Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers
It's about a "resident humanist" at a research institution who makes an improbable bet with a computer scientist/AI researcher. For people in tech, it's a fantastic read.
Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
41–50 of 313 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#42I've read a lot of books this year, some have already been mentioned (eg. Gawande, Gombrich). I've been devouring the Game of Thrones books since summer, and as no one has mentioned it yet, I'll point it out.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#43I started listening to audio books very recently, so some of these books might be old to you.
* Predictably Irrational - How Humans behave and why.
* 4 hour work week - About how to earn money to live not live to earn money
* Made to stick - How to convey ideas in a way others will remember
* Lean Startup - How to build products using continuous innovation
* Guerrilla Marketing - Basic Marketing principles in 30 days
* Rework - Myth Buster for Internet/Tech companies
* Outsider Edge - Condensed History and reasoning for success of self-made billionaires
* Linus Torvalds - Just for Fun - About Linus Torvalds
Ebooks ( haven't finished reading yet, but they are great so far )
* Getting thing Done - Management principle for knowledge workers by David Allen
* Agile Development - Building Rails apps using agile methodology
I can't believe I've finished 8 books in 2011, long live audio books.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#44I was so incredibly tempted to put 'Twilight' down and wait for the lynch mob, but then realized that the Reddit color scheme is different. This year was solely devoted to pleasure reading. Neal Stephenson's REAMDE was quite good, although I imagine everybody on HN has read it, as Neal is practically a Valley institution. The original 'Starship Troopers' by Ray Bradbury was also a good read, and easy to miss if you'r…
Did you mean Robert Heinlein? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#45A song of Ice and Fire series
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#46Best books I read in 2011: * "Salonica, City of Ghosts" by M.Mazower. Tells the history of Thessaloniki, informative, entertaining, at times nostalgic. * "The Cauchy-Schwarz Master Class" by J.M.Steele. A guided tour of mathematical inequalities. Very entertaining and readable (for a math book) and extremely well written. * "Indiscrete Thoughts" by G-C.Rota. Irreverent anecdotes about mathematicians. * "Black Swan" b…
"Salonica, City of Ghosts" is definitely an excellent read. I thought it was somewhat sad how the world wars of the 20th century diminished one of Europe's great, culturally rich cities.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#47I'd say it's a tie between 2 books by Jonathan Safran Foer:
"Everything is Illuminated" and "Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close".
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#48The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. It's a really good book for starting entrepreneurs.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#49Hey guys, just made a little Bindle of some of the choices you've made, for those of you who like a more visual perspective: http://bindle.me/bindles/298.
My contribution:
"Devices and Desires" by KJ Parker: An interesting fantasy book that is centered around an engineer---his unique take on complex human situations might appeal to the more analytical amongst us.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
#50"Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength" by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney.
Really good book about willpower, mental fatigue, dieting, working etc. Lots of nice examples and tips to improve different aspects of your life.