Rules for Choosing Nonfiction Books • Hacker News Board

Re: Rules for Choosing Nonfiction Books

#201

Post by jamesrcole » Sun, Feb 10, 2019, 6:50 AM UTC

Retra wrote: post #199

jamesrcole wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think anyone else is interpreting it that way, and can confidently assert that the error is entirely on your end. The post is very clear that it's talking about expertise in the sense referred to in my comments (which, as also indicated in my comments, I don't fully agree with): "Rule #1: Prefer books by experts in the field The best nonfiction books I have read have invariably been by folks who spent their…

You don't need to focus on these kinds of semantic quibbles if you want to miss the point. You can do that directly. Albert Einstein was 21 when he published his first paper, and 26 when he published his best. Please tell me that he didn't spend his life researching physics, even then.

You've completely missed the point of my comments. Go back and read them more carefully.

Re: Rules for Choosing Nonfiction Books

#202

Post by Retra » Sun, Feb 10, 2019, 4:44 PM UTC

jamesrcole wrote: post #201

Retra wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to focus on these kinds of semantic quibbles if you want to miss the point. You can do that directly. Albert Einstein was 21 when he published his first paper, and 26 when he published his best. Please tell me that he didn't spend his life researching physics, even then.

You've completely missed the point of my comments. Go back and read them more carefully.

I've reread your comments and stand by what I said. Perhaps you should confer with someone else.

Re: Rules for Choosing Nonfiction Books

#203

Post by kevinmchugh » Sun, Feb 10, 2019, 5:20 PM UTC

Xortl wrote: post #181

gordon_freeman wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This method does seem limited. I have read some of the best nonfiction books from Journalists over the last few years: Vance's biography of Musk, Stone's biography of Bezos and the books from Issacson including Job's biography. Author's missing all these NF books due to his disdain for the journalists.

I'm a big fan of Isaacson's biographies, but Vance's Musk biography highlights the dangers of an author that isn't an expert on the source material: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/895834554245709824?lang=...

This thread, I think, was Musk complaining about a report that he let go an assistant who asked for a raise. He did that, he says so in the thread. He just doesn't like the way it is sometimes portrayed.

Re: Rules for Choosing Nonfiction Books

#204

Post by specialist » Mon, Feb 11, 2019, 5:27 PM UTC

jawns wrote: post #88

I am an author of several nonfiction (pop-sci) books. I am also a former journalist. I readily acknowledge that I am not an expert in the fields I write about. That is why the bulk of my work is finding out who the experts are and presenting their work in an accessible way. (Granted, once you've been writing about a certain area for long enough, you do tend to become educated about it.) One of the things that makes m…

I'm a big fan of science writers.

There's a lot of day light between journalists and celebrity pundits.

Re: Rules for Choosing Nonfiction Books

#205

Post by kortilla » Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 4:56 AM UTC

claudiawerner wrote: post #187

kortilla wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insightful maybe but drastically wrong about the whole LTV thing.

I think that's a point if we argued about we'd agree to disagree.

I’m honestly not sure what there is to disagree with. There has been no quantitative evidence supporting it. “Things should cost based on labor” is a nice thought for laborers, but it’s completely unrealistic. Nobody is going to pay twice as much for something because one manufacturer used a really shitty process that took twice as many man hours.

There’s a reason the “criticisms” section of the wiki is one of the largest and links to a full article on it. It’s a religion, not an evidence-driven theory. Prescriptive, not descriptive.

I suppose we would agree to disagree if you believe in ideas not grounded in reality (a.k.a. backed by empirical evidence).