I'm currently reading - Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson, so I immediately recommend it.
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Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
51–60 of 85 posts
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#52I highly recommend "The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography" by Simon Singh. Really readable history of cryptography, without much math.
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#53If you haven't already read it, "Getting Things Done" by David Allen is one of the best known productivity books. Some people I have spoken to say his method isn't for them but I've found it useful, even if I haven't implemented everything he suggests. I'd also recommend "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software" by Charles Petzold. It starts at simple circuits and builds up a picture of how comput…
I have always been skeptical about GTD (and haven't read the book). It seems very cultish. And apparently he just released a new version where he changes the terminology he uses for every concept, which sounds very confusing. On the other hand, I see GTD principles pop up all the time on todo list apps, and a lot of it seems like a good idea.
IMHO GTD is right in two key things i) put everything into inbox; ii) distinguish between tasks, tasks with deadlines and events (e.g. a doctor appointment).
But it doesn't give us some key insights needed to prioritize and to avoid getting stuck into executing unimportant things. IMHO, the kanban concept of work-in-progress limits is crucial.
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#54The Art of Manliness has a great set of booklists. If the website's title is not obvious enough, they are all completely centered around manliness, so be forewarned. By this, they mean manliness as opposed to boyishness, not womanliness. Heres some good lists and a link to their landing page for all their book related content:
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/05/14/100-must-read-books...
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/24/36-books-every-youn...
http://www.artofmanliness.com/category/travel-leisure/books/
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#55That's a very broad question, so I read your comments to get a feel from where you might be coming from and/or going to and where you and I might overlap:
* Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Antifragile, things that gain from disorder http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-Incer...
* Jared Diamond. The World until yesterday, what can we learn from traditional societies http://www.amazon.com/World-Until-Yesterday-Traditional-Soci...
* Frans de Waal. The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates http://www.amazon.com/Bonobo-Atheist-Search-Humanism-Primate...
* John Higgs. The KLF: Chaos, Magic... http://www.amazon.com/KLF-Chaos-Magic-Music-Money-ebook/dp/B...
* Joseph Jaworski. Synchronicity, the inner Path of leadership http://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-The-Inner-Path-Leadershi...
* Piero Ferrucci. Your Inner Will, finding personal strength in critical times http://www.amazon.com/Your-Inner-Will-Personal-Strength/dp/0...
* William Irvine. A Guide to the good life, the ancient art of stoic joy http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/01953...
* Chogyam Trungpa. Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior http://www.amazon.com/Shambhala-Sacred-Warrior-Chogyam-Trung...
* Tomas Malik. Patience with God: The Story of Zacchaeus Continuing In Us http://www.amazon.com/Patience-God-Story-Zacchaeus-Continuin...
* Nick Winter. The Motivation Hacker http://www.amazon.com/Motivation-Hacker-Nick-Winter/dp/09892...
* Chas Emerick, Brian Carper, Christophe Grad. Clojure Programming http://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Programming-Chas-Emerick/dp/14...
Fiction:
* Peter Hamilton - The Reality Dysfunction
* Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon (his other hit: Snow Crash is surprisingly more history then SF now...)
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#56My top 4 recommendations (full list and notes at http://www.dotnetsurfers.com/books/)
The Power of Habit,
Search Inside Yourself,
The Willpower Instinct,
Zero to One
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#57Below list are some of my favorite books overall that I didn't see mentioned.
---Non-software related
How to win friends and influence people -Dale Carnegie (The definitive guide to helping you work better with people, truly great book, should be required reading)
Blink- Malcolm Gladwell
Godel Escher, Bach - (Recursion, but not from a software perspective. Its a glorious book that will change the way you think about recursion.)
Hitch Hiker's guide to the galaxy, - Douglas Adams (Glorious book that is a fun read, when you need a break pick this up and laugh hard)
Foundation Series - Assimov (Great stories from one of the best sci-fi writers ever)
-------------------Software related Code Complete Concrete Mathematics The Art of Computer Programming The Design of the Unix Operating System Introduction to Algorithms -Cormen Design Patterns Elements of Resusable OO Design -Gang of Four
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#58Some highlights from the last couple months of my reading, nonfiction:
Softwar (Larry Ellison), Matthew Symonds
A Perfect Red, Amy Butler Greenfield
Assault on Lake Casitas, Brad Alan Lewis
and fiction:
This Census-Taker, China Mieville
Whatever, Michel Houellebecq
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#59I would also recommend the science fiction megapacks. I read a lot (especially sci-fi) and it makes me feel guily at times. :)
So if I need a quick scifi buzz, I pick a random story from the megapack.
Re: Ask HN: Book Recommendations?
#60If you're into startups & programming (this is HN, right?), here's my list of recommended reading: http://www.hello-startup.net/resources/recommended-reading/