What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old? • Hacker News Board

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#41

Post by bullfightonmars » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 5:56 PM UTC

drhayes9 wrote: post #35

The first three books of "The Wrinkle in Time" series. The first three books of the Earthsea cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin. These both skew young but I valued re-reading them as I got older: The Dot and the Line: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dot_and_the_Line The Phantom Tollbooth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Tollbooth

The Earthsea trilogy had such a big influence on me as a child. They were my first true introduction to scifi and sparked a real love of reading fiction.

I can't wait to introduce my son to these books when he is old enough.

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#42

Post by hunnypot » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 5:57 PM UTC

SICP SICP SICP (Some Haskell would be good too, but there's just no SICP equivalent yet.)

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#43

Post by kenjackson » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 5:57 PM UTC

"I Want to be a Mathematician: An Automathography" -- http://www.amazon.com/Want-Mathematician-An-Automathography/...

This was a very influential book for me in just thinking about what it would be like to do math for a career. And I'm not a mathematician, so I think it worked. :-)

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#44

Post by jarin » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 5:58 PM UTC

jarin wrote: post #37

[deleted] wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

I choose not to!

Nah I appreciate your commitment to quality. Let this comment tree stand as a monument to your efforts (I can't nest it any further) :)

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#45

Post by segmondy » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 5:59 PM UTC

Nothing, put them in the library, give them the resources they need and let them discover for themselves. why should we drive kids towards our own desires? what about what they want? show them the path but only after they tell you where they want to go.

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#46

Post by ColinWright » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 5:59 PM UTC

jarin wrote: post #44

jarin wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I choose not to!

Nah I appreciate your commitment to quality. Let this comment tree stand as a monument to your efforts (I can't nest it any further) :)

  > I can't nest it any further

You can, if you either click on the "X minutes ago" or simply wait. I'm deleting my comments because this item is in danger of tripping the flame-war detector.

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#47

Post by cehrnrooth » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 5:59 PM UTC

I would recommend The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. Whether or not you agree with the rule in the book, I found all of the historical examples and anecdotes interesting to read on their own.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_48_Laws_of_Power

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#48

Post by drhayes9 » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 6:00 PM UTC

bullfightonmars wrote: post #41

drhayes9 wrote: post #35

The first three books of "The Wrinkle in Time" series. The first three books of the Earthsea cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin. These both skew young but I valued re-reading them as I got older: The Dot and the Line: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dot_and_the_Line The Phantom Tollbooth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Tollbooth

The Earthsea trilogy had such a big influence on me as a child. They were my first true introduction to scifi and sparked a real love of reading fiction. I can't wait to introduce my son to these books when he is old enough.

Same here. It's partially why I became a programmer – closest thing to being a wizard I could find.

I still have the original paperback versions that I read as a child sitting on my shelf waiting for my son. He's 2 1/2 right now, so I've got some waiting ahead of me.

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#49

Post by yial » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 6:03 PM UTC

I would recommend " What is Zen" by Alan Watts,

Siddhartha.

"Ready Player One".

I would also suggest, "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, and would echo "Cyptonomicon".

Approaching Zero: The Extraordinary Underworld of Hackers, Phreakers, Virus Writers, and Keyboard Criminals by Paul Mungo and Bryan Clough is excellent.

The American Boy's Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It, Centennial Edition Daniel Carter Beard

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed Rich, Ben R.

and finally, which is hard to stomach sometimes.

Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code by Bruce Schneier

Re: What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

#50

Post by ColinWright » Thu, Mar 26, 2015, 6:09 PM UTC

segmondy wrote: post #45

Nothing, put them in the library, give them the resources they need and let them discover for themselves. why should we drive kids towards our own desires? what about what they want? show them the path but only after they tell you where they want to go.

So when a 14 year old, having heard you speak, and knowing what you do, comes to you and says:

"I love maths and programming - what do you recommend?"

... you'd just reply with ...

"Go look in the library."