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Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

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Re: Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

#161

Post by downrightmike »

cl42 wrote: post #36

"Seeing Like a State" by James C. Scott I started my career in international development, and the book above provides a dozen case studies on states using scientific management, stats, etc. to try and control their growth/populations/economies and failing miserably. It is a beautiful book in that it illustrates how difficult it is to actually manage a country and economy well, especially if you are trying to complete…

You might like SuperCrunchers https://www.amazon.com/Super-Crunchers-Thinking-Numbers-Smar...

Re: Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

#163

Post by cartucho1 »

Errancer wrote: post #29

I would go with "Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical" by Lakatos, its a dialog-form history of defining Euler's formula and it shows the human side of mathematics as a science. I think its great as math has this unique status as providing with undoubtable knowledge but history shows that human error is possible even in this field. Alternately "The Unreality of Time" by McTaggart, it has less than 20 pag…

Philosopher here as well. I'd strongly recommend Thomas Kuhn's "The Copernican Revolution". It's a beautiful book that shows how ancient astronomy, cosmology and philosophy were interwoven, with valuable lessons for how science works even today.

From the classics I'd also recommend Hume. The "Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" is short, very well written and argues, among other things, that causality is an illusion :)

Re: Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

#164

Post by cartucho1 »

wannabebarista wrote: post #62

For logic: Language, Truth and Logic by AJ Ayer. It is an account that tried to introduce logical positivism to the English speaking world after the author visited Vienna in the 1930s. While logical positivism didn’t pan out, the book is full of the excitement of resolving multiple perennial philosophical problems all at once. The author’s enthusiasm is infectious.

For a more sociological view of what happened to logical empiricism in the US (and I'd argue, to analytic philosophy in general), George Reisch's "How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science: To the Icy Slopes of Logic" is awesome.

Re: Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

#165

Post by Jtsummers »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #157
cercatrova wrote: post #116

Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata It teaches Latin in a very cool way, where the entire book is written in Latin but it starts off with simple sentences anyone with a Romance language background can understand, before diving into deeper sentences, all while being illustrated so one can still follow the plot if they're stuck. It contrasts with very dense Latin books that focus on grammar and spelling, which often bore s…

This book is awesome. I wish they made something similar for other languages (actually French has a video series, French in Action, that is similar but not quite as effective as LLPSI).

Search for “nature method “. There are a few books in this style for various languages.

Re: Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

#166

Post by Tomte »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #157
cercatrova wrote: post #116

Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata It teaches Latin in a very cool way, where the entire book is written in Latin but it starts off with simple sentences anyone with a Romance language background can understand, before diving into deeper sentences, all while being illustrated so one can still follow the plot if they're stuck. It contrasts with very dense Latin books that focus on grammar and spelling, which often bore s…

This book is awesome. I wish they made something similar for other languages (actually French has a video series, French in Action, that is similar but not quite as effective as LLPSI).

Dutch has the Delft Method, it's a textbook and some additional materials.

Re: Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

#167

Post by zwayhowder »

Not my fields but.

The Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg for economics.

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman for design in any aspect.

Closer to my field of organisational performance/psychology.

The Fearless Organisation by Amy C Edmondson.

Re: Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

#168

Post by oreally »

I think a lot of people are completely missing the point if they're recommending textbooks or prescription-like books - it's very likely you were already interested in these subjects beforehand and are really just upholding that book as a great solution.

What really gets people interested is the narrative behind these subjects. What interesting thing happened within that field of study? What are the current problems we can solve and where are we headed? And the less the technical mumbo-jumbo, the better.

Michio Kaku's books - "Physics of the Future", "The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind (", etc. are the sort that would really influence young, fresh minds to pursue physics. He details what happens, and what could be to a sufficient detail without overloading the user with the mathematical rigour associated with these math heavy subjects.

Re: Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?

#170

Post by pyuser583 »

cl42 wrote: post #36

"Seeing Like a State" by James C. Scott I started my career in international development, and the book above provides a dozen case studies on states using scientific management, stats, etc. to try and control their growth/populations/economies and failing miserably. It is a beautiful book in that it illustrates how difficult it is to actually manage a country and economy well, especially if you are trying to complete…

I was really drawn to the topic by reading Origins of Political Order by F. Fukuyama.
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