YC’s Summer Reading • Hacker News Board

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#121

Post by wrsh07 » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 12:05 AM UTC

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've been reading one paperback and one audio book simultaneously. The paper back is slow: one every month or two. The audio book is for when I run, so it's based on mileage.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#122

Post by wrsh07 » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 12:08 AM UTC

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.

It's fun, but if you want dystopian capitalist world with a parallel vr universe, snow crash has more surprising ideas. (And better writing)

Although it's a bit violent and has some... interesting mechanisms (as I was told: it gets weird)

Also, the nostalgia comes baked in because it was written in the 90s. Still super relevant though

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#123

Post by jacalata » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 12:21 AM UTC

melvinmt wrote: post #54

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 business management books, but since most of them can be summarized in a couple pages (or a single big blog post, really) I just skim and skip through the hundreds of uninteresting anecdotes and simply stop reading after I grasp the concept of the book. Takes me a couple of hrs in total per book.

When I'm reading to learn, I take notes - and if I get through a chapter or two without taking any notes I will probably abandon the book.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#124

Post by sampo » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 12:36 AM UTC

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.

> I have a first printing hardcover Cryptonomicon sitting in front of me, that I haven't cracked opened yet.

Cryptonomicon is very easy to start, you meet Alan Turing right in the first pages, and things progress nicely. The book is long, and jumps randomly between several different storylines, so finishing it is another matter. But it is easy to start.

And because it is essentially just a collection of stories, finishing it is not even really important. Just keep on reading as long as you enjoy.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#125

Post by SeanBoocock » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 12:48 AM UTC

schlupp wrote: post #7

Nice, 2 out of 20 authors are women. Nothing like a balanced reading experience.

For those interested in historical topics, I would recommend Mary Beard's recent "SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome" (https://www.amazon.com/SPQR-History-Ancient-Mary-Beard/dp/08...) and Barbara Tuchman's classic on WWI, "The Guns of August" (https://www.amazon.com/Guns-August-Pulitzer-Prize-Winning-Ou...).

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#126

Post by e12e » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 12:59 AM UTC

facepalm wrote: post #69

jseliger wrote: post #48

The Magicians is a lovely book; I actually interviewed Grossman when the first one came out, in 2010: https://jakeseliger.com/2010/10/14/an-interview-with-lev-gro... . If you like it, try Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy too. Leviathan Wakes disappoints: its plot and political economy are interesting but on a sentence-by-sentence level one wishes for more. If you haven't read it yet try Peter Watts, Blinds…

Pullman is another one for the Christians, I suppose. If you are not religious, it seems unlikely to me that you would enjoy it (I didn't).

I'm an atheist and a big fan of both His Dark Materials and Narnia. Why wouldn't an atheist enjoy religious art? That's millennia of human creativity you're throwing on the fire.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#127

Post by louprado » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 1:10 AM UTC

togasystems wrote: post #41

Any recommendations on investment books?

I am sure you noticed Grahams's The Intelligent Investor on the list.

Warren Buffet often cites it as his favorite book on investing stating, "picking up that book was one of the luckiest moments of my life”. I recall he decided to read it at least 10 times before making another trade, but I can't find the source. Human nature doesn't change, so that book is still relevant.

Otherwise the "Warren Buffet Way" is a modern take on the same theories.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#128

Post by sp527 » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 2:12 AM UTC

avindroth wrote: post #120

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 write a lot while reading. Sort of like having a conversation with the author. I read less books this way, but the knowledge in the books become much more internalized. I tend to implement them much faster too. And aren't we reading, in part, to better our lives (short-term pleasure or long-term changes)? Of course, I read fiction just for the pleasure as well (like Ready Player One). This method of reading also sh…

I'd be very curious to hear more about this. I've flirted on and off with note-taking on books for all the same reasons you mention, but I invariably feel guilty about progressing too slowly. In a weird way, I think this a quintessentially American affliction - like our obsession with throughput and productivity washes into our real lives as well. I'm just wondering what you do to fight that instinct. Specifically, I think the two things that get me are : (1) feeling bad about not reading enough and (2) worrying about being ultimately disappointed with a book and having wasted my time taking notes.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#129

Post by bcgraham » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 2:49 AM UTC

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…

Stick with Anathem. Bang for buck, it's a really economical opening. The book is fabulous.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#130

Post by schlupp » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 3:28 AM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #76

schlupp wrote: post #7

Nice, 2 out of 20 authors are women. Nothing like a balanced reading experience.

Does anyone seriously believe that there where books that didn't make the list because of the gender of the author? It's "Alan Kay's reading list" all over again. No one discard books based on the sex of the author, perhaps except extreme feminists. Books are picked because of their content.

Oh are they? Then explain to me, why it's always white men If your argument would be valid, it would be a random selection of the author's gender/race. So either we live in the most amazing statistical anomaly or you are full of shit.