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Ask HN: Recommend any good business/hacker fiction?

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Re: Ask HN: Recommend any good business/hacker fiction?

#21

Post by bockris »

tesseract wrote: post #12
tedshroyer wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed Snow Crash is very good. It along with Diamond Age are my favorite of his works. The Baroque Cycle is too long for what it is and might have crushed my spirit to read his work any longer. I advise avoiding it unless you are an avid fan of his.

I'll be honest - I couldn't finish the Baroque Cycle. (Maybe I'll try again someday.) But when Anathem came out I thought I'd give it a chance, as I so enjoyed Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash that giving up Stephenson altogether didn't seem like the right thing to do. Anathem starts out slowly but it gets much better and I'm definitely glad I read it. If you can get through the first few chapters you will be rewarded. (…

While I agree BC was dense, I still think it was very good. I'm not really into heavy reading like that but I've still been through the trilogy twice. I whole heartedly recommend any Neal Stephenson. (I wasn't completely enamored with Diamond Age, but I realize I'm in a minority there.)

On a related note, I recommended Cryptonomicon to a co-worker who was complaining how much she spent on books (she typically buys one hardback per week) and how much storage space she had devoted to books. I lent her my copy of Cryptonomicon and it took her about 4-5 weeks to finish. She was in for a good bit of teasing about the apparent 'quality' of her normal fare. IIRC, the term 'bodice-ripper' was tossed about. ;-)

Re: Ask HN: Recommend any good business/hacker fiction?

#23

Post by whughes »

dangrover wrote: post #17
grinich wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second for Atlas Shrugged. It seems especially relevant right now.

One of my roommates here at the Hacker House uses two copies of Atlas Shrugged that happened to be laying around the house to adjust the height of his monitor. It never occurred to me that the book might have other purposes than that. I think I'm going to check out The Fountainhead first though.

I read both (Fountainhead second), and I preferred the Fountainhead first. It's a lighter read and will give you a taste for Rand's style. If you can stand the heavy ideological slant, then you might want to look into Atlas Shrugged. I don't think that they are for everyone.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend any good business/hacker fiction?

#27

Post by murrayb »

bockris wrote: post #21
tesseract wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be honest - I couldn't finish the Baroque Cycle. (Maybe I'll try again someday.) But when Anathem came out I thought I'd give it a chance, as I so enjoyed Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash that giving up Stephenson altogether didn't seem like the right thing to do. Anathem starts out slowly but it gets much better and I'm definitely glad I read it. If you can get through the first few chapters you will be rewarded. (…

While I agree BC was dense, I still think it was very good. I'm not really into heavy reading like that but I've still been through the trilogy twice. I whole heartedly recommend any Neal Stephenson. (I wasn't completely enamored with Diamond Age, but I realize I'm in a minority there.) On a related note, I recommended Cryptonomicon to a co-worker who was complaining how much she spent on books (she typically buys on…

Interesting I also really enjoyed BC and was disappointed with Diamond Age, it held me to a point and then lost me completely. Judging comments here and elsewhere I'm starting to think that if you are a fan of one then you probably won't be a fan of the other.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend any good business/hacker fiction?

#28

Post by cjbos »

jseliger wrote: post #16

* If you've already read Cryptonomicon (see more here: http://jseliger.com/2006/11/29/cryptonomicon ), you're going in the right direction, but you should skip the Baroque cycle and Anathem. * David Leavitt's The Indian Clerk deals extensively with math ( http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/the-indian-clerk ). * Joel Spolsky's The Best Software Writing isn't fiction but is worth reading. * I'll reiterate Tom Wol…

But the Baroque cycle is a prequel of sorts to Cryptonomicon, its worth slogging past the first 2/3 of the first book, it gets very good after that.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend any good business/hacker fiction?

#29

Post by lutorm »

jseliger wrote: post #16

* If you've already read Cryptonomicon (see more here: http://jseliger.com/2006/11/29/cryptonomicon ), you're going in the right direction, but you should skip the Baroque cycle and Anathem. * David Leavitt's The Indian Clerk deals extensively with math ( http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/the-indian-clerk ). * Joel Spolsky's The Best Software Writing isn't fiction but is worth reading. * I'll reiterate Tom Wol…

I enjoyed both Baroque cycle and Anathem, they build slowly but I like the long-term immersion and intricacy.
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