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Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

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Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#231

Post by WastingMyTime89 »

dxbydt wrote: post #192
kristiandupont wrote: post #81

I am going to repeat what I always say when these book threads come up: I love all the recommendations here but please say a word or two about why you recommend said books. Sell them to me, don't make me do the work. Dumb lists of titles are so uninteresting.

> why you recommend said books. > Sell them to me ok, i will try. 2 books I absolutely love and have read cover to cover several times, solved most of the 1000+ problems. 1. Inference - Rohatgi 2. Inference - Stapleton Why I recommend them ? The real answer is super long. But the short version is - there are thinkers & there are doers. Basically, the mathematical statistics world has these theory-building Bourbaki ty…

> Basically, the mathematical statistics world has these theory-building Bourbaki type guys who write a LOT, say a LOT, but never get to the fucking point (imho).

I find your comment amusing considering:

1. You just wrote 5 paragraphs of anecdotes.

2. Bourbaki Elements of Mathematics is the driest book you can think about. It’s mostly formal definitions and extremely rigorous demonstrations.

Your snide costs you a lot of credibility at least as far as I’m concerned.

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#232

Post by mbrodersen »

“Rich Dad Poor Dad”. Not my field of study (finance) but it can be argued that it is relevant to anybody who cares about their long term financial health. It completely changed how I spend money and build for the future. It is a small book and easy to read.

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#233

Post by giardini »

yboris wrote: post #155

In psychology, I think Culture of Honor is absolutely stellar: Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South by Richard E. Nisbett & Dov Cohen https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Honor-Psychology-Violence-Dir... The authors weave together a basically airtight argument for their thesis, drawing on historical, sociological, and experimental evidence to describe and explain the phenomenon called "culture of honor…

This fits well with Thomas Sowell's book Black Rednecks and White Liberals

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=black+rednecks+and+white+liberals

which discusses how cultural elements and attitudes were transferred from Scotts-Irish southerners to slaves.

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#234

Post by brocha »

hovden wrote: post #14

Classical Electrodynamics By Jackson Numerical Recipes By William H. Press et al Quantum Theory of Materials By Kaxiras

Having gone through the graduate physics curriculum, I wouldn't call Jackson a gem. Necessary hazing for physicists? Sure. Quantum Mechanics by Cohen-Tannoudji is a real gem imo

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#235

Post by billfruit »

js2 wrote: post #94

I've been programming since I was 10, earned a C.S. degree in '96, and have been a successful generalist working as a sysadmin, programmer, network engineer, devops, open-source contributor, etc at everywhere from a small ISP in a college town where I was the only tech person to startups to companies as large as H.P. working on enterprise software. Really a bit of everything. I guess you'd call it dev-ops, but even i…

I would also mention "The Linux Programming Interface" Book by Michael Kerrisk, for being a comprehensive single volume reference for most of Linux userspace API. If you have it by your side, it will save you lots of googling.

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#236

Post by dev_0 »

lizknope wrote: post #6

Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by John L. Hennessy the creator of MIPS and David Patterson the creator of Berkeley RISC (later SPARC) Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment by W. Richard Stevens

What's the benefit of studying computer architecture if you are a web developer

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#237

Post by dev_0 »

sabzetro wrote: post #162

Mastery - Robert Greene (2012). At the point in my life where I read this book, I was a recent ComSci grad, I had already started working and it was clear to me that I needed some framework to understand where I was going . Not just in terms of software, but in general, I needed some north star as far as a process and an ideal to achieve were concerned. Reading this book gave me exactly that. A clear, understandable…

Did you gain any insight after 10 years later?

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#238

Post by noud »

dxbydt wrote: post #192
kristiandupont wrote: post #81

I am going to repeat what I always say when these book threads come up: I love all the recommendations here but please say a word or two about why you recommend said books. Sell them to me, don't make me do the work. Dumb lists of titles are so uninteresting.

> why you recommend said books. > Sell them to me ok, i will try. 2 books I absolutely love and have read cover to cover several times, solved most of the 1000+ problems. 1. Inference - Rohatgi 2. Inference - Stapleton Why I recommend them ? The real answer is super long. But the short version is - there are thinkers & there are doers. Basically, the mathematical statistics world has these theory-building Bourbaki ty…

100% agree with this statement.

My personal 2ct: first understand how to solve "real" problems, then move on to the abstract theory. I cannot understand the theoretical mathematics behind a concept if I don't have at least one non-trivial example in my head which I understand completely.

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#239

Post by mannymanman »

dxbydt wrote: post #192
kristiandupont wrote: post #81

I am going to repeat what I always say when these book threads come up: I love all the recommendations here but please say a word or two about why you recommend said books. Sell them to me, don't make me do the work. Dumb lists of titles are so uninteresting.

> why you recommend said books. > Sell them to me ok, i will try. 2 books I absolutely love and have read cover to cover several times, solved most of the 1000+ problems. 1. Inference - Rohatgi 2. Inference - Stapleton Why I recommend them ? The real answer is super long. But the short version is - there are thinkers & there are doers. Basically, the mathematical statistics world has these theory-building Bourbaki ty…

This is fascinating, going to pick up these books. Do you think one needs a background in formal statistics to understand them? If so, do you have any recommendations for self-learning?

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#240

Post by bmitc »

da4id wrote: post #119

How to measure anything. I think it's targeted for actuaries/insurance, though I'm not in that field. But it did change my idea of what can be analyzed and measured. The beginning is repetitive. Some of it is very unorthodox. But it was very useful in detailing how to evaluate risk. How to talk to little kids so little kids will listen. I don't have kids and read it on a whim. I've found it's excellent for communicat…

> How to measure anything.

I think I found out about this book from Hacker News. I haven't gotten to it yet, but I need to. Seems very unique.

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