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YC's Winter Reading List
131–140 of 223 posts
Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#132This is my favorite passage from Titan: With a talent for seeing things anew, Rockefeller could study an operation, break it down into component parts, and devise ways to improve it. In many ways, he anticipated the efficiency studies of engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor. Regarding each plant as infinitely perfectible, he created an atmosphere of ceaseless improvement. Paradoxically, the mammoth scale of operations e…
Interesting story; thanks. I have a few reactions to it: First, it seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO. In your opinion, is the author trying to make Rockefeller relatable? You can see how it works with HN readers. These days his success is attributed to business acumen and notorious practices, not engineering, but I haven't read much about him. What impression does the book give? Also, I would argue that the…
I would argue that you can combine two parts of your cynicism to create something very wholesome!
1) "It seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO."
2) "Rockefeller would have helped his company much more by improving his own efficiency."
Surely the photo-op helped create a culture of efficiency and optimization throughout Standard Oil?
Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#133A few new books the YC crowd might like: "Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455544590 "What the Luck?: The Surprising Role of Chance in Our Everyday Lives" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1468313754 "Shrinking the Earth: The Rise and Decline of American Abundance" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019984495X
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Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I don't know. Were you speaking to us like we're real people when you dismissed Friedman as automatically worthy of extreme aversion, without even bothering to give any explanation or justification? Were you even speaking of Friedman like a real person? I submit that you were not. You were in fact speaking like a person whose mind is made up, and who thinks that everyone else's mind should also be made up, and…
I said "it's a valid opinion to express an extreme aversion to Friedman". that's exactly what I meant. it's an opinion. it's not a claim of any kind of universal truth. it's a statement of taste and therefore does not require justification. I didn't anywhere say "automatically worthy of...". You said that. You're trying to put words in my mouth, which is a discredited rhetorical trick. you are really getting carried…
> you are really getting carried away with word games. knock it off.
No, what I was really doing was mentally combining you with the OP, cylinder. But you said "valid opinion"; OK, I can go there. I think (at least partially) discrediting the whole list because of Friedman is still a bit much, but I think you were actually agreeing with that, when you said "ok" in the post that is five parents up from this one.
But now you're being rather careless with accusations toward me - that I'm playing word games. Maybe you should knock that off, too.
Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting story; thanks. I have a few reactions to it: First, it seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO. In your opinion, is the author trying to make Rockefeller relatable? You can see how it works with HN readers. These days his success is attributed to business acumen and notorious practices, not engineering, but I haven't read much about him. What impression does the book give? Also, I would argue that the…
I would argue that you can combine two parts of your cynicism to create something very wholesome! 1) "It seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO." 2) "Rockefeller would have helped his company much more by improving his own efficiency." Surely the photo-op helped create a culture of efficiency and optimization throughout Standard Oil?
Agreed, and very well put. Who knew you could combine cynicisms like that? The mind boggles at the possibilities ...
Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Saying the list took a dive when it came to Friedman is colorful writing and not epistemic closure . It did take a dive. This is 2016 and Friedman has been around for ever. He's been insistently wrong over and over again. The Iraq War. He was so wrong about that he even has a measurement unit named after him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit He's on TV, he's in the NYTimes, he's on NPR, he has a book. Am I…
I could just as easily say the same about stoicism or Carl Rogers being on the list. I mean, no, I'm not going to read Friedman's book. No, I'm not a fan. No, I'm not defending his positions. It's fine that you don't agree with Friedman. I don't agree with stoicism, either. But deciding that the list "took a dive" just because he has a book on it? Yes, you're being closed minded.
It's really not so much that I don't agree with him and to be sure, I don't agree with him. It's more like, really, do I have to listen/read/hear about Friedman one more time? Aren't there any new voices? Dunno where you live but they still play Car Talk on KQED on Saturday mornings and one of the guys is dead. MoDo has been awesome but she should move on as well. David Brooks same.
Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#137This is my favorite passage from Titan: With a talent for seeing things anew, Rockefeller could study an operation, break it down into component parts, and devise ways to improve it. In many ways, he anticipated the efficiency studies of engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor. Regarding each plant as infinitely perfectible, he created an atmosphere of ceaseless improvement. Paradoxically, the mammoth scale of operations e…
Interesting story; thanks. I have a few reactions to it: First, it seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO. In your opinion, is the author trying to make Rockefeller relatable? You can see how it works with HN readers. These days his success is attributed to business acumen and notorious practices, not engineering, but I haven't read much about him. What impression does the book give? Also, I would argue that the…
It's certainly a PR piece. The story may even be apocryphal. But there is a rational reason for him to take such a small action.
Promoting such a story within the company spreads the word that a good way to impress the boss is to question processes and look for improvements. Especially if he asked similar questions frequently.
People could start to think, what if the boss comes by, is there anything inefficient in my task that I can improve before that happens.
Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. He's a pretty compelling presenter/speaker. He participated in a discussion on Channel 4 news [1] along with a former Kremlin Advisor that I find highly entertaining. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZjqicN8Zug
Have you found any notable economist that critiques his work?
He is more like a political figure than an economist theorist. I have yet to read the books but have seen many of his lectures and its so opinion-based that its hard to be critical. I think he is more of a communicator than a novel intellectual.
Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem I have with the GOP's obstructionism was not that it was checking power, but that it was purely political. They obstructed policies that had been supporting by conservatives in the past, just because they didn't want Obama to be seen as having succeeded with anything. That is not what the checks and balances were designed for.
A lot of conservatives saw it as their duty to stand athwart Obama's agenda and yell, "Stop!" And quite frankly, they succeeded. I think you're unfairly discounting how much of that was ideologically driven, rather than the result of simple partisanship.
You can say that a strategy to regain power is an ideological action in the long run, but then what is the difference between ideology and partisanship?
Re: YC's Winter Reading List
#140It's 36 degree C here today so guess I'll have to wait a bit to read these.