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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?

#241

Post by dubfan »

Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought, by Jonathan Rauch (http://www.amazon.com/Kindly-Inquisitors-Attacks-Thought-Exp...)

I picked this book up shortly after the Brendan Eich incident earlier this year. This book was written over 20 years ago but it could very well have been written yesterday. It lays out an excellent argument about why all free speech, even hateful speech, much be unrestricted. It's also very good at rebutting what Rauch calls the "humanitarian" attack on free speech, which seems to be the preferred method of attack in the last few years (in Western countries anyway). Perhaps saying that it "changed my life" is an overstatement as I've always held the belief that unrestricted free speech is the ultimate freedom, but it's allowed me to express exactly why I believe that way.

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

#242

Post by leephillips »

j-b wrote: post #222
leephillips wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every review of this I've seen by an actual historian says that it's basically fanciful nonsense.

I would be interested in reading these reviews. If you have a link that would be great.

http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/449/reza-aslan-what-...

is a useful place to start.

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

#243

Post by lenocinor »

I've re-read How To Be A Programmer ( http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.html ) every year since it came out. It's been over a decade but every year it makes me a better programmer, something I can't say about any other writing on programming. I don't think it's ever been published as a book but its structure and length basically makes it one I feel.

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

#244

Post by aidenn0 »

gamegoblin wrote: post #206
aidenn0 wrote: post #182

Am I odd in that I've never read a book that significantly affected my life?

How many books have you read? Have you ever watched a film that significantly affected your life? Seen a presentation? Heard a story?

Back of the envelope, I've read somewhere between 1000 and 5000 books.

Single presentations haven't; the aggregate of encountering a new idea multiple times has. I certainly have very different views on life than I did a decade ago, but there isn't one thing I can ascribe that to.

Relationships certainly have.

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

#245

Post by proveanegative »

It's not a published book but this year I took on Unqualified Reservations seriously and found it a rewarding read. There is a lot to it, some material more morally objectionable than other, but the main effect of reading it for me was something I would not have thought possible. It opened my mind to alternatives to democracy and questions like whether democratic representation is even in the best interest of the governed.

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

#246

Post by webnrrd2k »

fogus wrote: post #37

I was a voracious reader of programming books prior to reading Stewart Brand's "How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built." However, it was this book that made me (finally) realize that some of the best programming books are not about programming at all. As a result I've cut back drastically on my "language-specific" programming books[1] and have sought programming-relevant books instead. [1]: And I've ma…

What other programming-relevant books would you recommend?

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

#248

Post by rdc12 »

A progression of books on high altitude climbing. Have read Into thin air, the climb, dark summit in the past month or two, currently reading no way down and have Annapurna: The first conquest of a 8000m peak and The will to climb out from the library.

Reason, finally have the motivation to loose weight and get fit, and am planing to do some climbing locally.

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air-Personal-Disaster/dp/038... http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Summit-Everests-Controversial-Sea... http://www.amazon.com/No-Way-Down-Life-Death/dp/0061834793/r... http://www.amazon.com/Annapurna-First-Conquest-000-Meter-Pea... http://www.amazon.com/The-Will-Climb-Commitment-Annapurna/dp...

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

#250

Post by joshux »

vkb wrote: post #15

Two: 1)Antifragile by Taleb. It has given me a whole new framework with which to think about the world. He is consistently one of the only "modern thinkers" that I trust, and who delivers no b.s. 2)Confessions of an Economic Hitman by Perkins. Not a new book, and I didn't read it this year, but when I did read it, it made me realize that the world works much differently than I understood it to on the surface, and tha…

+1 for Taleb's books. His Black Swan book actually inspired me to pursue a startup. However, his ideas are not actually that original (which is not a bad thing). One might get similar level of knowledge(albeit takes more time) from reading stoic philosophy, Popper's philosophy of science, tacit knowledge (Michael Polanyi) and complex system sciences.
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