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Ask HN: What should I save for offline reading during 5 weeks without Internet?

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Ask HN: What should I save for offline reading during 5 weeks without Internet?

#1

Post by refrigerator »

I'm going to Africa for 5 weeks where I'll have very little access to Internet. What interesting things should I download to my hard drive to read/watch during this period? Thanks

Edit: my areas of interest are the largely the kind of things that get posted about on HN, but I'd like to broaden my horizons and just read interesting things about new topics and get away from tech stuff. Also, I can't go out after dark alone for safety reasons so I'll have 2-3 hours every day where I'll just be in my room.

Re: Ask HN: What should I save for offline reading during 5 weeks without Internet?

#2

Post by walterbell »

Areas of interest? Free or paid?

Edit: book suggestion: "African Fractals", by Ron Eglash, http://www.amazon.com/African-Fractals-Modern-Computing-Indi...

"..traditional African settlements tend to use fractal structures-circles of circles of circular dwellings, rectangular walls enclosing ever-smaller rectangles, and streets in which broad avenues branch down to tiny footpaths with striking geometric repetition. These indigenous fractals are not limited to architecture; their recursive patterns echo throughout many disparate African designs and knowledge systems."

Re: Ask HN: What should I save for offline reading during 5 weeks without Internet?

#6

Post by nathan_f77 »

I really wish there was a way to go back and download the first 5 pages of Reddit for any given day, including an offline cache of every comment thread, image, video, web page, etc. Then you could go back and get 10 weeks worth of front-pages to keep you entertained.

Otherwise, just take a couple of good books.

Re: Ask HN: What should I save for offline reading during 5 weeks without Internet?

#9

Post by refrigerator »

walterbell wrote: post #2

Areas of interest? Free or paid? Edit: book suggestion: "African Fractals", by Ron Eglash, http://www.amazon.com/African-Fractals-Modern-Computing-Indi... "..traditional African settlements tend to use fractal structures-circles of circles of circular dwellings, rectangular walls enclosing ever-smaller rectangles, and streets in which broad avenues branch down to tiny footpaths with striking geometric repetition. The…

Thanks for the reply. Updated the OP - my areas of interest are the kinds of things that get posted about on HN, but I'd really like to broaden my horizons and learn about things like politics and economics and philosophy, anything interesting really.

I'm leaving tomorrow so the only requirement is that I need to be able to get it before then. I had planned on downloading/buying stuff for this during the weeks before I leave but just never got round to it.

African Fractals looks interesting though, I'll check it out. Thanks

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