Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?

Recommended by a friend who works on mobility policy in India.

2. Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fiction and Illusions by Neil Gaiman - If you are into a young knight with a cool horse looking for a holy grail but to only find out an elderly woman bought it from a thrift store, and more.

1) Einsteins Dreams - This book is a quick read, but shows a bunch of different perceptions of time. Fantastic.

2) Rock warriors way - Even if you aren't a climber, I feel like this book has a lot of great lessons about committing without fear. Much more accessible as a climber though.

3) Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art - Quick read, I learned a lot about storytelling in general.

4) Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance - This is a series of essays and the first few were great views into companies creating ignorance in the 50's around smoking and link to cancer. Gets a little dense after a while.

Full list: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/18975415-samuel-mosley...

They are mainly focused on communication and getting better at selling yourself and your code. There's also a couple mixed in that will help improve other non-technical skills which in turn amplify your existing coding skills.

- Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed - It's over 20 years old now but still really good, especially if you're into planes like the U-2, F-117, and SR-71

If you're wanting a deeper understanding of the other side of the war on terror, I'd recommend the following:

- I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad

- Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea

- The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State

- After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam

- The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda

If you're wanting a dive into Russia:

- The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War

- The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries

- Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia

If you're wanting true Spy stuff:

- The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal

- The Spy's Son: The True Story of the Highest-Ranking CIA Officer Ever Convicted of Espionage and the Son He Trained to Spy for Russia

- Left of Boom: How a Young CIA Case Officer Penetrated the Taliban and Al-Qaeda (the author is a little full of himself, but still, it's interesting)