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Ask HN: What's the book that people in your field pretend to have read?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the book that people in your field pretend to have read?

#51

Post by philomath_mn »

nickster wrote: post #9
satvikpendem wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please add double line breaks between each point or question as your comment just renders as a big block of text.

In Computers? The Mythical Man Month Fred Brooks In Management? Turn the Ship Around David Marquet In literature? Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad In Philosophy? The Republic Plato In Religion? The Confessions St. Augustine In Mathematics? The Elements Euclid In History? Parallel lives Plutarch In Physics? Principia Isaac Newton

I haven't met too many people in Math or Physics who care to signal that they've read foundational texts. Usually they flex by talking about the latest research or something difficult and just beyond the level of their peers.

Edit: I also love how all the discussion of this list is happening in response to the well-formatted quote rather than the original comment.

Re: Ask HN: What's the book that people in your field pretend to have read?

#52

Post by solardev »

isaachawley wrote: post #39

Frontend software / design. The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman. It's incredible the number of people who use the words "affordance" and "signifier" incorrectly.

> Frontend software / design. The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman.

Also in FE/UX. Came here to say exactly this. I've heard of this book so many times, and have tried to read it many times, but just can never quite finish it (too many anecdotes for me, vs something like https://www.refactoringui.com/)

> It's incredible the number of people who use the words "affordance" and "signifier" incorrectly.

I wish the UX world used less jargon. It's such a cross-domain concern involving developers, designers, researchers, users, owners, managers, etc., that using plain English is IMO usually a better way to get a point across.

Re: Ask HN: What's the book that people in your field pretend to have read?

#53

Post by solardev »

satvikpendem wrote: post #6
aniijbod wrote: post #3

In Computers? The Mythical Man Month Fred Brooks In Mnaagement? Turn the Ship Around David Marquet In literature? Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad In Philosophy? The Republic Plato In Religion? The Confessions St. Augustine In Mathematics? The Elements Euclid In History? Parallel lives Plutarch In Physics? Principia Isaac Newton

Please add double line breaks between each point or question as your comment just renders as a big block of text.

I think it's funny that in one of the biggest communities of hackers on the web in 2023, we still can't get CRLFs down.

(Not the OP's fault. I wish HN parsed them correctly.)

Re: Ask HN: What's the book that people in your field pretend to have read?

#54

Post by solardev »

blokmena wrote: post #38

The Design of Everyday Things can be a bit of a drag, and it's just my hunch that not many folks bother to read it all the way through.

It's ironic that the "bible" of design is itself so hard to use, full of lengthy anecdotes that bury the important examples. I wish someone would modernize and update it into a few screenshots and infographics, similar to Refactoring UI.

Re: Ask HN: What's the book that people in your field pretend to have read?

#57

Post by clubm8 »

dan-g wrote: post #21

Gödel Escher Bach? Or maybe that’s just me! Gonna get through it one of these days…

i met that guy in a bar once he was amused i had no idea who he is and said his book was too complicated so i read lolita instead.

won't say where other than there was a social event he does -- apparently people low key stalk the poor bastard. it was weird to me, the koi no yukan style japanophile

then the other folks got pissed i started doing poetry at them centered around the fact they read nothing but pornography catering to their fetishes

("lolita loving white feminist, name me any other nabokov" is a fun way to have someone with a juris doctorate chuck a glass at your head)

Re: Ask HN: What's the book that people in your field pretend to have read?

#58

Post by danschuller »

usgroup wrote: post #26
dan-g wrote: post #21

Gödel Escher Bach? Or maybe that’s just me! Gonna get through it one of these days…

I suspect this may be a first contact with deeper philosophy for many, which accounts for its popularity on HN. Its doubtful that it breaks any new Philosophical ground, and interested parties may be better advised to just read a history of philosophy a an approachable introduction such as Bertrand Russell's work.

A history of western philosophy? GEB and that book don't have much overlap in content and GEB is a more fun read. History of Western Philosophy is occasionally witty but is otherwise pretty dry.

GEB isn't much to do with philosophy at all, it's more focused on computing and touches on philosophy where that seems relevant.

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