141–150 of 211 posts
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Also his "Cryptonomicon", a phenomenal novel.
Snow crash was great as well. Also the "Daemon" series by Daniel Suarez is great along the same lines as snow crash.
http://books.google.com/books?id=tquxD6dk914C&printsec=f...
From a HN perspective, this book is inspiring because it documents the tenacity of both of these men in the face of grinding failure.
http://books.google.com/books?id=tquxD6dk914C&pg=PA214#v...
From a personal perspective, it was eye-opening, because I have always lionized Gandhi and despised Churchill, and the rather clinical look this book takes at their lives shows both their warts and blemishes.
Neal Stephenson's "Anathem". Seriously one of the best novels I've ever read. He's an excellent writer, and after about the first fifty pages I couldn't put it down.
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I liked Daemon. A rogue AI story that doesn't depend on strong AI. This talk by him was interesting (which was how I found out about the book): http://fora.tv/2008/08/08/Daniel_Suarez_Daemon_Bot-Mediated_...
Daemon and Freedom are very good. The only problem I had (at it is pretty minor) is that for an AI that keeps asserting that it is just a canned set of production rules (i.e. wait until happens then do ) it seems to possess a remarkable degree of general intelligence.
"Land of Lisp" http://landoflisp.com/ I'm not even finished with it, but it has still introduced me to Lisp, functional programming, artificial life, and web servers as well completely changed the way I program.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Daemon and Freedom are very good. The only problem I had (at it is pretty minor) is that for an AI that keeps asserting that it is just a canned set of production rules (i.e. wait until happens then do ) it seems to possess a remarkable degree of general intelligence.
I chalked that up to the billionaire supergenius creator, which also hurts the plausibility a bit.
http://www.amazon.com/Different-Escaping-Competitive-Youngme...
Exceptional book about the environmental, social and individual costs of industrial animal farming. Also somewhat philosophical about consuming animals and cruelty against them.
Also enjoyed The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel. After reading about Hardy in this book, I have read "A Mathematician's Apology" which was excellent too.