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Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things

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141–150 of 454 posts

Re: Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things

#141
To avoid some survivorship bias and maybe offer something you wont find other recommending.

Gamasutra used to offer these amazing post mortems written up by game developers after shipping a product. Often recounting all their failures and how they still shipped.

Re: Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things

#144
post #70

Out of the Shadows By Jonathan Kingsman https://shepherd.com/book/out-of-the-shadows Amazing book about the grain markets and how they have changed over the last 40 years. "Once shadowy figures, grain merchants have now come out of the shadows. Almost everything that you eat or drink today will contain something bought, stored, transported, processed, shipped, distributed or sold by one of the seven giants of the agr…

Almost no one thinks about the modern miracle that are grocery stores. It wasn't that long ago that getting out-of-season produce was literally impossible. Today, you just put up with inferior tomatoes in the winter and be annoyed about it. The logistical complications of worldwide produce supply chains and your local supermarkets are really, really nuts.

Ya I think about as a kid I only knew two types of cheese, yellow and white. Now there is an insane number as just one example.

And the fresh fruit and veggies are crazy. Blueberries in December? How and why are we doing that :)

Re: Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost no one thinks about the modern miracle that are grocery stores. It wasn't that long ago that getting out-of-season produce was literally impossible. Today, you just put up with inferior tomatoes in the winter and be annoyed about it. The logistical complications of worldwide produce supply chains and your local supermarkets are really, really nuts.

I think most people don’t have access to supermarkets tho.

I actually think more people have access than don't...

Even in rural and developing regions, there are grocery stores, just not as fancy. I tried to find numbers, but it was hard to find the right source for that.

Anyone living in an urban area would have access and that is 60% of the global population. Plus, rural areas in the USA, Canada, Europe, Mexico, etc etc have access to one.

Only about 25% of the population are engaged in subsistence farming at this point.

Re: Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things

#147
I really "Idea Man" by Paul Newman. Though survivorship bias is apparent, it was insightful read on how Apple an Msft came to be and why they are what they are. For example, why closed system was important and worked for Apple.

It was great read until he leaves Microsoft.

Re: Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things

#148

Surviving a concentration camp seems a tad difficult. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man's_Search_for_Meaning Everyone should read this at least twice in their lives.

[flagged]

Do you mean the Holodomor famine? In any case it seems you should be the one to recommend a book on the subject.

Re: Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things

#150
post #123
post #115

Reading some of these books recommended here, perhaps the most shocking thing is that so much is due to randomness: an arbitrary person does something small that turns out to be on the critical path, and without it the big thing would not get completed. I like the kind of books recommended here, but please be aware of survivor's bias (there not many books about failures! Any great recommendations? "How we could NOT g…

That's my problem with a lot of the literature on building successful businesses. They all seem to be offering a white glove path and don't talk about all the tactics ranging from shady to downright illegal that helped many of the biggest companies today to be where they are now.

Damn you’re right I’m tired of naïve explanations we can find in books. Wouldnt the authors be in legal trouble though ?
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