Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Best Books I Read in 2013

thegatesnotes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 164 posts

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#111

Post by xradionut »

alan_cx wrote: post #82
oskarth wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

"This is a very common viewpoint among technical people, sadly" Really? The usual image is that techie geek types lap up scifi and fantasy, which when done properly are all about the human condition.

As a long time reader of both science fiction and fantasy, only about .1% is instructional or thought provoking, the rest is escapism or wish fulfillment, the modern version of the penny dreadful.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#113

Post by bigsparky »

mcdowall wrote: post #8

I find lists like this and Sivers.org/book very useful for finding new reading material, some good ones I've read this year (in no particular order); Who owns the future - Jaron Lanier Canoeing the Congo - Phil Harwood Margaret Thatcher - The Authorized Biography Venture Deals - Brad Feld / Jason Mendelson 1000 Ultimate Experiences - Lonely Planet

if you like those lists check out http://www.sparkened.com

we are collecting lists of influential peoples favorite stuff

we have warren buffett, bill gates, elon musk, heaps more

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#116

Post by tokenadult »

contextual wrote: post #34

Currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath and it's easily one of my favorites of 2013. The introduction - Gladwell explains what actually happened in the epic biblical battle of the same name - is revelatory and an unforgettable piece of literature. Malcolm Gladwell may be too popular to be 'cool', but he's a master storyteller. Haters gonna hate.

Gladwell comes up so often here on Hacker News that I have a FAQ about him:

Malcolm Gladwell, who has said in an interview[1] that he writes to try out ideas, is good, while trying out ideas, at crediting his sources. Any reader of a Malcolm Gladwell book (as I know, from being a reader of the book Outliers) can check the sources, and decide from there what other sources to check and what other ideas to play with. Gladwell doesn't purport to write textbooks, but I give him a lot of credit for finding interesting scholarly sources that haven't had enough attention in the popular literature. He is equaled by very few authors as a story-teller who can tie ideas together in a thought-provoking assembly.

[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122671211614230261.html

"Q: Do you worry that you extrapolate too much from too little?

"A: No. It's better to err on the side of over-extrapolation. These books are playful in the sense that they regard ideas as things to experiment with. I'm happy if somebody reads my books and reaches a conclusion that is different from mine, as long as the ideas in the book cause them to think. You have to be willing to put pressure on theories, to push the envelope. That's the fun part, the exciting part. If you are writing an intellectual adventure story, why play it safe? I'm not out to convert people. I want to inspire and provoke them."

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#117

Post by FedRegister »

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…

Thank you for bringing up 'The Making of a Chef'. I'm a classically trained computer scientist and my fiancee is a classically trained French chef, and we've often joked about how much (at the highest end) the programming world and culinary world are similar. Now I think I have something to read that can help me relate more.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#118

Post by evacuationdrill »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #110
ashearer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an associated danger with fiction: though it reflects how the author sees the world, it may not match how the world really is. Fiction can intentionally or unintentionally invite readers to draw universal lessons which are misleading. I'd even suggest that some authors, particularly those with strong political views, may be motivated to write fiction in order to give support to their own ideas. It's a blank c…

But fiction comes with a warning, specifically that it is fiction. You can fact check non-fiction but fiction is completely open about the fact that you should consider what it's saying to be suspect - the default position on it is "this is made up". The danger is - and Argo is one example but there are far, far worse (cough Dan Brown cough) - where you get fiction "based on true events". There are some lovely fictio…

How far was Argo from the facts?

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#119

Post by onebaddude »

Shamanmuni wrote: post #69
tokenadult wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if you compare the whole genre of "great fiction" to "another Gladwell book," that gives the initial advantage to "great fiction," for sure. I read some of fiction and some of nonfiction, but definitely skew to reading more nonfiction. One nonfiction book, which I think someone on HN told me isn't even the best book on its specific topic, was very meaningful to me and helped me learn a lot about myself. I read…

What are you arguing against? He didn't say that fiction is always better than non-fiction for learning about the world. However, many people (Bill Gates included apparently) operate under the opposite assumption that non-fiction gives you more information about the world by default. And that's simply not true. Fiction can change your views, give you new ideas and insights, challenge your beliefs, etc. Fiction writer…

>What are you arguing against? He didn't say that fiction is always better than non-fiction for learning about the world.

And what is the OP arguing about? Mr. Gates didn't say that non-fiction is always better for learning about the world.

>Non-fiction gives you more information about the world by default

Sorry, but it does. Easily testable hypothesis; go to the NY Times Bestsellers lists and compare, book-for-book, what can be "learned" from each (as most of us understand "learning"). In fact, it's hard to believe anyone is actually arguing this point.

Then again, with this community's penchant for nitpicking and distaste for Microsoft, I shouldn't be surprised. As someone who reads 40-50 books a year, I'm always grateful for these lists.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#120

Post by contextual »

tokenadult wrote: post #116
contextual wrote: post #34

Currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath and it's easily one of my favorites of 2013. The introduction - Gladwell explains what actually happened in the epic biblical battle of the same name - is revelatory and an unforgettable piece of literature. Malcolm Gladwell may be too popular to be 'cool', but he's a master storyteller. Haters gonna hate.

Gladwell comes up so often here on Hacker News that I have a FAQ about him: Malcolm Gladwell, who has said in an interview[1] that he writes to try out ideas, is good, while trying out ideas, at crediting his sources. Any reader of a Malcolm Gladwell book (as I know, from being a reader of the book Outliers ) can check the sources, and decide from there what other sources to check and what other ideas to play with. G…

The BS on HN is much worse than anything I've read from Gladwell. Where's your FAQ for that?
Post reply on HN