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Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?

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Re: Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?

#141

Post by jacobolus »

aasarava wrote: post #19

The Conquest of Mexico, by Bernal Diaz -- a conquistador who traveled with the Cortes expedition to Mexico City to overthrow King Montezuma. Incredible, true story written by someone who has actually there. An unknown land; the clash of two cultures; the clash of two religions; temples to angry gods; hoardes of gold in hidden rooms; human sacrifices; alliances; mutinies; enslavement; first description of Tenochtitlan…

You probably won’t find it under that name though. The title in Spanish is La Verdadera Historia de la Conquista de la Nueva España, or in English, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain.

It’s especially fun to compare it to the accounts written by historians in Spain who had never been to New Spain, and didn’t know anything about anything.

Re: Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?

#142

Post by tsally »

When I recommend books I make a coffee shop recommendation and an airport recommendation. Both books are excellent, but the coffee shop book requires slower reader and more mental effort to get the benefit.

Coffee shop:

Plowing the Dark by Richard Powers. The book follows to parallel stories: one of a company that invents virtual reality and another of a teacher that gets taken hostage by terrorists. It's an incredible book and the reason why I decided to study computer science.

http://www.amazon.com/Plowing-Dark-Novel-Richard-Powers/dp/B...

Airport:

Moving Mars by Greg Bear. Mars is a colony of Earth and the book follows a struggle for Martian independence. Also an incredible book.

http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Mars-Novel-Greg-Bear/dp/0812524...

Re: Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?

#143

Post by alanthonyc »

lionhearted wrote: post #61

If you're talented and get frustrated with stupid people, you have to read "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa. I mean, you have to. Musashi was one of the greatest (maybe the greatest) swordsman of all time. He invented a Japanese longblade/shortblade mixed style of swordsmanship, at one point fighting himself out of an ambush when he was attacked by over 30 men. He was undefeated in over 60 duels, including defeating argua…

On a related note, there was recently a documentary-ish show on (History Channel|Discovery|other similar channel) about Musashi Miyamoto, titled "Samurai."

I'm definitely picking up the Yoshikawa book though. Thanks for the recommendation.

Re: Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?

#145

Post by alanthonyc »

semmons wrote: post #26

Flatland ( http://amzn.com/1607961024 )

Upvoted...and here's my summary, since it's not on the OP:

The adventures of a two-dimensional creature into the lands of the single-dimension and the three-dimension (and more). Also, on his efforts to evangelize his visions.

When I first read this over ten years ago, I was surprised to learn that the book itself had been published in the 19th century. It was my first true realization that people just as "smart" as us modern folk have existed for quite a while.

Re: Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?

#146

Post by balding_n_tired »

staunch wrote: post #22

You will not be wasting your time poking around the great stuff in http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index.html One of my favorites is Caesar's The Gallic Wars, because it's so amazing that we have his very own account: http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.html Josephus' account of The Jewish Wars is amazing. Marcus Aurelius' Meditations is a must-read: http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html

Along these lines, Herodotus is a blast, and Polybius very much worth reading.

Re: Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?

#147

Post by JoelMcCracken »

"How to Read a Book", by Mortimer J. Adler.

This book was very important for me, as it gave me a new way of approaching both books and almost everything in life. It also gives a rather thorough collection of the most important books of western culture, ordered by authors then dates.

If you ever wanted to know how to read more effectively, this book is it. It teaches you how to mark up a book in such a way that you'll be able to remember what you need from it after a few minutes of review. I highly recommend it. My life would have been much poorer without having read it.

Re: Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?

#149

Post by brianwillis »

olliesaunders wrote: post #117
olalonde wrote: post #29

Richard Dawkins' "Selfish Gene" and "God Delusion" are excellent reads.

There are a number of problems with the God Delusion. The attitude its abhorrent, some of the arguments are bad, and its too long. Not worth it, IMO. There must be better pro-atheism books out there.

Agree completely. The God Delusion suffers from sloppy reasoning, and intellectually dishonest arguments. I'm an Atheist, and I found myself disagreeing over and over with arguments Dawkins made despite the fact that his conclusions align with my view of the world.
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