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Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

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Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#131

Post by theologic »

Got a new job in May so slowed me down, but got through around 8 this year.

I'm a Lencioni fan:

Death by Meeting -- Describes 3 types of meetings

Getting Naked -- Describes how to consult

I'm also a Marshall Goldsmith fan:

What Got You Here Won't Get You There - Once you get beyond a Director level with some mistakes, read this book

Mojo, How to Get It, How To Keep It - Another "look yourself in the mirror" book

Also:

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell. A little prod to act more like a leader.

Ready Player One -- Ernest Cline, Great Young Adult Book. Escapist fantasy.

Every Shot Counts -- Mark Broady, Statistical Look At Golf, but has some smell of Kahnemann

To Kill A Mockingbird -- Timeless Classic I Never Got To. Loved Atticus. I won't read a Watchman if it spoils my view of what Atticus was all about.

Started But Not Finished:

Business Dynamics Thinking -- Sterman (out of MIT). I need to take off work to read this 'cause it is so massive. Basically it is control theory applied to business modelling. However, I am convinced if somebody can apply these models, it really is the best competitive advantage. However, too people willing to stick with it.

How to Measure Anything -- Douglas Hubbard. Sort of makes me mad because it is so commonsense, yet most businesses don't apply this commonsense approach.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#132

Post by wycx »

pknerd wrote: post #130
wycx wrote: post #129

All consumed as audiobooks. American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America - Colin Woodard ; I learned much about early US history. Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman - Jon Krakauer Find Me - Laura van den Berg Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel The Dog Stars - Peter Heller Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing ; I was fortunate enough to read…

Would you like to share your experience about audio books?

I listen as I drive to and from work (25-30 mins each way) and over lunch (~40 mins). For a little while this year I had a When you start an new audiobook, I find it takes time for me to warm to the narrator. Initially, some narrators can be quite grating, but eventually I get used to them.

I find I have to look out for when my mind wanders. The 30 second rewind button gets used a lot, though sometimes when I am still thinking about things from work on my drive home, I need to relisten to the entire 30 mins again. Its as if I paid no attention at all. The same for any driving that is not autopilot driving, e.g. to new places/complex traffic-an audiobook is too distracting so I turn it off.

I wish the Audible app would put the 30 second rewind button on the lock screen rather than next/previous track. Having to unlock just to rewind whilst driving sucks. The audible widget does not consistently appear on the lock screen.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#133

Post by yetanotheracc »

Absolutely amazing, changed the way I look at the society, will re-read:

- George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Loved:

- Alastair Reynolds, House of Suns

- Andy Weir, The Martian

- Neal Stephenson, Seveneves

- Greg Egan, Teranesia

Liked:

- Arthur C. Clarke, 3001: The Final Odyssey

- Arthur C. Clarke, 2061: Odyssey Three

- Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Laws

- Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

- Jonathan Slack, Stem Cells: A Very Short Introduction

- John Scalzi, Fuzzy Nation (bought the audiobook for Wil Wheaton's narration)

- Ray Monk, Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center

- Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space

- David C. Cassidy, Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and the Bomb

Found full of BS, did not finish:

- Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power

Textbooks:

- order of 10^3 pages of Open University textbooks

- Klauber, Student Friendly Quantum Field Theory

- Feynman & Hibbs, Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals

- Wald, General Relativity (5 chapters)

- Peskin & Schroeder, An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (5 chapters)

Not as bad as I felt before making the list, but underwhelming in terms of quantity. I intend to read a whole lot more in 2016.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#134

Post by sundarurfriend »

thomnottom wrote: post #43
necessity wrote: post #29

Philip K. Dicks's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?": Liked the movie (Blade Runner) better, but not bad. Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms": While reading it I found it extremely boring, though there was this feel to it that still made it pleasant to read. I can't really describe it. Plutarch's "Lives" from the main figures from the end of the Republic (Penguin Classics collection): By far the best books on…

Reading "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" was such a disappointment to me because I loved the movie so much. I would like to revisit it - maybe I would understand the parts about the empathy boxes and the wife's mood thing better now.

From the other side, having read the book first, the movie was weird and boring, which was disappointing especially given the hype around it.

I switched it off around halfway into it and never got back to giving it another try, so this is not really meant as a fair assessment of its quality, just sharing a very different experience from yours.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#135

Post by krishna2 »

Here is my list from 2015:

1. Mark Derby: England my England

2. Bill Messenger: Elements of Jazz [great courses]

3. David Mamet: GlenGary Glen Ross

4. Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Pluto Files

5. Elizabeth Vandiver: The Illiad by Homer [great courses]

6. Elizabeth Vandiver: The Odyssey by Homer [great courses]

7. Elizabeth Vandiver: The Aeneid by Virgil [great courses]

8. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Liszt - His Life and Music [great courses]

9. David Christian: Big History [great courses]

10. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Robert and Clara Schumann - Their Lives and Music [great courses]

11. Steven Novella: Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills [great courses]

12. Ramesh Menon (Veda Vyasa): Mahabharatha

13. Mark W. Muesse: Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation [great courses]

14. J.K. Rowling: Book 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

15. J.K. Rowling: Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

16. Steven Pressfield: The War of Art

17. Barnaby Conrad, Monte Schulz: Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life

18. J.K. Rowling: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

19. Ramesh Menon (Veda Vyasa): Siva Puranam

20. Professor Allen C. Guelzo, Professor Gary W. Gallagher, Professor Patrick N. Allitt: The History of the United States, 2nd Edition [great courses]

21. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Brahms - His Life and Music [great courses]

22. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Tchaikovsky - His Life and Music [great courses]

23. Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni: The Palace of Illusions

24. J.K. Rowling: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

25. Austin Kleon: Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

26. Stephen King: On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

27. David McCullough: 1776

28. Prof. Roy Benaroch: Medical School for Everyone [great courses]

29. J.K. Rowling: Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

30. Siddartha Mukherjee: The Emperor Of All Maladies

31. J.K. Rowling: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

32. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Shostakovich - His Life and Music [great courses]

33. J.K. Rowling: Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

34. Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries [great courses]

35. Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli: Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader

36. Shurnyu Suzuki: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

37. William Shirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

38. Jhumpa Lahiri: Interpreter of Maladies

39. Stephen Greenblatt: The Swerve: How the world became modern

40. Professor Andrew R. Wilson: The Art of War [great courses]

41. Prof. Jennifer Paxton: 1066: The Year That Changed Everything [great courses]

42. Prof. Sherwin B. Nuland: Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Revealed Through Biography [great courses]

43. Sun Tzu: The Art of War

44. Prof. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Mahler - His Life and Music [great courses]

45. Prof. Seth Lerer: The Life and Writings of John Milton [great courses]

46. Prof. Robert Greenberg: Great Masters: Stravinsky - His Life and Music [great courses]

47. Stephen Guise: Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results

48. J.R.R. Tokien: Hobbit

49. George Orwell: Animal Farm

50. Prof. Seth Freeman: The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal [great courses]

51. Ram Dass: Be Here Now

52. Prof. Gregory S. Aldrete: The Decisive Battles of World History [great courses]

53. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 1: Genghis: Birth of an Empire

54. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 2: Genghis: Lords of the Bow

55. Prof. Frederick Gregory: History of Science 1700-1900 [great courses]

56. Prof. Indre Viskontas: 12 Essential Scientific Concepts [great courses]

57. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 3: Genghis: Bones of the Hill

58. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 4: Khan: Empire of Silver

59. Conn Iggulden: Conqueror Series Book 5: Conqueror

60. Prof. Robert Hazen: Origin and Evolution of Earth [great courses]

61. Mark Forsyth: Elements of Eloquence

62. Prof. Patrick Allitt: Industrial Revolution [great courses]

63. Ramesh Menon (Valmiki): Ramayana

64. Prof. John McWhorter: Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths of Language Usage [great courses]

65. Dava Sobel: Longtitude

66. Prof. Robert Hazen: Origins of Life [great courses]

67. Prof. Daniel Robinson: The Great Ideas of Psychology [great courses]

68. Tracy Kidder: The Soul of a New Machine

69. Prof. Garrett Fagan: History of Ancient Rome [great courses]

70. Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five

71. Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

72. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

73. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 1: Pudhu Vellam [apple music]

74. Upton Sinclair : The Jungle

75. John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath

76. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 2: Suzhar Kaatru [apple music]

77. Karl Marx, Friedrich Engles: Manifesto of the Communist Party

78. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 3: KoduVaal [apple music]

79. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 4: Mani Magudam [apple music]

80. Kalki: Ponniyin Selvan: Book 5: Thiyaga Sigaram [apple music]

81. Kalki: Parthiban Kanavu [apple music]

82. Hugh Howey: Wool [Silo Series : Book 1 of 3]

83. Kalki: Sivagamiyin Sabatham: Book 1: Boogambam [apple music]

84. Kalki: Sivagamiyin Sabatham: Book 2: Kanchi Mutrugai [apple music]

85. Kalki: Sivagamiyin Sabatham: Book 3: Bhikshuvin Kadhal [apple music]

86. Kalki: Sivagamiyin Sabatham: Book 4: Sidhaindha Kanavu [apple music]

87. Thomas Sterner: The Practising Mind

88. don Miguel Ruiz: The Fifth Agreement

89. Prof. Jonah Berger: How Ideas Spread [great courses]

90. Prof. Robert Sapolsky: Being Human [great courses]

91. Michio Kaku: Einstein's Cosmos

92. Guy Kawasaki: Art of the Start 2.0

93. Edward Dolnick: Clockwork Universe

94. Prof. John Medina: Your Best Brain [great courses]

95. Sherman Alexie: Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

96. Prof. Thad Polk: Addictive Brain [great courses]

97. Jeff Kinney: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

98. Prof. Scott Huettel: Behavioral Economics [great courses]

99. Rob Walling: Start Small, Stay Small

100. Ernest Hemmingway: Old Man and the Sea

101. Prof. Robert Greenberg: Brief History of Holiday Music [great courses]

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#136

Post by proxyswapi »

yetanotheracc wrote: post #133

Absolutely amazing, changed the way I look at the society, will re-read: - George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying Loved: - Alastair Reynolds, House of Suns - Andy Weir, The Martian - Neal Stephenson, Seveneves - Greg Egan, Teranesia Liked: - Arthur C. Clarke, 3001: The Final Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke, 2061: Odyssey Three - Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Laws - Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding…

I just bought "Understanding Power". Why do you think it's BS?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#137

Post by maxims »

n3on_net wrote: post #26

There are several books I read, still want to increase my reading amount: 1. "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!", nice bio about Feynman 2. "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future", inspiring biography and business book. 3. "Apollo" by Catherine Bly Cox. Awesome book about Apollo Programm. Goes even in some technical details. 4. "Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies". Very go…

"Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future" - lots of lessons and an inspiring read.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#138

Post by aws_ls »

1) Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree - Rating 3/5 - Got an idea about the times in receding Muslim powers, at the end of the 15th Century, in Spain - The author is an historian so positive point is that fiction rooted in history. But some of the fictional narratives could have been better, as he was not a fiction writer when he started out.

2) Zero to One - Rating 4/5 - Thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Insights into and anecdotal examples of Paypal mafia, among the numerous over there.

3) Liar's Poker - Rating 4/5 - The first of several best seller's by Michael Lewis, gives insights into the working of Investment Finance business, and in a very interesting way (lots of humor)

4) Devotion of Suspect X - Rating 4/5 - Work of fiction by the Japanese best seller author Keigo Higashino. Enjoyable read - contrasts a Physicist and a Mathematician trying to out think each other in a crime context (reference to Maths/Physics are just pop-level so don't expect too much)

5) 'Digital Gold...' by Nathaniel Popper - Currently reading (very enjoyable at around 41%) - Captures the history of evolution of Bitcoin. Also made me sad for various people for different reasons, e.g. Hal Finney, who was the first adopter of Satoshi Nakamoto's idea. Reading this book made me appreciate why not knowing who is SN is important. I am no longer curious.

6) Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond - Rating 5/5 - A perspective changing book, if there can be one. Had picked it up from Gates notes' reading list couple years back. After reading this, my entire perspective on religions, politics, culture changed and I view everything from the reference point of when we started to do agriculture some 20,000 years ago, and of course geographical perspective.

Some others in my to-read list (hope to pick one before the turn of the year):

1) Emperor of all maladies - book on cancer research

2) Ashley Vance's book on Elon Musk

3) 100 years of solitude

4) The selfish gene

5) The hard thing about hard things

6) Or, if I see any other book: either on this page, or on Gates Notes or on HN reading share the other day. Am a big fan of exchanging/sharing reading lists.

Edit: Formatting. HN post editor needs two new lines ('\n') to display one

Edit 2: Had wrongly named book #4 as Salvation of a saint (which is another book, I read earlier by the same author)

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