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Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

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Re: Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

#181

Post by chiefalchemist »

madmax108 wrote: post #163
pchm wrote: post #47

Taleb's Incerto (Fooled by Randomness, Black Swan, Antifragile, Skin in the Game). Opens your eyes to a wide array of fallacies that govern our daily life (unknown unknowns, "experts" explaining past events as obvious in retrospect, the news, predictions, survivorship bias, confirmation bias, iatrogenics and a lot, lot more) — almost to a fault, i.e. if you take it too far, you'll see these fallacies everywhere and t…

Maybe it's just me, but I feel nearly all of Taleb's books should be blog posts instead of full length books. I first read Black Swan a long while back, and two things popped out at me. 1) The author comes across quite snobby and high-handed in his writing (which has translated over time on his Twitter as well for those who follow him on there) and 2) The essence of the book was distillable into a much smaller novell…

Based on my non-fiction reading habits, I believe this is true for 90% of the non-fiction books I've read. In fact, most can be broke down into a series of highlighs / quotes.

That said, no pain, no gain. The higher bar creates a sense of dedication for the reader. A 5k and a marathon are both "just running", but it's the latter better sharpens the sword, so to speak.

Re: Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

#183

Post by oldsklgdfth »

This Is Water by David Foster Wallace.

It's the transcript of a commencement speech he gave. It's really short.

I revisit it because it reminds me that everything is a matter of what you choose to think about. It's about realize that your thoughts are illusions and not becoming a slave to them.

I work for FAANG, so I struggle with reality on a daily basis.

Re: Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

#184

Post by sedawk »

oracardo wrote: post #99

The Overstory by Richard Powers: this book changed the way I look at trees. I'll be driving some days and out of nowhere notice a tree and appreciate it. This book inspired me to consider that there is an objective meaning to life. The Incerto Series by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: where to start...I started reading this series over a decade ago and I still think about it weekly. It can be very dense to get through as I to…

> Thought experiment: if you could take your dream vacation at no expense but would have no memories or photos/videos of the trip would you do it? Of course I would, there is no downside to it. Even if I have no memory of it after the fact, the goodness that would result from such a vacation would remain with me (and hopefully affect me in a positive way). Plus, I get to do it all over again; because, if I had no memory, it never happened! Win-win ;-)

Re: Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

#185

Post by kingkongjaffa »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #181
madmax108 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel nearly all of Taleb's books should be blog posts instead of full length books. I first read Black Swan a long while back, and two things popped out at me. 1) The author comes across quite snobby and high-handed in his writing (which has translated over time on his Twitter as well for those who follow him on there) and 2) The essence of the book was distillable into a much smaller novell…

Based on my non-fiction reading habits, I believe this is true for 90% of the non-fiction books I've read. In fact, most can be broke down into a series of highlighs / quotes. That said, no pain, no gain. The higher bar creates a sense of dedication for the reader. A 5k and a marathon are both "just running", but it's the latter better sharpens the sword, so to speak.

"Thinking fast and slow" is like this, it's a bit dry and it makes for hard reading (I tried by the poolside) but it's sort of more rewarding to fight through it.

5 minute summaries are also forgotten in the same amount of time.

Re: Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

#186

Post by westcort »

"Practical Statistics Simply Explained" by Russel Langley was an excellent introduction to statistical concepts that gives one a real "feel" for how to apply statistics in real-world use. I highly recommend working all of the problems in the text.

Re: Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

#187

Post by seer-zig »

The Quran. It really puts things into perspective and helps organize your life. Many of today's mental illnesses for example are due to the lack of faith, did people stop to think why there has been an explosion of mental illnesses in the past few decades?

Re: Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

#188

Post by kashyapc »

I'll mention two of mine. NB: they demand sustained reading and require nontrivial time investment. The patient reader will be handsomely rewarded.

- Behave, by Robert Sapolsky. Here's[1] my mini review from the past. I've also picked up various other fascinating books from Behave.

- Seneca's all of 124 letters. A good English translation is key here. Get the edition published Chicago University; translated by Anthony Long and Margaret Graver. (Related: I wrote about high quality translations by top scholars of Stoic works here[2].)

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25559890

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22990579

Re: Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?

#189

Post by westcort »

kashyapc wrote: post #188

I'll mention two of mine. NB: they demand sustained reading and require nontrivial time investment. The patient reader will be handsomely rewarded. - Behave , by Robert Sapolsky. Here's[1] my mini review from the past. I've also picked up various other fascinating books from Behave . - Seneca's all of 124 letters. A good English translation is key here. Get the edition published Chicago University; translated by Anth…

One of my favorite essays by Seneca is his letter to Serenus, three of my favorite quotations of which are here:

What, then, is there to prevent your believing this strength of mind to belong to the wise man, when you can see the same thing existing in others, though not from the same cause?—for what physician is angry with a crazy patient? who takes to heart the curses of a fever-stricken one who is denied cold water? The wise man retains in his dealings with all men this same habit of mind which the physician adopts in dealing with his patients, whose parts of shame he does not scorn to handle should they need treatment, nor yet to look at their solid and liquid evacuations, nor to endure their reproaches when frenzied by disease.

Just as the hardness of some stones is impervious to steel, and adamant can neither be cut, broken, or ground, but blunts all instruments used upon it; just as some things cannot be destroyed by fire, but when encircled by flame still retain their hardness and shape; just as some tall projecting cliffs break the waves of the sea, and though lashed by them through many centuries, yet show no traces of their rage; even so the mind of the wise man is firm, and gathers so much strength, that it is as safe from injury...

If we accept with an undisturbed and tranquil mind that greatest terror of all, beyond which the angry laws and the most cruel masters have nothing to threaten us with, in which fortune’s dominion is contained—if we know that death is not an evil, and therefore is not an injury either, we shall much more easily endure the other things, such as losses, pains, disgraces, changes of abode, bereavements, and partings, which do not overwhelm the wise man even if they all befall him at once, much less does he grieve at them when they assail him separately.

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