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YC’s Summer Reading

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Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#81

Post by guynamedloren »

elevensies wrote: post #22
pdq wrote: post #20

I'm in the middle of Chaos Monkeys, and am enjoying the author's excellent prose, while walking through the sausage factory of startups. There's also some interesting YC insights, as the author's startup went through it. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Monkeys-Obscene-Fortune-Failure...

I finished this recently and liked it as well. My "policy" is to read every technology company related memoir or corporate history that I can get my hands on, and I found this one more interesting than most as a narrative.

Neat "policy". Also curious about your favorites. Any you can recommend?

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#83

Post by Animats »

angersock wrote: post #47
haydenlee wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spielberg is directing an RP1 movie, slated to come out in 2018! Hopefully they knock it out of the park and its a great inspiration for the VR industry.

It'll just be another threadbare cultural touchstone to kowtow at in order to win mainstream "geek cred". Snowcrash is what shaped the future.

A Snow Crash movie was in the works at one time, but didn't happen. Maybe if VR catches on this time...

Recommended: "The Shockwave Rider", by John Brunner. Published in 1975, and way, way ahead of its time.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#84

Post by bduerst »

Yhippa wrote: post #12

Just curious, what's everybody's pace around here? It took me about a month to casually get through "Ready Player One" (great book BTW), and that was for a book club. It seems like a lot of the people I respect get through about a book a week. Either they're lying or have such good focus to avoid distractions other than books. Maybe I could put down the HN for a bit.

Usually a book every 2-3 weeks.

If you are looking for a new book and want to ruin your standards for fiction, read the Red Rising trilogy. I can't help use it as a measuring stick for evaluating new books as I read them :/

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#85

Post by Animats »

"End of Cycle"[1] is mentioned. Key points:

- The easy hits in social and mobile have been done.

- Investors are looking for the Next Big Thing, and to some extent throwing money at what's probably the wrong stuff.

- Startups which involve making real physical stuff are a lot more complicated as businesses than pure compute-based startups.

[1] http://blog.eladgil.com/2016/07/end-of-cycle.html

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#86

Post by ErrantX »

Yhippa wrote: post #12

Just curious, what's everybody's pace around here? It took me about a month to casually get through "Ready Player One" (great book BTW), and that was for a book club. It seems like a lot of the people I respect get through about a book a week. Either they're lying or have such good focus to avoid distractions other than books. Maybe I could put down the HN for a bit.

I go in fits and starts; anything from 3-4 books a week to 5 in 3 months. Just find quiet moments; 10 minutes, 6 times a day is an hour all told. I read on the commute, over lunch, whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, when waiting for my partner to change for bed. It adds up.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#87

Post by koolba »

At some point this summer I highly suggest reading the nutrition facts on back of a cold beer, preferably on the beach. Not everything you read needs to be about technology development or enlightenment.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#88

Post by kriro »

overcast wrote: post #73

I'm really surprised to see Ready Player One on there. It relied way too heavily on the 80's nostalgia, to prop up the shallow story telling. But even that got old, it was like hanging around with someone that talks entirely in movie quotes, while fun at the right times, gets stale fast. You didn't care about the character, because there was nothing for him to really lose.

I managed to finish it and mostly share your sentiment however I think it is a decent vision/motivation for VR (not so much AR/Pokemon Go style as mentioned in the post). At least for my personal research in VR-UI/UX I like to ask myself "how far is this from RPO...what steps would get us further" since I think the overall "parallel world in VR" is a neat goal to work towards (my personal utopian interpretation ignoring the dystopian view of RPO).

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#90

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

overcast wrote: post #70
qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #67

I reread Cryptonomicon (the last Stephenson book to really draw me in enough to make me read it, although he frontloads a lot of the complexity, so maybe if I push through the opening to Anathem just one more time...) For those of you who read RP1 already, I would reccomend You , by Austin Grossman, which takes the concept of a treasure hunt through computing and gaming history in a radically different direction, one…

I have a first printing hardcover Cryptonomicon sitting in front of me, that I haven't cracked opened yet. Bought it prior to reading Snowcrash, which I thought was the most overrated drivel that I've ever come across. Awesome beginning, that turned into ancient religious programming nonsense. I'm afraid to even begin that monster, if the writing is anything like that.

Stephenson REALLY likes showing his work. He also likes to use myth as metaphor. So Cryptonomicon is full of Crypto, WWII and modern, philosophy, math, and computing, and involves a startup, treasure hunts, at least one conspiracy, a metaphor involving greek mythology, reflections on long-term relationships, sorta-kinda mocking liberal arts academia, and a full on erotic novella about furniture and stocking fetishes, which sets up a major plotpoint (yes, really).

If these things don't sound appeling to you, steer clear. You may just not like Stephenson. But if you're intrigued by some of the things I mentioned, give it a go.

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