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Ask HN: Good books?

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Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#81

Post by happy4crazy »

If you like Feynman, definitely read James Gleick's biography of him, Genius.

I actually didn't like Gleick's other books very much, but Genius is beautiful. I went from thinking I'd major in English to majoring in Physics after reading it back in high school.

And for general sheer amazingness, I always tell people to read Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon. It's like reading Shakespeare; the first 50 pages will take a while, but then you'll get used to the style and realize it's the coolest thing you've ever read.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#82

Post by makmanalp »

jakevoytko wrote: post #62

If you liked "Atlas Shrugged", you will love "East of Eden" by George Steinbeck. It has some passages on self-determination that puts anything found in Rand to shame. It's a tome, and it starts slow - do yourself a favor and make it through the introduction of one of the villains, Kathy (chapter 8 or so). It doesn't slow down after that. "The Watchmen" by Alan Moore. It may be a graphic novel, but the issues it raise…

Surely You're Joking is amazing. It's one of those books I can't get enough of, and I reread it several times. I wish I had such an interesting life.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#83

Post by inovica »

I apologise that I'm not going to mention any specific books that I really recommend, but this seems like a good place to mention how great audio books can be. I love reading, but dont have anywhere near the time I used to these days to do it. I discovered audio books about 2 years ago whilst driving my young children to school. Its a 1-hour round trip, so for 30 minutes I'm in the car on my own. I've really enjoyed listening to business biographies (Richard Branson) through to books that I have been a bit sceptical about but have still picked up some good tips (4-hour work week). If you have a commute or a time when you're regularly able to listen to an audio book I thoroughly recommend them. It's very difficult to read whilst driving (!) so the audio book works well for me

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#84

Post by makmanalp »

danilocampos wrote: post #24

Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything . It's a history of human reasoning, tracking the emergence of science into what we know today. Fills in a lot of meaningful gaps you may have forgotten from your various science courses, while providing the human side of major advances (rivalries, disappointments, hoaxes, all of it). Science from a new perspective is excellent, but it's also such an interesting windo…

And please, for goodness sake, don't let anyone ruin the Bioshock story for you.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#85

Post by lispm »

kranner wrote: post #21

Hermann Hesse's novel "The Glass Bead Game". Ostensibly it's about this sophisticated game played in a monastery that abstracts over the sum of human knowledge. To me it presented a very potent argument for the value of academia in a commercially-driven world. If nothing else, it nicely counterbalances the monomaniacal ambition and stress of tech startup land in a way that us geeks can appreciate.

The Glass Bead Game is mostly about useless academics that play a useless game and are remote from reality.

The main character tries to find true meaning, then dies a sudden death, unfit for life when confronted with it.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#86

Post by kranner »

lispm wrote: post #85
kranner wrote: post #21

Hermann Hesse's novel "The Glass Bead Game". Ostensibly it's about this sophisticated game played in a monastery that abstracts over the sum of human knowledge. To me it presented a very potent argument for the value of academia in a commercially-driven world. If nothing else, it nicely counterbalances the monomaniacal ambition and stress of tech startup land in a way that us geeks can appreciate.

The Glass Bead Game is mostly about useless academics that play a useless game and are remote from reality. The main character tries to find true meaning, then dies a sudden death, unfit for life when confronted with it.

And Ulysses is about a man taking a walk...

It's that perception of 'useless' that The Glass Bead Game addresses for me, at a personal level. YMMV.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#87

Post by blrgeek »

Want to blow your mind?

Fiction Keep an open mind, and a sense of wonder when you read these for max effect!

Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy. I was hooked at "The big yellow ships hung in the air just the way bricks don't."

Dune - what does scarcity do to a society?

Isaac Asimov - Robot series. Foundation series. All of his short stories, esp. The Last Question, Nightfall.

A.C. Clarke - 2001 - series, Childhood's End, The Fountains of Paradise

The Little Prince, The Count of Monte Cristo, Catch-22, Siddhartha, Ender's Game, Sundiver, Wodehouse.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#89

Post by roadnottaken »

rick_2047 wrote: post #30

If you want to read some eye opening fiction then I would recommend cory doctorows three books, Little Brother, Makers and For The Win. I know it is stacked in the young adult fiction section but it still is good read for anybody. I am shocked that in 26 comments till now nobody has mentioned Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstater. Apart from everything else it has accomplished it is always the best seller in the "No…

Good point about GEB. I actually read this when I was about 17-18 and it had a very profound effect on me and my understanding of computers and the mind. That said, I'm not sure I could get through it now (>10 yrs later). I think a lot of books need to be read at the right time in ones' life to be properly appreciated.
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