Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#201

Post by arethuza » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:23 AM UTC

killaken2000 wrote: post #147

saryant wrote: post #42

1) Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor Everything from the tulip craze to the dotcom boom. 2) If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face? by Alan Alda Alan Alda of MASH fame teaches you how to build more empathy and improve your communication skills. 3) Bad Blood by James Carreyou Theranos. Enough said. 4) Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in…

+1 for bad blood as well. I don't think I've read a book faster. Every chapter was more unbelievable that the next.

If someone had written Bad Blood as a work of fiction I'm sure it would have been savaged for being completely unrealistic.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#202

Post by KevanM » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:23 AM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #111

I cycle from business to pulp fiction to classics to non-fiction to biographies. Right now I'm doing classics. I find that taking a month or two each year and reading classics I may have overlooked makes all the other books I read that much better. (It also gives them a higher bar to reach!) This month it's The Count of Monte Cristo and The Brothers Karamazov. I'm having a blast. I can't believe it's taken me this lo…

The Count of Monte Cristo is fabulous, it sags a bit in Paris, but otherwise a rip roaring read.

I was recently in Brittany and there was a sea gaol off one of the beaches that reminded me how great that book is.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#203

Post by Tepix » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:25 AM UTC

Of all the books I read this year, I liked "Five billion years of solitude" by Lee Billings the most:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17707637-five-billion-ye...

It's mostly about the Exoplanet boom in astronomy. It also has a lot of philosophical aspects.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#204

Post by charlchi » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:28 AM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #111

I cycle from business to pulp fiction to classics to non-fiction to biographies. Right now I'm doing classics. I find that taking a month or two each year and reading classics I may have overlooked makes all the other books I read that much better. (It also gives them a higher bar to reach!) This month it's The Count of Monte Cristo and The Brothers Karamazov. I'm having a blast. I can't believe it's taken me this lo…

If you enjoy The Brothers Karamazov I couldn't recommend one of Dostoevsky's other books enough: Notes from the underground. IMO a must read for any intellectual that has ever struggled with anything from self-deprecating thoughts to superiority complexes.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#205

Post by whiteandnerdy » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:31 AM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #73

jetrink wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's the findings of a statistical analysis of the life and habits of millionaires. I have not read The Millionaire Next Door, but that seems fraught. Does it avoid survivorship bias? E.g. Playing the lottery is a 'habit' common to all lottery winners, but it's also common to all lottery losers, of whom there are many more. If you only studied the winners though, the lottery might start to look like a wise investme…

I think a key difference is you have a choice to either be a lottery winner, loser or non-participant. From the "Millionaire" or not game we're all "losers" by default.

I think the objection still applies. Suppose the statistical analysis told us that millionaires mostly get where they are by comparatively risky strategies or investments. Does that tell us we should also pursue high-risk high-yield opportunities? It's impossible to know without knowing how many people acted similarly to the successful millionaires but went bust or ended up in jail.

On the other hand, a low risk strategy might give you a comfortable life with high probability, but almost certainly won't make you a millionaire.

You need to know the base rate to understand whether survivorship bias is a factor or not.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#206

Post by srom » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:39 AM UTC

1) Adults in the room - Yanis Varoufakis (2017)

must read for anyone leaving in, or interested in the politics of the European Union; the book is a political memoir of Varoufakis' fight against the EU institutions during his 6 months as finance minister of Greece in early 2015.

The people of Greece had elected the syriza government to put an end to the incredibly harsh austerity they've been through during the past 5 years. But the Greek government had agreed to, and was bounded by the terms of the two bailout programs from the Eurozone & the IMF. Faced with a dilemma, democracies must compromise. But Democracy has no place in the Eurozone, as Wolfgang Shäuble, former finance minister of Germany, puts it very clearly during his first meeting with Varoufakis: "Elections cannot be allowed to change economic policy".

Three years after the events recounted, this book is still very much relevant, and anyone wanting to understand EU politics ought to read it.

--

2) And the Weak Suffer What They Must? - Yanis Varoufakis (2016)

Companion book to the first one, it explained how the Eurozone crisis came to be by recounting its history from the end of the second world war to today. A key book to understand the institutions of the European Union, whether or not you agree with Varoufakis' economic theories. I highly recommend it, as it is very well written, in plain english, with no economic background required.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#207

Post by tramtrist » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:42 AM UTC

Before Church and State: A Study of Social Order in the Sacramental Kingdom of St. Louis IX

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#208

Post by ProfDreamer » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:47 AM UTC

"The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage" by Clifford Stoll is my all time favorite for vacation reading.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#209

Post by Eridrus » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:51 AM UTC

I read "The New Jim Crow" yesterday. A lot of it is familiar, but the sheer scale of how many black men are incarcerated was eye opening. The extent that we discriminate against released criminals was also eye opening, even if some of it was things I knew in the back of my mind.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#210

Post by dswalter » Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 10:58 AM UTC

mercutio2 wrote: post #58

pbnjay wrote: post #14

For sci-fi recs: I recently read The Three-body Problem by Cixin Liu (a trilogy) and thought it was really good. Also just started another sci-fi trilogy with A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge which has some really fun and interesting (if hand-wavy) ideas about deep space physics.

Wow! You managed to juxtapose my favorite and least favorite science fiction. I’ve never read anything bad by Vernor Vinge. I could not find a single thing to like about The Three Body Problem. I’ve heard it gets better after the first book, but I loathed the first book so thoroughly I wasn’t willing to try any more. What did you like about it? It seemed like there was practically zero plot, and the science bits seem…

I agree that the first two three body problem books (I've just finished dark forest) have some weak points on character development and dialogue.

But I've really enjoyed them so far because the books have surprised me at least a dozen times.