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Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

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Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#251

Post by spacebanana7 »

prepend wrote: post #219
derangedHorse wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Polygamy is a more natural state for civilized human societies than we think it is I really don't think it is, but I also disagree with using the word "natural" in a way to argue its merit.

I too find it funny when people use the naturalistic fallacy. In my youth, I used to engage and try to retort about how brutal violence is also a more natural state. But now I just commiserate on HN. What’s funny is that I do think that “natural law” is useful for reasoning problems in that equilibrium and natural forced impact on lives (eg, leverage gravity don’t fight it unnecessarily) and they frequently the invoc…

> In my youth, I used to engage and try to retort about how brutal violence is also a more natural state.

Would you consider it fair to describe violence as a 'default' state? To avoid a positive prejudice whilst also describing the higher frequency of violence in history and in toddlers.

> And I don’t think there’s really any evidence that polygamy is a “natural state” only that some cultures practiced it and some didn’t.

Through the lens of 'default state' - was there any civilisation pre 2500 BC that didn't practice polygamy? My understanding is that the prohibition of polygamy spread through the Greco-Roman tradition, but I'd be interested in finding out whether the prohibition occurred elsewhere or earlier too.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#252

Post by tultra »

Computer Networking: a Top Down approach by James Kurose and Keith Ross.

Computer Networking - a Top Down approach is a technical book, but oh boy what an awesome read it is. I've just recently obtained a BSc degree in Computer Science, and the course curriculum didn't paid much attention to computer networks. We mostly studied cryptography algos, but not really looked into networks protocols and such.

This book is hence filling the gaps I have in computer networks (I'm mostly interested in web dev/cloud architectures).

The only other technical book that comes close to it is "Operation Systems: three easy pieces" by Remzi and Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau. Another great read.

Now, in terms of fictions books, I just finished re-reading "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It's a masterpiece, but I'm not sure if the author is widely known in english speaking countries.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#253

Post by thorin »

uoaei wrote: post #225

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn The titular Ishmael is a gorilla who learns to communicate with humans (telepathically) and seeks to teach humanity how to see the underlying cultural narratives that we are captive to, and that define our entire worldview. It's set up as a Socratic dialogue so the character of the pupil can be a bit annoying in his boneheadedness (a device used by the author to advance his points) but otherwi…

Have you read the sequel? Twist!

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#254

Post by omgmajk »

barbs wrote: post #185
omgmajk wrote: post #153

I recently started reading House of Leaves, I'm not done with it but I'm captivated by it so far. It's a very weird horror/love story that is unlike anything I have ever read before.

You may also like Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

Will check it out, thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#255

Post by thorin »

sailorganymede wrote: post #106

Dune! Really enjoying it

I was enjoying Dune and I got through the sequel which was ok, but I'm not really getting on with the 3rd book (children on dune) I've only managed to get through a few pages. I think all of these books are reasonably slow going from my perspective but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#256

Post by benzin »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #15

I recently read two books about industries that previously seemed dreadfully boring: property/casualty insurance, and community banking. I'm not sure what possessed me to read these books but I was curious about both industries since they are significant parts of the economy but I knew next to nothing about them. The banking book is called "The Most Fun I Never Want To Have Again: A Mid-Life Crisis in Community Banki…

These are the kind of books I aspire to write eventually. Incredibly niche but indisputably authoritative to those that care about the niche.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#257

Post by raygunzapzap »

'God Human Animal Machine' by Meghan O'Gieblyn was a very interesting read. Her background in an evangelical seminary->physics obsessed naturalist->ponderer of AI consciousness made for a very interesting voice and perspective.

Blind Sight by Peter Watts is some amazing fiction, a gripping First Contact story

The Body Keeps the Score and My Grandmother's Hands are two excellent books to assist at recognizing and processing the generational habits and traumas that impact us deeper than we realize

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#258

Post by NikolaNovak »

raygunzapzap wrote: post #257

'God Human Animal Machine' by Meghan O'Gieblyn was a very interesting read. Her background in an evangelical seminary->physics obsessed naturalist->ponderer of AI consciousness made for a very interesting voice and perspective. Blind Sight by Peter Watts is some amazing fiction, a gripping First Contact story The Body Keeps the Score and My Grandmother's Hands are two excellent books to assist at recognizing and proc…

Three more thumbs up for Blind Sight. Gripping story but also puts forward some interesting questions on nature of consciousness and reality (but not in a woozy spiritual way; basically - what happens to your senses and thoughts when subjected to a massive and changing magnetic field?). Not quite Phillip K Dick as far as unreliable narrator goes, but it's cool once you start questioning the perspectives and observations :)

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

#259

Post by prepend »

spacebanana7 wrote: post #251
prepend wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too find it funny when people use the naturalistic fallacy. In my youth, I used to engage and try to retort about how brutal violence is also a more natural state. But now I just commiserate on HN. What’s funny is that I do think that “natural law” is useful for reasoning problems in that equilibrium and natural forced impact on lives (eg, leverage gravity don’t fight it unnecessarily) and they frequently the invoc…

> In my youth, I used to engage and try to retort about how brutal violence is also a more natural state. Would you consider it fair to describe violence as a 'default' state? To avoid a positive prejudice whilst also describing the higher frequency of violence in history and in toddlers. > And I don’t think there’s really any evidence that polygamy is a “natural state” only that some cultures practiced it and some d…

Maybe violence is the default state but I don’t think in a useful way, just that there’s lots of conflict and violence is an easy expression. So toddlers biting people are probably linked to the same urge that led to cavemen raping whatever women they could.

By not useful I mean, I wouldn’t plan my society around it and certainly not my partner decisions. Although maybe it feeds into the whole mindfulness technique of not acting on intrusive thoughts and minimizing their control over us.

> Through the lens of 'default state' - was there any civilisation pre 2500 BC that didn't practice polygamy?

This is an interesting question. I like history as much as the next person but haven’t studied this. I assumed there were because the Judeo-Christian origin story has Adam and Eve, not Adam and Eves (although the Bible is full of polygamy).

I’d look for societies that were individualistic rather than authoritarian as polygamy seems to me to be a function of patriarchy and power consolidation (ie, if the king/warlord/etc has 100 wives, that’s 99 fewer spouses available for craftsmen/merchants/artists/etc).

Wikipedia [0] says “ According to the Ethnographic Atlas by George P. Murdock, of 1,231 societies from around the world noted, 186 were monogamous; 453 had occasional polygyny; 588 had more frequent polygyny; and 4 had polyandry.” so it seems that polygamy is more common.

But again, my initial thought isn’t that this means polygamy is natural in as much as that physical strength and safety being prioritized and difficult means power consolidation. I’d like to learn about power distribution and it’s effect on family structure.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monogamy

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