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Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?

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Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?

#41

Starting Strength - because this time I actually started lifting instead of just reading it :) The Pragmatic Programmer - It has been recommended to me by a good developer that is self-taught like me. So far so good. Some things are a bit dated though.

All the good things in Prag Prog have become commonplace in today's development world.

* Tests - check

* Version control - check

* Code generation - check

* Decoupling, refactoring, metaprogramming, power editing.

It's still worth reading but it needs a second edition...

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?

#43
Capital in the Twenty First Century, Thomas Piketty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Cen...

I've always been a bit embarrassed for the economics profession; it's always seemed to me that it could be where math meets sociology and psychology, but is instead where politics meets unfounded conjecture.

Piketty changed that for me. He does true science here. I read it because I noticed that it has received every superlative you could confer on such a tome. It deserves them all. If you haven't read it yet, start now.

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?

#44
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

It's written for writers but is relevant broadly. The message is pretty simple and you don't really need to read the whole book to get it. It's one of those keep-driving-the-message self help-ish books.

Basically the point is to name and shame "resistance," a catch all term for procrastination, fear and everything else that prevents a writer from writing a book. It also applies to starting a startup, a career, a family, an exercise regime… Like I said, the point is simple and the information could be conveyed in a short essay.

The reason for the repetition is to actually realize how big a demonic bottleneck this resistance is and that overcoming it will take effort and more importantly, strategy. It's probably going to derail your plans unless you plan for it. Personifying (or demonifying) it is part of the approach.

This is getting further from the book's actual content but the analogy for me is addiction. Say you are an alcoholic. It's not enough to decide to stop drinking, this is a fight. You need to realize that addiction will probably win if you fight stupid. You need a plan to beat addiction. It will fight back. You need to put time and resources into it. Everyone knows this and former alcoholics will start pushing you straight into two things, making sure you realize the scale of the problem and making sure you have a plan. They'll probably recommend AA which gives you a formulaic strategy.

Resistance might not be the bottleneck for everyone, but it is for many. For us, we need to make war on it

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?

#45

Starting Strength - because this time I actually started lifting instead of just reading it :) The Pragmatic Programmer - It has been recommended to me by a good developer that is self-taught like me. So far so good. Some things are a bit dated though.

Also read Starting Strength. I'd been lifting before I read it but my technique was very poor. The most I got out of the book was cues (such as actively push legs out when squatting to avoid cave in). Would definitely recommend!

Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?

#46
post #36

Starting Strength - because this time I actually started lifting instead of just reading it :) The Pragmatic Programmer - It has been recommended to me by a good developer that is self-taught like me. So far so good. Some things are a bit dated though.

> Starting Strength - because this time I actually started lifting instead of just reading it :) For me it's High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way. Frankly I don't care about strength, and am focusing instead on bodybuilding. I used to spend a lot of hours in the gym not really knowing what I'm doing (no plan, no goals). After this book I now have a good plan and clear, predictable goals.

Starting strength is better for natural strength training.

Mike Mentzer is well known to have abused steroids to get his physique which is something I wouldn't be willing to do.

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