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

hahaha seriously? get some books or something. or like, talk to people in real life

5 weeks is a decent time: at first glance it seems like you'll need all sorts of materials. Seriously, it depends on how much free time you anticipate having and whether or not you could use a lot of that time having experience.

All that said, I'm pretty sure you can survive on what my spouse and I view as our own travel pack: Bring a few physical books - I read 1.5 during a 5 day stay in Amsterdam and it was much more comfortable carrying around a paperback than a laptop and much less risk of people taking it. Otherwise, just download away in any category you find interesting. I use an app called pocket on my phone to save long articles for later reading, right now my it centers around long occult articles, in depth current events, and tech news. These prove to be more timeless than other things - at least in short term. Movies and shows, that's fun. I hesitate to suggest movies or shows, but if I were going to suggest, might try Six String Samurai - but I'll warn you, it is a bit odd. Also, I do suggest downloading some free games to take with you that can be played offline just for some variety.

I partially agree with those that say to not bring it, though - use the laptop lightly, if possible, but I'd not leave it at home. Go out with a camera (gasp) and enjoy :)

Over the past few years I've spent a total of five months travelling through or living in various remote corners of Africa. My advice would be to forget the Internet and all that is on it. Take a decent camera, learn photography. Take a local dictionary, learn the language. Take some art supplies, learn to paint. Take a guidebook and learn about the animals and plants. Get up for sunrise. Immerse yourself in the culture and the environment. You'll get far more out of your trip that way than if you're glued to a computer screen the whole time.

5 hours of lectures on deep learning:

http://www.trivedigaurav.com/blog/quoc-les-lectures-on-deep-...

I've always enjoyed fiction in situations like yours. Iain M. Banks has some accessible but interesting sci-fi (recommendations: Consider Phlebas, Use of Weapons), and it's hard to go wrong with anything Jose Saramago wrote (recommendations: All the Names, Blindness, Death With Interruptions).