Homotopy Type Theory: Univalent Foundations of Mathematics It's a book I wish everyone would read, particularly everyone in a public office and the media. It's a great book for friends with kids under 6 or so. If you find the tactics in this book reprehensible and vile, it's even more important that you read it so you are not taken in by them. People do these things because they work. Several scifi books have also be…
Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
161–170 of 529 posts
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#162The Pragmatic Programmer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pragmatic_Programmer
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#163- Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
- The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#164Bradbury: Now and Forever: Somewhere a Band Is Playing & Leviathan '99 Gleick: The Information Michener: The Source Martin: A Song of Ice and Fire (all of them, digital)
Just read The Source. What an epic whirlwind of historical fiction. Good call.
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#165Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#166Vagabonding by Rolf Potts It opened the doors to the remote lifestyle for me and led me to switch to careers to tech (due to the abundance of remote opportunities) and to embrace a new kind of lifestyle. http://www.vagabonding.net/
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#167Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#168Homotopy Type Theory: Univalent Foundations of Mathematics It's a book I wish everyone would read, particularly everyone in a public office and the media. It's a great book for friends with kids under 6 or so. If you find the tactics in this book reprehensible and vile, it's even more important that you read it so you are not taken in by them. People do these things because they work. Several scifi books have also be…
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#169I don't have any friends who haven't read it who would appreciate it, but Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg is both a highly entertaining thriller, a fascinating look at how computer security was, and is, viewed, and a highly personal story about a man trying to figure it all out. It's very funny, entirely true, and taught me a lot. Oddly, a lot of people hated the various more personal aspects of the book, as you se…
I am just on the final few pages of The Cuckoo's Egg, and was planning on finishing it tonight. I too would say that it is a fantastically written page-turner, and it has taught me a lot about the old-school networking scene. How do the other two books you mentioned compare?
Exploding the Phone takes an ousider's perspective, having been written by a relative outsider, and the information having been gathered from interviews with those involved. However, I would say it's better than Ghost in the Wires, being a better told story overall. It's also pretty much the definitive history of the phone phreaking scene, AFAICT. Phil Lapsley put a lot of work into getting his interviews, and reading up on the tech. Read it, if only so that you'll stop believing people when they tell you how awesome John Draper is.
Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there a more correct book that is similarly concise and similarly well-written? I would love to read it, if so. Edit: I found this blog post that lists some alternatives http://thewritingresource.net/2011/09/22/forget-everything-s... About half of the titles are punny or plays on words, which I'm somewhat suspicious of (even though I like puns). And, all are at least twice the size of Strunk and White. I understan…
I'm not sure if this is "correct" but "Eats, shoots & leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation"[1] is a fun read on an adjacent topic. It too gets berated by some but I enjoyed it and learned a thing or two. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuat...
I've (tried to) read many bigger books about style, usage, and grammar, of course, but I really would like a book I can plow through just before I sit down to write something large. Like, the day before NaNoWriMo starts, or before I embark on an editing pass of my company's documentation, just read it all in one sitting as a refresher on how to write clearly and effectively. I've always used Strunk and White for this purpose. I don't want to be a grammar scholar, I just want to write better and more clearly, and I think a lot of folks are in that position; which likely explains the enduring popularity of Strunk and White, despite its critics.