Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
to my college best friend as a birthday gift.
Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
511–520 of 529 posts
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#512"The Way to Happiness" by L. Ron Hubbard is a common-sense moral code. It's inspired me to be a better person in different ways (e.g., as a husband, professionally, personally, etc.). I gave it to a plumber in Sydney once (I used to hand them out) and he came back and asked for a few more for his mates "because they could use it". http://www.thewaytohappiness.org
Putting the scientology stuff to one side for a moment, L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth and Mission Earth books are fun pulp sci-fi, good for summer holiday reading.
Aye. BTW, I just got this promotion from the publisher: Amazon Kindle edition of Battlefield Earth (1094 pages) is available for 99 cents until midnight August 14th.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B41I4NI/ref=as_li_tl?ie...
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#513Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mixed up 1 and 4, but that's no problem. Doing your best means that you will never be 100% perfect in following up on 1, 2 and 3, so make the best of it and forgive yourself if you forget to follow them. For me 3 was very important, with many small things that annoyed me, people getting in my way etc. They don't do that to annoy me, and of course I know that, but to fully realise that was important. Be impeccable…
I guess I never thought of the order as important. Like I said there are two that are the most important to me, and the others that I need less reminding of. Though, since being married and having kids, I do find being impeccable with my word a little more difficult when you're out with a friend for a drink (very rare these days) and your wife asks you when you will be home... it's very easy to say "I'm on my way" wh…
The order is not that important, but this is the order of the method. And you give a perfect example of 1 working with 4, although doing your best does not mean letting go and let this problem repeat and grow into something more annoying.
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#514Four Hour Work Week. Take it with a grain of salt, since it takes a lot longer than the author suggests to create a business. (I'd say a year of hard work at least to finally hit a product that sells easily enough in high enough quantities rather than a matter of months.) But it's possible. It's a great read with direct, practical advice. Ex: It says exact what services to use and how much they cost, rather than the more typical theoretical "think this way" of other business books.
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#515Rich dad poor dad. It's not the most professional book on the topics, sure. But the content is written in a very accessible manner and I give it to young friends that are about to throw away their life because they were never exposed to any other mindset but "underclass". It is really shocking to me, that bright young people (with a bachelors degree) choose to go for a crappy paid hamsterwheel job, barely make ends m…
It's worth noting that this is a work of fiction.
http://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-inv...
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#516The Count of Monte Cristo , by Alexander Dumas. I'd read thousands of books, novels, and other literature and never had an answer to "your favorite book?" and thought I just wasn't meant to ever have one... Until I read it. Since then, I've bought copies solely to have on hand to gift to people I actually care about. To drive home the point of just how much I loved this book, I went on to learn French just so I could…
Thank you, you have inspired me to finally get and read this book.
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#517Android Internals: A Confectioner's Cookbook
Any idea where I can find a copy of this?
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#518Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exploitation of the public's fear, promises to make the country great again, rejection by their own party once they figured out that they might come to power. Those spring to mind as examples.
>Exploitation of the public's fear, >promises to make the country great again, So any politician running for an election? > rejection by their own party once they figured out that they might come to power. You mean, the basic reason the democrats invented the super delegate to begin with? Not sure how old you are, but when Bush 2 was in power the same comments were made. I guess Bush didn't turn into Hitler so now it…
If Bush 2 did not turn out to be Hitler it wasnt for lack of trying on the part of his associates. Americans I find are amongst the most conceited and deluded people in the world. GB2 ran a very bad presidency perhaps the worst in American history; but flag waving idealism prevents Americans from coming to that conclusion.
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#519Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 1. Do the legal thing and go down to the local library, even at some inconvenience to yourself. How the fuck is that any different than my torrenting the epub and reading it on my iPad? The exact same words, read by the exact same person, for the exact same amount of value transferred between the exact same people. Stop it with this meaningless worship of the fiction of intellectual property. PS: Downloading conten…
Stop acting like you have some sort of right to access content that you don't own or have not acquired though methods that the author has authorized. To answer your question regarding library ... libraries have a limited number of copies (versus the unlimited digital pirated copies) thus still creating a supply a demand market that may have some people decide to simply purchase if there is a long wait list for a popu…
The idea of the possession of a given sequence of bits as illegal and requiring a licence to permit is fundamentally absurd.
I have a right to copy any bits I choose. What those bits represent is immaterial.
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#520Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 1. Do the legal thing and go down to the local library, even at some inconvenience to yourself. How the fuck is that any different than my torrenting the epub and reading it on my iPad? The exact same words, read by the exact same person, for the exact same amount of value transferred between the exact same people. Stop it with this meaningless worship of the fiction of intellectual property. PS: Downloading conten…
I don't believe there is any difference, and have stated as much. But principles are supposed to be the things you seriously inconvenience yourself to defend, not the things you use as a convenient excuse to make things more convenient. I mean, if you just said "property is theft!" as a justification when you lifted peoples' wallets, it'd seem a bit like "situational ethics". When you have an intellectual beef with s…
I don't believe in or support copyright or Orson Scott Card's commercial success in any line of business.