201–210 of 333 posts
Helped me understand why I object to assholes, and the real damage an asshole does to a group.
The sections on asshole capitalism, aka entitlement capitalism, are fascinating and relevant.
Personally, this book really hit home, as I had recently left a team/project much like the one described in the book, however I think anyone working on a software project at a decent sized company will be able to relate to many of the problems presented early in the book.
2. Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace)
3. The Fellowship of the Ring (J. R. R. Tolkien)
4. The Sin of Certainty (Peter Enns)
5. The Bible Tells Me So (Peter Enns)
6. Thomas Traherne, Centuries of Meditations
7. Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman)
8. Elantris (Brandon Sanderson)
9. A Wild Sheep Chase (Haruki Murakami)
10. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Haruki Murakami)
11. Freedom TM (Daniel Suarez)
12. Lightning (Dean Koontz)
13. Daemons (Daniel Suarez)
14. Foundation and Earth (Isaac Asimov)
15. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)
16. Fear and Loathing in Las Veges (Hunter S. Thompson)
17. Foundation's Edge (Isaac Asimov)
18. The Doors of Perception (Aldous Huxley)
19. Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson)
20. Tortilla Flat (John Steinbeck)
21. The Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson)
- Introductory Statistics with R by Dalgaard, Peter. A solid introduction to stats, don't be scared by R bit in the title - it contains plenty of maths/theory so that knowledge is widely applicable. Brilliant introductory for everyone who wants to do something stats related. It's amazing how much can be done with no fancy deep learning algorithms, just plain simple stats. - Statistics Done Wrong by Alex Reinhart. Ple…
The Circle by Dave Eggers. This one was scary. I enjoyed it and would recommend it, but at the same time, I felt a little disappointed in it. I think I expected a bit, more, somehow, given the premise. I dunno, it's hard to explain, but I just felt like there was more that could have been done with the setting and the premise. Still, worth a read for sure.
I also read Ed Catmull's "Creativity Inc." this year, and one of the things he talked about was research trips for artists. He said that even if the audience of Ratatouille didn't know what the inside of a high end French kitchen looked like, it would come through in the movie that the ARTISTS did know. He emphasized the importance of these trips in the book.
Having worked in Silicon Valley, it felt like Eggers basically read a bunch of newspaper articles about it and then wrote a book, rather than visiting the place and talking to people. If you want to write a dystopian novel, this area is certainly rich with possibility. I remember that 10+ years ago I was astounded at how well "Microserfs" captured the mood and motivations of people... I'll have to go back and read it again.
Here is my full bookshelf: http://www.kirubakaran.com/books-read.html Books Read in 2016: 1. The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge - Poundstone, William 2. My Brain is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos - Schechter, Bruce 3. One Summer: America, 1927 - Bryson, Bill 4. The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1) - Liu, Cixin 5. The Dip: A Little Book T…
Wonderful, I have never once in my life encountered another person who has read this book. I first read it as a student in the '90s and, like "Godel, Escher, Bach" and "QED", it made such an impact on me.
Strangely, just yesterday I found myself recommending it to someone who is currently reading the new John Conway biography and had questions about the Game of Life.
Deep Work - Cal Newport (recommended)
Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert (recommended)
Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals - Heidi Grant-Halvorson (lots of great stuff in here, highly recommended)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley (I really like biographies and Malcolm X was a pretty interesting person. recommended)
Making It in Real Estate: Starting Out as a Developer - John McNellis (meh)
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (I'm not big on sci-fi, so this book surprised me with how good it was. recommended)
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl (I'm not sure how much I got out of it, but worth it just for learning about Frankl's unique experiences and perspectives. recommended)
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (meh)
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture - David Kushner (One of those books that makes you want to lock yourself in a room and program for hours. Carmack's dedication and intellect is especially awe-inspiring. recommended)
Here is my full bookshelf: http://www.kirubakaran.com/books-read.html Books Read in 2016: 1. The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge - Poundstone, William 2. My Brain is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos - Schechter, Bruce 3. One Summer: America, 1927 - Bryson, Bill 4. The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1) - Liu, Cixin 5. The Dip: A Little Book T…
> 1. The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge - Poundstone, William Wonderful, I have never once in my life encountered another person who has read this book. I first read it as a student in the '90s and, like "Godel, Escher, Bach" and "QED", it made such an impact on me. Strangely, just yesterday I found myself recommending it to someone who is currently reading the new John C…
• From Eternity to Here - Sean Carroll
• The Computational Beauty of Nature - Gray Flake
I'd love to hear your thoughts on them if you've read them.
Is there a good way (besides commenting) to save posts like these to find later?
I learned the hard way here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11253648
lol, you live, you learn