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Ask HN: What is the best book you read on 2017?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you read on 2017?

#32

Post by jfaucett »

mattmanser wrote: post #23
jfaucett wrote: post #4

1. Thinking fast and slow - Kahneman 2. Outliers - Malcom Gladwell 3. How to read and do proofs - Daniel Solow All of these were packed with great insights and are books I'm sure I will return to in the future for multiple re-reads.

I enjoyed Outliers when I read it a while ago, but have since realised it's just a bunch of anecdotes.

Maybe I'll come to that conclusion at some later point as well. Still, the point about how rules in social systems bias outcomes in subtle ways was an interesting anecdote (the hockey player birthday distribution).

Re: Ask HN: What is the best book you read on 2017?

#33

Post by ravitation »

mattmanser wrote: post #23
jfaucett wrote: post #4

1. Thinking fast and slow - Kahneman 2. Outliers - Malcom Gladwell 3. How to read and do proofs - Daniel Solow All of these were packed with great insights and are books I'm sure I will return to in the future for multiple re-reads.

I enjoyed Outliers when I read it a while ago, but have since realised it's just a bunch of anecdotes.

Yes. Malcolm Gladwell loves to write about his own brilliantly uncovered anecdotes...

Peak loses a lot of that, and is co-authored by a psychologist who is behind a lot of more scientific work in the area of expertise (his work is also referenced in Outliers).

In general, I recommend people skip Outliers (really just skip Gladwell entirely) and read Peak instead.

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