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Do you read?

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Re: Do you read?

#71

Post by colortone »

I read non-fiction related to business strategy, sociology, economics, and technology constantly. In fact I went down the the LA public library and picked up 10 stellar titles just this weekend, I highly recommend all of these:

- Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software [MIT] - Prisoner's Dilemma [William Poundstone] - Thinking Strategically [Nalebuff] - Co-opetition [Nalebuff] - Cluetrain Manifesto [Searls] - Open Sources 2.0 [O'Reilly] - Innovator's Dilemma [Christensen] - Net Worth [Hagel] - Democratizing Innovation [von Hippel] - Fooled by Randomness [Taleb]

Other books I always keep around are "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" (a history of DJ's and electronic music), The Singularity is Near, and some Calvin and Hobbes ;-)

All the reading is most definitely worth it, if you don't feel that way you're not reading the right stuff.

The best book I've ever read is probably Anna Karenina (Magarshack translation, not the Oprah version, which is ironically much drier). Other very influential books on me include The Wealth of Networks, Shaping Things, and Free Culture. In fact, all 3 of those were given to me at different times in my life by the smartest person I know (a family friend of my parents)

Maybe the key to the non-fiction reading is having an agenda. I always feel like I'm downloading knowledge that is going to help me make bank and/or help people so that keeps me riveted (beyond the intellectual stimulation, which I'm a total whore for, too ;-)

Re: Do you read?

#72

Post by colortone »

swombat wrote: post #9

I'm currently re-reading Joseph and His Brothers , a 1200-page heavy-weight monster of a book by Thomas Mann (himself a heavy-weight monster of an author). Do I recommend it? Yes, but not for everyone. The preface itself is one of the heaviest essays on theology/philosophy out there, but the whole book is crammed with brilliant ideas/wisdom and is a masterpiece of literature (but it's heavy and the story moves fairly…

I read Mann's "Doctor Faustus" and it was SO rich...every sentence needs to be read 2x to be internalized. 2400 pages of Mann sounds insane!

;-)

(thanks for the tip, I'll try and peep the preface at least)

Re: Do you read?

#73

Post by Ilia »

I am an avid reader myself, but it is hard to find free time. I mostly read technical books these days, currently Cocoa Programmers for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass, excellent book. Other days when I do have a spear 5 mins I usually go the www.slapastory.com (sorry for the plug). Its one of my little startups.

Re: Do you read?

#74

Post by nazgulnarsil »

swombat wrote: post #16
nazgulnarsil wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with L. Ron Hubbard? He made a bet with a friend that he could start a religion. so he did, and got rich. You wouldn't do the same? I would.

No, I don't think I would. I don't think starting a nefarious organisation of religious nuts is an achievement that anyone should be proud of. It's easy to cause more grief - what's hard is to build something better.

I think he was too pilled up in the end to care. an easy vice to fall prey to. But given the chance, yes, I would start a cult and take money from morons for my own luxury.

Re: Do you read?

#75

Post by tdavis »

I pretty much exclusively read technical books. Most recently, Hacking Vim and Programming Collective Intelligence. I own all the classic tomes; GoF, Refactoring, Code Complete and so on which I re-read occasionally. I haven't read a piece of fiction in quite a while.

Although, when I did read fiction, I enjoyed Chuck Palahniuk, Orson Scott Card and for pure entertainment, Clive Cussler.

Re: Do you read?

#76

Post by swombat »

colortone wrote: post #72
swombat wrote: post #9

I'm currently re-reading Joseph and His Brothers , a 1200-page heavy-weight monster of a book by Thomas Mann (himself a heavy-weight monster of an author). Do I recommend it? Yes, but not for everyone. The preface itself is one of the heaviest essays on theology/philosophy out there, but the whole book is crammed with brilliant ideas/wisdom and is a masterpiece of literature (but it's heavy and the story moves fairly…

I read Mann's "Doctor Faustus" and it was SO rich...every sentence needs to be read 2x to be internalized. 2400 pages of Mann sounds insane! ;-) (thanks for the tip, I'll try and peep the preface at least)

Make sure you take a peep at Hesse too. Narziss and Goldmund is a must-read - the kind of book that changes your perspective on life. He's Thomas Mann's intellectual equal, I would say.

As for Joseph, a word of encouragement: the further you get into it, the more the story starts to come together and pick up pace. The first 300 pages or so, it feels like you're reading random shreds of a story... but keep faith, it's all packed with mental wealth and well worth it!

Re: Do you read?

#77

Post by colortone »

swombat wrote: post #76
colortone wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read Mann's "Doctor Faustus" and it was SO rich...every sentence needs to be read 2x to be internalized. 2400 pages of Mann sounds insane! ;-) (thanks for the tip, I'll try and peep the preface at least)

Make sure you take a peep at Hesse too. Narziss and Goldmund is a must-read - the kind of book that changes your perspective on life. He's Thomas Mann's intellectual equal, I would say. As for Joseph , a word of encouragement: the further you get into it, the more the story starts to come together and pick up pace. The first 300 pages or so, it feels like you're reading random shreds of a story... but keep faith, it'…

Narziss... looks good, I put it on my list. It's going to be a good while before I get back into classic fiction though ;-)

You might like Eco's "The Name of the Rose" since you seem to be into really good fiction set in Medieval Europe ;-)

Re: Do you read?

#79

Post by shard »

ojbyrne wrote: post #31
danteembermage wrote: post #18

I read and I read fiction for the most part. I want to make the case though that fiction is not necessarily non-educational and is rather uniquely educational or educates in a unique way. One common excuse for fiction reading is to suggest you learn passive facts about the setting as you progress pleasantly through the story, but that's not a particularly strong argument in favor or reading fiction. Sure I could pick…

I personally tend to look down on people who read only non-fiction (though obviously not as much as people who don't read at all). It suggests a lack of imagination. And I think perhaps that's the self-improvement aspect of fiction - it exercises the imagination.

Right, because reading _Godel Escher Bach_, _Shock of the New_, and _Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain_ (my current reading list) obviously doesn't exercise the imagination.

Re: Do you read?

#80

Post by babul »

known wrote: post #32

When I was in Phoenix,AZ I used to spend 8 am to 5 pm reading books at Barnes and Noble every Saturday and Sunday.

I love bookshops that let you do that. Many near me even have in-store cafes, but I do wonder if this is effective in increasing sales or if the coffees subsidise those people who read the book but not buy.
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