David Kushner's ''Masters of Doom'' about John Carmack, John Romero, id Software, Scott Miller and Apogee and the game industry in the 1990s. Well written and, as far as I'm concerned, fascinating part of the hacker culture and history.
Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
321–330 of 333 posts
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#322I maintain a list of my readings triaged by topics: https://github.com/abronan/readings This year was rough for me as I had to deal with severe symptoms of anxiety that eventually led to panic attacks. I tried to understand the phenomenon and tackle subjects such as anxiety, consciousness and perceptual experience. Three books are especially interesting in that regard: - The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion…
Congratulations on head-on tackling such a tough problem! I wish you the best of luck as I"m sure it is not easy. Wanted to comment -- I'm not sure the extent to which this will be useful or relevant (so forgive me if its misplaced). I was interested in meditation (and to some smaller extent, buddhism). This book is short and generally well written from a buddhist perspective but may be of particular interest because the author previously suffered from panic attacks and believe's his use of meditation allowed him to control them: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Living-Unlocking-Science-Happines...
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#323My goal for this year was to read 10 books. Not a huge challenge but I'm happy I managed to complete it. I'm currently at my 16th book - so I might say that's pretty good.
Here's my 2016 reading list:
#1. Zero to One - Peter Thiel - 3.5*
#2. The Alchemis - Paulo Coelho - 3.5*
#3. Founders at Work - Jessica Livingston - 3*
#4. Traction - Gabriel Weinberg - 4.5*
#5. How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie -4*
#6. Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations... - Frederic Laloux, Ken Wilber - 4*
#7. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work - Mason Currey - 3*
#8. Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosak - 3*
#9. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs... - Eric Ries - 4.5*
#10. Meaningful: The Story of Ideas That Fly - Bernadette Jiwa - 3*
#11. Elon Musk: Inventing the Future - Ashlee Vance - 4*
#12. Rework - Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson - 4.5*
#13. Anything You Want - Derek Sivers - 4.5*
#14. South of the Border, West of the Sun - Haruki Murakami - 3.5*
#15. As A Man Thinketh / The Path Of Prosperity - James Allen - 4*
Currently I'm reading If This Is a Man / The Truce by Primo Levi - and so far it seems to be one of the top 3 books I've read this year - definitely a 4+* book.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#324I'm a historical fiction nut & as it just so happened the Sharpe series from Bernard Cornwell (21 books) had been too long on my wish list, waiting to be read. Finally, got around to finishing it this year.
Usually, I'm real bad at reading & finishing non-software non-fiction; but managed ~10 of those this year.
Enjoyed reading Shoe Dog by Phil Knight & I contain multitudes by Ed Yong. I keep going back to Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman quite a bit. Need to read more in 2017.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#325I finished up the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. It turned out to be one of the best book series I've ever read. It follows fictional characters inserted into real history from the late 1800s to the late 1900s including both World Wars, the Russian revolution, the Cold War, the Kennedy Assassination, the separation and reunification of Germany, and more. I'm not a student of history, so I learned a lot about these e…
I haven't read the Century Trilogy, but his Pillars of the Earth is a similar multi-generational story (about the construction of a cathedral) which I enjoyed a lot. If you haven't read it, check it out.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#326Here is my list of 2016: - The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory - The 48 Laws Of Power - Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything - Crossing the Chasm - The Richest Man in Babylon - Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - Europe: A History - The Penguin History of Europe - The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon - Sapiens…
Finishing Europe: A History was a challenge but I really enjoyed it (especially his focus on "outlying" states). Norman Davies's No Simple Victory is also worth checking out. It's probably the best book I've read about World War 2.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting. Any book suggestions?
I too would love suggestions, but I have Cicero's Republic on my list to read.
Not the GP, but I read "Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion" by Jay Heinrichs this year, and consider it an excellent intro to classical rhetoric.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#328CSS Mastery - Andy Budd
CSS: The definitive guide - Eric Meyer
HTML & CSS design - Jon Ducket
Zero to One - Peter Theil. (Started reading it early this year, still on it.)
I've a self-taught developer coding professionally for 4 years now and I'm looking to fill knowledge gaps and understand how things work under the hood.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#3292 Highlights: - "Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison - "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón These are beautifully written books-- true art. I read intellectually stimulating, non-fiction material every moment of my life. Fiction counterbalances that frenzied information consumption. I also read 2/3 of SevenEves by Neal Stephenson. Although the first 2/3 were good, I can't recommend the book due to the last 1…
I finished Seveneves today. I agree that there's obviously a huge difference between the first 2/3 and the last - but how can you tell the second part is bad if you only read the first? Personally I think both parts of the story are good. I think that it could possibly have been split into two different books to give the second part a bit more space. As it is now, the second part is a bit rushed, and ends quite sudde…
It's not that I didn't read the last 1/3 at all, but that I chose not to finish
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?
#330Most Highly Recommended: Cosmos - !!! The Measure of Reality - How quantification has completely changed the face of society. Very interesting stuff. This has probably been my favourite read this year. Nightfall - Interesting ideas of the role of religion in society and mass hysteria Speaker for the Dead - Really fascinating book. I love sci-fi where there is an alien species that humans have trouble understanding fo…
If you haven't read it yet, 'Left hand of Darkness' from Ursula le Guin is very good.