YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List • Hacker News Board

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#71

Post by Ntrails » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 7:56 AM UTC

guiambros wrote: post #48

westoncb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks b_b, that does increase my interest and I'll probably look a bit closer now :)

disclaimer: I've commented so many times on this book before [1][2][3][4] that I may sound like the author's PR person (spoiler: I am not; just truly enjoyed the book). I second parent's comment that for me this was one of those perspective-altering books in recent years. Even now, months after I finished, I still have several thoughts going through my head: why schools start so early, the societal impact of sleep de…

> why schools start so early

Because they need to fit in around the schedules of working parents. I'm loathe to accept that this is a source of problems given the likely issue is actually the time students go to sleep, how long they sleep for, and what time they wake up.

The solution does not obviously need to be changing school start times rather than student behaviour

(seriously though, I'd love to hear the counter, as there probably is one)

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#72

Post by anacleto » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 8:25 AM UTC

sgillen wrote: post #3

“This is water” has to be one of my favorite short essays/speeches of all time. If you haven’t read it/seen it before so yourself a favor and go through it, it doesn’t take very long. Seriously wish I could get these ideas into everyone’s head.

Ordered it. Thank you.

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#73

Post by mapcars » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 8:32 AM UTC

You are so late, summer is almost gone :D

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#74

Post by rebuilder » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 9:09 AM UTC

edanm wrote: post #4

Happy to see some great books recommended there. Specifically, let me call out: The Three Body problem. The Lathe of Heaven. And while I haven't read Parable of the Sower yet, everything I've read of Octavia Butler has ranged from really good to some of my favorite books ever, so I'm sure it's a good one. One anti-recommendation (kind of): I recently read Finite and Infinite Games, after many (many) recommendations f…

I have to say, I just didn't "get" The Three Body Problem. I got the impression I was reading an allegory I didn't have the cultural background to understand - so much of the surface plot seemed like it must have some important meaning but I couldn't decipher it. It was an odd experience, but maybe the translation of words wasn't enough in this case for me to get the content.

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#75

Post by HNNewer » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 9:21 AM UTC

what are these books? Some of them are just crap

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#76

Post by nomat » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 10:29 AM UTC

stakhanov wrote: post #69

I have slightly ambivalent feelings about an institution like Y-Combinator getting into the business of promoting those sorts of books. -- Making a reading list on books teaching you programming or statistics or business skills like accounting is one thing. But when you're talking about reading materials that promote a certain world view, certain values, a certain political position, or instill in an individual a cer…

the people who read HN are a self-selected tribe of a certain bent and it would be strange if YC's reading list didn't have an underlying theme to it. i dont think there's anything wrong with a "this is what guys like me are reading" (guys like me? hey, i'm a guy like me!) list of books. maybe it is a little narrow but YC is rather niche to begin with in terms of appeal so it doesn't seem like there's conflict of values here.

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#77

Post by Kiro » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 10:32 AM UTC

b_b wrote: post #9

I saw someone mention it in a HN comment before, but I'd like to restate it here since it is definitely one of those perspective-altering books: "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker. The author is a professor and prolific researcher of the effects of sleep on the human body, and goes into nearly every nook and cranny of what sleep does for the human body. He has scared me off of my usual practice of sleeping 6 hours or l…

I sleep 4 hours a night and feel great after I started doing that instead of my normal 7. Never tired when waking up anymore. Should I be worried?

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#78

Post by dalbasal » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 10:39 AM UTC

aschearer wrote: post #14

To offer some alternatives here are three books which I believe are relevant given these challenging times: * Enlightenment Now ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35696171-enlightenment-n... ): Offers a defense that our current institutions have delivered the goods and should be defended. The left doesn't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We should continue improving the system we've got -- especially…

This is Vis a Vis your first recommendation, and how it's associated with "left wing" politics. Its fascinating to me that I have a fairly sepcific idea of what you are talking about, without being able to specifically define the key concepts. Wtf is left/eight anyway, and how come we can classify politics this way in polities and topics that are novel to us?

Anyone got a "history of the left and the right" thats a good read?

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#79

Post by deviationblue » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 10:45 AM UTC

Interesting choice, Wizard of Oz. One question I've always wondered, what to do about narcissists who think someone else is the narcissist? Also, funny thing I've seen happen at work: there was someone this one (but influential) person didn't like because of office politics, and wanted to have that person be dismissed in social circles in the office. Easy job for them- label them as a narcissist. Honestly, everyone is a little selfish, so it's not hard to pick and choose behavior from any one person, and make it fit into that narcissism box.

Re: YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List

#80

Post by chriselles » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 10:45 AM UTC

edwinksl wrote: post #32

_fs wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The three body problem: I found this book fascinating how the cultural revolution was weaved in to the story. It really highlighted my ignorance of recent Chinese history, and many times found myself turning to Wikipedia to learn more of the specific events mentioned. The English translation also includes several lengthy footnotes and see-also's when historical characters or events are mentioned, as I'm sure many wes…

I basically read the whole trilogy at one go. The first book in particular is a page-turner.

Three Body Problem trilogy is being turned into an Amazon Prime Video tentpole, with a reported $1 billion budget.

I’ve read the first book, I really enjoyed it.