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Books to read before I die

cooksillustrated.com

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Re: Books to read before I die

#31

Post by ghaff »

zwieback wrote: post #16
ghaff wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that this was presumably published when he was still in charge of the business, it would hardly be surprising if a lot of the list were contributed by others. (Kimball's no longer involved with CI. He left a while back under acrimonious circumstances.)

I've always been split - he seems not nice but the show isn't quite the same without him.

I admit I haven't watched the show for a while. The new podcast (Proof) is much better than the old ATK one though IMO. It also feels as if they've gotten a bit more adventurous with recipes; they always felt rather conservative mid-American under Kimball.

Re: Books to read before I die

#32

Post by criddell »

jamesrcole wrote: post #29
dawg- wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a hardcore book lover, I have the deepest hatred for all lists of books. They are pretentious wastes of time, usually written to make the author look like an eclectic and well-rounded person and for no other purpose. This is just about my only strong opinion in the world. I would die a thousand deaths on this hill. Publishing a list of books like this should be in the same category of social bad habits such as nam…

> As a hardcore book lover, I have the deepest hatred for all lists of books. They are pretentious wastes of time How do you keep track of the books you want to read? There are many books I've heard of, and heard people recommend, that I would really like to read. The only way I can keep track of them is by noting them down in lists.

I'd guess that person is talking about published lists of books.

Re: Books to read before I die

#33

Post by twirlip »

bookofjoe wrote: post #4
AffineStructure wrote: post #3

I read Kimball and assumed Ralph Kimball.

diff'rent strokes: never heard of Ralph Kimball ;-)

Xerox PARC alum, main designer of the sequel to the Xerox Alto computer, the Xerox Star, which is the the first modern personal computer (GUI, mouse, Ethernet, print & file servers, etc).

Re: Books to read before I die

#34

Post by jamesrcole »

criddell wrote: post #32
jamesrcole wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a hardcore book lover, I have the deepest hatred for all lists of books. They are pretentious wastes of time How do you keep track of the books you want to read? There are many books I've heard of, and heard people recommend, that I would really like to read. The only way I can keep track of them is by noting them down in lists.

I'd guess that person is talking about published lists of books.

Then I’d say to them, what is wrong with publishing your own list of books to read? Others might get something from it. Or your list of book recommendations?

Re: Books to read before I die

#35

Post by el_cujo »

ericmcer wrote: post #22

This list and others of its kind have always felt a little off to me. If you read the most famous single book of three different authors I feel like you wouldn’t get too much out of it. I would rather die knowing I read Shakespeare and Faulkner than read Othello and As I lay Dying. This kind of list format takes what should be an organic exploration of other humans who are praised for their writing and turns it into…

I think it's totally fair to want to take a sampling of a lot of great authors to try out their work and then maybe follow up on more of their stuff if you find it compelling. True, they might not have the same level of appreciation for the book as if they'd been more familiar with all of their work, but if you try and tell people "you're not going to 'get it' without reading the 17 novels and 8 novellas he wrote before this", then if you're right you're going to just turn people off from trying.

Maybe this is the "plebian" opinion, but I see nothing wrong with wanting a taste of Dahl, Feynman, Homer, and Tolstoy rather than devoting your life to just one. He's reading for pleasure, not writing a dissertation.

Re: Books to read before I die

#38

Post by bitzun »

I love Cormac McCarthy and Blood Meridian is a fine way to get into his work, but it was a hard read for me because of the pacing. NCfOM, The Road or Outer Dark are easier to follow IMO. I hope this comment is considered useful enough to pass the HN guidelines.

Re: Books to read before I die

#39

Post by OJFord »

dhosek wrote: post #30
OJFord wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like as good a place to ask as any - is there an adblock list style solution for stripping not just query parameters (and I suppose they're sometimes needed, can't always strip them) but also e.g. /ref=blah paths that some (Amazon for example) use as well?

Why? I actually make a point of going to an affiliate link before buying anything from the big river. Just doing my part to reduce their profits as much as possible. (My current go-to is kottke.org although I wouldn't object if people wanted to go to http://don.dream-in-color.net/books/ instead)

The /ref= isn't from afiliate/referral links, it's just tracking.

Re: Books to read before I die

#40

Post by dhosek »

OJFord wrote: post #39
dhosek wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? I actually make a point of going to an affiliate link before buying anything from the big river. Just doing my part to reduce their profits as much as possible. (My current go-to is kottke.org although I wouldn't object if people wanted to go to http://don.dream-in-color.net/books/ instead)

The /ref= isn't from afiliate/referral links, it's just tracking.

I don't think that's actually what's happening with that. ref=nosim is an old thing (no longer necessary) for going to the product page directly. I can't see any tracking that they can do with a URL component that they wouldn't have anyway (e.g., knowing the referrer, IP etc.)
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