In spirit of the tweet by Michael Nielsen: https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/status/1656708273343459328?s=20
Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
1–10 of 171 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
#2Fractals Everywhere, Michael F. Barnsley.
I love the way it starts:
>Fractal geometry will make you see everything differently. There is a danger in reading further. You risk the loss of your childhood vision of clouds, forests, flowers, galaxies, leaves, feathers, rocks, mountains, torrents of water, carpet, bricks, and much else besides. Never again will your interpretation of these things be quite the same.
Re: Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
#3The books that taught me computer science
- Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces ( https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/)
- Designing Data Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann (https://dataintensive.net)
- Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom (http://craftinginterpreters.com)
Re: Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
#4Probably not what anybody here is looking for, but Steven Seidman -- Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today
Re: Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
#5Fractals Everywhere, Michael F. Barnsley. I love the way it starts: >Fractal geometry will make you see everything differently. There is a danger in reading further. You risk the loss of your childhood vision of clouds, forests, flowers, galaxies, leaves, feathers, rocks, mountains, torrents of water, carpet, bricks, and much else besides. Never again will your interpretation of these things be quite the same.
You just made a sale of copy. Holy shit that is a cool start!
Re: Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
#6For me, probably What Is This Thing Called Science?. It was the first time I really thought about some basic questions in epistemology.
Re: Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
#7Mathematics Made Difficult, Carl E Linderholm
Re: Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
#8Probably not what anybody here is looking for, but Steven Seidman -- Contested Knowledge: Social Theory Today
I always wonder when I see this, do people learn to lay comments out like a reverse psychology bait from these books, or are people who are already predisposed to that just drawn to owning them. Any chance the book goes over that?
Not disparaging, I appreciate you sharing a recommendation. I just found the observation funny.
Re: Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?
#9Computer Networks: A Systems Approach takes a subject I didn’t think I’d like and presents it in a way that made me want to read every chapter. It’s a master class on how to make technical content enjoyable, and a great intro/refresher to networking. Can’t recommend it enough.