What are you reading? • Hacker News Board

Re: What are you reading?

#81

Post by electronslave » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 3:35 AM UTC

lionhearted wrote: post #68

electronslave wrote: post #40

The Brothers Karamazov. Awesome, if only for the casually violent Russian realism that I loved in Преступление и Наказание. As far as learning goes, I'm chugging through the FARs and the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. I'm about to solo. As far as computer tech stuff goes, I haven't picked up a book with hype (plus requisite clipart/bad drawings/abuse of color space) on the cover in years. Edit: What's up…

> What's up with all the Ayn Rand? Misogyny, xenophobia and unvarnished greed aren't exactly admirable characteristics The big problem with Rand is that she's downright nasty to the other side. So people feel attacked and tune themselves out to her good ideas. Rand's anti-politicking, pro-individualism, pro-triumph, pro-innovation, pro-going against the grain, and so on. She rails against the very real, very nasty ba…

Oops. I just thought it was an amusing anecdote, but this isn't a constructive direction.

Re: What are you reading?

#82

Post by andrewparker » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 3:36 AM UTC

* The Future of the Internet -- And How to Stop It :: by Jonathan Zittrain

* The Elementary Particles :: by Michel Houellebecq

Re: What are you reading?

#83

Post by NoBSWebDesign » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 3:42 AM UTC

I'm also finishing Atlas Shrugged finally this week, having just finished The Fountainhead. Next on my list is Anthem, then I think I'll go back to some non-fiction for the next couple books... like Outliers and Capital and Freedom.

Re: What are you reading?

#84

Post by norwayjose » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 3:46 AM UTC

Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight by David A. Mindell

Gray Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Reverse Engineers by Justin Seitz

Re: What are you reading?

#85

Post by jobeirne » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 3:48 AM UTC

tel wrote: post #59

Ulysses , haha.

Ouch.

Re: What are you reading?

#86

Post by eserorg » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 3:48 AM UTC

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

and

The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes

Re: What are you reading?

#87

Post by bkovitz » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 3:52 AM UTC

Computational Pharmacokinetics by Anders Källén

Secrets of Consulting by Gerald Weinberg

Le Ton Beau de Marot by Douglas Hofstadter

Born to Win by Muriel James and Dorothy Jongeward

Re: What are you reading?

#88

Post by bkovitz » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 3:59 AM UTC

mynameishere wrote: post #27

yan wrote: post #9

OO i love these threads. I am currently reading "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro and its awesome so far (~150 pgs in). Just finished Zinn's "A people's history". Next up is "Atlas Shrugged" or "The Power of Babel" by John McWhorter.

Why? Just because someone is reading something doesn't mean it's a good recommendation. I'm reading "Two years before the mast," and it's okay. There are better books. However, here's a real recommendation: If you have a netbook, it can be used very effectively as an e-book reader if you turn it on its side while in bed, or place it upon your chest. I didn't buy it for that reason, but it is the most comfortable mann…

I like these threads, not because I'm looking for book recommendations, but because finding out what people are reading gives me some insight both into the people and into publishing.

Re: What are you reading?

#89

Post by NoBSWebDesign » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 4:01 AM UTC

sabon wrote: post #14

Finishing "Atlas Shrugged". While ideas and the spirit of the book have aged only slightly, the way of writing seems way too pretentious for our times. But overall the book is interesting. From historic and ideological point of view.

Ayn Rand was able to name so much of what I've felt growing up. While she may have used the literary technique of exaggeration to heighten the contrast between her philosophical views of moral vs. immoral, I don't think she took it "too far" as others are commenting. I think that's like saying Philip K. Dick took the ideas of technological advances and psychic ability too far in his story, "Minority Report", or like saying Pablo Picasso took multi-perspective simplicity too far in his Cubist paintings. Of course they did, it's part of their literary freedom. Exaggeration helps to make an underlaying principle become self-evident by speeding along conclusions that could eventually be drawn from observation.

Re: What are you reading?

#90

Post by huhtenberg » Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 4:05 AM UTC

jerryji wrote: post #63

"How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis ( http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Rich-Felix-Dennis/dp/009191265... ) THE best get rich how-to guides that I've read (not that I've read too many of them, though :)

Make sure to polish it up with a selection of Robb's Report :) Gotta be prepared, you know.