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Super serious question. Of the 278 comments that have been posted to this thread in the last 8 hours, has anyone suggested a single female author? I looked for a while and saw exactly zero. Isn’t that kind of notable?
Another recommendation is "Quantum Genesis: Speculations in Modern Physics and the Truth in Scripture" by Stuart Allen. QG is a relatively deep pop sci look at physics, computation, and several related fields where the author points out that the original translation of the creation myth in Genesis 1 matches up extremely well with a modern understanding of quantum physics and simulation theory. (disclosure: a family member is the author).
Super serious question. Of the 278 comments that have been posted to this thread in the last 8 hours, has anyone suggested a single female author? I looked for a while and saw exactly zero. Isn’t that kind of notable?
A common thread with these books seems to be exploring consciousness and definitions of self.
As a bonus it does stuff I find more from women authors, like quietly question gender roles without making a scene about it, question slavery, ownership, etc.
Similar a bit to the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells but on a whole other level.
Its a wonderful trilogy of three books. Strongly recommend it.
I can also recommend N.K. Jemisin, not really mind bending, but very odd
Generally I dislike it when authors patronise me, banging my head against their genius, and I find women authors tend to do that less (Disclaimer to sensitive people : this is my personal opinion)
You might like the Gateless Gate by Mumon. http://oaks.nvg.org/gate-struggles.html Hui-Neng's "Your Minds Move" The wind was flapping a temple flag, and two monks started an argument. One said the flag moved, the other said the wind moved; they argued back and forth but could not reach a conclusion. The Sixth Patriarch Hui-Neng said, "It is not the wind that moves, it is not the flag that moves; it is your minds that…
Ok, cute, but does it mean anything? Of course the wind moved the flag. Are they all ignorant of physics? No of course not. Its some metaphysical plug about relationships or something. One of those 'one hand clapping' things. I guess the point is to get you to stop overanalyzing. Which I'm doing. But no, I didn't get my mind blown by monks in semantic circles. I guess I'm not ready to be enlightened.
"To Mock a Mockingbird" by Raymond Smullyan. From Wikipedia: > To Mock a Mockingbird and Other Logic Puzzles: Including an Amazing Adventure in Combinatory Logic (1985, ISBN 0-19-280142-2) is a book by the mathematician and logician Raymond Smullyan. It contains many nontrivial recreational puzzles of the sort for which Smullyan is well known. It is also a gentle and humorous introduction to combinatory logic and the…
Super serious question. Of the 278 comments that have been posted to this thread in the last 8 hours, has anyone suggested a single female author? I looked for a while and saw exactly zero. Isn’t that kind of notable?
Nassim Taleb's books (Black swan, Antifragile, Fooled by Randomnesss) Thinking Fast and Slow The Organized Mind The Vital Question by Nick Lane. The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch
I thought Black Swan was fairly meaningless. It started to raise some interesting ideas about the effect of "black swan" events but then failed to give any insight into dealing with or preparing for those effects beyond vague generalities. I did learn how Taleb likes lifting weights and refuses to run for a bus though. From what I've heard his other books are similar.
Super serious question. Of the 278 comments that have been posted to this thread in the last 8 hours, has anyone suggested a single female author? I looked for a while and saw exactly zero. Isn’t that kind of notable?
Someone suggested Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking , which is by Susan Cain. Your point stands, though. HN's userbase is massively male-a survey a few years ago put it at 94% [0]. This is presumably because the high-tech startup crowd has identical demographics. These books are mostly related to tech or business, so while the skew is notable, it's an artifact of the broader issue. [0]…
That 'identical demographics' part is perhaps a tautology? They're mostly male, because they're mostly male?
Of course we understand there are 1000 reasons for the disparity, discussed elsewhere.
Both these books drastically changed my perception of technology. The role we think it has and the effects and consequences it does have.
The main take away is that a technology contains an implicit bias that is absorbed by the user. More plainly put "to someone with a hammer, everything is a nail" applies to all technology.