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Ask HN: What are some good biographies to read?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some good biographies to read?

#51
Assuming you're looking for a slightly hacker oriented biography then I can heartily recommend "The Man Who Knew Too Much: The Inventive Life of Robert Hooke" by Stephen Inwood.

It gives an interesting insight to what it might have meant to have something of the hacker mindset in the 17th Century, and his connection with some of his contemporaries (Newton, Halley, and Wren notable amongst them) add to the general interest. Plus he was a supremely odd and cranky person.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good biographies to read?

#53
post #2

If you want to go philosophical, read Gandhi's My Expirements with Truth.

Again, with a guy like Gandhi you're going to understand better from a frank biography than his autobiography. He was a deeply flawed man in many respects.

The great thing about Gandhi is that he openly recorded his flaws - not many autobiographical writings do that.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good biographies to read?

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, with a guy like Gandhi you're going to understand better from a frank biography than his autobiography. He was a deeply flawed man in many respects.

The great thing about Gandhi is that he openly recorded his flaws - not many autobiographical writings do that.

Does he talk about he effectively killed his wife by denying her medical treatment? Or his racism?

Re: Ask HN: What are some good biographies to read?

#57

Lincoln's War Cabinet by Hendrick Burton - learn to surround yourself with ideas you don't necessarily agree with and be influenced by the most unlikely minds

>"Lincoln's War Cabinet by Hendrick Burton - learn to surround yourself with ideas you don't necessarily agree with and be influenced by the most unlikely minds" "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin explores the same topic, specifically how Lincoln made up his cabinet from talented rivals. Apparently Obama referred to this book (reference http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/obama-propos... ) which mad…

ah, yes - great book!

Re: Ask HN: What are some good biographies to read?

#59
James Dyson - Against the odds (http://www.amazon.com/Against-Odds-Autobiography-James-Dyson...)

Very inspiring read, especially the parts about how he kept going for almost 10 years and persevered to truly innovate in a market that had seen no innovation for a long time.

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