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Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

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Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#51

Post by wpietri »

mcgaffin wrote: post #47
nemo1618 wrote: post #29

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid , and I'm loving it. Some parts are funny, some are dry, and some are truly mind-blowing. As someone who loves wordplay, self-reference, and multiple layers of meaning, this book is like crack. Every chapter surprises me with something new. Its reputation is well-deserved.

I've had that book for over 10 years, but haven't read more than a chapter of it. I should give it another try.

It took me doing a reading group to get through that one. That was more my fault than the book, but GEB is real work, and having a number of people involved definitely helped me stick through the parts where I might have wandered off for brain candy.

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#53

Post by hashmymustache »

nemo1618 wrote: post #29

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid , and I'm loving it. Some parts are funny, some are dry, and some are truly mind-blowing. As someone who loves wordplay, self-reference, and multiple layers of meaning, this book is like crack. Every chapter surprises me with something new. Its reputation is well-deserved.

Great book. I haven't read his more recent I am a Strang Loop. For people who have read it, is it worth the plunge?

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#56

Post by teekert »

Spam Nation by Brian Krebs.

It's nice but I started reading other books while being half way in. A sign that I experience it more as a study book than a relaxing read (ok, I did the same with Game of Thrones). I'll finish it at some point, it is quite fascinating to read about the world of spam, the Russians and the high quality of illegal online pharmacies.

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#58

Post by JTon »

rayalez wrote: post #48

Here's my usual list of recommendations, the best books I've read in the past 5 years. Fiction: - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality If you know nothing about this book you might naturally hesitate to read "Harry Potter fanfiction" and assume that it's dumb/horrbile, but it's not. Just suspend your disbelief and read the first 5-10 chapters. Trust me, it's brilliant, hilarious, and life-changing. - Atlas Shr…

A good friend of mine recommended Atlas Shrugged a while back. I couldn't finish it. I just couldn't swallow the "better than you" venom Dagny spewed everywhere. Maybe I'm missing something

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#59

Post by a_bonobo »

smhenderson wrote: post #21

After exhausting anything interesting on Wikipedia about Greek mythology I finally decided to dive into the real stuff. http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm

You may also enjoy two books by Edith Hamilton as more "preparation":

"Mythology" is a summary of the most common "stories" of Greek and Roman (and a bit Norse) mythology, good to understand contents and allusions.

"The Greek Way" is her "love letter" to Greece - why it was (according to her) better than our society, the differences in general thinking compared to Egyptians, Hindus, and "us modern Westerners", why we still have much to learn from the Greek.

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