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Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

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Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#251

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

endgame wrote: post #211
qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ghost in the Wires compares favorably, also being a personal memoir, although from the other side of hacking. Exploding the Phone takes an ousider's perspective, having been written by a relative outsider, and the information having been gathered from interviews with those involved. However, I would say it's better than Ghost in the Wires , being a better told story overall. It's also pretty much the definitive histo…

I found The Cuckoo's Egg second-hand for 50c. Easily the greatest enjoyment:price ratio of anything I own. Exploding the Phone is also phreaking awesome. I devoured that book over the space of a few hours.

Yeah, The cuckoo's egg would be the greatest price:enjoyment ratio, but then I bought Half-Life, Blud Shift, Opposing Force, Day of Defeat, Counterstrike, Riccochet, and TF Classic for $5. And I got the cuckoo's egg for $7...

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#252

Post by mcphage »

joshstrange wrote: post #189
davewasthere wrote: post #151

The most: Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Think I've bought almost a dozen copies over the years. Although that book wasn't really a gift, more a loan I never got back. Others: Lord of the Rings - I gave this to the guard who detained me in Russia. I thought it was the best revenge. The life changing magic of tidying - to my partner. We're both messy. I've read it, she hasn't... neither of us have changed. 1Q84 by…

Searched the page for Ender's Game, I've always really enjoyed that book. I never had to read it for school but an older friend of mine did and told me to read it. I did and then a few years later was able to use it for a "pick your own book" report in school. I was always embarrassed to lend out my copy as it had writing in the margins that I had to do for school so I just bought it and gave it away whenever I was g…

> I still need to read the rest of the Ender series, I read all of the Bean/Shadow story line but somehow never got around to the continuation of the Ender line.

They go in a very different direction. The Bean/Shadow books are still military fiction, and the Ender ones are... not. I do recommend reading them, but just don't go into them expecting anything similar.

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#253

Post by dbingham »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #238
sneak wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make an effort to pirate Ender's Game versus spending money on it; the author is a notorious bigot who uses his money to destroy equal human rights.

It's baffling that the same man who wrote the stories I loved can stand up and with a straight face tell everyone that gays aren't like us, and that gay marriage is destroying civilization. He literally said that, at a reading I attended. After telling us about the power of stories and humanity, he veered into that as a total non-sequitur.

Do you ever wonder if he's just... I dunno, trolling us? Or performing some strange social experiment he'll write about at the end of his life?

I just don't understand how a man who wrote a book with such a thorough understanding of empathy can display so little of it in life.

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#254

Post by cyphar »

matwood wrote: post #228
cyphar wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exploitation of the public's fear, promises to make the country great again, rejection by their own party once they figured out that they might come to power. Those spring to mind as examples.

>Exploitation of the public's fear, >promises to make the country great again, So any politician running for an election? > rejection by their own party once they figured out that they might come to power. You mean, the basic reason the democrats invented the super delegate to begin with? Not sure how old you are, but when Bush 2 was in power the same comments were made. I guess Bush didn't turn into Hitler so now it…

I didn't say that I _agreed_ with the original comment, I was giving examples of why people might draw parallels.

Personally (as someone from a non-US country) I think the US's system of government is quite flawed in how much power it gives to presidents -- in Australia nobody gives a shit about the Prime Minister. All that matters is what the party in power is pushing for (and what the representatives vote for).

So, while I think Trump in power won't end well, I feel like this is not a problem with Trump but rather with a system of government that allows individuals to have that much power. Just because Trump is the threat _today_ doesn't mean that he is where our attention should be directed.

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#255

Post by aaron695 »

If the book is so generic that someone can suggest it here, then it's not a good gift.

But a great philosophy is below. People will appreciate the gesture and you'll never get cranky about lent books never returned.

“It's a gift. Never lend a book.”

― Bill Adama

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#256

Post by bko »

matwood wrote: post #228
cyphar wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exploitation of the public's fear, promises to make the country great again, rejection by their own party once they figured out that they might come to power. Those spring to mind as examples.

>Exploitation of the public's fear, >promises to make the country great again, So any politician running for an election? > rejection by their own party once they figured out that they might come to power. You mean, the basic reason the democrats invented the super delegate to begin with? Not sure how old you are, but when Bush 2 was in power the same comments were made. I guess Bush didn't turn into Hitler so now it…

>Exploitation of the public's fear, >promises to make the country great again,

Xenophobia. Us versus them. Rejection of internationalism. Lack of empathy towards others (e.g. pro torture, pro going after the families of suspected terrorists, etc). Blatant dishonest and a disregard for facts, even when presented with proof.

Yes, when people are caught up in an election, every slight disagreement or preference seems pressing, but this time I think Trump is actually a first in so many regards and has created an alternative to the regular left-right heterodoxy that has controlled America for the better part of the century. This is cult personality nationalism that hasn't made its way to the modern US in any meaningful way until now

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#257

Post by mcphage »

omaranto wrote: post #127
SwellJoe wrote: post #28

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. I've given it to just about everyone I've known who seriously wanted to be a writer, journalist, etc. as well as some folks who just wanted to write better. It's a small, beautiful, book about writing better. This is the book I've gifted the most. Several scifi books have also been gifted to friends, mostly Asimov (both the Foundation and Robots series), Herbert's Dune , and…

With Strunk & White I think you should ignore their advice which is often confused or nonsensical and just imitate their prose which is delightful. This review explains it better than I could: http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/2549...

That was wonderful, thank you :-)

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#258

Post by atsaloli »

"The Way to Happiness" by L. Ron Hubbard is a common-sense moral code. It's inspired me to be a better person in different ways (e.g., as a husband, professionally, personally, etc.). I gave it to a plumber in Sydney once (I used to hand them out) and he came back and asked for a few more for his mates "because they could use it".

http://www.thewaytohappiness.org

Re: Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?

#260

Post by joshstrange »

mcphage wrote: post #252
joshstrange wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Searched the page for Ender's Game, I've always really enjoyed that book. I never had to read it for school but an older friend of mine did and told me to read it. I did and then a few years later was able to use it for a "pick your own book" report in school. I was always embarrassed to lend out my copy as it had writing in the margins that I had to do for school so I just bought it and gave it away whenever I was g…

> I still need to read the rest of the Ender series, I read all of the Bean/Shadow story line but somehow never got around to the continuation of the Ender line. They go in a very different direction. The Bean/Shadow books are still military fiction, and the Ender ones are... not. I do recommend reading them, but just don't go into them expecting anything similar.

This is what has kept me from reading them, I greatly enjoy military fiction (especially when you add sci-fi into the mix, I semi-recently read the whole Honor Harrington series and loved it).
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