Any biographical recommendations on Srinivasa Ramanujan?
I really enjoyed the Man who knew Infinity by Kanigel. Seemed to capture the flavor of Cambridge at the time.
It's a movie too, but I haven't seen it.
Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
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Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#12All of the Walter Isaacson biographies are fantastic.
To understand how modern digital ecosystem came to be I cannot think of a better combination than Isaacson's "Innovators" and "The Dream Machine" by Waldrop.
Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#13"American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer"
A lot about American and international politics during the Manhattan Project that is very insightful.
Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#14"Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War"
https://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Fighter-Pilot-Who-Changed/dp/031...
Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#15The Biography of Prophet Muhammad: https://www.amazon.com/Ar-Raheeq-Al-Makhtum-Sealed-Nectar-Bi...
Learning the ups & downs of a human, who tried to change the world, and delivered the religion of Islam.
Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#16Stillness Flowing
Biography of Ajahn Chah
https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/617-stillness-flowing
He is a Thai Buddhist monk, who is responsible for introducing mindfulness/insight mediation to the west.
Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#17All of the Walter Isaacson biographies are fantastic. To understand how modern digital ecosystem came to be I cannot think of a better combination than Isaacson's "Innovators" and "The Dream Machine" by Waldrop.
His Leonardo biography is mediocre at best. It may read smoothly but he lacks a good grasp of the subject matter. Instead, Leonardo is like an earlier Steve Jobs of some kind.
Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#18The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel ; it's impossible to understand how he figured out the amazing things he did. His story is a tragedy.
Locke: A biography by Roger Woolhouse ; the father of classical liberalism in a time of upheaval in England, interactions with the king, banishment to Holland, promoted religious toleration
The Double Helix: James Watson; scientific discovery in 1950s Cambridge, the thrill of the race to be first, controversy with Rosalind Franklin
The Caro books on Lyndon Johnson; insight into the ugly guts of politics, what it takes to win & the course of mid-20th century American history
The Mark Levison book on the Beatles is amazing - the only volume he has finished takes ~700 pages to get to the release of their first single. Arguably the most important cultural phenomenon of the 20th century.
Andrew Hodge's biography of Alan Turing
Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#19Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson
A mathematician's apology by G.H Hardy
My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts
Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen
Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Re: Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner
#20I enjoyed iWoz, the autobiography of Steve Wozniak about how Apple Inc. got started. A little known fact is that Woz still works for Apple doing promotional stuff for the company.