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My Favorite Books of 2016

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Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#41

Post by numbsafari »

maxxxxx wrote: post #13
roymurdock wrote: post #5

I really like the way he limits his list to 4 books. Most other thought leaders/influencers/CEOs do lists of 10, 20 "hot topic" books that you know they probably haven't read. I find the volume also diminishes the individual importance of each book on the list. I'll have to pick up String Theory (I love that Bill Gates reads DFW) and The Grid per his recommendations.

Whatever I know Gates is a reading machine. I am sure he has read everything he recommends. When Jon Stewart did the Daily Show I always wondered if he had read guests' books because he had pretty detailed questions.

It was pretty clear he didn't (or even hardly ever) watched the movies whose stars came on his show. It definitely seemed that, in the case of authors, he generally had a more personal grasp of the book.

I wonder if in some cases his producers would give him "cliff's notes" for the books.

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#42

Post by wishinghand »

rubicon33 wrote: post #29

I wonder, did he read this much when he was founding Microsoft? I ask because, as someone who would love to read, I feel like I never have the time. And strangely, I feel morally guilty for prioritizing other things like career growth etc.

If you can spare an hour a day, and can read at least a page every two minutes, that's 210 pages a week. I understand if you have family obligations and long work hours but I also like to squeeze some reading in during lunch if it's not a social lunch or maybe right before bed. Just like everything else in life you have to find the time for it and then make the time for it.

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#43

Post by crftr »

samsolomon wrote: post #21
bduerst wrote: post #18

Side topic: Does anyone know any good podcasts that fit his genre of “Podcasts About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating"?

99 Percent Invisible sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Most of the episodes are related to architecture or design. http://99percentinvisible.org/episodes/

Somewhat related, Twenty Thousand Hertz. Stories behind interesting sounds.

https://www.20k.org/

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#44

Post by xenihn »

Cyph0n wrote: post #27
knz wrote: post #3

"Honorable mention: The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke. This book, about our aging electrical grid, fits in one of my favorite genres: “Books About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating.” " The author of this book was on NPR/Fresh Air in August. It was a great listen/read if you are interested in the subject. http://www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/aging-and-unstable-t... I heard it a couple of days after a weather re…

I think the word "mundane" is out of place. Whoever isn't fascinated by the modern power grid is slightly dead inside. The same applies to a ton of other "mundane" things, like road and rail networks, sewage systems, garbage disposal and recycling, and so on. I think a better term would be "rarely noticed".

>Whoever isn't fascinated by the modern power grid is slightly dead inside. The same applies to a ton of other "mundane" things, like road and rail networks, sewage systems, garbage disposal and recycling, and so on.

I feel like the vast majority of people have absolutely no interest in learning about these things, even in a calamitous context.

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#45

Post by douche »

wishinghand wrote: post #42
rubicon33 wrote: post #29

I wonder, did he read this much when he was founding Microsoft? I ask because, as someone who would love to read, I feel like I never have the time. And strangely, I feel morally guilty for prioritizing other things like career growth etc.

If you can spare an hour a day, and can read at least a page every two minutes, that's 210 pages a week. I understand if you have family obligations and long work hours but I also like to squeeze some reading in during lunch if it's not a social lunch or maybe right before bed. Just like everything else in life you have to find the time for it and then make the time for it.

I manage about a book a week reading for a half hour or so at lunch time. It's not usually heavyweight stuff - fantasy, historical fiction, sci-fi, on my kindle. But hey, it's my lunch break, right?

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#46

Post by QuarterReptile »

bduerst wrote: post #18

Side topic: Does anyone know any good podcasts that fit his genre of “Podcasts About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating"?

Econtalk. Russ Roberts is a fantastic interviewer, with only a few weak performances in his decade of weekly podcasts.

He probably skews a bit libertarian for the typical HN'er to agree with, but he gives voice to a lot of points of view, and he brings on good guests. At least half of the podcasts have sufficiently interesting titles that they could be easily voted to HN front page, and the depth of discussion is good for the hour each guests receives.

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#47

Post by mightybrenden »

rubicon33 wrote: post #29

I wonder, did he read this much when he was founding Microsoft? I ask because, as someone who would love to read, I feel like I never have the time. And strangely, I feel morally guilty for prioritizing other things like career growth etc.

audio books work great for me! :)

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#48

Post by laxatives »

roymurdock wrote: post #5

I really like the way he limits his list to 4 books. Most other thought leaders/influencers/CEOs do lists of 10, 20 "hot topic" books that you know they probably haven't read. I find the volume also diminishes the individual importance of each book on the list. I'll have to pick up String Theory (I love that Bill Gates reads DFW) and The Grid per his recommendations.

Here's my favorite essay from String Theory that really sums everything that book is about: http://www.esquire.com/sports/a5151/the-string-theory-david-... This version is a bit of pain though since the footnotes are collected at the end and you would have to swap back and forth to read them; the book allows space on each page to make it much more convenient. I think I'm in the minority, but I really wish Infinite Jest handled footnotes in the same way.

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#49

Post by eldavido »

imron wrote: post #40
knz wrote: post #3

"Honorable mention: The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke. This book, about our aging electrical grid, fits in one of my favorite genres: “Books About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating.” " The author of this book was on NPR/Fresh Air in August. It was a great listen/read if you are interested in the subject. http://www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/aging-and-unstable-t... I heard it a couple of days after a weather re…

The very next sentence was: > I find this topic fascinating is because my first job, in high school, was writing software for the entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest I wonder if somewhere in bowels of a northwest utility company there is a machine silently chugging away, running code written by a teenage Bill Gates, helping deliver electricity to the masses.

This surprised me. Microsoft was started in the mid-70s. I'm in my early 30s and wasn't aware software was getting used in business much until the late 70s/early 80s.

I guess there were mainframes and not minicomputers? Still, surprising a high school kid would get a coding job in the early 70s.

Re: My Favorite Books of 2016

#50

Post by jlarocco »

melvinmt wrote: post #17
ggregoire wrote: post #7

The content of the blog seems blocked by uBlock Origin. (More precisely: the scripts from gatesnotes.com, and the content is loaded in JS)

"My extension that blocks website content seems to block website content…" That's how I interpret complaints by adblock users.

"Good thing there are millions of other websites with book suggestions which work just fine with ad-block turned on..."

That's how I interpret pages that don't work at all when I have adblock turned on.

Seriously, if a website is so crammed with tracking shit and advertising that it can't even display text when I have ad-block on, then good-riddance.

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