Maybe hijacking your post, sorry about that, but has anyone already read „House of Leaves“? What are you impressions?
Seems like a heavy read and I was wondering what to expect.
Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
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Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#372Recoding America by Jennifer Pahlka. A technologist who helped the US federal government for several years looks backs and describes all the problems with government adopting digital interfaces in a way that actually helps users. Also a commentary on how the waterfall model of governance, where grandiose legislation is passed, without taking feedback from those implementing it, leads to accretion of convoluted regulations and horrible user experiences for the most disadvantaged of us.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#373Earlier quoted context omitted.
Always have been interested to read something of that author. Would you say that these books are accessible for a non-native English speaker? I often read in English, but I fear I might struggle to catch subtle word-plays and the like...
> catch subtle word-plays In jeeves and wooster, there isn't much word play. It is somewhat antiquated english though, and wooster likes shortening words (the metrop, instead of metropolis/london, "thos" instead of thomas (almost pronounced "foss" but with a th sound)) Its not hard like oscar wilde, but its not overly easy. You _might_ want to try watching the Fry and Laurie version first: https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Life can be delish, with a sunny disposish!
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#374Brothers Karamazov:
An absolutely fantastic demonstration of family dynamics (from a purely male perspective).
The Idiot: What happens to a close to perfect person in an imperfect world. What I loved about this book, it doesn't go the obvious route (e.g. oh he is too nice and gets exploited, it's subtle)
Why you should read: Both books give an interesting inside of "russian" mentality (which I think is very important with the war going on). You will feel like you have gotten to know 4 close new friends.
Why you shouldn't read it: 1. It is a very male point of view, women in those books get displayed quite badly. 2. They are absolutely soul crushing.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#375Why we sleep . This book motivated me to change my sleep habits after decades of being a night owl. I’m starting to love early mornings, and I feel so much better. This was a hard change. How to do nothing . About resisting the attention economy and reorienting one’s relationship with technology and the environment. A very thought provoking and timely read, especially while I’m on sabbatical. Flow . Explores the psyc…
> How to do nothing The original article was fantastic and I kept coming back to it. The book was unreadable. After a hundred pages of academic own-fart-smelling, I had to put it down. https://medium.com/@the_jennitaur/how-to-do-nothing-57e100f5...
Speaking only for myself, I did find this to be a “preaching to the choir” type of book - probably not something that’s going to change the minds of a skeptic - but still had enough nuggets of value to be worth a read. It’s directed at Silicon Valley. It levels some accusations that are a bit hard to swallow. But probably necessary.
She admits very early on that it’s kind of a meandering exploration of ideas, so I came in not expecting some masterpiece and instead found it to be a collection of thoughts worth considering.
It does require some trudging through a bit of preaching, but at the same time, if one takes seriously the crises that are likely around the corner, I don’t think these objections hold water given the broader context.
To each their own, though, and I can understand why the book would rub some people the wrong way. But that’s why I found it worth reading.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#376Quantum Electrodynamics by Richard Feynman, shockingly a page turner, quite accessible and short!
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#377The best two books I read in the last year-ish are "The Golden Notebook" (novel by Doris Lessing) and "The Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder. Best tech book has been "Designing Data-Intensive Applications".
"The Golden Notebook" (novel by Doris Lessing)
What blew me away the most about Golden Notebook: It was published in 1962 -- 60 years ago! The ideas about feminism that the two lead women characters discuss are way ahead of their time.
Also by Ms. Lessing, I recommend "The Grass Is Singing". She really knows how transport you inside the minds of her characters. The lead character's struggle to adapt to difficult farm life in a colony is real.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#378Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would try the original book on people pleasing: "No more Mr. Nice Guy" by Dr. Robert Glover. The title may sound lousy but is a very logical book. The author is a PhD in his 60s and he coined the concept. You can start by listening some podcasts where he was a guest. He's genuine and a great communicator. Definitely underrated.
After a short search for Dr. Robert Glover I'm getting all kinds of "red pill", "pickup advice", "men's rights" links etc, all of which are red flags to me for "incel" kind of stuff. Is that also what I can expect from the book, or did I come to conclusions too quickly?
Forget the us vs them culture war perspective, and think about this- who are the people attracted to "incel" or "mens rights" stuff and why? These are mostly men - that grew up "people pleasing" and being unable to set boundaries, thinking this made them "good" or "nice guys" and therefore deserving of romantic and financial success, yet it didn't work out like that and they're upset about it.
The men's rights stuff tells them they've been sold a lie/raw deal by society, and that they can get power, success, etc. by rejecting that narrative that didn't work for them. Yes, this involves a lot of fear, misogyny, etc. but at it's core there is the message that it's your own fault, and you need to take responsibility: learn to set boundaries, work hard, prioritize and communicate your own needs, develop vulnerability and emotional intelligence, etc. Old self help books that really work are extremely popular in these communities, and these men support and coach each other in working hard to apply these lessons in their own lives. Those books predate "incel" or "mens rights" stuff and themselves have nothing to do with it.
I grew up with these same issues, and found advice that helped me because it had been popularized and made visible by these "men's rights" groups. I wholeheartedly reject the misogyny, narcissism, and fear based manipulation these groups use, but I also wholeheartedly accept the idea that most of my problems were caused by myself, and I can do the work to fix them by doing the internal emotional work, learning to set boundaries, etc.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#379Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer (by Kathy Kleiman) I enjoy reading up on computer history, and this is a pretty good retelling of an important story. However, the parts that really struck me are the personal accounts of the author in trying to recover this history. The ENIAC 6 played an important role in the history of the first computer and of progra…
I read both of these books recently and I feel they are both worth a read. The Bartik autobiography has very little technical information but it's interesting to get an understanding of how things were for her.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?
#380The Forever War - Joe Haldeman. (sci-fi, space opera) This book was interesting because its use of novel pronouns based on thee/thou (I think Mx. was around in the early seventies), and its use of wearables (rings instead of watches). I appreciated that the technology mostly worked according to spec, regardless of whether the spec was realistic, in that regard, parts of it felt very realistic, even though a lot of the book is satirical and/or clunky.