Best communication improvement books according to redditors

We found 229 Reddit comments discussing the best communication improvement books. We ranked the 81 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Communication Reference:

u/coldnever · 339 pointsr/worldnews

Most have no clue what's really going on in the world... the elites are afraid of political awakening.

This (mass surveillance) by the NSA and abuse by law enforcement is just more part and parcel of state suppression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttv6n7PFniY

Science on reasoning, reason doesn't work the way we thought it did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

Brezinski at a press conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmUS--QCYY

The real news:

http://therealnews.com/t2/

http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/069114589X/

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Government-Surveillance-Security-Single-Superpower/dp/1608463656/r

http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446/

Look at the following graphs:

IMGUR link - http://imgur.com/a/FShfb

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Actual_estimated_ideal_wealth_distribution.gif
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Net_worth_and_financial_wealth.gif
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

And then...

WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-haiti-minimum-wage-the-nation-2011-6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

"We now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.

In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture—attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies—to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion."

Important history:

http://williamblum.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcA1v2n7WW4

u/UppruniTegundanna · 26 pointsr/linguistics

John McWhorter published a pretty interesting book back in 2003 called [Doing our own Thing] (http://www.amazon.com/Doing-Our-Own-Thing-Degradation/dp/1592400167) which goes into a lot of detail about changing "fashions" in grammar.

There's an excellent chapter, worth the price of the book alone, in which he takes to task those who deplore the "recent" degradation of language. By working gradually back in time, he quotes and critiques articles that claim the current generation is ruining that language, before stepping back a generation to find an older bellyacher making the same argument... and on and on, until we're back in the time of Shakespeare. It really pus the futility of these complaints into perspective.

u/1dererLives · 20 pointsr/SquaredCircle

> Is his source intentionally giving bad info to cause attrition backstage , to mess with him and hurt his cred ,

No high-quality professional journalist would have such low standards as to fall prey to a single bad source, because professional journalists do things like independently corroborate stories. If they're not able to corroborate a story, but think their source is reliable, they will note that in their report. Seriously,it's as though Meltzer doesn't even own a style guide.

u/rufusocracy · 18 pointsr/AskSocialScience

“How much power does the media have?” Sounds like a question of measurement, but that’s an oversimplification. This is a question that’s been asked by many social scientists for literally decades, and the research into newer forms of media is ongoing. It’s far too vast a literature to describe in a Reddit comment. I am literally getting a PhD in this and I will never be able to read it all.

But, in short, the media does have an effect of some size on almost everyone because almost everyone consumes media. Most do so for both entertainment and information, and that then influences our attitudes and beliefs, the way we think about social reality (what the society we are in is like even though we will never meet even 1% of the people in it, what our position is in that society and how it relates to other people or groups), which in turn influences our judgements/decisions and behavior choices. There are effects for both entertainment and informational media. It may be different effects for different people or groups, depending on your personality and social identity (or rather, identities). It may be different sizes of effects depending on your personal style of information processing and volume of information, personal or information consumption circumstances, and other forms of information you consume and have access to and use, like interpersonal conversations or direct experience. But effects exist in some size for most people a significant amount of the time.

Media is just a systematic way of distributing or consuming information and stories, usually such that it doesn’t require an in-person transfer anymore. Much of the power of media derives from the power of information and the power of stories. Information and stories existed before media in general and mass media in particular. If you think you are influenced by and use information, then you can be influenced by media.

One common trope used by such researchers is that media do not successfully tell you what to think, but DOES succeed in telling you what to think ABOUT. (This isn’t quite true...sometimes the media can successfully tell you what to think, but it’s much more difficult because people aren’t passive consumers, any more than they are of religion or things told to them by their parents or friends.) Know that trope how “Don’t think of an elephant” doesn’t work because you have to think of the concept of an elephant in the process of consuming the words? And now you are thinking about elephants, positively or hatefully or with boredom but you are still thinking about them. Media effects and media power is more like that.

That said, media effects do not exist in a vacuum and you don’t consume media in a vacuum. They are enhanced or contradicted by your family, your friends and peers, your coworkers and industry, and other elements of your social world in a cycle. Would you say your parents had no effect on the way you think about things and the decisions you make and the way you behave? No. Would you say they have an absolute effect such that you are exactly what they made you and what they intended? Also no. Even if you went against the grain, what they did influenced you specifically enough to reject it. Parenting is powerful, but it’s not determinate. Same for media.

Don’t think of media as brainwashing or copy/paste editing. Thing of it more like the flow of a river you are swimming in. It pulls and pushes you in a particular direction and influences where you end up, but it’s not the only element of the equation in the journey nor the destination. You aren’t totally powerless in the river but you also aren’t in total control, and how much you can influence where you end up compared to an Olympic swimmer compared to a young child or some other person varies.

If you want to know what kinds of effects exist and have been demonstrated, the search term you are looking for is “media effects” or “media impact” and you can look in media psychology, communication, political communication, political science, social psychology and sociology academic disciplines for books and studies.

If you want a place to start, my favorite overview book is “Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research” by Bryant and Oliver. The 3rd edition is here: https://www.amazon.com/Media-Effects-Advances-Theory-Research/dp/0805864504
but you can get a free sample intro on the Kindle version to get an overview of the state of the research at the beginning, and either rent it or search for individual chapters online based on your interest, some of which have been posted for free fair use purposes by their authors. I like agenda setting, priming, framing, and cultivation theory, but there are many more.

Hope that helps.

u/Binary101010 · 17 pointsr/AskSocialScience

There's an entire discipline in social science (communication) devoted to answering questions like this, and you're kind of asking to have summarized most of the findings of that discipline, which is a tall order.

I'll start by pointing you to two good overviews of the subfield of media effects, which seems to be what you're getting at.

Jennings & Oliver's Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research, Third Edition

https://www.amazon.com/Media-Effects-Advances-Theory-Research/dp/0805864504/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527168732&sr=8-1&keywords=media+effects

Nabi & Oliver's The SAGE Handbook of Media Processes and Effects

https://www.amazon.com/SAGE-Handbook-Media-Processes-Effects/dp/1412959969/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&qid=1527168732&sr=8-38&keywords=media+effects

u/fauxgnaws · 13 pointsr/videos

> a different style/vernacular doesn't inherently mean it's an inherently incorrect or "less educated" way of speaking.

Except it's not just different. Every point in the Phonology section of the wikipedia tPRoC linked to is something missing from the dialect. The only additional part in Distinctive Features is degrees of tense.

Meanwhile there are things like "I didn't go nowhere" which doesn't make logical sense or "Twice as Less" that interfere with comprehension.

Maybe you can explain in layman's terms how this dialect is even half as worse?

u/sacca7 · 11 pointsr/Buddhism

Well, I'm here later rather than sooner. I'll look to see if I have anything to add.

I don't like Andrew Cohen at all, nor Genpo Roshi, nor Marc Gafni, and these are some of the people Wilber associates with. I won't apologize for that, and have no idea why he does.

However, I've read about 5 of his numerous works completely (and read parts of at least 5 others), as well as his opus Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality. He shortened that for A Brief History of Everything, which is sufficient. These, and/or other books by Wilber are available at many public libraries.

Some argue that the "Integral" programs are expensive. Yes, they are. I've never spent any money on them. They don't attract me. I think one can study something, say Buddhism, without becoming monastic or getting a PhD in it.

Integral explained in a nutshell:

I've found that the Integral direction balances Buddhism very well. Although it is hard to describe simply, there are 4 quadrants to consider for life: inner self (I), relationships (we), science (it), and culture (its). Buddhism is excellent on the inner self, the I. However, it's not so helpful in the other quadrants, particularly relationships.

And, if we are really deficient in one of these areas, we really can't progress in the others. If I can't get along with authority, I'll never listen to wise teachers. That relationship issue could limit my ability to learn to meditate. Or, if I were to believe some fundamentalist perspective that my culture espouses (say a Jehova's Witness), I may not pursue modern medicine for proper health. This is limiting.

If one is interested, reading A Brief History of Everything (linked above) is helpful, but an even better place to start is One Taste. The Simple Feeling of Being is worthwhile. The CD set Kosmic Consciousness is quite good. Stay away from Integral Spirituality as well as Integral Psychology. I thought they were not well edited or put together.

If it is of interest, read it. If not, don't.

Thanks for the link!

Edit: formatting

u/vigernere1 · 10 pointsr/ChineseLanguage

Most apps are geared towards beginners and early/mid intermediate learners. The Chairman's Bao and Du Chinese offer HSK6 reading material, but whether HSK6 is "advanced" is a matter of personal opinion (IMO it's not).

In addition to learning through native materials (books, TV shows, etc.) your best grammar resources are going to be books, in addition to AllSet Learning's grammar wiki:

u/supa999 · 9 pointsr/canada

> I'm hoping a more left leaning red liberal like Trudeau would say something about this in his platform. Was it under Paul Martin's watch when this program was expanded?

You need to figure out what has been really going on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/


u/coelhudo · 7 pointsr/brasil

O problema é mundial e cabe a pesquisa se auto melhorar, afinal faz parte da ciência isso. Não sei se você acompanha o /r/AskAcademia e lá constantemente tem esse tipo de discussão, de forma direta, com alguém apontando o problema, ou indireta, com alguém descrevendo um problema pessoal que se encaixa nisso.

Um exemplo da ciência se auto corrigindo é o Reproducibility Project (Não vi o vídeo que linkou e n sei se está lá) que acredito que tenha surgido durante a crise de reproducibilidade de experimentos relacionados a psicologia. Seria interessante esse incentivo a publicar resultados não novos em todas áreas só pela verificação que tudo funciona como previsto. Aí teriam que ser criados mecanismos pra disponibilizar datasets e métodos melhores descritos e que não são relevantes pra um artigo publicado quando se está interessado em somente parte dele. Outro problema é o não incentivo a produzir resultados negativos. Todo artigo que você lê é praticamente sobre como o método e os resultados são superiores aos trabalhos anteriores.

Acredito que democratizar os artigos poderia também trazer uma melhoria pro mundo acadêmico. É um absurdo o quanto se tem que pagar como cidadão comum pra poder ter acesso aos resultados que na maior parte das vezes são financiados com dinheiro público.

Além disso, uma coisa que vejo no meio acadêmico é a falta de ensino em como conduzir pesquisa. É meio que uma arte que os alunos tem que aprender por eles mesmos e é um baita disperdício - eu sei que o orientador tá lá pra isso mas né, não vivemos nesse mundo ideal. Há alguns recursos bons como o livro The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research.

Por último, uma parada que é absurdo pra mim é a falta de reconhecimento financeiro e pessoal e acho que isso é em todo lugar do mundo. Pra viver bem tem que comer o pão que o diabo amassou e aturar a situação atingir uma carreira estável, o que demora anos.

Todos esses fatores tem um impacto muito grande em como a ciência é cheio de disperdícios no mundo acadêmico.

Edit: melhorando a estrutura (eu acho)

u/Tangurena · 7 pointsr/AskReddit

There are a number of books that I think you ought to read to get a better understanding of office politics and how to cope/deal with them. All offices have politicking going on, and any company that claims otherwise is lying to you. Any time more than 2 people get together, there will be some sort of jostling for power and attention. When that happens at work, we call it "office politics".

Your library may have these, and if you get them, read them at home. Don't ever bring them into the office.

Corporate Confidential. HR is your enemy, not your friend. Gives a number of examples of what will destroy your career with companies, many of which you (and I) probably do without realizing the consequences.

The Passionate Programmer. The first edition of this book was called "my job went to India". While aimed at programmers, the points are to keep your mind and skills up to date as technology and business move too rapidly to let things get rusty.

To Be or Not to Be Intimidated.
Looking out for number one.
Million Dollar Habits. I feel that these 3 by Robert Ringer are very important. If you think his first book was about to intimidate others, you only read the press coverage. If you think his books are about real estate, then you only skimmed them. There are a lot of people in the world who will try to intimidate you into giving up what is yours, and he shows you what some of them are like, and what countermeasures you can use.

The Art of Deception. Bad title - it is about arguments, how to make them, win them and tell if you're hearing a bad one. Used to be called "rhetoric" when Plato and Aristotle taught the subject.

Snakes in Suits. There are some evil people out there. You'll work for some of them. You will be stabbed in the back by some of them.

Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People. One book on office politics and dealing with some of the worse sort.

The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense at Work. Some folks are very good with verbal manipulation, this book and the others in the series, cover how to deal with such people.

Winning with People. Most of the books this author writes are about managers and leadership. This book is more about people skills. It will be focused more at managers, but I think it is a good one.

The 48 Laws of Power. They have it. You want some. Light read with anecdotes. I like his other books as well.

Games At Work. Office politics.

It's All Politics. Yes it is.

Moral Politics. Liberals and conservatives, why do they think that way? You'll work with some of the opposite persuasion some day, so understanding where they come from is a reasonable idea. Most books on this subject are insulting and degrading, but I think this one is pretty much judgement-free.

> When I walk by him going to the bathroom, he will stop talking until I walk by.

Do the same. When they come to your desk, always brush them aside with "I'm sorry, I can't talk now, I'm busy working".

u/Summerdown · 5 pointsr/IWantToLearn

My suggestions:

a) Meditation is a master key to your brain. It teaches you to observe yourself, which lets you improve faster.

b) Learn to write. I recommend short stories or articles. They will teach you eloquence, precision and concision.

c) Read about thinking. I recommend Straight and Crooked Thinking.

d) Read all kinds of stories, but particularly good ones. They will give you new life experiences from those who have lived/imagined them firsthand.

e) Do things that you haven't yet. Learn to cook. Go to foreign countries. Volunteer to help the poor. Learn a new language. Try to soak up as many diverse experiences as you can, and as far as possible, say yes rather than no to new experiences.

f) Exercise. It increases brain activity and helps you work at whatever you do for longer.

g) If you have a TV, get rid of it.

h) Pick up an artistic pursuit - eg music, drawing or dance.

i) Take a therapeutic hobby. Learn first aid, counselling, or hypnosis. You'll be able to help people, but also you'll learn how people work, which is, by inference, how you work.

My own view is that thinking is holistic, and you're better working on all aspects of yourself, rather than limiting yourself to just intellectual pursuits.

u/Kaioatey · 5 pointsr/suggestmeabook

A Brief History of Everything is something that really opened my eyes

u/muki_mono · 3 pointsr/explainlikeimfive

Old English used to have masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. The use of these started to decline due to contact with other languages - people from different areas had to communicate and the lose of features such as gender, verb conjugations (most of which english also lost) and grammatical cases (also lost) makes a language much less complex. If you're interested, I recommend this book.

u/Coelacanth7 · 3 pointsr/askphilosophy

I got this book, reccomened by my professor. He said, "this book can make getting a P.HD relatively straightforward."

writing Philosophy

It seriously helped me so much. It helps with becoming clear, concise, and logical, which is kinda what makes a good philosophy essay.

u/rniggersdog · 3 pointsr/GreatApes

My God it's an actual book.

http://www.amazon.com/African-American-Guide-Better-English/dp/0963932926

I kind of want to buy it, but I also kind of don't want to give this nigger my money. I'll go with the second impulse.

u/Hynjia · 3 pointsr/socialism

I just finished his book Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. It's a long essay clearly inspired by The Society of the Spectacle, that pretty much says America as we know it is an illusion in many different levels. And sooner or later we're going to have to recognize the reality of our country and its vast underside that the illusion is used to conceal.

u/StillbornOne · 3 pointsr/Dachschaden

Danke für den Buchtipp und vor allem den Kauftipp beim BPB! Mehr über das Thema und die Einordnung in den größeren Kontext der USA gibts in Klassikern wie The Working Poor von Shipler und mein persönlicher Favorit Empire of Illusion von Hedges (welches auch einen Pulitzerpreis gewann) nachzulesen.

u/knowstuffsolveprobs · 3 pointsr/linguistics

Second John McWhorter--I became a linguist in part due to reading Doing Our Own Thing. I think a standard pop-linguistics text is Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct.

EDIT: Phrasing

u/snowsilk · 3 pointsr/beyondthebump

My LO is only 10 weeks old so I haven't experienced this yet. But my mom was a serious screamer with no temper control so I've been worrying.

Two books have helped:

u/pckizer · 2 pointsr/TrueAtheism

I definitely agree that it's worth it to engage such conversation (though only when you have both the time and inclination so that you're not appearing antsy or overly aggressive).

One of the other good things that I've seen done is to ask if there is any evidence that anyone could provide that would cause them to change their mind. Tell them to ignore whether they think it is possible that any such evidence might arise; but, if something shown to them that they could independently verify that directly contradicted their bible verses, would they be willing to change their belief about the truth of even a single verse? If they answer that no evidence would ever change their mind then they have admitted they are too closed-minded to have any kind of productive conversation and they're admitting they not actually seeking the truth.

Lastly, make sure you're not only talking about items of data like science facts or the specifics about what a particular verse in the bible says. You have to find some way of reaching them emotionally since most of the death grip on their beliefs originates from an emotional process (including self-identity) that facts will help with but will be nearly useless on their own. [See: Boghissian's "A Manual for Creating Atheists" and Romm's "Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga" for making your spontaneous interaction with proselytizers more satisfying.

u/swws · 2 pointsr/firstworldanarchists

This is actually a completely serious academic book.

(The name comes from the original edition, long out of print now, which indeed was red.)

u/justsomeopinion · 2 pointsr/IOPsychology

https://www.amazon.com/Communication-Skills-Dummies-Elizabeth-Kuhnke/dp/1118401247

But seriously, you talking about 37-year-old Millenials or 22-year old millennials? Perhaps explaining the problem you are having would be a bit better.

But I know what has always worked for me. Making an effort, trying, and meeting whomever halfway. Outside of that, a simple google search will give you a bunch of hits or miss best practices. From what I saw I would recommend treating them like adults, and keeping it informal when possible, and that "because I said so" gets you about as far as you think it would.

u/conscientious_potato · 2 pointsr/communication

Resources:

Find someone in-person:

-Go to psychologytoday.com -> Find a Therapist -> Enter your location -> Scroll down on the side until you see "Types of Therapy" and expand to see all the options -> Select "Motivational Interviewing" or "Coaching"

Online Courses:

Professional: Harvard has an (expensive but fantastic) extension training program that you don't have to apply to. You just sign-up and pay to take courses and you can receive a certification from Harvard for Business Communication: https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/professional-graduate-certificates/business-communication-certificate

YouTube: Dan O'Connor; this specific video is fantastic for communicating with difficult co-workers/negative people. (skip to 3:38.) He doesn't do private sessions but he does sell online courses. If you don't want to spend money you can just watch his free content on YouTube.

You can also take business communication, sociology, or psychology at a local community college.

Books:

How to Win Friends and Influence People (Classic and helpful/condensed versions are great too)

Communicating Effectively For Dummies (the "For Dummies" series is straight forward and inexpensive)

Communicating Effectively 11th Edition Textbook (educational textbook that's highly informative but pricey)

Myers-Briggs Personality Test:

This can help you gain a sense of self and why you communicate a certain way vs. other personalities.

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test (free version)

https://www.mbtionline.com/TaketheMBTI (official version/costs $50)

​

At the end of the day, there are always going to be difficult people and sometimes you can't change that. You can only be your best self and you clearly care if you want to take courses to learn to better yourself. If others are rude or unprofessional, that's a fault within themselves, not you.

u/TheMank · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Until I think of a work of fiction. Try this book by Ken Wilbur...

Brief History of Everything

Edit: and for what it's worth, Camus and Hesse are great, but whether they are on the top 10 list of authors who will help you beat depression is probably open for debate. Though I could imagine an intense discussion with each of them about it!

u/RhinestoneTaco · 2 pointsr/Journalism

> It also has a tinge of contempt for political reporters--which is fair sometimes.

I have a significant amount of contempt for institutionalized White House reporters, and really a lot of the folks covering national politics in DC. It's a broken system that values maintaining access more than relaying the truth to the audience. It values balance and a false sense of festishized "objectivity" over the weight of facts and evidence.

There's three books I can recommend for a deeper level of criticism. One is Robert McChesney's "Our Unfree Press" which has an entire chapter on the brokenness of White House-based political reporting. It's a little more challenging of a read, as it is coming at the journalistic process from a heavy cultural/critical approach.

The other two are the two books I use when I teach our News Literacy course, which is a course all about teaching journalism students and non-journalism students alike how to be the best, most responsible, most critical consumers of news they can be. One is McManus's "Detecting Bull," and the other is Kovach and Rosenstiel's "Blur: How to know what's true in the age of information overload."

The former is a little more fun of a read, but it's also from 2012, so a lot of the examples are getting aged out.

u/Kenatius · 2 pointsr/politics

You should increase your critical thinking skills so you would not be taken in by fallacious videos, bad magicians, radio talk show hosts and other deceptions common among the naive and dull.

Let's think of it this way - If you are trying to teach yourself to play the guitar,. and you see people who are more skilled at it than you ,.. wouldn't you be grateful for their lessons and advice? Only a fool would not take a lesson if they had the opportunity to get better at something.

Learning to think is a lot like that.

Here, try this book if they won't let you in a classroom for some reason : http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Deception-Introduction-Critical/dp/159102532X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1413953967&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Art+of+Deception

u/MagickNinja · 2 pointsr/AskHistorians

Shakespeare did have a large influence on the language, partially due to being born in the right place at the right time. Before Shakespeare's lifetime, most books printed in Europe were in Latin. During his life, England alone printed thousands of items in English, and literacy rates were rising rapidly.

The Renaissance as a whole added at least 10,000 new words to the English lexicon. As writing in the vernacular became more popular, authors borrowed words--mostly from Latin, French, Spanish, or Dutch-- to fill the holes they saw in English. But how many of these words can we credit directly to Shakespeare?
The Oxford English Dictionary claimed at least 2,000 English words were first used by the playwright. But this is in need of revision, as many of these words were actually used previously by a lesser-known author. The OED is currently being revised, a process that will take many years. But from the pages edited so far, we can conclude that around 30% of words credited to Shakespeare were actually first used by someone else.

But the true genius of William Shakespeare lies in the way he put words together, and created new metaphorical definitions for existing words. The updated OED currently claims that Shakespeare invented around 8,000 new word senses. Here is a good quote by Bernard Levin that shows many of the phrases we use today were invented by Shakespeare.

souces: The Story of English and Bad English

u/aronnyc · 2 pointsr/booksuggestions

I've read a few books that might cover these:

u/Elliot_Loudermilk · 2 pointsr/islam

Salaam,

I think I understand what you're experiencing, but we are all going through different things. I can only speak from experience. I can't assure you that my advice will help you.

I always had faith but the doubts were never fully silenced.

"Are the sacrifices I'm making really necessary? What about those who live without having religion to guide them? Do we truly need religion to guide us in this advanced post modern age? Don't we have it all figured out by now?"

These are the doubts I had growing up. It was never questions having to do with Islam specifically, but more so with religion and ideology as a whole. It's very difficult justifying ideology in a self-professed post-ideological age. And it's tough living in this society when we're constantly tempted to stray from the straight path. We are constantly tempted by that which has been engineered to be desirable to us.

And we are deprived of advanced cultural criticism that can connect the dots with a society that allows for those temptations, and the other major problems that we face as individuals, as a result.

For me, I had to educate myself with social criticism of post-modern society. I had to understand where ideology exists for those who claim to have none.

Some of the thinkers that helped me are:

-Slavoj Zizek (check out his talks on ideology in postmodern society, and on Bhuddhism)

-Neil Postman "Amusing Ourselves to Death" (intro on youtube)

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky "Notes from Underground [pdf]"

-Chris Hedges "Empire of Illusion"

and probably the most

www.thelastpsychiatrist.com

The blog is by an anonymous psychiatrist and features incredibly insightful analysis of current events and the impact of popular media on society. This blog helped me make sense of the post-modern society we live in and it's pitfalls. The writing style can be difficult to adapt to, and it takes some effort but I started with the movie reviews/analysis and got hooked. Let me know if you'd like any specific post recommendations.


So that covers a lot of reading. Check out Rick Roderick's excellent lecture series on youtube, The Self Under Siege. This series introduced me to many of these thinkers and their views on the self in modernity. I recommend starting with Foucault, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Roderick's own views on philosophy and postmodern culture. He's an excellent speaker.

And this BBC documentary series Sea of Faith is very interesting. I like Kierkegaard but his writing is so difficult to grasp.

All that is personal advice that may or may not be helpful. Some general things that you should not forget: Stay strong akh! Keep talking to your friends and family about the issues on your mind. Be patient. Don't fret. Seek refuge in your Lord. Read the Qur'an. Insha'Allah things will get better!

u/notevenonce1 · 2 pointsr/NoFap

>He refuses to admit to that dark part of porn.

That's just delusional. Is he at all interested in literature or ideas? If so, make him read David Foster Wallace's "Big Red Son" or the "Illusion of Love" chapter in Chris Hedges "Empire of Illusion. Either will slap him straight. Or, you know, make him watch this.

If he refuses to make any real effort to fight his porn addiction, you really should find someone at least brave enough to try. They are out there.

u/Yangsanggunja · 2 pointsr/ChineseLanguage
u/ZeroBugBounce · 2 pointsr/SocialEngineering

The relatively new book Language Intelligence has a chapter on deceptive rhetoric and language - more as a way for the reader to avoid the effects of it, but it could by taken as lesson as well.

If you want an in-depth preview of the material in the book, you can listen to an interview with the author here.

u/RAndrewOhge · 2 pointsr/Syria

Week Twelve of the Russian Intervention in Syria:

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVUGQ8VS_Rk)

By The Saker | Dec 29, 2015

In last week’s review of the Russian military intervention in Syria I wrote that Kerry had lost every single negotiation he ever had with the Russians and that he had a record of agreeing to A only to come back to the US and then declare non-A.

This time again, the Americans did not change their modus operandi, except that it was Obama himself who declared, yet again, that Assad must go, resulting in some commentators speaking of a “White House Schizophrenia”.

[http://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2015/12/22/white-house-schizophrenia-kerry-assad-can-stay-obama-assad-must-go/]

Others, however, noted that this could be simply a case of face saving denials.

[https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/326846-syrian-civil-war-washington/]

Personally, I think that both of these explanations are correct.

There is no doubt that Obama is an exceptionally weak, and even clueless, President.

The man has proven to have no vision, no understanding of international relations, his culture is minimal while his arrogance appears to be infinite – he is all about form over substance.

This is the ideal mix to win a Presidential election in the USA, but once in the White House this is also a recipe for disaster.

When such a non-entity is placed at the top of the Executive branch of government, the different part of government do not get a clear message of what the policy is and, as a result, they each begin doing their own thing without worrying too much about what the POTUS has to say.

The recent article by Sy Hersh “Military to Military” is a good illustration of that phenomenon.

[http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n01/seymour-m-hersh/military-to-military]

Being weak and lacking vision (or even understanding) Obama’s main concern is conceal his limitations and he therefore falls back on the oldest of political tricks: he tells his audience whatever it wants to hear.

Exactly the sames goes for Kerry too.

Both of these man will say one thing to the Russian rulers or during an interview with a Russian journalist, and the exact opposite to an American reporter.

That kind of “schizophrenia” is perfectly normal, especially in the USA.

To use the expression coined by Chris Hedges, the USA is an “Empire of Illusion”. [http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132]

The US society has an apparently infinite tolerance for the fake as long as the fake looks vaguely similar to the real thing.

This is true on all levels, ranging from the food Americans eat, to the way they entertain themselves, to the politicians they elect and to the putative invincibility of the armed forces their taxes pay for.

It is all one gigantic lie, but who cares as long as it is a fun, emotionally reassuring lie.

In the Syrian context, this ability to ignore reality results in the support of terrorism in the name democracy, the conduct of an “anti-Daesh” campaign which results in Daesh dramatically increase it’s territory, the accusation that Assad used chemical weapons and now the “Assad can stay but he must go” policy.

This ability to completely decouple rhetoric and reality can sometimes have a positive side-effect.

For example, even if this week saw a Zag!

From the US Administration in terms of rhetoric, this does not necessarily mean that the USA will continue to attempt to overthrow Assad.

The opposite is also true, however.

The fact that the US has said that Assad can stay in no way implies that the US will stop trying to overthrow him.

The bottom line is this: yes, there was definitely a Zag! this week, but only time will tell how much of a zag we are dealing with.

In this context I highly recommend the recent article by Alexander Mercouris entitled “Russian diplomacy achieved a trio of Security Council Resolutions over the last month which give Russia a decisive advantage” in which he explains how Russia has achieved victory after victory at the UN Security Council.

[http://thesaker.is/russian-diplomacy-achieved-a-trio-of-security-council-resolutions-over-the-last-month-which-give-russia-a-decisive-advantage/]

What is important here is that with each of these Russian-sponsored Resolution the number of available options for the USA are gradually being reduced.

Another factor also reducing the US options are all the tactical successes of the Syrian military whose progress is slow, but steady.

The intensive pace of Russian airstrikes is having an effect on Daesh and the Syrians are slowly advancing on all fronts.

There has been no Daesh collapse yet, but if the Syrians continue to advance as they have done so far their offensive will eventually reach a critical point when the quantity of their small (tactical) victories will end up triggering a qualitative (operational) reaction and Daesh will begin to collapse.

Of course, the Daesh fighters will have the option of finding safety in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and elsewhere, but the psychological impact of a Daesh defeat in Syria will be huge.

So far there are no signs of a possible Turkish invasion of northern Syria, no signs that anybody is still thinking about imposing a no-fly zone, and besides the murder of Samir Kuntar in an Israeli airstrike, it appears that the S-400s are achieving the desired deterrent effect.

In other words, while US leaders have their heads stuck deep up into their own delusions, the events on the ground are slowly but steadily reinforcing the Russian position and vindicating Russia’s stance.

In the meantime, the Syrian Christians who follow the Gregorian Calendar are celebrating Christmas in the streets of Latakia in a clear sign that a multi-confessional Syria still exists and has a future.

u/1AmericanHero · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

(from another thread) Note that canada is not different from america, since they are on the same continent.

Who got bailed out in 2008? Was it ... the capitalists????? Think about that, there was endless money to be spent when billionaires and banks gambled and lost. But when we need money for infrastructure and education, somehow we are given lines and bullshit that "we can't afford it"? Where's the missing trillions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVjz1OyBJCc

More sites on the distribution of wealth and power in North america (since Us and canada's economy are basically one and the same).

The distribution of power in america:

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Net_worth_and_financial_wealth.gif

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Go do some reading and get educated

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/.

Here's some more:

http://www.straight.com/life/chris-hedges-harper-venal-us-politics-totally-rigged

http://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-Consent-Political-Economy-Media

Google: Chris hedges

Richard wolf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2g26mTV7w

u/TechNarcissist88 · 1 pointr/conspiracy

The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler

Empire Of Illusion - Chris Hedges

The Collapse of Complex Societies - Joseph Tainter

The End Of Growth - Richard Heinberg

u/dr_shark_bird · 1 pointr/academia

u/polyphonal's answers are good, although I'd mention that that the prevalence of postdocs varies by field - there are still plenty of fields where people go straight from the PhD to a TT (tenure-track) job. Postdocs are more typical in STEM fields. For other resources, I've heard good things about this book: The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research, the Chronicle is good for getting a feel for important issues in higher ed in the US, and The Professor is In is great for more detailed (and unflinching) observations on how to get a TT job.

u/redditfromnowhere · 1 pointr/philosopherproblems

Get "Writing Philosophy: A Student's Guide to Writing Philosophy Essays". I highly recommend it in any Philosophical toolkit. It'll help with reading, writing, and understanding Philosophy.

Also, the "60 Second Adventures In Thought" series is a quick start into some famous thought experiments.

u/Tactineck · 1 pointr/ems

Blackenglish.com redirects here.

u/StolenStolichnaya · 1 pointr/books
u/DankAssPenguin · 1 pointr/dndmemes

Go on a quest to attain the tome of leadership and influence

u/nakama009 · 1 pointr/GAMSAT

Here. The essay guide was made by a Canadian. I'm sorry.

Alternatively. There's a Canadian version of this book too.

Try the ACER material sample questions (blue book). See how you go. Then make adjustments to your study plan. Try ebay for Des O'Neill books. I reckon you only need the Science Revision, Science MCQs, and Humanities MCQs books.

u/JeffBlock2012 · 1 pointr/pics

recommended for him:
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331476016&sr=8-1

basically it's a gloomy forecast/reality of what is happening to our society as fewer and fewer are reading and more and more are relying on "spectacle" (video) to get all their information.

u/callitbendo · 1 pointr/NoFap

a chapter in chris hedges book empire of illusion is about the porn industry. It made me feel so guilty for taking pleasure in that shit.

u/iguot3388 · 1 pointr/AskReddit

I noticed most of these posts are about fiction. I feel like all the books I read change my life, but the biggest ones that changed the way I look at the world have been:

Pop Science books by Steven Johnson (Emergence, Everything Bad is Good For You, Where Good Ideas Come From) and Malcolm Gladwell (Blink, Tipping Point, Outliers). These books changed all of my preconceived notions, and gave me a drive to search for intelligent outside perspectives. Emergence was especially influential. I approach Emergence in an almost religious way, you can see "God" or whatever you would call it, in Emergent intelligent behavior, a more science-friendly conception of God, I feel the same way when I watch Koyaanisqaatsi.

A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber. Most people either like Ken Wilber or hate him. To me, he gives a good model of looking at religion, spirituality, science, society, myth, and the way different people think similar to Joseph Campbell. If you ever wonder why religious people think a certain way, and scientific people and postmodern philosophers think a different way, this is the book.

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. I didn't even finish this book because I got to depressed. It may be pretty biased, but it is really one of the best geopolitical books out there. I learned everything I needed to know about foreign policy and the economic conflict going on around the world.

EDIT: Another great one is The Book by Alan Watts

u/Interior_Castle · 1 pointr/Catholicism

> Or they're bad at it.

from my perspective, doctor peterson is not particularly good at challenging the commisars; it is a testament to how far fallen we are as a society that "men and women are, on the whole, similar but different," "gender ideology is bonkers," and "Christianity actually has some wisdom to impart" are considered controversial, heroic positions to adopt in the public sphere

i was not impressed with doctor peterson's recent bob-and-weave routine when he was asked give his thoughts on the bolsheviks, the holodomor, and ethnic/religious/cultural warfare; his eventual concession that he "[couldn't] do it" was admirable in its honesty, though not in its display of intellectual courage

> However, I was more lamenting are inability to have a certain reach even if we are brilliant.

i am reminded of two things:

this

and

this

u/Vok250 · 1 pointr/youtubehaiku

> Even the townhall, while I'm glad it happened, was staged like it was a WWE event.

Hahaha I read a book about that in college. Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Hahaha ^^oh ^^no

u/VibrantIndigo · 1 pointr/TwoXChromosomes

You're awesome, and well done for making that decision. An amazing book that really helped me with parenting was How To Talk So Kids'll Listen ... https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Kids-Will-Listen/dp/1848123094 as I learned parenting skills consciously that had never been modelled for me.

u/vortexcubed · 1 pointr/pcgaming

> Yeah, it's counter-intuitive. Why would you go against consumers this way?

You're not seeing the larger picture.... this isn't about consumers, this is about control of world markets. You're missing the larger historical context, the NSA is all about control and management of information for corporate profits.

Most have no clue what's really going on in the world... the elites are afraid of political awakening.

This (mass surveillance) by the NSA and abuse by law enforcement is just more part and parcel of state suppression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttv6n7PFniY

Science on reasoning, reason doesn't work the way we thought it did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

Brezinski at a press conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmUS--QCYY

The real news:

http://therealnews.com/t2/

http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/069114589X/

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Government-Surveillance-Security-Single-Superpower/dp/1608463656/r

http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446/

Look at the following graphs:

IMGUR link - http://imgur.com/a/FShfb

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

And then...

WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-haiti-minimum-wage-the-nation-2011-6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

"We now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.

In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture—attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies—to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion."

Important history:

http://williamblum.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcA1v2n7WW4

u/MiaAlgia · 1 pointr/pornfree

Read chapter 2 from this book
Chris Hedges - Empire of Illusion
https://youtu.be/vOZLdw6n2L4
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132

You can get it on Kindle. This will probably give you everything you need. It really helped my husband. The one ex porn actress explains how she got into porn and why. It also looks at the porn industry since the 70's and how the unscrupulous pieces of shit have started targeting children.

If anything could possibly give you sympathy for women in porn, it is chapter 2 from this book.

u/puheenix · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

It sounds to me like psychedelics have catalyzed a stage of development for you that many people reach that way, and others reach in different ways. I came to a similar transition (and I'm still in it) without psychedelics, and then embraced psychedelics from that place.

This stage I think you're entering is called many things by many people -- Kohlberg's "post-conventional stage of moral development" being the most popular term in developmental psychology, but not the most helpful. It sounds pretty bland, but the transition into this stage is anything but boring. It's often experienced by individuals as a struggle, crisis, or catastrophe.

My own transition has been a mix of all three, and has taken (so far) about four or five years. I suspect I'm on the exit ramp headed toward a new kind of equilibrium, but I don't feel stabilized here yet, for what it's worth. I've struggled with nihilism, thoughts of suicide, several career changes, loss of community and common ground with old friends, and dissolution of many closely-held beliefs. It's rewarding, though, discovering more of my own truth at each milestone of the journey. Despite the whirlwind of torturous emotions, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

What most defines this new stage is the ability to define the purpose of life in one's own terms without consulting the conventions or norms of society (and that's going to sound to most people like, "oh hey, that's me! I fucking hate the conventions and norms! I must already be at this stage." Don't kid yourself -- being cynical about the mainstream media doesn't mean you know how to abandon moral conventions, and anyway, I wouldn't recommend doing so without being completely forced into it by your own conscience). The reason this transition comes with such emotional turbulence is that many of us derive our psychosocial stability from those same conventions we're questioning. It feels like standing on the branch you're sawing off. A lot of people back down from the challenge, not daring to upend their stable lives, relationships, or resources.

There's another, more subtle way to cheat yourself out of this evolution: it's possible to experience all these upsets and struggles without actually transitioning to a post-conventional frame of reference or completing the stage transition -- you can simply hop from one set of norms into another. If, for instance, you go from being a traditional neoliberal capitalist with ambitions of success and financial security, to suffering an existential crisis, and then find yourself suddenly caring only about the Earth and committing to live in a hippie commune, then you may simply adopt hippie conventions and an environmentalist ethos without searching your own soul first. If you do so, beware; your developmental urge to be free is still lurking beneath the surface, and you'll eventually have to quit playing the conventional game and tend to your own issues of free will, integration, and self-expression.

Carl Jung wrote wonderfully on this topic, often calling it "the psychic ordeal," or simply, "individuation," and I highly recommend reading up on it -- though his writing is a bit dense and perplexing, it's rewarding. Some other authors have taken deep approaches to this quandary, too, and turned out some very helpful guides. My favorites have been Ken Wilber (A Brief History of Everything is a profound framework for understanding the development of your own psyche), Terence McKenna (whom you're probably well acquainted with, if you're into the psychedelic side of this journey), and unexpectedly, Jordan Peterson (who often rubs me the wrong way, but his Maps of Meaning lecture series is excellent for both scholarship and personal philosophy). Each of these guys has an incomplete map of the territory, and their map is still far, far away from any other person's experience on the journey, but having a few maps is comforting as fuck, and sometimes important to help you orient yourself.

Lastly, even though this journey is completely individual, it helps to know other people who are somewhere on the path, taking a similar journey or looking back at it from a new place. The times I've spent talking even briefly to others in the struggle -- whether they were older or younger, more or less experienced than me, more or less intelligent, or more or less informed -- has been comforting and stabilizing. I've been wholeheartedly surprised and delighted by the depth of wisdom that a 21-year-old will share when confronting nihilism and disillusionment.

If you'd like to connect and compare notes on the journey, or just want to shoot the shit, PM me. I'm not a trained expert, but I've got empathy for your struggle, and could always use a good conversation with a fellow skeptic of convention. Good luck to you, fellow traveler.

u/ZapMePlease · 1 pointr/skeptic

Straight and Crooked Thinking is, imho, one of the best books on the subject. It's older but has been updated recently. It's not mentioned a lot which I find odd - perhaps not well known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_and_Crooked_Thinking

https://www.amazon.ca/Straight-Crooked-Thinking-Robert-Thouless/dp/1444117181/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=straight+and+crooked+thinking&qid=1573660466&sr=8-1

u/ramziger · 0 pointsr/nonduality

"Everything that exists is made of something smaller" - This reminds me of the holon philosophy (https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Everything-Ken-Wilber/dp/1570627401) - a holon is both itself a whole while at the same time being a part of a larger whole, so that reality becomes a series of nested holons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_theory_(Ken_Wilber)

u/GrammaAska · 0 pointsr/grammar

The Associated Press Stylebook. It's made for journalists and updated every year, so it's very practical and modern, and it discusses all the little grammar/style faux pas that could make you look ignorant but isn't overly academic.

https://www.amazon.com/Associated-Press-Stylebook-2019-Briefing/dp/1541699890

u/fungussa · -1 pointsr/climateskeptics

To the scientifically illiterate and logically challenged, it would appear that you have a point there, that your observations of your local weather conditions can be extrapolated to the state of the planet's climate.

Your method is rhetoric, not science. If you're unaware that your method is in fact rhetoric, then I would suggest you read this book - Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga.

u/ButtEnthusiast · -7 pointsr/television

I'm seeing a lot of left wing this and right wing that. Let me set something straight.
First of all, there is no "liberal media." There is absolutely no evidence to support or suggest that the media as a whole have decidedly left leanings. In fact, just a cursory Google search about this issue can yield these results:
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/02/the_wing_nut_myth_that_refuses_to_die_why_the_one_simple_reason_why_theres_no_liberal_media_conspiracy/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8oHl3ooeZo

https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Liberal-Media-Edward-Herman/dp/0820441864

and so on.
If the media was so liberal, why did Sanders get little to no coverage?
If the media is so liberal why did Trump dominate ratings and news reports during the entire election cycle?
If the media is so liberal why is it now only owned by a handful of corporations whose only concern is money and viewership?
If there is a union strike, how does the media respond? It says this is what happens to you. It doesn't say shit about what these people are going through, they just say that your next flight will be delayed a few hours and you get pissed at those damn protesters.
I can go on and on. There is no liberal media

Also, Republicans don't have an equivalent or care about this sort of thing (in regards to Colbert and Stewart being popular "liberal" commentators). My family is full of conservatives. They just ignore everything that isn't Fox. They think anything from PBS to CNN is liberal nonsense. They have no problem drowning it out. Piss off with this liberal media bullshit. It doesn't exist. Everything has moved so far to the right, that anything that would have been considered moderate 10-20 years ago is now considered liberal/communist etc. If the goal posts move far enough to the right, everything is viewed as "left."

tl;dr There is no liberal media.