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Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

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Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#261

Post by 77pt77 »

maire wrote: post #253
77pt77 wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Thinking, Fast and Slow: Really should have been subtitled The Ludic Fallacy Run Amok. Recently I read Blink by Malcom Gladwell (somewhat recommend) and I finally understood why I hated Thinking, Fast and Slow so much. Gladwell mentions a concept called thin-sliccing [1]. I finally had a term to describe my feelings towards that book. If you pay attention to the beginning you get a pretty accurate idea of just how…

I just finished reading the Undoing Project which is a biography of Kahneman and Tversky. I realized that Kahneman and Tversky's conclusions seem the opposite of Gladwell's Blink which I read many years ago. I need to go back and read Blink again to see what I really think.

Blink is riddled with problems (as Gladwell seems to sometimes admit) but IMHO is still a far more honnest book than TFS.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#262

Post by qpooqpoo »

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #212

my reading has taken a dark turn this year. I blame it on Thomas Ligotti (first book on my list) ;) - The Conspiracy Against the Human Race (Thomas Ligotti) ... fun fact: S01 of 'True Detectives' has ripped part of the dialogue straight from this book without giving credit - The Trouble with being born (Emil Cioran) - The Industrial Society and its Future (Ted Kaczynski) - The Technological Society (Jaques Ellul) - P…

You should certainly also read the books "Technological Slavery" (2010) and "Anti-Tech Revolution" (2016) by Kaczynski

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#263

Post by pauldix »

I'm biased since I'm married to the author, but I highly recommend "Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking". Rachel (the author) does on the ground reporting in 12 countries interviewing poachers, traffickers, customers, conservationists, and government officials. Her description of meeting Sudan, the last male northern white rhino that died earlier this year, is haunting. There are also some other great scenes like her sneaking into a South African prison to meet a convicted trafficker. It's entertaining, informative and important:

https://www.amazon.com/Poached-Wildlife-Trafficking-Merloyd-...

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#265

Post by pauldix »

danso wrote: post #127

I know it's already been mentioned, but John Carreyrou's "Bad Blood" is a must-read. Even as someone who read and enjoyed every story published in the WSJ about Theranos, the book managed to have even more context and incredible (and hilarious) reporting. It's a book as entertaining as it is invaluable in its investigative journalism.

Agree, I thought I knew everything about the story, but the book had even more in it. Well written and highly entertaining. I couldn't put it down.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#266

Post by zawerf »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #235
henrik_w wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really enjoyed it too. My main takeaways: 1. Use systems, not goals. A system lets you feel good every time you follow it, whereas a goal only makes you feel good when you reach it 2. Combination of skills. If you can be good (say top 20%) in more than one domain, then that combination of skills can be enough to make you very sought after. 3. What all adults should know, like public speaking, psychology, business w…

Regarding #2: Does the book go into any specifics on how exactly you're going to be sought after or at least how to look for the people who needs generalists? I consider myself a generalist but I never ever see much interest for hiring someone like me. There's always ask for a person who's a focused pro in some niche area AND then possesses a cloud of tangential skills, though.

I have not read his book but have seen that particular point float around from links to his blog: https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/car...

> Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#267

Post by randcraw »

Insanity wrote: post #17

They weren't written in 2018, but some I enjoyed: * Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution (Steven Levy) * Masters of DOOM (David Kushner) * The simpsons and their mathematical secrets (Simon Singh) * Countdown to zero day (about stuxnet, by Kim Zetter) * Sapiens: A brief history of human kind (Yuval Noah Harari) * Coders at work (Some interviews, not all, but I enjoyed it. By Peter Seibel)

“Hackers” is brilliant. No other book captures so well the iconoclastic adventurer spirit at the heart of the microcomputer revolution from '75 to '85.

Because I and my future boss had just read “Hackers” (in 1986), we spent a job interview exchanging favorite vignettes from the book, which led to my first job in programming. This book changed my life. Thanks, Steven (and Greg)!

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#268

Post by vickychijwani »

- Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39088590-gene-machine) - by the Nobel Prize-winning discoverer of the ribosome, Venki Ramakrishnan, in the same vein as The Double Helix. Highly recommended.

- Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1842.Guns_Germs_and_Steel)

- Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18077903-creativity-inc) - about Pixar's internal culture

- An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18170143-an-astronaut-s-g...)

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#269

Post by rkho »

I enjoyed The More of Less by Joshua Becker. This year I finally had the realization that I've been accumulating way too many physical possessions that I didn't really need nor benefit from, and it's been a good introduction to practicing minimalism.

The book talks about how minimalism isn't about ridding yourself of everything but your bare necessities, but to discard things that you don't love so that you can better focus on the remaining things that are important to you. If you've read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, this point will resonate with you quite well.

I've since whittled down my wardrobe significantly, throwing out a large chunk of shirts/pants/sweaters that I haven't worn in over a year and it's actually done wonders for my health. I discovered that my bedroom had been left in neglect for a long time now, which had caused a bit of mold to grow (which in turn had given me allergy issues for the past couple months) and having to go through my clothes helped me both physically and mentally.

Another book that touches on these themes is Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown.

Maybe in 2019 I'll finally get to a point where I don't have to pack dozens and dozens of boxes when I inevitably move again.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?

#270

Post by a_c »

The Billionaire Who Wasn't - How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune

An entertaining read about a low profile billionaire who secretly gave away most of his fortune. When forbes put him on the richest list in 1988, he had already moved most of his fortune into a foundation for charity deeds

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