111–120 of 143 posts
I've read "the lord of the rings" when I was 12, over the course of 3 days. Eat, sleep, go to bathroom, and read. Probably the biggest impact a book ever had on me.
I was probably the same age the first time I read it but I definitely wouldn’t say it changed my life. How did it impact yours?
"Thinking fast and Slow". It took around four and a half months to read it. I got the answers to some of the great mysteries related to human behavior. For example, - Why don't good people keep their promises? - Why do people don't change their miserable life when their actions could change many things? - Why does charisma trump intelligence in most of the debates? - Why is it hard to change a habit? - Why do people…
I would especially recommend it for young people. It helped me see the components of my conversations and relationships that I was taking for granted.
Without any doubt The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming. I have accomplished more in 5 years after reading it than I did in 15 years before. Much of it I attribute to the change of perspective the book brought about for me and to the fact that I have a vision of my future now. It also helped develop my own style. Second would be The Language of Mathematics by Baber. As someone who did not do wel…
This is more provincial, but I think Neal Stephenson's Fall; or, Dodge in hell makes important statements on the current and (possible? likely?) state of the future of the Internet. It's inspired me to start several projects lately - that drive is why I love good sci-fi.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Atheism is not generally faith-based. That's kind of the whole point.
Yes it is, you believe there isn’t a God if you’re an atheist. At this time there isn’t a way to prove there isn’t a God.
There are millions of other things I don't believe in too; it's the default position in many cases.
[1] That's the definition: "a person who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods" - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheist
Answer to the second question but not the title one: "The Friendly Orange Glow" by Brian Dear is a well-written history of the PLATO computer system and, most importantly, of the community that grew around it.
K&R and the C64 Programmer's Ref Guide
The Pragmatic Programmer https://pragprog.com/titles/tpp20/the-pragmatic-programmer-2... It's been a long, long time since I had access to the book; and much of it is internalized by now; but back then it changed everything for me.
While it hasn't "changed my life", I'd like to post a solid +1 for this here. I just blasted through the audiobook version (which is excellent, btw!) of the 20th anniversary 2nd edition two weeks ago, and might be able to share another perspective on this. As someone who hasn't been in the industry since the 90ies, I find absolutely astonishing how basic some of the stuff is, yet my own workplace environment is full…
The Pragmatic Programmer https://pragprog.com/titles/tpp20/the-pragmatic-programmer-2... It's been a long, long time since I had access to the book; and much of it is internalized by now; but back then it changed everything for me.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Complete
See section "Reception" in above link.