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Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

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Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#241

Post by cooperadymas »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #223
madmax108 wrote: post #134

My recommendations from books I read this year: Bad Blood : Man, this book really does read like a Hollywood movie screenplay. The rise and fall of Theranos, documented through interviews with hundreds of ex-employees by the very author who came up with the first expose of Theranos. Truly shows the flaws in the "fake it before you make it" mindset and how we glorify "geniuses". Shoe Dog : Biography of the founder of…

I found the three body problems' representation of a computer with 30 million soldiers really stupid. I didn't read the book because of people raving about how clever that concept of the human computer is. http://linusrosskamp.com/articles/2017-08/three-body-problem... Guess what. You can achieve the same power of computation with 1 person, a pen, a paper and our standard number symbols 0-9. Do people not realize why…

I understand your hesitation to read the books based on the premise of this article, but there is a lot of story complexity for why they created this computer that the article doesn't touch on. The scene is still perhaps a little cheesy, but it isn't entirely unwarranted.

It's also a small part of the story. I wouldn't judge the entire trilogy based on thinking this one scene is really stupid.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#242

Post by eli_gottlieb »

Ongoing reads:

* Principles of Neural Design by Peter Sterling

* What Science Offers the Humanities by Edward Slingerland

* Category Theory for Programmers by Bartosz Milewski

* How Do You Feel? by Bud Craig

Completed reads:

* The Book of Why by Judea Pearl

* Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi

* The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse

* The Next Revolution by Murray Bookchin

* Democratic Confederalism by Abdullah Ocalan

* A bunch of trashy pulp scifi

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#243

Post by dacox »

jds375 wrote: post #233
soVeryTired wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Three Body Problem had some flashy ideas (like controlling the CMBR, and building a computer the size of a proton), but I didn't really feel like it had much depth. It had none of the great social commentary that you often get in sci-fi, and I thought the characters were kind of two-dimensional. Overall it just didn't really do it for me.

I actually disagree and have wondered myself how he got such a book published in China. He is very critical of China's history throughout the series and collectivism. Also the sophons seem (at least to me) to be a direct parallel to the 'surveillance state' concerns that China has right now and how the citizens feel about them

The translator for volume 1 and 3 addressed this in an AMA, actually.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SF_Book_Club/comments/30xhj0/three_...

I enjoyed the 3 books. After reading the first one I was intrigued but it didn't blow me away. After reading all of them I am very appreciative of the epic scope, and while the it seemed to have less character development, the ideas more than made up for it.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#244

Post by rhcom2 »

"There, There" by Tommy Orange - Fiction that explores how the Native American identity, traditionally rural with a heavy focus on nature, has changed since most Native Americans became urban, specially grouped in Oakland, CA.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#245

Post by nkg »

nop_slide wrote: post #141

- A Random Walk Down Wall Street: I got much more interested in personal finance this year, and definitely recommend this book as a stepping stone for learning about investing. - Frankenstein: Highly recommend! It is nothing like it is portrayed to be in pop culture and I thoroughly enjoyed it. - Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in America: It is literally unbelievable. It follows Katy Tur, a…

I've also read Dune this year. It deserves the status it has in the sci fi world! I don't know whether I should read the sequels or not. If it is not as good, it may spoil my feelings towards the 1st book.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#246

Post by granjoz »

ncphillips wrote: post #111

Author: Nicole Forsgren Book: Accelerate I picked up this book after hearing high praises from Martin Fowler and Dan North during conference talks. Forsgren and her colleagues have been doing research into DevOps and its effects on organizational performance. This is a much more rigorous account than is usual in this space, so I believe it is a must read for everyone in software. --- Author: Gerald Weinberg Books: *…

I started 'Introduction to General Systems Thinking' but I abandoned because I couldn't find anything interesting in it. I think I didn't really get it even though I had big expectations. What would you said it's the main idea?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#247

Post by protomok »

yboris wrote: post #107
cocacola1 wrote: post #2

How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler - I come back to this book constantly and I absolutely love it. Highly recommended. 5/5. Deep Work by Cal Newport - Could be summed up in a blog post. 3/5 (for the message; lower otherwise - maybe 2-2.5/5) Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount - Could be summed up in a blog post, but I think he makes a point on cold calling - if you need to do it, suck it up and do it. And that a…

Deep Work is excellent and likely a very useful read for most of the programmers / engineers / (data) scientists ... pretty much any "information worker"!

Another +1 from Deep Work. The main takeaway for me was the following quote:

"We spend much of our day on autopilot, not giving much thought to what we are doing with our time. This, is a problem. It's difficult to prevent the trivial from creeping into every corner of your schedule if you don't face without flinching your current balance between deep and shallow work"

I tried his pretty extreme recommendation to schedule every minute of every day (see chapter 'Rule #4' or 6:30:30 in the audiobook), my summary below:

   -> I use a 4"x6" lined post-it note pad and block out 30 minute/block blocks throughout the day
   -> Interruptions are scheduled for future blocks (although occasional mandatory interruptions
      of course occur from time to time), and I edit the post-it note throughout the day
   -> At the end of the week I do a post-mortem and review which tasks slipped to the next week and recap what happened
I've found a surprising amount of distractions lurking throughout my day that I've been able to eliminate. Scheduling your day is also really compatible with Agile development as you can easily answer why your JIRAs slipped into the next sprint, what your blockers were, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#248

Post by james_s_tayler »

jonahx wrote: post #228
Delmania wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First hand account of being in a concentration camp. Frankl was lucky in that he was shipped from Auschwitz, but it was still a brutal existence.

Yes I know what it is, I was questioning the "brooo... " comment, which seemed so tonally inappropriate and weird in what otherwise seemed like a thoughtful list.

Cos I addressed that one to the author, not the audience.

It's like I imagine he's standing right in front of me and what my visceral response would be to him. From one human to another I'm sorry we're capable of putting each other through that.

That book is just unyieldingly bleak in the most gripping way. And he was such a good guy right til the very end.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#249

Post by save_ferris »

madmax108 wrote: post #134

My recommendations from books I read this year: Bad Blood : Man, this book really does read like a Hollywood movie screenplay. The rise and fall of Theranos, documented through interviews with hundreds of ex-employees by the very author who came up with the first expose of Theranos. Truly shows the flaws in the "fake it before you make it" mindset and how we glorify "geniuses". Shoe Dog : Biography of the founder of…

Bad Blood should be required reading for startup founders and those that work in startups generally. I had so many flashbacks to prior companies I worked for when reading about some the ethical issues that were raised in this book.

Their big mistake was trying to use the "move fast and break things" mentality in biotech. If Holmes had started an ad company instead, she'd be lauded for her entrepreneurial accomplishments instead of being under investigation by the Feds.

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