In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters by Merrill R. Chapman. I came across this book upon one of the discussions here on HN and it provided me with historical insights about driving forces in our industry, which seem to be timeless.
Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
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Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#602The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber. I was searching for the meaning of happiness, what makes me happy and how to maintain it. Before reading the book, my mind was wired that programming is my passion (as I've been doing it for 20+ years now). While reading and reflecting, I discovered that DIY is my passion! I love create things and programming was the tool that allowed me to enjoy that satisfaction.
What does that change for you?
Understanding of passion and being mindful about more things in life. What you think is affecting you in a good or bad way might not be what the actual thing.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#603Just read “LaserWriter II” and it was a surprisingly fun read. All about the characters in an old Apple repair shop in the ‘90s. The writing style is really unique, and the nostalgia was high. Discovered it while eavesdropping on someone recommending books in a bookstore. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56269270
Loved this, and glad to have it recommended by someone for whom Tekserve was just "an old Apple repair shop" ツ
Tekserve was the nexus of the NYC personal computing community spanning the desktop-publishing and Internet revolutions; when I started an ISP a couple of blocks away my partner and many of our employees were ex-Teks, two of whom are mentioned by name in this book. Good times.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#604Surrounded by psychopaths
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#605"All Of The Marvels" by Douglas Wolk – he read (or re-read) all 27,000+ comics in the main Marvel superhero storylines, and limns their distinct themes and narratives in a very lively style. And with a lot of footnotes!
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549063/all-of-the-m...
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#606Not read whole yet but I really enjoyed "The metamorphosis of Prime Intellect" recommended by geohotz
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#607A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell. A good book regardless of what you think of Sowell’s politics.
Why, when describimg conservatives, always a disclaimer? There's nothing wrong with Thomas Sowell or his ideas. He is an intellectual powerhouse.
I personally find Sowell's extemporaneous political commentary off-putting, much in the same way I find Paul Krugman's. If I were commenting on Paul Krugman's work I would make the same disclaimer.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#608Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb. Changed my life and my perspective on doing business, building company and understanding luck. Such a classic. Also honourable mention: Super Pumped by Mike Isaac. Great read on the legendary Travis' journey.
This is my favorite of all his works. I feel like you can derive a lot of his other work if you payed attention in undergraduate probability theory and took Fooled by Randomness to heart.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#609"Breaking Ground" by Philip and Freya Mulvey.
A soil scientist's take on climate change which ties together some pretty compelling points.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#610The Dispossessed , by Ursula K. Le Guin. It identified so many of the "edges" of society and how I think about and interact with the world, on a daily basis. Without a doubt one of the best books I've ever read. Maybe even the best. The only other book that came close this year was Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir .
The Dispossessed was not enjoyable to read, so I stopped after about 30 pages.
Everyone has different tastes and not everyone likes the type of book the disposed is, but canyou really say you gave it a fair shot after only 30 pages?