YC's Winter Reading List • Hacker News Board

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#11

Post by minimaxir » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:41 PM UTC

pugio wrote: post #3

minimaxir wrote: post #2

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521

The majority of discussion on the previous post was about how many/most of the books conflicted with the 1-week ban on highly charged topics. Since that's over (right?) - perhaps people can now share their opinions on the book list itself...

That's why I didn't call it an outright dupe. (I wish there were finer guidelines on "significant attention")

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#12

Post by karmicthreat » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:49 PM UTC

Highly recommend Manna. Its short but still worth it.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#13

Post by evtothedev » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:51 PM UTC

I just finished The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu and I cannot recommend it enough.

It traces the history of advertising and attention capture from billboards through Facebook.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#14

Post by protomyth » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:51 PM UTC

grzm wrote: post #10

bigethan wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was "politics" not "highly charged topics" - eg a post about javascript frameworks was fine. And I have no idea how to tell if it's over or not.

The week-long experiment was terminated early. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13131251 It would have been over by now regardless.

I wish they had put that on the front page since I was still flagging political articles per the request in the original message.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#15

Post by _23sd » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:52 PM UTC

tomcam wrote: post #5

In case you're wondering about how we knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, sexist, racist, homophobic conservatives really think, "Strangers in their own land" is not a good representation. Anything by bestselling authors such as Mark Steyn Dinesh D'Souza, Mark Levin, or Ann Coulter would be a much closer approximation. Reading "Strangers in their own land" would be like one of those people writing a book about why Hil…

Mark Levin? Really? My grandmother gave me Liberty and Tyranny at christmas '09 (not weird, we're a politically charged family) and I felt like it was a good introduction to what American conservatives think...for non-Americans who don't have years of immersion in our debates to go on. I already know the typical arguments for a flat tax, states' rights, and privatization of entitlements, I got nothing out of reading them again. I suppose he does present them in a well-worded and (usually) fact-based way, but I think it's safe to assume that HN readers have engaged with smart conservatives online before. And, most narrowly to that book, I doubt the defenses of Bush admin policies and specific hyperbolic warnings about Obama's policies have aged well.

I'm not familiar with Steyn and haven't read much by D'Souza. Ann Coulter isn't a good pick if you're trying to dispel stereotypes, seeing as she's the walking strawman.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#16

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:52 PM UTC

tomcam wrote: post #5

In case you're wondering about how we knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, sexist, racist, homophobic conservatives really think, "Strangers in their own land" is not a good representation. Anything by bestselling authors such as Mark Steyn Dinesh D'Souza, Mark Levin, or Ann Coulter would be a much closer approximation. Reading "Strangers in their own land" would be like one of those people writing a book about why Hil…

[deleted]

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#17

Post by CalChris » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:53 PM UTC

The Grossman translation of DQ is a fine read. I read it in a seminar which is the academic equivalent of a book club. That was awesome. If you get into it, it's a great discussion book.

I'd recommend Marryat's Mister Midshipman Easy over Forester's Mister Midshipman Hornblower. Marryat speaks from authority when he speaks of the sea and of naval warfare. Neither Forester nor Patrick O'Brian sailed.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#18

Post by peller » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:55 PM UTC

Both The Idea Factory and Titan were excellent. Haven't read any of the others yet. I'd recommend reading The First Tycoon[0] before Titan, as chronologically it sets the stage very well for the world Rockefeller rose to power in.

[0] http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4839382-the-first-tycoon

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#19

Post by ajmurmann » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 8:56 PM UTC

karmicthreat wrote: post #12

Highly recommend Manna. Its short but still worth it.

I've really come to value sorry non fiction books. Too many non fiction books seem to repeat the same point over and over. Less danger of that on a short book. My favorite non fiction author is Ian Buruma. All his books that I've read are short but loaded with information and are highly diligent about giving references.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#20

Post by protomyth » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 9:00 PM UTC

My disagreement with the placement of "Strangers in Their Own Land" is basically that it really is well loved by Mother Jones[1], NYT[2], etc. but not at all liked by the people it claims to report on[3]. I guess if you hold liberal beliefs and want some reinforcement, then its a good book, but I would think you probably want to read books by people who actually are the people being talked about.

1) http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/trump-white-blue...

2) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/books/review/strangers-in-...

3) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2016/09/01...