K-punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher
Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
181–190 of 344 posts
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#182Breaking news : the remaking of journalism and why it matters now – Rusbridger, Alan From the editor of The Guardian for the last 20 years, a fascinating look at the move from traditional print to online news. --- The perfect weapon : war, sabotage, and fear in the cyber age – Sanger, David E. The subtitle says it all. From that I’m now reading ‘Click Here to Kill Everybody’ by Schneier. Enjoying it so far. --- The w…
Yes I Did ny MBA studies there. Incredible place.
And apparently skipped typing class:)
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#183The Beastie Boys book. It’s like a time machine. I read like 800 pages in a day, couldn’t put it down.
I never knew how central a role Adam played in the group. Further, I was shocked to learn that he wasn't just the leader but a creative genius.
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#184in addition to Bad Blood and Shoe Dog that were mentioned numerous times already I would add "Rocket Men" by Robert Kurston. The story of Apollo 8. I'm not a space geek but the story is very interesting and well written. Audible book is very good.
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#185In the Wake: On Blackness and Being
by Christina Sharpe
"In this original and trenchant work, Christina Sharpe interrogates literary, visual, cinematic, and quotidian representations of Black life that comprise what she calls the "orthography of the wake." Activating multiple registers of "wake"—the path behind a ship, keeping watch with the dead, coming to consciousness—Sharpe illustrates how Black lives are swept up and animated by the afterlives of slavery, and she delineates what survives despite such insistent violence and negation."
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#186How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big - Scott Adams (2013) One of my favorite quotes: “I put myself in a position where luck was more likely to happen. I tried a lot of different ventures, stayed optimistic, put in the energy, prepared myself by learning as much as I could, and stayed in the game long enough for luck to find me.” pg - 158 My top ten list for the year: https://www.gregkamradt.com/gregkamr…
I really enjoyed it too. My main takeaways:
1. Use systems, not goals. A system lets you feel good every time you follow it, whereas a goal only makes you feel good when you reach it
2. Combination of skills. If you can be good (say top 20%) in more than one domain, then that combination of skills can be enough to make you very sought after.
3. What all adults should know, like public speaking, psychology, business writing, accounting, design, and conversations.
4. Learning from failures. This is a theme throughout the book. Each failure can teach you something. If you attempt something and fail, you at least gained experience. This experience will be useful for your next project.
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#187Michael Pollan: How to Change Your Mind [1] Not just about an utterly fascinating topic (psychadelic drugs), in terms of history (LSD turning from a scientific wonder drug to illegal), his personal experiences, and the neuroscience behind it, but also just extremely well-written -- a real page-turner. A crazy potent combination of science, spirituality (from a skeptic), and narrative. I expect his book will be a sign…
the topic of psychedelic drugs is truly fascinating, but I think Pollan's books "How to change your mind" is poor. I read most of it and felt angry and hollow after. I don't recommend a purchase. Here's the review I left on Amazon (2 star): "How tot change your mind" delivers and important core message, but it should have been an article or a podcast episode. Cutting the fluff offers vast room for lossless compressio…
But do you have a better book recommendation?
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#188They weren't written in 2018, but some I enjoyed: * Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution (Steven Levy) * Masters of DOOM (David Kushner) * The simpsons and their mathematical secrets (Simon Singh) * Countdown to zero day (about stuxnet, by Kim Zetter) * Sapiens: A brief history of human kind (Yuval Noah Harari) * Coders at work (Some interviews, not all, but I enjoyed it. By Peter Seibel)
+1 for Coders at Work! Excellent, long interviews with really famous developers and computer scientists.
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#189Michael Pollan: How to Change Your Mind [1] Not just about an utterly fascinating topic (psychadelic drugs), in terms of history (LSD turning from a scientific wonder drug to illegal), his personal experiences, and the neuroscience behind it, but also just extremely well-written -- a real page-turner. A crazy potent combination of science, spirituality (from a skeptic), and narrative. I expect his book will be a sign…
the topic of psychedelic drugs is truly fascinating, but I think Pollan's books "How to change your mind" is poor. I read most of it and felt angry and hollow after. I don't recommend a purchase. Here's the review I left on Amazon (2 star): "How tot change your mind" delivers and important core message, but it should have been an article or a podcast episode. Cutting the fluff offers vast room for lossless compressio…
Gee, I guess people just don't read books the same way. What might be annoying to you might be an enjoyable style of writing to others.
I respect your opinion, but your verdict is just not the single truth out there. Personally, I read such books very different from reading at a younger age or non-fiction books.
Encounter a paragraph which does not catch your interest or you don't like the writing style? Skim over it. Familiarize yourself with the rough contents of a chapter before you read it, as to understand the general topic - makes skipping single paragraphs much easier.
The goal is not school like reading, where you ought to know all the contents to fill out a standardized test, but reflect your own personal values and experiences against what you are reading. If there are passages which don't give you anything - people are very diverse - then, well, skip them. The author did not conspire to make the experience unpleasant for you.
Ultimately, this is a fascinating topic for many, whether you prefer the podcast or the book should be left for everyone personally to decide.
Re: Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you read all of these?
FWIW my library account shows me as having loaned 28 books this year. I’d say I finished 80% of them. Don’t watch too much television, don’t read too much crap online. There’s plenty of time in life to read.
If you use Goodreads to track what you read, you get some stats per year, like number of books read, number of pages read.
Mine: https://www.goodreads.com/review/stats/63629672-henrik-warne