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Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

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Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#141

Post by Munksgaard »

msadowski wrote: post #60

Can anyone recommend some book about Africa? I would like to gain some insights about life there, ideally fact based, maybe some history? Doesn't need to be the whole continent as well, would love to start with any particular country. This year I decided to read at least one book a month the ones I found most inspiring were: * Factfulness - how we can misinterpret the data and how most of us have a wrong idea about t…

I read Karen Blixen's "Out of Africa" last year, and I found it absolutely breathtaking. Beautiful descriptions of a lost land and people, vivid imagery, and an almost fairy-tale like quality to it. One of the best books I've read in many years.

Granted, it's old and describes a version of Africa that there's not much left of, but I'd highly recommend it anyway.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#143

Post by ritchiea »

I'm going to recommend some fiction.

Man v. Nature by Diane Cook is an amazing read, filled with Kafkaesque, conceptual short stories that all also have real portraits of humanity when faced with extreme circumstances. It's my favorite thing I've read in years.

Other fiction I would recommend:

- Remainder by Tom McCarthy, a novel that dives deep into a weird cognitive question. I first read it about 8 years ago and it changed my idea of what a novel could be.

- Where'd you go Bernadette? by Maria Semple. The funniest book I've ever read. By a writer from the TV series Arrested Development. Satire of the intellectual & tech wealth Seattle world, but also much more than that.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#144

Post by AllegedAlec »

jboynyc wrote: post #132

I recently read The Dispossessed and The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin, and will continue reading her stuff over the summer for sure. It's really great. (HN discussion about her obituary: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16218439 ) The other day I started Pictures of a Gone City , a book about the Bay Area by critical geographer Richard Walker. It was recently discussed here ( https://news.ycombinator.com/…

> Ursula K. Le Guin

I tried reading her Earthsea series once, but I found her writing style rather awkward. It all felt rather emotionless and descriptive, with much detail left out. In fact, now I think about it, it rather reminded me of the writing style of the Old Testament. Are her other books also like that?

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#145

Post by sdevoid »

jboynyc wrote: post #132

I recently read The Dispossessed and The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin, and will continue reading her stuff over the summer for sure. It's really great. (HN discussion about her obituary: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16218439 ) The other day I started Pictures of a Gone City , a book about the Bay Area by critical geographer Richard Walker. It was recently discussed here ( https://news.ycombinator.com/…

I read The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed at the beginning of the year, just before she passed away. This summer I the first four books of the Earthsea series and will probably read The Other Wind and Tales soon. I've really enjoyed both universes--with Earthsea I keep wishing someone would make a game with this kind of magic system. The Lathe of Heaven is such a wonderful title, I'm looking forward to reading that as well.

I read her translation of Tao Te Ching while waiting in 2 hours of traffic for a ferry and it was wonderful and really informs the rest of her works.

I'm currently reading Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner, on the history of U.S. water policy in the West. Frustratingly dry.

Also re-reading On the Road but unlike 16 years ago I'm reading the 'Original Scroll Edition' this time: no chapters, paragraph breaks, invented character names, censors, etc. The book you read in high school is, in fact, the novelization of the original, which Kerouac wrote in twenty days. I've kept my beat-up paperback copy of the 'novel' nearby and I've preferred the scroll edition for the most part.

On the nightstand: - Annals of the Former World by John McPhee 300 pages into it, but I got a bit tired of the redundancy inherent in combining multiple books into one. - The Vulgar Tongue by Jonathon Green. 40 pages in. I've been looking for a copy of the dictionary. - The Path to the Nest of Spiders by Italo Calvino.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#146

Post by Stronico »

adora wrote: post #97
ericdykstra wrote: post #95

First, I'll recommend Discrimination and Disparaties by Thomas Sowell, another fantastic work from Sowell put out this year that builds on some ideas from previous essays. It's short, but the arguments are concise, empirical, and convincing. And 3 books that have most recently made it into my "must-reread" category. The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt Antifragile by Nassim Taleb Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kah…

I grew up on Thomas Sowell. Extremely articulate economist. I've now come to disagree with probably one-third of what he writes but all of his works are really good frameworks of how to think.

Hey - same here - still a premier thinker though - he introduced me to Eric Hoffer too.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#147

Post by killaken2000 »

saryant wrote: post #42

1) Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor Everything from the tulip craze to the dotcom boom. 2) If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face? by Alan Alda Alan Alda of MASH fame teaches you how to build more empathy and improve your communication skills. 3) Bad Blood by James Carreyou Theranos. Enough said. 4) Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in…

+1 for bad blood as well. I don't think I've read a book faster. Every chapter was more unbelievable that the next.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#148

Post by msadowski »

csomar wrote: post #138
msadowski wrote: post #60

Can anyone recommend some book about Africa? I would like to gain some insights about life there, ideally fact based, maybe some history? Doesn't need to be the whole continent as well, would love to start with any particular country. This year I decided to read at least one book a month the ones I found most inspiring were: * Factfulness - how we can misinterpret the data and how most of us have a wrong idea about t…

The north, the central and the south are very different. Like different climate, ethnics, religions, languages, and economies. Africa is also the center of the Arab world (Cairo + 2/3 of the arab world population is there) although the popular belief is that the middle east is. What are you looking exactly for? I'm from the north so I can answer some questions about that part.

I know my question was very broad. It's hard to pin point to what I'm exactly looking for. The best way I can describe it is "fighting my own ignorance". I realized I know very little about the world and decided it's time to change it.

Sorry for being so vague, I don't have any starting point, except the books others recommended. I'll start digging and see where it gets me!

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#149

Post by r3n »

Not new books, just something I'm currently reading.

- Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

This book teach you about depression and how you can apply cognitive therapy techniques to help you. I'm in the second part of the book and already learn some valuable information. It seems like HN recommend this book as well [1].

- Common Sense on Mutual Funds

One of the classic investment books from John C. Bogle. In this book he talks about what he think is the better way to invest in mutual funds and why.

This is one of the reading assignment form another short book I'm reading called "If You Can" [2], which recommended by Bogleheads.

[1] http://ramiro.org/vis/hn-most-linked-books/ [2] https://www.etf.com/docs/IfYouCan.pdf

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#150

Post by arthurk »

Sapiens/Homo Deus - History of Humankind. Also goes into topics of how money came to be and evolved over time. Homo Deus is the follow up book by the same author which focuses on humanity’s future.

Shoe Dog - Nike founder Phil Knight shares the story of the company’s early days.

Chasing the Scream - History and impact of drug criminalisation (War on Drugs). The author describes the War on Drugs (mostly in US but also describes other countries like Portugal where the policies on drugs are different)

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