Black swan Nicolas Masson taleb
Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
131–140 of 294 posts
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#132As a dev ultimately wanting to do bigger things: Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup by Rob Walling http://www.amazon.com/Start-Small-Stay-Developers-Launching/... As a human with a curiosity: Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information Is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos, from Our Brains to Black Holes by Charles Seife http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067003441X
I can't recommend that first book enough. It's still the best thing I've read for bootstrappers. Sooner or later, it'll date itself, as it's got lots of practical ideas and numbers and things that don't make for a "timeless classic". But then again, you wanted to start a business rather than have a book to show off on your bookshelf, right?
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#133"The Circle", by Dave Eggers. Narrowly edging "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" by Robin Sloan.
I've been in tech a long time. I came up in the early 90's when the Internet was a tool for collaboration, meeting new people, and taking down the evil bastards.
But since the advent of Facebook, Google, and "pervasive computing", I've been haunted by the sense that what was once good is being perverted in ways that are destroying what makes humanity great. It's always been hard for me to explain that feeling in ways that make sense to those who haven't been part of the wave, whose first computer was an iPhone.
"The Circle" is fabulous because it brings this sensation to life in a way that casual readers can grasp. It's great because it captures what's happening. I only wish it offered a proposed solution that goes beyond living in a bunker.
Honorable mention, for similar reasons, to Mr. Penumbra.
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#134Thinking in Systems - Donella H. Meadows, Diana Wright
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3828902-thinking-in-syst...
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#135Starting 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.
You are your own gym, for me.
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#136Starting 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.
Pragmatic Programmer is pretty good, but even better are Steve McConnell's books from the late 90's, "Rapid Development" and "Code Complete".
They're both big and both published by Microsoft. Two strikes, yes, but don't be fooled. These books have so many nuggets that I've gone back to again and again as a programmer. "Code Complete", in particular.
Neither book is a cover-to-cover read. They're both books you dip into for a tip, a skill, some perspective. But they've held up amazingly well, and for my money and time, they're both a step up from the Pragmatic Programmer. If you like what you found in "Pragmatic", you'll love "Code Complete".
I just wish it wasn't from MS, at the peak of MS evil in the 90's.
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#137[plug] We made our site http://favoriteof.com - exactly for this! To figure out what to read next based on recommendations by celebrities (Executives, politicians, actors). For example check out recommendations by Richard Branson, Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg here: http://favoriteof.com/entrepreneurs/books/
Looking forward to feedback, and requests!
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#138Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright. A great historical look at Jesus and 1st Century Judaism. Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller. Made me stop and think a lot about how I interact with family and friends that have gone through struggles. Coders at Work by Peter Seibel. I enjoy learning from the experienced, and Coders At Work is a fantastic walk through the recent history of computing, as told by…
nice :) i've been meaning on reading a historically written book about Jesus (was looking at Richard Bauckham's "Jesus: A Very Short Introduction") and Tim Keller is solid indeed.
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#139`Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance` The book looks at what it means to say something has 'quality'. It didn't teach me any new philosophical methods or theories, but it did make me look at my own work differently and start asking: how can I make something with the highest quality? What compromises that quality? What is a method that leads to the highest quality? Translating that to my business life: in the st…
I haven't read the book, but isn't quality something of a continuum dictated mostly by economics? In other words, if you put huge efforts into making quality products that are really more than most customers need, and it costs you do to so, you're likely going to go out of business. That, or you'd do best to find a niche where people really do need that kind of quality.
Re: Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?
#140Stoner, by John Williams The story of an average, not very successful literary professor, told with great humanity and tenderness. This does not seem much of a story line, yet I believe this book is so good it will still be read in one hundred years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoner_%28novel%29
Thank you for this. I am going to search this one out.