Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#41

Post by corentin » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 9:24 PM UTC

* "Applied Cryptography" by Bruce Schneier. The first chapters are a great introduction to cryptography, but I found the few following chapters presenting cryptographic protocols mind-blowing. Some of them are so simple yet very clever.

* Political economy essays by Frédéric Bastiat ( http://bastiat.org ) were truly enlightening for me.

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#42

Post by corentin » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 9:24 PM UTC

pjf wrote: post #40

"Silence on the Wire" by Michal Zalewski

Yes. Some ideas expressed in this book are really creative.

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#43

Post by matstc » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 10:21 PM UTC

I'm surprised no one mentioned SICP.

I would also add:

  - The Little Schemer
  - Linux in a Nutshell 
  - Unix power tools

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#44

Post by kingnothing » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 10:31 PM UTC

andreyf wrote: post #27

tomjen wrote: post #10

Make friends and influence people -- will help you understand why people react as strange as they do.

I skimmed that book and it all seemed to boil down to "be nice". Am I the only one who finds that ironic?

I haven't read the whole thing, but another major point in the book is to subtly mimic the other person's body language.

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#45

Post by xirium » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 10:33 PM UTC

andreyf wrote: post #27

tomjen wrote: post #10

Make friends and influence people -- will help you understand why people react as strange as they do.

I skimmed that book and it all seemed to boil down to "be nice". Am I the only one who finds that ironic?

I'd summurise as "Trust. Be friendly. Take genuine concern for your clients point of view." These are pre-requisites for "win-win" situations.

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#46

Post by wallflower » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 10:55 PM UTC

"Becoming a Technical Leader" by Gerald Weinberg

Unconventional perspective on management

"How Buildings Learn" by Stewart Brand

One of the best books about designing long-term architectures. Excellent coffee table book

"Envisioning Information" by Edward Tufte

"Walt Disney" by Neal Gabler

Excellent biography of maybe the greatest imagineer ever

"The Art of Software Testing" by Glenford J. Myers

~100 page classic. The central premise is that the successful test is one that finds bugs/issues not one that doesn't.

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#47

Post by xirium » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 11:00 PM UTC

kintro wrote: post #25

Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister Build to Last by James C. Collins , Jerry I. Porras

I've not read Peopleware but I've read Why Does Software Cost So Much? by Tom DeMarco and Slack by Tom DeMarco. The former focuses on technical issues and the sunken cost of software. The latter focuses on the agility of organisations. Tom DeMarco started as a programmer and subsequently became a consultant increasingly focusing less on technical issues and more on business issues. Therefore, reading his books in order would be most relevant as your start-up develops.

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#48

Post by ijoshua » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 11:15 PM UTC

Principia Discordia; or How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#49

Post by domnit » Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 11:47 PM UTC

I haven't gotten through all of it, but I really like the New Turing Omnibus, by A.K. Dewdney. It's about computer science, not how to program, so it would be interesting to non-hackers, too. Even if you are familiar with all of its topics, it can serve as a reference and clarifying tool for CS concepts.

Re: Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?

#50

Post by mindplunge » Thu, Mar 13, 2008, 12:15 AM UTC

what's a 'book'?