Ask HN: What was the latest book you read?
43 comments
Mind Magic (by Marc Lemezma) - Im trying to improve my mentalism skills (and though that book is really basic it is a good refresher on ideas).
Last serious book was a 620 page tome entitled "Writing Security Tools and Exploits". A book with potentially the largest "great title" to "boring content" ratio ever :( (stuck at it though in principle :P)
Last serious book was a 620 page tome entitled "Writing Security Tools and Exploits". A book with potentially the largest "great title" to "boring content" ratio ever :( (stuck at it though in principle :P)
This is a great source of stuff for:
function get_smarter():
http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/godel-escher-blog
function get_smarter():
1. Am I smart enough yet? (default answer: of course not!)
2. If yes, go make a grillion dollars, or go fishing, or something. (Note: this statement is unreachable).
3. Otherwise:
1. Do various important things, until I have some free time.
2. Pick a book from my book list and read it.
3. If I've read it already, check all the references at the end, and add the ones that look good to my book list.
4. get_smarter()
"If your book list is empty, add Gödel, Escher, Bach to it before calling the function for the first time.
And with that, I'm off to go finish the book!"http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/godel-escher-blog
"A People's History of the United Sates" by Howard Zinn. A decent history book, not exactly uplifting.
Reading currently: "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York" by Robert Caro. Absolutely loving it.
That, and my usual climbing books.
Reading currently: "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York" by Robert Caro. Absolutely loving it.
That, and my usual climbing books.
Last fiction - The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
Before that - The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (recommended to all fantasy fans)
Last technical - AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis
Before that - The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (recommended to all fantasy fans)
Last technical - AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis
Last serious book : http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Cryptography-Practice-Hewlett-P...
Last fun book : http://www.amazon.com/Woken-Furies-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novels/dp/...
I can't resist the body swapping stuff ever since reading Lord of Light as a kid
Last fun book : http://www.amazon.com/Woken-Furies-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novels/dp/...
I can't resist the body swapping stuff ever since reading Lord of Light as a kid
Musicophilia (too much psychiatry, not enuf music)
b4 that
Anathem (will read again after a few years)
b4 that
Halting State (cool)
b4 that
Anathem (will read again after a few years)
b4 that
Halting State (cool)
The big switch
before that
Accelerando
before that
Accelerando
I've almost finished Accelerando.
I can't remember which was the previous one..
I started to read it but I lost interest quickly.
Current: Zen and the Brain
Previous: Gödel, Escher, Bach (still working on that one, actually)
Previous: Gödel, Escher, Bach (still working on that one, actually)
I am currently reading "beautiful code" by Greg Wilson, Andy Oram(and all the contributors)
King Warrior Magician Lover
by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette
http://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscover...
http://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscover...
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (excellent; recently saw Food, Inc. as well)
The Next 100 Years by George Friedman (amusing; was given to me as a gag gift)
Currently reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
The Next 100 Years by George Friedman (amusing; was given to me as a gag gift)
Currently reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Cat's Cradle, by Vonnegut.
I read Multireal, which is the follow up to Infoquake. They deal with a startup producing software that runs inside people, executed by tiny nanobots. The books explore startup culture.
'Create Your Own Economy' by Tyler Cowen - a good read.
Current: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Last: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.
The best recent: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamon.
Last: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.
The best recent: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamon.
Last: What is a Designer: Things, Places, Messages by Potter.
Current: Flow: The psychology of optimal experience by Csikszentmihalyi
Current: Flow: The psychology of optimal experience by Csikszentmihalyi
The last book I finished was Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.
I am currently perusing numerous books for summer research.
I am currently perusing numerous books for summer research.
Last: I am a Strange Loop
Current: Neuromancer
Current: Neuromancer
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by David Eggers. Ironic title, thoughtful and enjoyable book. Suggested.
Current:
Ghandi and Churchill by Arthur Herman
Last:
The Odyssey by Homer
A bull in China by Jim Rogers
Ghandi and Churchill by Arthur Herman
Last:
The Odyssey by Homer
A bull in China by Jim Rogers
Last: The C Programming Language - Kernighan & Ritchie
Current: The Effective Executive - Peter Drucker
Current: The Effective Executive - Peter Drucker
Last: Hacker's Handbook 3.0 by Dr. K (waste of time)
Current: Last Light by Andy McNab (awesome)
Current: Last Light by Andy McNab (awesome)
"The Screwtape Letters", by C.S. Lewis
In the middle of "Roughing It" by Mark Twain now.
In the middle of "Roughing It" by Mark Twain now.
Last: Create your own Economy, by Tyler Cowen
Current: Real World Haskell
Current: Real World Haskell
Finished: _Germany 1866-1945_ by Gordon Craig. Various others in parallel.
last book: The Dark Tower II
currently: The T Programming Language
currently: The T Programming Language
Halting State, by Charles Stross, great for computer geeks
[deleted]
Just finished: Childhood's End and Rendezvous with Rama
Last book: 1984
Current book: Master & Commander
Just got done reading 'the fountainhead' by ayn rand.
Last: Crossing the Chasm
Current: Managing Humans
Previous: Anathem
Current: Programming in Scala
Current: Programming in Scala
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, in one sitting.
The Road To Gandolfo by Robert Ludlum
The Revenge of Gaia - James Lovelock
Robert Greene- 48 Laws of Power
Freedom Evolves - Dan Dennett
'The Double' by José Saramago
Getting Real by 37 signals.
In the middle of GEB,
Just finished "Anthem" by Ayn Rand (it's like 100 pages so it only took a few hours)
Started "The American Political Tradition" by Richard Hofstadter, pretty engaging history of our major politicians and founding fathers...
Started "The American Political Tradition" by Richard Hofstadter, pretty engaging history of our major politicians and founding fathers...
The last book I "seriously" read was The world is Flat.