Drunkards Walk by Leonard Mlodinow History of probability theory
Read it in 2012 and still remember it. Some thing I cannot say about many other books. I found it as good as the Taleb books, perhaps even better.
Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
331–340 of 651 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#332- Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#333Atlas Shrugged: the danger of communism/socialism and how close we are to a collapse. It’s easy to see the excess of the right and capitalisms, not so easy to spot when it’s going too far left. a hunter-gatherer’s guide to the 21st century: How the hyper-novel environment that we build for ourselves is not serving our physical and mental health. Very interesting to see how the downside to our technological progress.…
Teens often like Atlas Shrugged. Then most people grow out of that. Beware if you are not.
Else you become founder of Uber?
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#334Aristotle's Poetics. Yes, it was published before 2021. A lot of writers try to set their own rules, but according to the best, you need limitations to be creative. Just like you would play sports with rules. That rulebook is Poetics. It's the kind of book that's so information dense that you have to read it slowly. Summaries are often as long as the book itself. There's some aging in there. Notably the concept of ha…
"you need limitations to be creative", who sold you that? this whole genre of "adversity builds character" type of advice is a backwards rationalisation at its purest. no, adversity does not build character but merely reveals it, just as limitations don't make you creative, rather creativity forces you to find newer ruts. also, you lost me at aristotle ;)
It's not adversity. Merely constraining the dimensionality of the problem space a bit, hence making the problem of finding the good stuff easier.
It's actually opposite to adversity, the constraint is supposed to _help_ the creative process.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#335I’m 15% into Cryptonomicon by Neal Staephenson, and it’s living up to the hype. I’ve only read a few of his books: Snowcrash, Anathem, and Fall; or, Dodge in Hell. He’s such a good thought experimentalist and decent novelist. Reading one of his books is almost like sitting in a really interesting philosophy class in college that just makes you think about familiar concepts differently or way more in depth.
I just finished his latest, Termination Shock. Enjoyable and relatively easy for people new to Neal Stephenson. Cryptonomicon is fun all the way through. Anathem is probably his most philosophical book right after the Baroque Cycle. If you enjoy the latter, I'd recommend reading everything the man has ever written.
I'll be honest, the first read of the Baroque Cycle took me some time and I came close to putting it down. I've since re-read it about six or seven times. Most of his books get better when you re-read them.
I'm looking forward to re-reading Termination Shock probably some time next year.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#336“How to change your mind” by Michael Pollen. I read a lot of books, and this is one that caused a change in my life. The succinct summary is that psychedelics are misunderstood and there is more and more research showing their potential, especially in the treatment of trauma. I had a difficult childhood. It’s something I still struggle with personal interactions because of this, even after years of therapy. After rea…
The number of people that I read/told me they read this book and go on to shaman trips and source material is staggering. I never really knew it was that hard to find/source said items. They aren't marketed publicly, but if you're in the right community they're available, usually for free. Psychedelics have a powerful community online from numerous forums, to websites such as Erowid and Psychonauts, which have their…
> Or, what all the cool kids do - music festivals and camping.
Taking 1 gram of cubensis and taking 5 grams will not have the same effect.
Traditionally, strong psychedelic doses tend to be administered for therapeutic/spiritual journeys. It's preferable that it would be in the presence of someone who's truly knowledgeable about that process (shaman, guide, therapist, etc). It's true in practically any culture, whether in Africa, in the Americas, or elsewhere. And there are reasons why it is so, which is all explained in those books and papers.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#337Dune - I loved it so much I’m avoiding watching the film in case it doesn’t live up to the book.
Never split the difference by Chris Voss - it’s a classic on negotiation. I’ve learned a lot of practical tips and tricks from it.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#338Foundation- this book blew my mind. What I found fascinating about it is that it’s a science fiction book but at its core it’s about how to resolve Geopolitical issues using diplomacy. It feels like this should be a primer for anyone who wants to understand and improve modern geopolitics.
Interesting. I read this book and became entirely disenchanted about the series (initially very excited as it was a favorite of my dad's, the TV show came out, Bill Gate, etc.). A couple of the issues I had: - The story is a bit contradictory in that "Psychohistory can't predict the live of 1 person" and then the story repetitively relies on a single person to pull people through Seldon Crises. - The entire story is…
Foundation is basically the story of Seldon’s plan, and of the leaders trying to keep it on track while handling the turning points predicted by psychohistory (“Seldon crises”). I think Seldon just assumes or hopes that his advice and the leaders’ judgment will be enough to not derail the plan.
It’s like Asimov’s entire timeline, a series of visionaries steering the world in the direction they want. Except there’s an additional challenge, in that they have to act without derailing Seldon’s goals. I think the books do a great job of showing that conflict.
Edit: agreed about the battle of wits aspect, but that’s also just Asimov being himself.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#339Foundation- this book blew my mind. What I found fascinating about it is that it’s a science fiction book but at its core it’s about how to resolve Geopolitical issues using diplomacy. It feels like this should be a primer for anyone who wants to understand and improve modern geopolitics.
The prequels are pretty enjoyable (tracks the life of Seldon), but the sequels outside of the trilogy have been much more of a slog.
My headcannon honestly throws away the sequels. They are the first books in the timeline that felt like really soft sci-fi. Not actually bad books, just out of touch with the rest of the story.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#340Here are all books I read (this year so far I read 50 books): https://books.j11g.com/search.php?log=3 Three books from 2021 stick out: - If This Is a Man by Primo Levi. I would urge everyone to read this. This history should be known to everyone. - Defying Hitler (the story of a German 1914 - 1933) by Sebastian Haffner. Masterfully written autobiography that explains the rise of nazi Germany more than any other histo…
It looks like the English translation of Haffner's memoir is titled "Defying Hitler: A Memoir". Thanks for the recs!