"Guns of August", Barbara Tuchman I am particularly interest in rereading it and paying particular attention to the question of judgement and how poor judgements were formed. World War 1 is notable for its poor judgements. This interest is sparked by my recently listening to [1], which was very enlightening. The essential question in our field often is not how fast we work, but if we're working on tasks worthy of att…
Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
111–120 of 400 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
#112I also recommend "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by the same author.
Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
#113Up next: God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Clear-Scientology-Hollywood-Pris...
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Bankers-History-Money-Vatican/dp/...
Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
#114Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
#115Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
#116I just read Andy Weir's The Martian in one day -- it was (obviously) fantastic. I highly recommend it.
One of the best books I read in 2013, hugely enjoyable and very funny. Was also lucky to get the 99p Kindle self published one before he got picked up by a publisher.
Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
#117Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're not missing anything. There's a reason John Rogers wrote “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
Can anyone explain to me why so many intelligent people love hating on this book? Do you disagree with her philosophy? If so - can you tell me about which things exactly made you dislike it and why? Everyone repeats this quote, and everyone generally says bad things about this book, but never anything concrete, never a clear reason what exactly is so bad about it.
I'm sorry I can't offer anything with regard to Atlas since I haven't read it but it's clearly rooted in her ridiculous philosophy of capitalist moralism. It doesn't stand up to even the most elementary scrutiny and once you apply any of it to real life you find that society would collapse in less than a year.
Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
#119It's an interesting primer on the potential benefits of synthetic biology to society at large from one of the field's luminaries.
He covers everything from engineering "mirror humans" (with inverted biochemical chirality) to reviving extinct species.