You must read at least one book to ride • Hacker News Board

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#11

Post by 082349872349872 » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 7:56 PM UTC

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #4

I very much agree with this premise. My skills fall into three camps: That which I have invented myself, from first principles; That which I have read one book on; and That which I am bad at. One of the things I am bad at is finding books. Books are everywhere, most books are rubbish, and yet every book I've had recommended has been amazing . So, does anyone have a good book on finding good books?

the footnotes and bibliography of books you found amazing are good ways to find better-than-average books

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#12

Post by majormajor » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 7:56 PM UTC

fancyfredbot wrote: post #5

It's not the reading books, it's the wanting to read books.

There's a big gap between "doesn't care" and "wants to learn more" but there's ALSO a big gap betweeen "wants to learn more" and "actually learns more."

The post touches on this with "how do you know which books to read" but I think it's incredibly important to stress the motivation/execution part too of actually reading, learning, and practicing the new things.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#13

Post by righthand » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 7:57 PM UTC

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #4

I very much agree with this premise. My skills fall into three camps: That which I have invented myself, from first principles; That which I have read one book on; and That which I am bad at. One of the things I am bad at is finding books. Books are everywhere, most books are rubbish, and yet every book I've had recommended has been amazing . So, does anyone have a good book on finding good books?

Gnod is the classic reccomendation engine that works great and doesn’t harvest your data. It has a search for books:

https://www.gnooks.com/faves.php

General Gnod: gnod.com

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#14

Post by slothtrop » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 7:57 PM UTC

Prefacing that I agree -

The returns probably manifest at a senior level, where job security is already a non-issue and one has the privileges and power to make this knowledge actionable. This could be why the readers find it redundant and stick to coasting. I'd like to finish reading the Algorithm Design Manual, SICP and others, but it won't get me my next job, because I won't even be in the same room as someone who cares without jumping through other hoops first. It gets shuffled at the bottom of the pile. On top of it is: networking, building bs, contributing to bs, overengineering a bs blog where I'll write bs. I just want to work my 9-5, man (and do it well), but in my case it's a liability not to.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#15

Post by WillAdams » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 8:10 PM UTC

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #4

I very much agree with this premise. My skills fall into three camps: That which I have invented myself, from first principles; That which I have read one book on; and That which I am bad at. One of the things I am bad at is finding books. Books are everywhere, most books are rubbish, and yet every book I've had recommended has been amazing . So, does anyone have a good book on finding good books?

Perhaps Literature Map?

https://www.literature-map.com/

There are sites where book lists are collected:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/21394355-william-adams...

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#16

Post by smitty1e » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 8:16 PM UTC

Handprint4469 wrote: post #3

smitty1e wrote: post #2

[flagged]

wrong thread? It seems pretty coherent to me.

Maybe I should give it a second look, then.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#17

Post by fancyfredbot » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 8:18 PM UTC

majormajor wrote: post #12

fancyfredbot wrote: post #5

It's not the reading books, it's the wanting to read books.

There's a big gap between "doesn't care" and "wants to learn more" but there's ALSO a big gap betweeen "wants to learn more" and "actually learns more." The post touches on this with "how do you know which books to read" but I think it's incredibly important to stress the motivation/execution part too of actually reading, learning, and practicing the new things .

This is just semantics I think. Certainly some people may express a desire to learn but not be able to motivate themselves to read a book. However people who actually want to learn are intrinsically motivated to read and don't fall into that group.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#18

Post by codazoda » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 8:23 PM UTC

I am most productive, from day to day, when I’m also reading. It somehow strokes my mind and encourages my creativity.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#19

Post by FredPret » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 8:24 PM UTC

righthand wrote: post #9

fancyfredbot wrote: post #5

It's not the reading books, it's the wanting to read books.

School is not cool and that’s a problem.

Is this still true? I thought the current school generation started to like nerds more because that's who's doing the coolest jobs / companies

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#20

Post by righthand » Sat, Nov 30, 2024, 8:28 PM UTC

FredPret wrote: post #19

righthand wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

School is not cool and that’s a problem.

Is this still true? I thought the current school generation started to like nerds more because that's who's doing the coolest jobs / companies

Do they like nerds more but refuse to learn as much as nerds because tech like CoPilot enables you to not care about technical details?

To me it seems like “school is lame” is more tolerant of nerds, not necessarily interested in learning more.

It’s like the rise of popular science fiction movie genre. It’s good at a high level but not as impressive at the ground level if most of it is super hero sub-genre movies with all very similar content.