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The Best Books I Read in 2013

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Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#21

Post by look_lookatme »

baby wrote: post #7
Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

Still, fiction is fiction. It's like all those questions : would you rather do this, or live all your life with this. They are fun, but they are useless as they never happened. There is no point thinking about them besides playing with your imagination. Fiction is the same to me, yes it came from a real context, but it's still a work of fiction and doesn't teach you anything about real life. e.g. Are you gonna learn…

    Are you gonna learn about dating by reading romantic novels or real life stories?
What we all need are experiences (and any reading counts as an experience) that change us, that help us grow and mature our worldview and increase our self-awareness. Reading good fiction can help tremendously.

You may not learn about dating by reading Ishiguro, but it's the case that the profound humanity of his writing makes you a more compassionate and confident person and that's the kind of stuff that can and will make you more desirable to be around.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#22

Post by FreakLegion »

baby wrote: post #7
Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

Still, fiction is fiction. It's like all those questions : would you rather do this, or live all your life with this. They are fun, but they are useless as they never happened. There is no point thinking about them besides playing with your imagination. Fiction is the same to me, yes it came from a real context, but it's still a work of fiction and doesn't teach you anything about real life. e.g. Are you gonna learn…

Still, fiction is fiction.

"You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let's say, and afterward you ask, 'Is it true?' and if the answer matters, you've got your answer.

For example, we've all heard this one. Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast and saves his three buddies.

Is it true?

The answer matters.

You'd feel cheated if it never happened. Without the grounding reality, it's just a trite bit of puffery, pure Hollywood, untrue in the way all such stories are untrue. Yet even if it did happen -- and maybe it did, anything's possible -- even then you know it can't be true, because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Absolute occurrence is irrelevant. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. For example: Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it's a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says, 'The fuck you do that for?' and the jumper says, 'Story of my life, man,' and the other guy starts to smile but he's dead.

That's a true story that never happened."

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#23

Post by swanson »

Well, I'm no Bill Gates, but here are the best books I read in 2013:

* So Good They Can't Ignore You (Newport). If you've ever daydreamed about how much better your life would be if you were only working at that cool company, you should seriously read this book. By not focusing on just getting a cool job, but instead doing deliberate practice and being "so good they can't ignore you" you can increase aspects of any job that are scientifically-proven to make you happier (control, autonomy, and expertise).

* The Making of a Chef (Ruhlman). If you have any interest in cooking (even if you just watch Top Chef) you will like this book. A major theme of the book is discipline which aligns well with software; code quality, good design, maintaining a test suite — all of these things are signs of a true craftsmen, but they are easy to shrug off without discipline.

* Are Your Light's On? (Gause, Weinberg). I would recommend it to anyone dealing with arguments about solutions or confusion about problems, especially when non-technical folks are involved. The biggest win for me was making a mental shift from "Problem Solver" to "Solver of Problems", which allows us to focus on finding who is impacted by a problem and identifying the real story behind the problem.

I'm currently reading Punished By Rewards (only halfway through) but it is pretty interesting so far and will probably make the cut on my final list :)

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#24

Post by gammarator »

swanson wrote: post #23

Well, I'm no Bill Gates, but here are the best books I read in 2013: * So Good They Can't Ignore You (Newport). If you've ever daydreamed about how much better your life would be if you were only working at that cool company, you should seriously read this book. By not focusing on just getting a cool job, but instead doing deliberate practice and being "so good they can't ignore you" you can increase aspects of any j…

Me either! I've also been writing similar lists for a few years now. Here's my list for 2013:

http://bellm.org/blog/2013/11/29/the-best-books-i-read-in-20...

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#25

Post by ekianjo »

baby wrote: post #7
Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

Still, fiction is fiction. It's like all those questions : would you rather do this, or live all your life with this. They are fun, but they are useless as they never happened. There is no point thinking about them besides playing with your imagination. Fiction is the same to me, yes it came from a real context, but it's still a work of fiction and doesn't teach you anything about real life. e.g. Are you gonna learn…

> e.g. Are you gonna learn about dating by reading romantic novels or real life stories?

Your point is moot. Even non-fiction is fiction in a way. The writer may have changed details, selected only specific facts, hidden some parts of the truth. You never know. At least with fiction you KNOW it's made up, but with non-fiction you can not really tell what is true or not because of your limited knowledge of how it was written and redacted.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#26

Post by bennyg »

oskarth wrote: post #14
Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

This is a very common viewpoint among technical people, sadly. Kind of like how humanists think math is about counting things. I'm not implying Gates is of that variety, but, you know, his kind, our kind. Not that there's much point in reading Shakespeare nowadays, anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_cultures

Shakespeare's comedies are absolutely hilarious. You need to watch one at an authentic Shakespeare festival as well. His tragedies and histories are good too, but I'm a sucker for the humor, play on words, and overall wit in his writing.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#27

Post by donniezazen »

Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

He probably means he wants facts and not paradigms.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#28

Post by jmduke »

dudurocha wrote: post #18
Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

Tell me two books that'll teach me so much. Please.

I'd recommend Steinbeck's East of Eden and Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#30

Post by waterlesscloud »

Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

Ah yes, "these people".

All that fiction and still buying into "us and them".

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