231–240 of 294 posts
http://caporasolab.us/An-Introduction-To-Applied-Bioinformat...
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If you write one page a day, you would write a ~400-page book every year.
Not really, when I write a page per day, I end up with 20 pages in a year. At least for me, rewriting is a very important part of the process.
The Road to Reality, by Roger Penrose: http://www.amazon.com/Road-Reality-Complete-Guide-Universe/d... This has been a really refreshing book for me to read. I studied mathematics in college but haven't really exercised that part of my brain since graduating and working as a programmer. Although this book is probably inaccessible to someone without some formal mathematical training, it's still one-of-a-kind. Nobody e…
Did you get through the book? I've tried twice so far in my life, I've stalled out each time. Any tricks?
If for instance you find that you need a refresher on complex integration, don't stop reading and do quarter's worth of review of complex analysis. Don't expect to complete a year of differential geometry in the few chapters that lead to Gravity.
After you finish through the a first pass, definitely go back to sections that you want to understand better and do the necessary work to improve your understanding.
Capital in the Twenty First Century, Thomas Piketty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Cen... I've always been a bit embarrassed for the economics profession; it's always seemed to me that it could be where math meets sociology and psychology, but is instead where politics meets unfounded conjecture. Piketty changed that for me. He does true science here. I read it because I noticed that it has…
I think you may be doing economics somewhat of an injustice. There is certainly a lot of politics and some unfounded conjecture too, but in many cases it is the social "science" that manages to use formalization to reach real conclusions. Macroeconomics concepts such as "stimulus" are usually the example of the bad kind. But a lot of economics, especially microeconomics isn't. There are real usable conclusions that h…
Franklin was the equivalent of an open source purist. He was determined to uncover truth, better himself, and inform the world.
"I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which was called the Junto;… every member, in his turn, should produce ... queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company;”
Hacker News might benefit from Junto policy, making members pay money for encouraging and destructive comments that are not in the spirit of inquiry.
"Our debates were ... conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory; and, to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties."
Discussion in his Junto meetings led to volunteer fire departments, America’s first circulating library, and a school that became the Univ. of Pennsylvania. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junto_(club)
Looks like it's my turn to provide the cliche hipster answer: The Wind Up Bird Chronicle , by Haruku Murakami: http://www.amazon.com/The-Wind-Up-Bird-Chronicle-Novel/dp/06... If you're familiar with Murakami, it's par for the course and considered one of his pivotal novels. If you're not: surrealist, dreamlike modern fiction often centering around ideas of masculinity, post-war fallout, and urban ennui. Incredibly st…
Ulysses by James Joyce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_%28novel%29 For most of my life, I focused on the logical, external, left-brain side of life. I saw little value in art (and even spurned it as something pretentious people did to seem more cultured). And so, I defined myself as “logical”, “left-brain”, “scientist”, etc and rejected the tags: “right-brain”, “artist”, etc. Leading up to reading Ulysses, I ha…
I wasn't a massive fan of either in terms of readability though - would much prefer to read Moby Dick, Don Quioxte or a good translation of the Odyssey. All felt more rewarding but more readable to me.
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky and the related sequences.
I would say HPMoR is like Gödel Escher Bach, but slightly simpler and more approachable, and looks at stuff from a different angle. And Eliezer is an excellent writer, just like D. Hofstadter -- and his style is even more fun!
If you're on HN, then you'll enjoy this book immensely.
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Doesn't seem hipsterish at all to me. FWIW, I wouldn't really say that any book in 2014 changed my life, but... if I had to name my favorite book of 2014 there's a good chance that I'd pick After Dark by Murakami. It was my first Murakami and I thought it was very good. Murakami rocks.
After Dark is next on my list (finishing up Colorless Tsukuru Tasaki now). I'm super excited for it.
I enjoyed that one a lot as well. My next Murakami will probably be either 1Q84 or Norwegian Wood.
1. Nikola Tesla's autobiography:
http://www.mystacki.com/#!/binder/35/nikola-tesla%27s-autobi...
2. Swami Vivekananda's complete works: http://www.mystacki.com/#!/binder/45/swami-vivakananda
3. David Bohm on creativity: http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Routledge-Classics-David-Bo...
I have been reading these three authors for many years, over and over again. In his autobiography, Tesla brings forth many exciting things about his creative process. He could prototype complete machines in his mind before building them. In his mind he could run tests, even see scars and blemishes on his machines. In my coding, I (feebly) try to emulate his method by trying to visualize my coding prototype in my mind. His short autobiography reads like that of a mystic. In there he describes how the idea of AC current came to him, while taking a walk and looking into the Sun. Philosophically, everything in life alternates: the pairs of opposites, ebb and flow-- its seems to be the code of life; and AC current does the same, it alternates. His writings on Electricity are against the established grain: for him electricity (his only love) is the current of life. There cannot be two electricities(positive and negative,) he says, these are only terms for the state of having more or less of the same thing.
David Bohm has important things to say about the creative process. He talks about completeness (wholeness) of thought. He talks about "mental models" that we create to understand reality and how we keep growing out of older models... newtonian physics gives way to relativity etc.
Swami Vivekananda was a contemporary of Tesla and they did actually meet. He was a scholar of the Indian philosophy system called Advaita and Sankhya. As Jung has said about archetypes -- same thoughts occur to people of all ages, the Sankhya philosophy system believed in the equivalence of matter and energy. Vivekananda introduced these ideas to Tesla and expected him to prove them. But the proof came ten years later with Einstein. I have written about this here: http://www.mystacki.com/#!/post/132/vivakanand's-meeting-wit...