“Breakthrough Advertising” by Eugene Schwartz.
The relevance for any marketer is incredible. Much of what I read from “gurus” is essentially just rewording this book.
Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
131–140 of 270 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#132These two books I read recently are real gems / eye openers for me, which changed my view on many things: Robert C. Allen - The Industrial Revolution: A very short introduction (don't be fooled by the book series, every sentence carries its weight). C.S. Lewis - The Discarded Image (we get so many things wrong about what people before us thought and why).
Agreed on The Discarded Image, it really is very good. I've read it together with Huizinga's The Autumn of the Middle Ages and they both provide fascinating insights into not just how people lived but more importantly what they thought. Medieval Europe is absolutely fascinating and it's great to be shown around by someone as erudite as Lewis and Huizinga.
If you liked The Discarded Image, Lewis's book on courtly love (The Allegory of Love) is also very good. Courtly love is such an inscrutable subject for moderns and I only wish more people wrote as intelligently on the subject as Lewis did, since everything from Petrarch's sonnets to the 16th century Madrigals and beyond are only intelligible if one possesses some understanding of how courtly love works. Now if only I have time to read through Gower like Lewis suggested...
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#133Here's a request: someone once recommended a text book which lays the foundations for understanding all different kinds of programming languages (and presumably their design tradeoffs). And the people who had read it commented that it made it easy to understand different programming languages quickly. Anyone got an idea of what book that might be?
That sounds to me like “Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming”
Agreed, he/she really needs to take a look at this book - https://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/book.html
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#134The Selfish Gene should be read by everyone who studies biology or life science. Modern biological sciences are underlied by an understanding of evolution an genetics. I had heard variants of the phrase "change in allele frequency in a population over time," as a description of evolution many times starting in high school. But it wasn't until I read The Selfish Gene in college that I really understood what this meant…
Indeed. We are only vessels for our genes, what we do doesn't really matter as long as we pass our genes along, from the perspective of our genes.
I would also recommend other Dawkins books such as The God Delusion, it was one of the pivotal books that turned me from someone vaguely religious to an atheist. It explains simply how the various fallacies of religions are explainable and unwrappable.
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#135The older editions of "Physics for Students of Science and Engineering" by Halliday and Resnick are great.
Over the last 60 years, this has been the most commonly used physics text book in college. It's rather well written, and there are many very good homework problems. It covers the basics of mechanics and Electromagnetism and a few other topics also. The older editions have harder problems that are more instructive. By doing the homework problems, the reader learns physics, calculus, and the ability to manipulate and derive formulas.
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#136Working mostly with IT operations, I'd say the Google SRE books.
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#137The Quest by Daniel Yergin
Subtitle "Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World"
Is THE book for understanding the structure of the energy industry. Whether you're in it or just a curious person it's a phenomenal read.
He has a sequel out that I haven't picked up yet but I'd recommend The Quest to absolutely everyone.
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#138Steam: Its Generation and Use
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#139The Selfish Gene should be read by everyone who studies biology or life science. Modern biological sciences are underlied by an understanding of evolution an genetics. I had heard variants of the phrase "change in allele frequency in a population over time," as a description of evolution many times starting in high school. But it wasn't until I read The Selfish Gene in college that I really understood what this meant…
I would add that I think Dawkin's best work is The Ancestor's Tale.
Even if you have no interest in biology that book is still worth a read.
Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?
#140The Selfish Gene should be read by everyone who studies biology or life science. Modern biological sciences are underlied by an understanding of evolution an genetics. I had heard variants of the phrase "change in allele frequency in a population over time," as a description of evolution many times starting in high school. But it wasn't until I read The Selfish Gene in college that I really understood what this meant…
I would add that I think Dawkin's best work is The Ancestor's Tale. Even if you have no interest in biology that book is still worth a read.
The Ancestor's Tale is an intimidatingly large book at first glance, but I found it well worth the read. I'd recommend it before The Selfish Gene just because, despite the size, to me the progression from chapter to chapter really kept my attention.