Ask HN: Good books? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#101

Post by bherms » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:08 PM UTC

swombat wrote: post #41

Most books by Hermann Hesse, really... Narziss&Goldmund changed my perspective on life. If you have anything artistic in you, it's a must-read. Steppenwolf, Siddharta and the Glass Bead Game are other must-reads. Gabriel Garcia Marques, One hundred years of solitude. Practically all of Jorge Luis Borges' short stories. Mind-bending. Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being. Michael Ende's Never Ending Story. Enj…

Hesse has come highly recommended. I added several of his books to my list of must-reads. I did a little research on Borges and think I'll have to read some of those stories. I think Unbearable Lightness of Being was recently adapted into a movie, as I didn't know it was a book. Will check it out.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#102

Post by bherms » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:13 PM UTC

danilocampos wrote: post #24

Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything . It's a history of human reasoning, tracking the emergence of science into what we know today. Fills in a lot of meaningful gaps you may have forgotten from your various science courses, while providing the human side of major advances (rivalries, disappointments, hoaxes, all of it). Science from a new perspective is excellent, but it's also such an interesting windo…

Haha, I have played Bioshock. Twice. Incredible game in every sense: art, story, gameplay, etc. I still need to try the second. I picked up Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land on recommendation from a good friend, but I've yet to read it. I'll have to check out Bryson as I really enjoy reading about science, especially from different perspectives. You never learn as much about something from a single point of view -- life is 3-d.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#103

Post by dedalus » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:15 PM UTC

People nicely covered it here. A few other additions:

(a) Why is Sex Fun (http://www.amazon.com/Why-Sex-Fun-Evolution-Sexuality/dp/046...): covers the history of human sexuality

(b) The Prophet: http://www.katsandogz.com/gibran.html

(c) Demon Haunted World by Sagan http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dar... is a nice place to explain the method of science

(d) Sleepwalkers (http://www.amazon.com/Sleepwalkers-History-Changing-Universe...) gives you an idea of how we humans,err,sidetrack and ultimately come to explaining the universe

That should be enough for this summer

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#104

Post by Kliment » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:19 PM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #73

Kliment wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I loved G,G&S, but found Collapse disappointing in comparison. There was a lot of unnecessary personal gushing about his home state which had no contribution to the work and undermined the credibility of the argument. It picks up after that though. It's a much more political and argumentative book than G,G&S, and seems to force a view on the reader (a view I happen to agree with, but still felt uncomfortable with the…

YMMV - I rather liked the very personal descriptions of Montana. By comparison I found G,G&S rather dry.

I suppose that makes it a matter of taste. I like my science books to be impersonal, and my political books to be personal. I tend to dislike it when one crosses into the other.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#105

Post by marknutter » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:27 PM UTC

Read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Whether or not you are into fantasy, it's a must read series, not to mention it's been picked up as an HBO series too. Everybody I've recommended it to has loved it, regardless of their opinions about Fantasy (going on 20+ people now). Just read it!

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#106

Post by cma » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:27 PM UTC

Richard Feynman (you mentioned him) - Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman

Thorstein Veblen (econ; one of the most cynical econ books I've ever read--in a good way) - The Theory of the Leisure Class

Norbert Weiner (philosophy, robots) - The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#107

Post by bherms » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:28 PM UTC

qeorge wrote: post #94

The Emperor Of Scent - Chandler Burr I never appreciated my sense of smell until this book. http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Scent-Perfume-Obsession-Myster...

I actually have two friends who lack a sense of smell. It's something you really take for granted, but I spent a day just trying to imagine all the smells I smell and what the act of smelling those things did for me. Pretty eye opening.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#108

Post by bherms » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:42 PM UTC

metamemetics wrote: post #45

zootar wrote: post #5

"The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values" by Sam Harris is a new release which falls into the category of philosophy, remarks on human behavior, and is bound to reference Bertrand Russell. Harris, who has trained both as a philosopher and a neuroscientist, argues against the popular notion that science can have little or nothing to say about morality. Necessarily, he confronts related ideas like m…

I am a extreme advocate for science and a complete atheist, but completely disagree that any of the points he brings up in his TED talk actually support his thesis. I think he is confounding being able to discover logical fallacies in existent (moral) arguments with the possibility for innate derivation or at least making a very large leap of faith. I remain unmoved from the notion pure science is strictly observatio…

From watching the video of him at TED, I don't think he got to expound on his ideas to the extent that they'd be done justice. The God Delusion does a fantastic job of showing how morality can be entirely derived from science, logic, and reason. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#109

Post by bherms » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 5:45 PM UTC

inovica wrote: post #83

I apologise that I'm not going to mention any specific books that I really recommend, but this seems like a good place to mention how great audio books can be. I love reading, but dont have anywhere near the time I used to these days to do it. I discovered audio books about 2 years ago whilst driving my young children to school. Its a 1-hour round trip, so for 30 minutes I'm in the car on my own. I've really enjoyed…

I always was against them until I decided to grab a few on a whim to take on a solo drive to Orlando (16 hrs each way). I was surprised how easy to follow it was and really enjoyed it. I generally have thisweekin.com shows on while I work, so I tried to listen to one while working -- major fail, I couldn't concentrate. I drive an hour to work every day though, so I'll have to give it a shot then.

Re: Ask HN: Good books?

#110

Post by acangiano » Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 6:01 PM UTC

If you are interested in finding great new books, you could sign up with the service I created: http://anynewbooks.com. It's not exactly a recommendation service, but it's useful to spot interesting new titles that come out regularly.