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Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

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Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#311

Post by sridca »

Cyphase wrote: post #176

Here's Jeff Atwood's 'Recommended Reading for Developers': https://blog.codinghorror.com/recommended-reading-for-develo... From the header: > This list was last updated in March 2015. > Why are updates to my reading list so rare? Because computers change a lot in 10 years, but people don't. > To make better software, you need to understand how people work, and that is what the books I recommend tend to focus on.

Took quite a bit of scroll to see someone recommending programming related books. HN culture has changed a lot indeed. :-P

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#312

Post by geephroh »

anant90 wrote: post #295
ddsaso wrote: post #294

Not quite a book but definitely a long essay. "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace. Great read on consumerism, escapism, and the funny things that people seem to do on cruise ships. Also just started keeping a public kanban board of my book backlog and wondering if others do something similar? I'd be curious to know how others organize their book lists and peaking through to find new t…

The public kanban board is an excellent idea! I'll probably set up one for myself this weekend.

+1 - thanks, ddsaso! Worth digging into the thread just for this.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#313

Post by geephroh »

calebm wrote: post #304

"Hardboiled Wonderland and The End of the World" (by Haruki Murakami). I love every book I've read by Haruki Murakami, but I think this may be my favorite. I suspect that, for a work of literary surrealist/magical realism fiction, it will appeal to the HN crowd.

You might also try some Abe Kobo, who had a heavy influence on Murakami's writing. His 1970 "Inter Ice Age 4" is a really interesting sci-fi-ish novel involving global warming, supercomputers, and genetic engineering.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#314

Post by jcomis »

Kuzutsukake wrote: post #219
stochastic_monk wrote: post #152

As for me —- 0: Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths Anyone interested in information theory, intelligence (artificial or otherwise), many-worlds interpretations of quantum mechanics, metafiction, the nature of art, or even probabilistic sequence modeling should read Borges’ short stories. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. 1: Hero With A Thousand Faces A classic book collating world mythologies and psychoanalytical tho…

Your description of Malone Dies reminds me of Notes From Underground by Dostoevsky. I found it hard to get into at first because the prose was different from most books I've read (might be the translation, but the Narrator is also crazy). After starting and restarting the book a few times to get into the flow, it definitely turned out to be one of my favorite books. Also, for sci-fi I'd recommend Hyperion by Dan Simm…

The Hyperion Cantos is 4 books btw. But seconding your recommendation.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#316

Post by Aeolun »

m-i-l wrote: post #305
paraschopra wrote: post #35

- The Origin of Wealth. Fantastic book on the new field of complexity / evolutionary economics - The Language Instinct. How mind creates language. - The Elephant in the Brain. I’ve posted notes here https://invertedpassion.com/notes-from-the-elephant-in-the-b... - Existential Cafe. History of existential thought. Excellent book. - 12 rules of life. Highly opiniated but well argued book on how to live life - Skin in t…

> The sci-fi book that anticipated what rouge blockchain like programs can do. It would have to be a fantasy book to truly go rogue - if it was sci-fi it would get bogged down in network congestion or high transaction fees, or consume all of the planet's energy production, before it could do much damage.

It's not a block chain, just a rogue distributed network. But saying too much more would ruin the plot.

It gets a little bit over the top, but the concept is very entertaining.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#317

Post by criddell »

rayalez wrote: post #123

Here are the best books I've read over the last few months: - Lost and Founder - the founder of Moz shares his advice and experience from building a 40M/year company. I found the things he says about building a startup extremely insightful and practically useful. Reading it feels like having a dinner with a friend who shares with you the things he has learned in a very honest, down to earth way. Highly recommend it.…

Do you not read fiction or is it just that you haven't read any good fiction lately?

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#318

Post by squigs25 »

ddsaso wrote: post #294

Not quite a book but definitely a long essay. "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace. Great read on consumerism, escapism, and the funny things that people seem to do on cruise ships. Also just started keeping a public kanban board of my book backlog and wondering if others do something similar? I'd be curious to know how others organize their book lists and peaking through to find new t…

I use goodreads to keep track of the books I want to read, books I am reading, and books I have read.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#319

Post by plants »

stochastic_monk wrote: post #152

As for me —- 0: Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths Anyone interested in information theory, intelligence (artificial or otherwise), many-worlds interpretations of quantum mechanics, metafiction, the nature of art, or even probabilistic sequence modeling should read Borges’ short stories. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. 1: Hero With A Thousand Faces A classic book collating world mythologies and psychoanalytical tho…

Many of my lit-savvy friends have never heard of Borges - I had never caught wind of him until about a year or two ago. I was blown away when I read Labyrinths. His writing style strikes a really nice balance between analytical and artistic/philosophical. I found that I got the most out of his stories when I read them in their entirety and reflected upon for a while afterwards.

I would HIGHLY recommend him to other technical-minded people who have interest in the arts. Two stories that I loved were "The Library of Babel" (obviously) and "The South". Two more from a different collection (The Book of Sand) that I think go hand-in-hand with each other conceptually are “The Mirror and the Mask” and “Undr”

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#320

Post by kevas »

For me...

1. Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John Murphy

2. Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence G. McMillan

3. [just finished] The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right By Atul Gawande

4. [finished last week] Dealers of Lightning by Michael A. Hiltzik

5. [currently working on] Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software By GOF

6. [currently working on] Dan Appleman's Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API by Dan Appleman

7. [next on the list] Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich, Leo Janos

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