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Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

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Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#151

Post by JackMorgan »

mucle6 wrote: post #142
JackMorgan wrote: post #107

Wow, this is interesting, very few books I've read more than once! Even fewer are non fiction, but they sure do explain a lot about me: - Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker helped me process a number of assaults that happened to me as a child - Designing Data Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann helped me understand intuitively how databases work and how to use eventual consistency to handl…

I've heard so many good things about lisp, but unfortunately I've never had a chance to learn it. Can you share a bit on why you love it

I just get into flow state when working in lisp, more than any other language family.

Running and writing code blended together with a connected REPL is like being jacked into the machine. Imaging how much of an improvement a connected debugger is over reading through logs. This is that much of an improvement over a connected debugger. The code is live running right in the editor all the time. More like magic than debugging.

And then macros, both anaphoric and hygenic, that let you write your own language inside the lisp itself. They should be used extremely sparingly, but when used at the right time it can literally change the language itself to better suit your need.

And then the code itself being a data structure, it all feels so connected, integrated, and unified.

I have never had as much fun as I do when working in Lisps. I haven't done it for money in a while, but maybe one day again.

Let Over Lambda and SICP are what really got me turned into a lifetime lisp lover. By the end of LoL you make a version of Forth inside of lisp! https://letoverlambda.com/

Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#152

Post by magnetowasright »

I don't generally read nonfiction related to or targeted at start ups/tech/silicon valley/self help kinda stuff.

James Rhodes' (pianist) books 'Instrumental' and 'Fire on All Sides' (both memoirs) are, well, I hesitate to call them 'comfort reads' because they are harrowing. They're comforting in the sense that he brings to light some extremely confronting things (take the content warnings seriously!) and does it with earnestness, a deep desire to educate, a brilliant sense of humour, and despite never having gone through any of the things he has, the books are somehow extremely relatable. His passion for music is contagious as well.

As for general things I keep coming back to? Pretty much everything Bertrand Russell wrote. Mark Fisher, Judith Butler, too. Lots of Ancient Greek chaps, of course. Lots of philosophy.

I do sometimes read 'idiomatic ' type books for languages I'll probably never use. It's not all that impactful when not actually trying to program in the language but they're usually well written, interesting, and the ideas/philosophies/approaches to programming for the language can be valuable.

Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#153

Post by sandwichukulele »

Energy Systems: A Very Short Introduction by Nick Jenkins (2019) Oxford University Press.

I am very interested in figuring out how to reduce the cost of energy and given my background is only in CS and Economics, I frequently have to reference texts like this until I have a better understanding to move beyond

Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#154

Post by gaws »

themadturk wrote: post #144

The Soul Of A New Machine, by Tracy Kidder - The history of computing fascinates me, and this is one of my favorite books on the topic. Hackers, by Steven Levy - Again, computing history, and especially relevant to me because I started personal computing in the mid-80s and like reading about the stuff I missed. Levy is always fun to read. There are a lot of good books on the microcomputer revolution, this one is just…

> The history of computing fascinates me

Have you watched "Halt and Catch Fire?"

Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#156

Post by loveparade »

dotsam wrote: post #36

The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch. Has an exceptionally high density of good ideas. The first time I read it, I didn't love it and only engaged with it superficially. But gradually I began thinking about it more and came back to it, and I read it with more attention. After re-reading it several times I think it is one of the deepest and most important books I have ever read. It has changed how I see the worl…

I read that book and didn't take away anything from it. It left no impression. Maybe it should give it another try. Can you explain why you think it is so good?

Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#157

Post by rasulkireev »

- Antifragile

- Masters of Doom

- Atomic Habits

- How to Read a Book

- Books by Austin Kleon

I'm sure i'll remember more, but these were the ones that popped into my head. I'm trying to switch it up a little and start reading older books and get hooked so that I'm can reread those.

Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#158

Post by noud »

jjice wrote: post #115
Jimmc414 wrote: post #8

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It - Chris Voss Clear actionable direction on how to negotiate.

The ROI on this book is incredible. To be fair, it's easy to get ROI on a $10 book, but I ended up with an extra $40k-ish on a salary negotiations over the years because of some of the details in there. You just need one or two to hit. The hyper specific number idea surprisingly worked for being a pretty goofy concept to me at first.

Not only did these techniques save me money, but they also saved me a considerable amount of time. I've employed these same strategies at work and private to navigate away from requests and projects in which I have no interest.

Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#159

Post by rdmullins1978 »

themadturk wrote: post #144

The Soul Of A New Machine, by Tracy Kidder - The history of computing fascinates me, and this is one of my favorite books on the topic. Hackers, by Steven Levy - Again, computing history, and especially relevant to me because I started personal computing in the mid-80s and like reading about the stuff I missed. Levy is always fun to read. There are a lot of good books on the microcomputer revolution, this one is just…

Nice selection. Also along computer history lines, I'd recommend Bob Cringely's Accidental Empires.

Re: Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?

#160

Post by rdmullins1978 »

rdmullins1978 wrote: post #159
themadturk wrote: post #144

The Soul Of A New Machine, by Tracy Kidder - The history of computing fascinates me, and this is one of my favorite books on the topic. Hackers, by Steven Levy - Again, computing history, and especially relevant to me because I started personal computing in the mid-80s and like reading about the stuff I missed. Levy is always fun to read. There are a lot of good books on the microcomputer revolution, this one is just…

Nice selection. Also along computer history lines, I'd recommend Bob Cringely's Accidental Empires.

And/or the 3-part PBS series Triumph of the Nerds, which was based on it and has tons of great interviews with the personal computer pantheon - not just Jobs and Gates and Allen, etc., but MITS people, Intel, the behind-the-scenes people who made the IBM PC, so on. Good stuff even today (the documentary is from ~1995 ish, I think). It's on YT.
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