystems K. Eric Drexler 2 0 This book has the details we've been waiting for. Detailed equations, numbers, tables, and diagrams. This book is written for people who will be doing actual nanotech research. ======================================================================== ======= Computer Science, AI, and Virtual Reality ====================== + - The Society of Mind Marvin Minsky 3 0 I agree with the thesis presented, but it's not that great of a read. --forrest@portal.com Excellent view of mind structure, AI, etc. I am surprised Minsky is not on extropian list -- Alexander Chislenko Introduction to the Theory of Hertz, Krogh, & Palmer 1 0 Neural Computation A clear, rigorous, and unhyped overview of artificial neural networks. One drawback: no mention of Cascade Correlation (one of the best NN algorithms). -- Peter C. McCluskey Development of Neural Network Eric A. Wan, et al. 1 0 Interfaces for Direct Control of Neural Prostheses in Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks 1990 Vol 2. Describes a direct 2-way connection between the human nervous system and a computer; possibly useful for uploading. -- Peter C. McCluskey ======================================================================== ====== Economics ======================================================= + - The Machinery of Freedom David Friedman 3 0 Price Theory: An Intermediate Text, Friedman 1 0 An unconventional version of an intermediate micro text, which I think extropians would find of interest. --David Friedman Economics Lipsey, Steiner, Purvis 1 0 Economics on Trial Mark Skousen 1 0 Bionomics Michael Rothschild 1 0 Excellent readable account of free market economics which shows how markets are similar to ecologies, and how markets are unlike the static models of traditional Keynesian and Malthusian theories. The Theory of Money and Credit Ludwig von Mises 1 0 Theory and History Ludwig von Mises 1 0 Business Cycles Joseph Schumpeter 1 0 The Seven Fat Years Bartley 1 0 The Worldly Philosophers Heilbroner 1 1 Sketches of the most famous economists, and the parts each played in the development of the discipline. What the hell is Heilbroner doing here? I haven't read this book, but I'm pretty sure he was a commited socialist until the USSR collapsed. -- Peter C. McCluskey Economics and the public purpose John K. Galbraith 1 1 Excellent book, full of grand-scale ideas. No free markets though. -- Alexander Chislenko Galbraith..has a very poor reputation among economists-- a popularizer who propounds unconventional views but never tries to test their predictions. I have not read the particular book recommended. --David Friedman ======================================================================== ======== Law, Sociology and Politics =================================== + - The Evolution of Cooperation Axelrod 1 0 The classic book on the empirical result that a "libertarian" style strategy works best in certain iterated contexts. Also contains real world examples of spontaneous cooperation such as that which occurred between enimies in WWI trench warfare. The Enterprise of Law Benson 1 0 I'm about half way through...and find nothing I disagree with. -- Timothy C. May Debating P.C. Paul Berman [ed] 1 0 An excellent little book...accurately describes how the ideas of the Left shifted to "identity politics," deconstructionism, and the thoughts of Lacan, Derrida, Heidegger, and other such obsurantist scholars. -- Timothy C. May Vigilante: the Backlash Against Crime William Tucker 1 0 in America "Excellent book by excellent author" --Tim Starr How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World Harry Browne 1 0 ======================================================================== ====== Security, Cryptography, Government/NSA ========================== + - The Puzzle Palace Bamford 3 0 Frequently Asked Questions About Paul Fahn (RSA Labs) 1 0 Today's Cryptography Describes in detail many aspects of current crytography... A broad guide to the state of cryptography and includes intro and advanced topics, and bibliography. Use anonymous ftp: rsa.com /pub/faq direcoty Available either PS or LaTeX. Questions/comments to faq-editor@rsa.com Hardcopy available for $20 to RSA Laboratories 10 Twin Dolphin Drive Redwood City, CA 94065 ======================================================================== ======= Consciousness, Psychology, and Memetics ======================== + - The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins 4 0 Science and Sanity Alfred Korzybski 3 0 Described by the original poster as "marginal". I found Korzybski and other General Semantics philosophers to be absolutely priceless, and recommend them highly. -- Bill Eichman Manhood and Humanity(3) Alfred Kryzybski 2 0 I have, and have read, Korzybski's "Science and Sanity" and "Manhood of Humanity". I believe they are worth studying, although they contain a great deal of dated science and psychology, and one must reinterpret his arguments in the light of more modern knowledge. I sometimes wonder about the book he would write if he were writing "S&S" in the totally different world of today. -- Richard Kennaway The Extended Phenotype Richard Dawkins 2 0 I'm OK- You're OK Thomas A., Harris M.D. 2 0 Transaction analysis The Blind Watchmaker Richard Dawkins 1 0 Future Shock Alvin Toffler 1 0 The Third Wave Alvin Toffler 1 0 The Structure of Magic Bandler and Grinder 1 0 Use Vol 1, Ch 3. The rest of the book is junk. Mind Children Hans Moravec 1 0 The Social Brain Gazzaniga 1 1 wasn't very clear or organized; didn't click for me. ======================================================================== ====== General Self Improvement ======================================== This section sounds suspicious. -- Peter C. McCluskey + - Man into Superman Ettinger 2 0 How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie 2 0 Excellent classic for anybody who wants to extract things from other people. -- Alexander Chislenko The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Covey 1 0 Top Performer Ziglar 1 0 Success! Korida 1 0 How to get the Upper Hand Charell 1 0 Winning Through Intimidation Ringer 1 0 Playing the Game Blank 1 0 The Young Executives Guzard 1 0 Office Politics Kennedy 1 0 Powerbase Kennedy 1 0 Power! Kennedy 1 0 ======================================================================== ====== Mental Self Improvement ========================================= + - SuperLearning Ostrader & Schroeder 2 0 Discussion of learning faster by using timed, spoken lessons together with baroque music. Copy I read was (c) 1976, and so is hard to tell if the information is verifiabale. Use at your own risk. There are probably better books for extropian learning - but if you are investigating self-improvement, this is a classic finge book. -- Richard Johnson Prometheus Rising Robert Anton Wilson 2 0 One of the few useful books in this catagory. He synthesizes and cross-maps many diverse fields. Cuts thru the mystical crap and gives some info on what's real in this area. Funny too. Marc Majcher says it really belongs in the parapsychology area. Getting Your Goals McGarvey 1 0 The Morning of the Magicians Paunels & Gergier 1 0 ======================================================================== ====== Mental Self Improvement, (cont) ================================= + - Your Maximum Mind Benson 1 0 Brain Power Allbrecht 1 0 Build Your Brain Power Winter & Winter 1 0 Brainpower Yepsen 1 0 How to be Twice as Smart Wilt 1 0 Wake Up Your Mind Osborn 1 0 How to Write, Speak and Think more Flesch 1 0 efficiently New Think Bono 1 0 Faster Reading Self Taught Shefler 1 0 Powers of the Mind Smith 1 0 The Time Trap Mackenzie 1 0 How to Get Control of Your Time and Laken 1 0 Your Life Organize Yourself Reader's Digest 1 0 MegaBrain Hutchinson 1 0 How to Increase Your Intelligence Weiger 1 0 Total Mind Power Wilson 1 0 60 seconds to Mind Expansion Cook & Davitz 1 0 Make the Most of Your Mind Touzan 1 0 20 Minutes a Day to a more Powerful Dale 1 0 Intelligence The Art of Thinking Dimnet 1 0 Getting Things Done Bliss 1 0 Getting More For Your Money Phallon 1 0 Lateral Thinking Edward & Bono 1 0 Character Analysis Reich 1 0 ======================================================================== ====== Mental Self Improvement, (cont) ================================= + - Neuro-Linguistic Programming Dilts, Grinder, et al 1 0 Remembering People Lorayn 1 0 How to Develop a Super-Power Memory Lorayn 1 0 The Memory Book Lorayn & Lucas 1 0 Total Recall Minnigel 1 0 The Silva Mind Control Method Silva 1 0 How to Improve Your Memory Barnes & Noble 1 0 Pass Any Subject Lorayn 1 0 Speed Learning - Super Recall Belliston & Mayfield 1 0 How to Study Maddox 1 0 How to Increase your Memory Power Brown 1 0 Math Secrets Philips 1 0 Mathematics for Pleasure Jacoby 1 0 Short Cut Math ??? 1 0 The Decision Makers Handbook Cornell 1 0 Trachtenberg Speed System of Arithmetic ??? 1 0 The Great Mental Calculators ??? 1 0 Angel Tech ??? 1 0 about removing the "shackles of perception" from your mind. Smart Drugs and Nutrients Morgenthaler and Dean 1 1 I've tried Piracetam and Hydergine, tested the effects by comparing my Tetris scores before and after, and concluded that their claims are fiction. -- Peter C. McCluskey The Mythical Man-Month Brooks 1 1 A great book on managing large software projects, but devoid of extropian relevance. -- Peter C. McCluskey ======================================================================== ====== Life Extension and Survival ==================================== + - Maximum Life Span Roy Walford 1 0 The 120-Year Diet Roy Walford 1 0 Secrets of Life Extension Mann 1 0 The Immortality Factor Segerberg 1 0 Prolongivity Rosenfeld 1 0 Live Longer Now Leonard, Hofer & Pritikin 1 0 Rejuvenation Trimmer 1 0 No More Dying Kurtramm & Garden 1 0 Nutrition Against Disease Williams 1 0 The Survival Book Nesbitt, Pond & Allen 1 0 Sea Survival Robertson 1 0 The Save-Your-Life Defense Handbook Braun 1 0 Life Extension: A Practical Pearson and Shaw 1 1 Scientific Approach Contains some good ideas, but too many exagerations for me to trust. -- Peter C. McCluskey ======================================================================== ====== Physical Self Improvement, Energy, Strength =================== + - Be Your Own Personal Trainer Garret 1 0 Peak Performance Garfield 1 0 Whole Body Fitness ??? 1 0 Maximum Sports Performance Fixx 1 0 Total Fitness Morehouse 1 0 Maximum Performance Gross 1 0 Building a Better Body ??? 1 0 Consumers Guide to a Flatter Stomach Kintzieman 1 0 The Ultimate Athlete Lesnede 1 0 Keeping Fit Reader's Digest 1 0 ======================================================================== ====== Physical Self Improvement, (cont) =============================== + - Yoga for You Bragelon 1 0 Yoga for Physical Fitness Coster 1 0 Fitness Guide for the Weekend Athlete Rosenthal 1 0 The Total Athlete Ilg 1 0 Grandmaster Murphy 1 0 Body Building and Self Defense Callun 1 0 Weightlifting and Weight Training Kieley 1 0 Training with Weights Sports Illustrated 1 0 Body Building Ravelle 1 0 Muscle Building for Beginners Fallen & Sanders 1 0 Isometrics Wittenbers 1 0 Gold's Gym Book of Strength Training Sprage 1 0 for Athletics Weight Training: A Scientific Approach Stone & Obryant 1 0 The Complete Book of Running Fixx 1 0 The Runner's Handbook Bloom 1 0 Long Distance Runner's Guide to Sperks & Bjorklund 1 0 Training and Racing The Runner's Handbook Glover & Shepard 1 0 Beyond Jogging Spino 1 0 Jogging, Aerobics and Diet Royald 1 0 The New Aerobics Cooper 1 0 How to Triple Your Energy Haimes & Tyson 1 0 Energy Hayden 1 0 Sleep Less, Live More Mathew 1 0 Energistics Crabbes 1 0 ======================================================================== ====== Altered States and Parapsychology =============================== See Note [Para] at the end of the list. + - Zen and the Martial Arts Hayams 2 0 Transcendental Meditation Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 1 0 Meditation Smith 1 0 The Highest State of Consciousness White 1 0 Type A Behaviour and Your Heart Friedman & Roseman 1 0 Cosmic Consciousness Burke 1 0 A Sociable God Wilbur 1 0 Magic and Mystery in Tibet David-Neel 1 0 How to make ESP Work for You Sherman 1 0 The Mystic Sciences Waite 1 0 Mind-Search Nicholas & Regush 1 0 Magic: An Occult Primer Conway 1 0 The Secrets of Kahuna Magic Steiger 1 0 Telecult Power Dubin 1 0 The Search For Psychic Power Hammond 1 0 Secrets of Mental Magic Howard 1 0 Secret Mental Powers Young 1 0 Your Innate Psychic Powers Buens 1 0 How to Use ESP Laure & Steiger 1 0 Psychic Energy Weed 1 0 Master Guide to Psychism Boswell 1 0 The Power of Psychic Awareness Brown 1 0 Dianetics Hubbard 1 1 I don't see *any* substance in dianetics -- Alexander Chislenko Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance Many books by Carlos Castaneda ======================================================================== ======= Fiction ======================================================== + - True Names and Other Dangers Werner Vinge 4 0 The original VR and cryto-anarchy story. Contains a story called "The Ungoverned" describing an unsuccessful invasion of an anarchocapitalist region by an adjacent state. "True Names" is a very good novelette; an earlier edition had an afterward by Minski. Islands in the Net Bruce Sterling 4 1 Trivializes cyberspace; marginal entertainment value. -- Peter C. McCluskey A Fire Upon the Deep Verner Vinge 3 0 The singularity, uploading, polycentric legal systems, a race of animals with distributed consciousness, and "the net". and "Anything by Vinge." Marooned in Real Time Werner Vinge 2 0 is set at a (much) later time, and has references back to the anarcho-capitalist society of "the ungoverned." Snow Crash Neil Stephenson 2 0 Dune series Herbert 2 1 Many ideas portrayed in Dune are the antithesis of spontaneous order. -- Peter C. McCluskey Wizards Bane Rick Cook 1 0 The Wizardry Compiled Rick Cook 1 0 The Wizardry Cursed Rick Cook 1 0 Dune Encyclopedia McNelly 1 0 Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life Farmer 1 0 NULL-A series Van Vogt 1 0 Destroyer series Murphy & Sapir 1 0 Gulf Heinlein 1 0 Voyage from Yesteryear James Hogan 1 0 Confrontation between the statists from Earth and a colony of anarchists. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Heinlein 1 0 ======================================================================== ======= Fiction (cont) ================================================= + - Summa Technologae [?] Stanislav Lem 1 0 Excellent book, full of technological ideas and humor - as everything else by Lem! The author wrote on practically everything of extropian interest in detail long ago!!! I plan to get him on Internet. -- Alexander Chislenko Neuromancer William Gibson 1 0 First suggests Cyberspace and VR. Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach 1 0 Poetry of unlimited growth in simple prose. The Defenseless Dead Larry Niven 1 0 Did a pretty good job of extrapolating what happens when the state gets mixed up in transplant technolgy and economics: cryonic eminent domain. -- Blair Haworth The Jigsaw Man Larry Niven 1 0 About public-sector "burking" and "organlegging". -- Blair Haworth The Avatar Poul Anderson 1 0 A well rounded sf novel with both hard science (Tipler cylinders for time travel) and libertarian themes. -- Peter C. McCluskey The Silicon Man Charles Platt 1 0 Alongside Night L. Neil Smith 1 0 Anyone who hasn't yet read [it] should do so. -- R. David Murray Archilles Choice Niven & Barnes 1 1 Boring. -- Peter C. McCluskey ======================================================================== ======= Miscellaneous and Non-categorized ============================== + - Publications from the Noetic Institute 1 0 Cryonics publications 1 0 The Prospect of Immortality ? 1 0 I am curious as to why the works of F. M. Esfandiary are not on any list of books I have seen so far in this list. I have not read all of them, so I am not sure whether everything he has written is Extropian, but Optimism I Up-Wingers Telespheres are certainly extropian--unless he is considered too far out for this list. Evan Reese esrst1@unix.cis.pitt.edu ======================================================================== ================== Notes ============================================== [CoR] Someone recommended the Club of Rome, and in particular limits to growth. I have not read their other work, but "Limits to Growth" is much worse than useless--either incompetent or fraudulent. The authors set up world models in which all rational feedback loops have been eliminated, then discover that, oddly enough, they always crash. This becomes an argument for the view that population growth etcetera are a crisis requiring stern measures. Example: In their model, increases in food prices increase the rate of loss of land to erosion. It does not occur to them that high expected food prices increase the value of land, thus giving people an incentive to preserve it. By their model, Japan's land should have been exhausted centuries ago. If any of the authors has read Hotelling's classic article on how depletable resources are allocated under a market they have repressed the knowledge. --David Friedman [CoR] We discussed Club of Rome models in general, and Forrestor's early systemic modeling techniques in a class I had on system-theoretic modeling techniques. As explained to us, the value today is the better understanding we have of how and when some system elements rely on the change of other system elements. (Specifically, making A proportional to dB/dt.) I think "Limits to Growth" might be a good example of how professional simulation- ists use scientific obfuscation to keep the money flowing. As such it's a good object lesson for extropians, but there much better ways to spend one's time. (Just look through the list.) -- Richard Johnson [Para] This section has generated a lot of heat, but so far little light. Some extropians feel we shouldn't even bother to include the topic, other view it as untested self-improvement literature. The most damning argument against this section so far is that few books from here will even be considered by potential reders, so why make noise? However, as Harry Shapiro pointed out, it _IS_ boundless self-expansion and fits the extropian meme, even if it's fiction, even if it's on the edge of the meme. So, I formatted this to its own page (when you print it) so you can easily ignore it if you like. -- Richard Johnson **END OF LIST*** ======================================================================== ======================================================================== ======================================================================== History of This Resource List: 9/8/92 -- initial distribution 9/9/92 -- following material removed, and policy amended in light of complaints from users. If we remove, that's a passive censorship and possibly majoritarian. If we sum positive and negative votes, that _definitely_ majoritarian. So we display all books, and list numbers of both plusses and minuses. : If even one reliable refutation of a book appears, I will remove it : from the list. Basically, we shouldn't be recommending books that : are marginal, meaningless, unclear, wrong, or potentially damaging. : I'd put Hubbard's books into that domain, but have no reliable : information to refute whatever it is they claim. "It's junk" is not : a reliable refutation. "Xxxx's refutation of Jaynes' view of : conciousness is now commonly accepted" probably is a reliable : refutation. (On that note, you'll notice that "Origins of : Consciousness..." is NOT in this list. I have read it, and while : thought-provoking, it is as number of you have pointed out, now : considered incorrect.) : : If a book you like is not already here, let me know. In keeping with : the tradition of one-rebuttal == one removal, then one recommendation == : one addition (until rebutted). 9/10/92 -- changed format, reorganized gropus, added sections on metaphysics and philosophy, etc. 9/17/92 -- further reorganization, moved titles so that the most-recommended ones slid to the top of each category. Paginated list for line printers. -- Richard Johnson (rdj%adpgate.uucp@apple.com) (richard@agora.rain.com) Brains. Kidney pie. Haggis, ... It's like all Scottish food was invented on a DARE!