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YC’s Summer Reading

themacro.com

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Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#91

Post by whyleyc »

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 thought Ready Player One was Cyberpunk-lite. For actual brain-bending, dystopian-but-vaugely-plausible futurism I would highly recommend the latest William Gibson novel "The Peripheral".

He's always had a fascinating ability to meld technology and spirituality with a barnstorming plot thrown in for good measure. This latest novel is nicely impenetrable in places too - giving you just enough outline to be curious without serving it all up on a plate.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#92

Post by anateus »

freyir wrote: post #52
cardigan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less than a day for Ready Player One ;( Not focus for me as much as how much fun I'm having

I tried listening to the RP1 audiobook, but the non-stop barrage of 80s & 90s nerd cred references seemed too forced. It may have been Wil Wheaton's delivery, which seemed to emphasize each and every reference. I gave up after a chapter or two. Does this continue throughout the book or does it ease up?

It only increases.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#93

Post by anateus »

The title implies this is a list of books that YC somehow institutionally recommends (like their "how to pitch" articles). When I first looked at it that way it seemed strangely uneven in terms of quality. When I realized this was actually "some personal recommendations from our staff and partners" it became a perfectly reasonable collection :)

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#94

Post by kriro »

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 mostly read nonfiction and usually do it "marker and pencil in hand" so I try to read carefully and soak up new ideas. I commute by train and read about a midsized book/week that way (sometimes I sleep instead of reading, sometimes I do other stuff etc.). For the commute reading I usually pick things that aren't very meaty like popscience (the Ariely books on behavioral economics or Fooled by Randomness are good examples) or intro/overview type of books like Secrets and Lies. Most fiction I read is SciFi, the occasional fantasy and some horror and thrillers/crime.

My reading is a bit odd since I tend to read 3-5 commute books at a time picking the one that I feel like each day.

At home I enjoy the occasional comic book (some superhero stuff but mostly things like Transmetropolitan, From Hell or Criminal) and grind out more meaty books, mostly mathematics or physics and work related stuff (programming, algorithms etc.). Basically anything that involves exercises or long/hard thinking. The pace is rather slow, I aim at one good non-programming related book per month and sprinkle in the work related stuff.

tl;dr I read a lot and enjoy it :D

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#95

Post by Ar-Curunir »

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…

Anathem is slow to start (very), but the end is absolutely mind blowing. It was my first ever Stephenson book. Not a decision I regret at all.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#96

Post by whyleyc »

facepalm wrote: post #71
pdar4123 wrote: post #65

Glad to see so many great female authors represented ... Oh... Wait

If you have good books to recommend, do.

Not the OP but I'd highly recommend "Zoo City" by Lauren Beukes. Brilliantly written, gritty, bonkers-but pulsating plot set in a grimy version of Johannesburg. Loved it.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#97

Post by discreteevent »

Jun8 wrote: post #32

+1 for The Beginning of Infinity , awesome book that really gets to the heart of scientific thinking and process. On a different note, I am just finishing up Snowflower and the Secret Fan ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Flower_and_the_Secret_Fan ). Not only a well written story about the life story of two Chinese women around the turn of the century but also taught me some interesting customs about women's lives…

The beginning of infinity is a good book by I actually found his previous book "The fabric of reality" better, in terms of what scientific thinking really is. Specifically, how important criticism is in weeding out theories that are likely to be inviable before you even start to experiment.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#98

Post by sotojuan »

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.

Easy: Spend less time on HN/Twitter/Facebook/etc :-)

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#99

Post by neves »

Great! Bill Gates started to be a tech mogul that recommends books. Now it looks like everyone that want to become a tech mogul must share reading recommendations. I liked this trend.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#100

Post by neves »

swanson wrote: post #3

I've not read the book version but "How Buildings Learn" is one of my favorite things ever (a great case-study for looking outside of software for lessons that can apply to well...software). Stewart Brand (of Longnow fame) produced a really lovely 6 part series for BBC in the late 90's and they are on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brandst/videos -- highly recommended (Warning: there is a very loud and obnoxio…

Please let me disagree. It is a beautiful book, but really boring and repetitive. Never finished it. I'll resume it for you all: "Buildings change over time to adapt for their owners livestyle."

The really good part is the author bashing renowned architects that build prize winning buildings that leak.

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