YC's Winter Reading List • Hacker News Board

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#151

Post by ryanx435 » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:10 AM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #134

metaphorm wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

Gonna have to agree with the other guy: AnimalMuppet, you're kinda being purposefully obstinept here

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#152

Post by clumsysmurf » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:15 AM UTC

siavosh wrote: post #33

My personal picks as I continue to try to understand global economic trends since the 1980's through the prism of the 2008-crash: The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy by Yanis Varoufakis [1] The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future By Stiglitz, Joseph E. [2] The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War by Ro…

Yanis gave a good endorsement of "How Will Capitalism End?: Essays on a Failing System" https://www.amazon.com/How-Will-Capitalism-End-Failing/dp/17...

Also you might like Dean Baker's latest book. You can get it free from his website in all formats, or via Amazon

"Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer"

http://deanbaker.net/books/rigged.htm

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#153

Post by shiven » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:33 AM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #35

Creativity INC is one of the best books I have ever read on creativity and I have read a lot to know how much most of them really suck. It has the added bonus of providing an alternative biography of Steve Jobs which in itself is interesting. It's much more than a story about Pixar. It's a great insight into some of the very problems you deal with as you build and try to maintain a culture. I can't recommend it enoug…

Analogous to the top ranked thread in this post about glorifying Rockefeller; Ed Catmull was implicated in artificial wage suppression practices and non-poaching agreements across his industry.

So, every silver lining has a cloud, it seems.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#154

Post by crucini » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:36 AM UTC

redthrowaway wrote: post #47

TillE wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't both of those publications vigorously oppose Trump? The "conservative intellectual" niche may be the most politically irrelevant group in the country.

>Didn't both of those publications vigorously oppose Trump? Yes. >The "conservative intellectual" niche may be the most politically irrelevant group in the country. Trump won the Presidency, not the Movement. The rest of the GOP, though shell-shocked, has not suddenly ditched conservatism and embraced Trumpism. The vast majority of the GOP members of the House and Senate, and those in state governments, are conservat…

Please don't take this personally, but I think the "obstruction" comment illustrates why political topics tend to degrade into something bad.

It's a subcase of "blue team criticizes red team for action X, but conveniently ignores blue team performing action X". Problem is this accusation gets thrown constantly by both red and blue teams. And it's probably true most of the time: teams are partisan. It's also hard to objectively evaluate.

Political discussion on the net is mostly just replaying these well-worn tropes.

Again, nothing personal - I have been thinking since the politics ban how we can have good political discussions.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#155

Post by redthrowaway » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:37 AM UTC

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #147

redthrowaway wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> A lot of conservatives saw it as their duty to stand athwart Obama's agenda and yell, "Stop!" Given how much of it was their own agenda from 20 years back, what the hell was the point of that?

Which policy proposals did Republicans block that you think they would have been ideologically predisposed to embracing?

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#156

Post by matt4077 » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:39 AM UTC

siavosh wrote: post #33

My personal picks as I continue to try to understand global economic trends since the 1980's through the prism of the 2008-crash: The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy by Yanis Varoufakis [1] The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future By Stiglitz, Joseph E. [2] The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War by Ro…

You'd probably enjoy The Unwinding by George Packer[0].

I consider it "The Great American Non-fiction Novel".

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Unwinding-Inner-History-New-America/d...

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#157

Post by wdages » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:46 AM UTC

Glad to see Shoe Dog on this list, that was one of the most memorable books I listened to this year (the audiobook narration was awesome). It's always interesting hearing the origin story and struggles of a company that was the underdog in the industry for so long, and ended up on top. I thought Phil Knight's account of his journey with Nike was really honest and thoughtful, I had no idea how long it took them to get momentum, or how many times they were on the brink of bankruptcy. Can't recommend this enough, I'm looking forward to reading it a second time next year.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#158

Post by pekk » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:55 AM UTC

Uhhrrr wrote: post #75

This 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…

A hero of micromanagement!

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#159

Post by habosa » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 2:58 AM UTC

I imagine many people here saw Don Quixote on the list and kept scrolling. Sounds like YC is trying to make you go back to a book you probably gave up on in high school.

The edition pictured, translated by Edith Grossman, is extremely approachable. It uses mostly modern language which makes the original humor of the book really stand out. It's incredible that a book written over 500 years ago can still be funny and engaging. I'd recommend it to everyone, after reading this translation it moved from 'boring book I couldn't finish' to 'one of my favorite novels ever'.

Re: YC's Winter Reading List

#160

Post by jjoonathan » Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 3:36 AM UTC

dyim wrote: post #132

hackuser wrote: post #94

Earlier 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?

It was right in front of my eyes and I didn't see it. Humbling. Thanks for pointing it out.

In related news, Titan just got bumped to the top of my reading list.