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Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

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Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#111
I cycle from business to pulp fiction to classics to non-fiction to biographies.

Right now I'm doing classics. I find that taking a month or two each year and reading classics I may have overlooked makes all the other books I read that much better. (It also gives them a higher bar to reach!)

This month it's The Count of Monte Cristo and The Brothers Karamazov. I'm having a blast. I can't believe it's taken me this long to get to these.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#112

Lots of entrepreneurial suggestions here already, so I'm going do something different by suggesting more humanities-focused books/papers that could help round out our understanding of the state of things: * Status Update by Alice Marwick - an ethnography of the SF tech scene in the mid-late 2000s, a very detailed examination of the status structures in Silicon Valley and how we were changed by the rise of social medi…

On the same note I’d recommend Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond.

Written in research driven prose, it details the relationships between a handfull of landlords and tenants in some of the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#114
Read a lot of books from Indian Authors or books about India -

1. Delhi: A novel

2. The modern architecture of New Delhi

3. Train to Pakistan

4. Maximum City: Bombay Lost & Found

5. City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

Currently reading -

1. Bauhas

2. Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (Though, I think I should read Making of the Atomic Bomb first)

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#115
Lost in Math by Sabine Hossenfelder, which was published just a few months ago. It deals with how foundational theoretical physics has been led astray by aesthetic ideals, i.e. "lost in Math", because of the lack of new empirical data during the last decades.

I read it because I see some parallels to programming/verification language design, where research is usually justified aesthetically because empirical data is hard to come by. It appears doubtful that the book will help you career-wise if you're an academic stuck in a field with similar problems, but it is consolidating to know you're not alone.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#118

1) Education of a Value Investor by Guy Spier Autobiography of a guy who won an auction to have lunch with Warren Buffett for $600k and ended up becoming a successful, contrarian value investor. Fun read for contrarians out there. 2) Napoleon's Buttons by Penny Le Couteur, Jay Burreson A look at world culture and historical events through the lens of chemistry. 3) Becoming Leonardo: An Exploded View of the Life of Le…

Napoleon's Buttons is good - the way the book is divided up keeps it interesting too.

Re: Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?

#120

For a nonfiction book, The Millionaire Next Door was a game changer for how I though about wealth accumulation. It's the findings of a statistical analysis of the life and habits of millionaires. Deep Work had the similar effects on my work habits as the former did on my finances. If you're looking for a fun fantasy read, Elantris by Brandon Sanderson is one of my all-time favorite standalone novels.

> The Millionaire Next Door was a game changer for how I though about wealth accumulation. It's the findings of a statistical analysis of the life and habits of millionaires. So, it's been a while since I dipped into this book, but my recollection was that I read the summary and intro and thought "this sounds like an analysis which suffers significantly from survivorship bias." Did you find with a close read that was…

It might be but the book boils down to:

1. Save at least 10% (or 25%) of your income

2. Live frugally. No flashy cars, etc.

3. Choose friends doing similar

I.e how to retire with a million.

I guess given enough income and decent rates on savings, it's not so revolutionary but perhaps hard work.

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