Why everyone is recommending even more work for on your summer leave is beyond me. I'd personally recommend Ready Player One, perhaps use an audiobook (I love them). I personally listened to the one voiced by Wil Wheaton and it was fantastically done. Definitely recommended! It is a lot better than the movie in case you're wondering.
Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
161–170 of 307 posts
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#162"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein. A wonderfully in depth look at a society that grew up in the harshest conditions, and their revolution against tyrannical oppression.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#163The History of the Future by Blake J. Harris. It's about the foundation and subsequent acquisition of Oculus by Facebook. He has done a lot of first-hand interviews with the involved parties.
It reads like a movie script, and it's full of drama (e.g Palmer Luckey and FB) and full of little gems and information. Even if you're not intersted in VR, it's a great read.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#164Blindsight by Peter Watts Very strong hard sci-fi with mind-bending approach to the question of conscience. And vampires (not the Twilight kind, the scary kind). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight Fair warning: it's kinda pessimistic on the future of humankind. If you like it, proceed to Echopraxia. More hard sci-fi, more vampires, even worse news for humankind.
I propose that Planet 9 (when/if is found) to be named "Big Ben"
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, the Circardian Code by Satchin Panda. I have read both recently, and there is a lot of overlap, but the Circardian Code goes beyond sleep into nutrition and execise, as well.
Oh yes, definitely. Another one from these experts is Valter Longo with his book "The Longevity Diet". All three of them were interviewed by Rhonda Patrick https://www.youtube.com/user/FoundMyFitness/videos for people who like to watch/listen before reading. Matthew was also a guest in Joe Rogan Experience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig
I found only one point in which Satchin Panda and Matthew Walker were disagreeing:
Satchin said that there were no (genetic) sleep types among humans (who prefer to get up and go to bed early, or late) referencing a paper in which a group of students went on a hiking and camping trip where they all synchronized to the same rhythm after a few days of exposure to all natural light.
Matthew, on the other hand, says that there are definitely variations in sleep time preference in humans, with a genetic base and recommends to find out so that the ideal time windows for work and sleeps are chosen. Does not give a reference, sadly.
Not sure what to make of it, really.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#166I am struggling to narrow down my selection. I want to read so many. I usually end up barely finishing just one. I am a slow reader who takes time to experience the journey.
It will be a classic work of fiction.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#167Why everyone is recommending even more work for on your summer leave is beyond me. I'd personally recommend Ready Player One, perhaps use an audiobook (I love them). I personally listened to the one voiced by Wil Wheaton and it was fantastically done. Definitely recommended! It is a lot better than the movie in case you're wondering.
"Ready Player One" was a lot of fun and really fast-paced
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#168Blindsight by Peter Watts Very strong hard sci-fi with mind-bending approach to the question of conscience. And vampires (not the Twilight kind, the scary kind). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight Fair warning: it's kinda pessimistic on the future of humankind. If you like it, proceed to Echopraxia. More hard sci-fi, more vampires, even worse news for humankind.
Someone posted this on a previous book list and I read it and I'm so glad I did, now I've read Echopraxia, and I've bought all his other books and I'm on those as well, totally awesome. I still think about this series and the vampires and hive minds.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#169I'd have to recommend 'A deepness in the sky' and 'A fire upon the deep' by Vernor Vinge. Both really good science fiction books where your initial perception is slowly shown to be incorrect as more details appear about the characters, and with great storylines. Despite being thick tomes with small print, I got through both reasonably quickly as they were so addictive to read - 'just one more chapter', etc...
If you enjoyed those books, I'd recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky as well! It explores the concept of a race of spiders evolving into sentience and how wildly different it's civilization and technology would be.
> I'd recommend Children of Time
I agree! Like the Vinge books mentioned by the GP, the interactions between aliens and humans are well written, and nicely bring out the quirks of the different species.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?
#170Inner Engineering by Sadhguru. For me it was an unexpectedly transformational when I read it 6 months ago. Unlike the stoicism books that teach you to condition yourself to be unaffected by external events, this is a method for taking charge of what goes on inside the body and (in my case) in the mind and emotions. As an aside, if you haven’t tried audiobooks, I would recommend trying. I find that after a while day o…
Could you share more about the personal transformation you experienced?
Sure, if you really want to know.
To put it into perspective: I live a life most people can only dream of - I have good looks, excellent physical condition and health, a loving family, a partner who adores me, a very comfortable income and circumstances, a job where I am made to feel valued, lots of experiences from travelling all around the world - everything that I can think of that would make one happy.
And yet, for years I have suffered from an underlying unhappiness that would periodically surface into week-long periods of depression. This has been following me for at least 20 years.
I have spent 15 years practising internal arts and they have helped me immensely - without doubt they are the foundation of a lot of the good things that I have listed above. But I still could not get at the root of my problem.
But about 7 months ago something happened. The circumstances around it are too long and frankly too weird to discuss in place like HN, but it led me to re-discover Sadhguru's teachings (I had come across him about 7 years ago but, although I appreciated the wisdom, at the time it did not connect with me).
After 6 months of practice I really feel that finally I got at that problem root and am having a good go at tugging it out and it is me who is doing it, not hoping for someone to come and magically fix it for me. I can't tell you how it feels. :)
Of course it was not just the book - it was a result of all the work I put in before over the years, but it's as good a place to start as any as recommendation for others since, in my experience, the technology there is universally applicable.