I'd like to know which books HN read in 2018. Which of these would you recommend? Which of these surprised you, because they are not the usual suspects.
Bad Blood : Man, this book really does read like a Hollywood movie screenplay. The rise and fall of Theranos, documented through interviews with hundreds of ex-employees by the very author who came up with the first expose of Theranos. Truly shows the flaws in the "fake it before you make it" mindset and how we glorify "geniuses".
Shoe Dog : Biography of the founder of Nike. Really liked how it's not just a book glorifying the story of Nike, but tells the tale of how much effort, balance and even pure luck went into making the company the household name it is today.
Master Algorithm : It's a book about the different fields of Machine learning (from Bayesian to Genetic evolution algos) and talks about the pros and cons of each and how these can play together to create a "master algorithm" for learning. It's a good primer for people entering the field and while it's not a DIY, it shows the scope of the problem of learning as a whole.
Three Body Problem: Finally, after years of people telling me to read this (on HN and off), I read the trilogy (Remembrance of Earth's Past), and I must say, the series does live up to the hype. Not only is it fast paced and deeply philosophical, but it's presented in a format very accessible to casual readers as well (unlike many hard sci-fi books which seem to revel in complexity). If I had to describe this series in a single line, it's "What would happen if China was the country that made first contact with an alien race?"
The Three Body Problem had some flashy ideas (like controlling the CMBR, and building a computer the size of a proton), but I didn't really feel like it had much depth. It had none of the great social commentary that you often get in sci-fi, and I thought the characters were kind of two-dimensional. Overall it just didn't really do it for me.
I actually disagree and have wondered myself how he got such a book published in China. He is very critical of China's history throughout the series and collectivism. Also the sophons seem (at least to me) to be a direct parallel to the 'surveillance state' concerns that China has right now and how the citizens feel about them
I found it lacking in depth and interesting ideas of almost any flavor. I've heard that it's better in Chinese and something is lost in translation, but I found myself very disappointed after finishing it and not understanding the strong positive response.
The Three Body Problem is entirely a set up for the other books. It does indeed have social commentary- but that social commentary is coming from a Chinese perspective.
Same here. I think it might be a SF exposure thing: if you don’t read much of it, the book may seem better, but if you’re used to SF with big ideas, there’s so many so much better written novels out there that I don’t get the hype.
"What would happen if China was the country that made first contact with an alien race?"
I don't think that the events would've unfolded differently if the first contact were made by a different country. The motivation of the contacter would've been different but it wouldn't change the reaction of Trisolarians.
Like OP said, not a tutorial. It talks about different thought processes and techniques. Extremely good stuff to know. Take notes on it. It's dense in things you should probably research more in depth.
Bad Blood should be required reading for startup founders and those that work in startups generally. I had so many flashbacks to prior companies I worked for when reading about some the ethical issues that were raised in this book.
Their big mistake was trying to use the "move fast and break things" mentality in biotech. If Holmes had started an ad company instead, she'd be lauded for her entrepreneurial accomplishments instead of being under investigation by the Feds.
I found the three body problems' representation of a computer with 30 million soldiers really stupid. I didn't read the book because of people raving about how clever that concept of the human computer is.
I understand your hesitation to read the books based on the premise of this article, but there is a lot of story complexity for why they created this computer that the article doesn't touch on. The scene is still perhaps a little cheesy, but it isn't entirely unwarranted.
It's also a small part of the story. I wouldn't judge the entire trilogy based on thinking this one scene is really stupid.
But it wasn't a human computer. It was a trisolarian computer made up of trisolarians that were alien beings that had the ability to do things like hyper-fast communication and always be truthful. Both of those traits could actually make for a viable computer system whereas humans obviously would not. I can see how you may have thought that though because in the 3 body problem simulation "game" in the book the trisolarians are represented as humans (the author does point out the difference though)
On a side note, is our system of government really all that different from a mass human computer?
Read your list, we have a bunch of books in common
Why Nations Fail (was an interesting read!)
Thinking Fast and Slow (This was on a lot of trader desks and was a good read.)
The Elephant In The Brain (this is the first audiobook i have ever listed to, agree, highly underrated.)
Principles (many years ago, I worked at BW for around 4 years... It was required reading, but remains one of my top recommended books. I actually own a copy of his original principals, and still bought the hard cover. Dalio's deep thinking is amazing).
This year, I discovered Agatha Christie. A few years back, when I was temporarily advised bed rest for a month, my sis loaned me a collection of Hercule Poirot short stories.
I was always a Sherlock Holmes fan and really enjoyed the logical detective work. Hercule Poirot felt like just like a pretentious quirky old man, making denouements based on evidence that is flimsy and tenuous at best.
This year, I came across the novels, and boy are they different! The novels give more space for characters to develop and for us to observe the proceedings and deduce clues. Each book felt more like a Whodunit game wrought as a novel. I tried to play detective as the story proceeded. Often the ending was radically different from what I expected, a few were a letdown and a bit lacking in proper evidence. But always, there are entertaining and I had so much fun and I was even right once or twice.
Of course they were written a long time back, but I am happy to discover them now.
If HN community can give me point to even better literature in the same vein, it would be heaven!
Sherlock and Poirot are great detective genres. I'm not sure if they really have parallels.
The French people however love their Inspector Maigret (by Georges Simenon). The Maigret books are apparently some of the best selling books in the Francophone world of all time. Inspector Maigret however is more procedural, and doesn't go for climatic reveals and does not have the flawed omniscient genius character that most of us are instinctively attracted to.
On the opposite end of spectrum, you might enjoy Arsene Lupin (by Maurice Leblanc), a gentleman-thief.
I’ve been gradually working through producing the Arsène Lupin stories and they’re fabulous, especially when you include his relations to Herlock Sholmes :) Libre Arsène ebooks I’ve produced so far (the remaining PD corpus is gradually following):
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar
I would say that Maigret is a kind of psychological detective : even if there are clues and detective work, his main characteristic is that he tries to get to the bottom of the personnalities he encounters, what motives drive the criminal and who they really are, so he is more concerned about the "why" than the "how".
Margery Allingham was active at about the same time (her last book was in the '60s), and ought to be much better known. Her writing is great, she's a really sharp observer of human psychology, but there's always a lightness to her stories.
She wrote a long series centred around the character of Albert Campion, and the books evolve as the times changed. The very first books are murder mysteries, but have a 39 Steps feel to them, then they evolve into Golden Age mysteries, and the post-war novels become more grounded crime novels, although never really bleak. The very last book, set in the 1960s, has a touch of science fiction.
- Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr (March Violets is the first)
- Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis (The Silver Pigs is the first)
They may be a little noirish for your tastes (more focused on character and society) but I loved the detailed historical settings and the level of depth to the detective characters. They're also both still propelled by a mystery / solving a crime.
Factfulness, by Hans Rosling. #1 with a bullet! This is the best, most useful book I've read in many years, and totally changed how I think about my thinking, and how other people (especially smart people) think. This is a must-read for anyone who thinks they're engaged and well-informed.
The Cooking Gene, by Michael Twitty. This was recommended to me by a very smart friend as the best book she read in 2017. It's behind only Factfulness for me. Ostensibly a history of African-American cooking in the South, it's a sprawling yet deeply personal work of history, genealogy, multiculturalism, and of course food. A masterpiece, full of knowledge, wisdom, and heart.
Prisoners of Geography, by Tim Marshall. An overview of political geography, and how the physical structure of land and water affects the cultures living there, their opportunities, and their place in the world. It caused a total rethink about why Europe and the US have been so successful, and why Africa and South America have suffered. A worthy companion to the classic Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Let's Go (So We Can Get Back), by Jeff Tweedy. An autobiography by the Wilco frontman, talking about a lot of stuff I find intensely interesting - depression, being a bandleader, and being a parent and husband.
Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor. An outstanding science fiction novella from an entirely different perspective - an African future.
The Ethics of Ambiguity, by Simone de Beauvoir. A mid-century philosophy classic, tackling ethics from an existentialist perspective. Dense and difficult, but also highly entertaining and brilliant. Highly recommended if you read philosophy regularly (if you don't, start with something a little lighter!).
I should watch that! I got to see him speak at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis (a couple of miles from my house), and he was incredibly entertaining and engaging. Besides showing us how the kitchen worked in the commander's house, he talked about what he was able to learn about the slave women who cooked there. He brought up the Dred Scott case - I hadn't realized that the famous Dred Scott had actually lived more or less in my neighborhood! The combination of technical, historical, and personal was really brilliant.
Lost Languages - Andrew Robinson. Starts with the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mayan hieroglyphs, and "Minoan" Linear B, then goes into detail about many still undeciphered writing systems. Existing examples, what's been studied and tried, the personalities of people involved, etc. Fascinating stuff. One of the few examples of the "Isthmian script" or epi-Olmec script[0] (a precursor to the Mayan writing system) is owned by the Smithsonian Natural History museum, and while I think they usually keep it in storage, it coincidentally was on display this summer and I took a trip to go see it after reading the book.
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts - Christopher de Hamel. 12 different medieval manuscripts the author goes to visit. Describes their history, where they are now and what it's like to see them, contains many detailed reproductions of pages, etc. Not at all dry; the author writes well and adds bits of humor, while still getting across all the necessary details.
I picked up this book after hearing high praises from Martin Fowler and Dan North during conference talks. Forsgren and her colleagues have been doing research into DevOps and its effects on organizational performance. This is a much more rigorous account than is usual in this space, so I believe it is a must read for everyone in software.
---
Author: Gerald Weinberg
Books:
* Are Your Lights On?
* Becoming a Technical Leader'
* Introduction to General Systems Thinking
Jerry's books have had a tremendous amount of impact on my thinking in the past couple years. I highly recommend reading everything you can get your hands on.
---
Author: Nassim Taleb
Books:
* The Black Swan
* Fooled by Randomness
Taleb has changed my way of looking at the world. His books are enjoyable to read, and his ideas thought provoking. I will continue to read the rest of his books over the next year.
---
Author: Robert Pirsig
Book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
A classic. I reread this for a bookclub. It's a bit esoteric, but I coupled it with Weinbergs General Systems Thinking and extracted some vague but interesting insights.
---
Author: Timmothy Snyder
Book: On Tyranny
This is a short and captivating book. I read it in about an hour and a half on Remembrance Day.
As a counterpoint, I found "Accelerate" to be just ok. It is essentially a rehash of all the popular software and methodology best practices blog posts and articles we've all read in the last 15 years. This is disappointing because I expect a book to dig deeper and present new information. The main value is in the surveys measuring the improvements that organizations experienced from these practices.
I started 'Introduction to General Systems Thinking' but I abandoned because I couldn't find anything interesting in it. I think I didn't really get it even though I had big expectations. What would you said it's the main idea?
Mathematics is useful for modelling systems of small numbers (mechanics) and large numbers (statistics), but most of the systems we engage with are systems of medium numbers. For medium number systems we must rely on heuristics. General Systems Thinking is about finding heuristics that can be applied to medium number systems.
This idea is examined from different angles in both Pirsig's and Taleb's books as well.
That said, it is a bit difficult to read. I really had to sit down and read it slowly and deliberately. I think I would suggest trying to come back to it in a couple years. Different books catch our attention at different times, and that's okay.
I read that and the first of the follow ons recently. They were both good reads, and I plan to finish up the 4 (e-book) series [1] over the next month.
[0] Passive Regulation, in print form it and Active Regulation were one book.
Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari, 2014 [English]) - A bit late to the party on this one. Mostly enjoyed it, especially the early ancient history stuff, but I felt it got a bit contrived in the middle - like the author was forcing it. Overall a good read though.
How to Invent Everything (Ryan North, 2018) - First book I've pre-ordered in a long time. A look at the history of civilization and technology through a comedic lens. Pretty funny and enjoyable.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (Edmund Morris, 1979) - Randomly happened across this book while browsing a used bookstore for some stuff to read on a summer vacation. Loved it. It's big, but reads pretty quick for a biography. I've been a fan of TR since I first really learned about him in High School and I would recommend this for anyone interested in TR/The West/Americana.
Jaws (Peter Benchley, 1974) - Quite a bit darker than the movie.
Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn, 2006) - I enjoyed Gone Girl (book and film) so I wanted to read this before the HBO series. To be honest...not my cup of tea. It was okay.
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein, 2008) - Made me cry on an airplane. Thankfully my coworkers were on a different flight.
A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley: Decent. I think this book would best be read in conjunction while working through a textbook. I will admit that it did do quite a bit to help relieve math anxiety, but the nature of the book is practicality.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: A reread. A bit depressing considering the state of the world today. I found myself wondering which reality would be preferable.
Letters to a Young Mathematician by Ian Stewart: Easy, but fruitful read. I've struggled a lot with math confidence, and this helped alleviate a lot of that.
How to Speak, How to Listen by Mortimer J. Adler: A lot of practical advice. My biggest takeaway was this: if it's worth talking about, even if the conversation sucks or the other person doesn't understand, any bit of advancement and understanding is worth the effort. Really helped me increase my patience when talking to people.
Quack This Way by David Foster Wallace and Bryan Garner: Super useful and practical discussion between two lovers of language. I keep a copy with me at all times.
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane: Just a fun read while on vacation. "If Gucci can do it, you can do it".
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson: A nice if brutal read. It was my first foray in DJ. I felt Cormac McCarthyish vibes.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy: A classic. The Judge.
Thinking About Mathematics by Stuart Shapiro: Highly recommended for anyone interested in the philosophical questions of mathematics. Shapiro writes clearly, concisely, and in a manner that is easy to read.
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr: Pretty great but brutal.
The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace: I really enjoyed it. It's ode to Wittgenstein and it helped me cope with a lot of questions that I felt after studying LW.
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: I think we've all been in Werther's shoes. Though I hope that nobody comes to the same conclusion he came to.
Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, & Sharpen Your Creative Mind: A pretty great book. I find myself writing a book report on it to make sure I internalize a lot of the lessons. If you're having trouble doing creative work while working, read this.
I would definitely suggest it. The Judge character is just so damn interesting. I found myself in awe of him, then disgust, then at the end I didn't know how I felt.
How was The Autobiography of Gucci Mane? Was it interesting, inspiring, funny, etc? It seems like a huge change of pace from the other books haha. I’ve also read Letters to a Young Mathematician and it honestly one of the reasons I was able to survive my math classes (mentally) when I was in school.
Haha! Absolutely. I just realized that I have so much work I have to do that I don't have time to waste reading stuff that isn't important. With that being said, I'm understanding that I also need be comfortable with the fact that sometimes I just like reading easy things.
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane was actually really good. While all the adjectives you listed fit, I found myself mostly inspired. You can tell that he's being brutally honest with himself, and that he sincerely made an effort to learn from his mistakes. I think any human being can appreciate that. If you're interested, I say go for it.
Readit News
Bad Blood : Man, this book really does read like a Hollywood movie screenplay. The rise and fall of Theranos, documented through interviews with hundreds of ex-employees by the very author who came up with the first expose of Theranos. Truly shows the flaws in the "fake it before you make it" mindset and how we glorify "geniuses".
Shoe Dog : Biography of the founder of Nike. Really liked how it's not just a book glorifying the story of Nike, but tells the tale of how much effort, balance and even pure luck went into making the company the household name it is today.
Master Algorithm : It's a book about the different fields of Machine learning (from Bayesian to Genetic evolution algos) and talks about the pros and cons of each and how these can play together to create a "master algorithm" for learning. It's a good primer for people entering the field and while it's not a DIY, it shows the scope of the problem of learning as a whole.
Three Body Problem: Finally, after years of people telling me to read this (on HN and off), I read the trilogy (Remembrance of Earth's Past), and I must say, the series does live up to the hype. Not only is it fast paced and deeply philosophical, but it's presented in a format very accessible to casual readers as well (unlike many hard sci-fi books which seem to revel in complexity). If I had to describe this series in a single line, it's "What would happen if China was the country that made first contact with an alien race?"
I mean, the author is an employee of the Chinese government, and doesn't seem to be a fool.
I found it great for this reason. For once I was absorbed in the fiction and not put off by excess sermonizing or social commentary.
I don't think that the events would've unfolded differently if the first contact were made by a different country. The motivation of the contacter would've been different but it wouldn't change the reaction of Trisolarians.
Like OP said, not a tutorial. It talks about different thought processes and techniques. Extremely good stuff to know. Take notes on it. It's dense in things you should probably research more in depth.
Their big mistake was trying to use the "move fast and break things" mentality in biotech. If Holmes had started an ad company instead, she'd be lauded for her entrepreneurial accomplishments instead of being under investigation by the Feds.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24612233-the-master-algo...
http://linusrosskamp.com/articles/2017-08/three-body-problem...
Guess what.
You can achieve the same power of computation with 1 person, a pen, a paper and our standard number symbols 0-9.
Do people not realize why we use gates and binary logic in electrical computer systems?
It's also a small part of the story. I wouldn't judge the entire trilogy based on thinking this one scene is really stupid.
On a side note, is our system of government really all that different from a mass human computer?
Chimpanzee Politics (interesting)
Corporate Confidential (paranoid, but worth a read)
Developer Hegemony (red pill for developers!!!)
Bargaining For Advantage (reasonable)
Tempo: Timing, Tactics and Strategy in Narrative-Driven Decision Making (abstract as hell but rewarding)
Thinking Fast and Slow (loved it)
The Elephant In The Brain (seriously underrated)
The Brain That Changes Itself (inspirationally freaky)
The Power of Habit (good!)
The Secret Barrister (mildly disturbing)
Thinking In Systems (huge fan of this book!)
A Short History of Truth (meh...)
Man's Search For Meaning (brooo... I am so sorry)
Thinking In Bets (meh.. really meh)
The Road To Ruin (alright. Interesting even.)
Lying For Money (lots of fun!)
Great Answers To Tough Interview Questions (what it says on the tin)
Traction (good overview of marketing tactics)
Lean Customer Development (pretty good)
The Mom Test (eye opening)
Lean B2B (solid playbook)
Principles (instant classic)
Why Nations Fail (was an interesting read!)
Thinking Fast and Slow (This was on a lot of trader desks and was a good read.)
The Elephant In The Brain (this is the first audiobook i have ever listed to, agree, highly underrated.)
Principles (many years ago, I worked at BW for around 4 years... It was required reading, but remains one of my top recommended books. I actually own a copy of his original principals, and still bought the hard cover. Dalio's deep thinking is amazing).
It's about how group dynamics also produce irrationality and why dissent is dangerous but necessary. I'd say you'd probably really enjoy it too.
??
Thanks for giving me another Xmas gift idea - bought!
The interesting thing for me about books like that is whether it inspires or makes you more down about the situation, what's that one like?
Dead Comment
I was always a Sherlock Holmes fan and really enjoyed the logical detective work. Hercule Poirot felt like just like a pretentious quirky old man, making denouements based on evidence that is flimsy and tenuous at best.
This year, I came across the novels, and boy are they different! The novels give more space for characters to develop and for us to observe the proceedings and deduce clues. Each book felt more like a Whodunit game wrought as a novel. I tried to play detective as the story proceeded. Often the ending was radically different from what I expected, a few were a letdown and a bit lacking in proper evidence. But always, there are entertaining and I had so much fun and I was even right once or twice.
Of course they were written a long time back, but I am happy to discover them now.
If HN community can give me point to even better literature in the same vein, it would be heaven!
Though, the best (IMHO) whodunnit of 2018 is Stuart Turton's "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36337550-the-7-deaths-of...)
The French people however love their Inspector Maigret (by Georges Simenon). The Maigret books are apparently some of the best selling books in the Francophone world of all time. Inspector Maigret however is more procedural, and doesn't go for climatic reveals and does not have the flawed omniscient genius character that most of us are instinctively attracted to.
On the opposite end of spectrum, you might enjoy Arsene Lupin (by Maurice Leblanc), a gentleman-thief.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/maurice-leblanc/the-extrao...
Arsène Lupin Versus Herlock Sholmes
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/maurice-leblanc/arsene-lup...
The Hollow Needle
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/maurice-leblanc/the-hollow...
813
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/maurice-leblanc/813/alexan...
The Crystal Stopper
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/maurice-leblanc/the-crysta...
Maigret books are really great time-fillers: there's a large number of them, they are short and self-contained, and I've yet to read a bad one.
She wrote a long series centred around the character of Albert Campion, and the books evolve as the times changed. The very first books are murder mysteries, but have a 39 Steps feel to them, then they evolve into Golden Age mysteries, and the post-war novels become more grounded crime novels, although never really bleak. The very last book, set in the 1960s, has a touch of science fiction.
Just don't start with "Before I Die," it's a stinker.
- Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr (March Violets is the first) - Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis (The Silver Pigs is the first)
They may be a little noirish for your tastes (more focused on character and society) but I loved the detailed historical settings and the level of depth to the detective characters. They're also both still propelled by a mystery / solving a crime.
If you're only going to try one then "The Nine Tailors" is arguably her finest work.
Factfulness, by Hans Rosling. #1 with a bullet! This is the best, most useful book I've read in many years, and totally changed how I think about my thinking, and how other people (especially smart people) think. This is a must-read for anyone who thinks they're engaged and well-informed.
The Cooking Gene, by Michael Twitty. This was recommended to me by a very smart friend as the best book she read in 2017. It's behind only Factfulness for me. Ostensibly a history of African-American cooking in the South, it's a sprawling yet deeply personal work of history, genealogy, multiculturalism, and of course food. A masterpiece, full of knowledge, wisdom, and heart.
Prisoners of Geography, by Tim Marshall. An overview of political geography, and how the physical structure of land and water affects the cultures living there, their opportunities, and their place in the world. It caused a total rethink about why Europe and the US have been so successful, and why Africa and South America have suffered. A worthy companion to the classic Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Let's Go (So We Can Get Back), by Jeff Tweedy. An autobiography by the Wilco frontman, talking about a lot of stuff I find intensely interesting - depression, being a bandleader, and being a parent and husband.
Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor. An outstanding science fiction novella from an entirely different perspective - an African future.
The Ethics of Ambiguity, by Simone de Beauvoir. A mid-century philosophy classic, tackling ethics from an existentialist perspective. Dense and difficult, but also highly entertaining and brilliant. Highly recommended if you read philosophy regularly (if you don't, start with something a little lighter!).
Lost Languages - Andrew Robinson. Starts with the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mayan hieroglyphs, and "Minoan" Linear B, then goes into detail about many still undeciphered writing systems. Existing examples, what's been studied and tried, the personalities of people involved, etc. Fascinating stuff. One of the few examples of the "Isthmian script" or epi-Olmec script[0] (a precursor to the Mayan writing system) is owned by the Smithsonian Natural History museum, and while I think they usually keep it in storage, it coincidentally was on display this summer and I took a trip to go see it after reading the book.
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts - Christopher de Hamel. 12 different medieval manuscripts the author goes to visit. Describes their history, where they are now and what it's like to see them, contains many detailed reproductions of pages, etc. Not at all dry; the author writes well and adds bits of humor, while still getting across all the necessary details.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isthmian_script
Book: Accelerate
I picked up this book after hearing high praises from Martin Fowler and Dan North during conference talks. Forsgren and her colleagues have been doing research into DevOps and its effects on organizational performance. This is a much more rigorous account than is usual in this space, so I believe it is a must read for everyone in software.
---
Author: Gerald Weinberg
Books:
* Are Your Lights On?
* Becoming a Technical Leader'
* Introduction to General Systems Thinking
Jerry's books have had a tremendous amount of impact on my thinking in the past couple years. I highly recommend reading everything you can get your hands on.
---
Author: Nassim Taleb
Books:
* The Black Swan
* Fooled by Randomness
Taleb has changed my way of looking at the world. His books are enjoyable to read, and his ideas thought provoking. I will continue to read the rest of his books over the next year.
---
Author: Robert Pirsig
Book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
A classic. I reread this for a bookclub. It's a bit esoteric, but I coupled it with Weinbergs General Systems Thinking and extracted some vague but interesting insights.
---
Author: Timmothy Snyder
Book: On Tyranny
This is a short and captivating book. I read it in about an hour and a half on Remembrance Day.
This idea is examined from different angles in both Pirsig's and Taleb's books as well.
That said, it is a bit difficult to read. I really had to sit down and read it slowly and deliberately. I think I would suggest trying to come back to it in a couple years. Different books catch our attention at different times, and that's okay.
[0] Passive Regulation, in print form it and Active Regulation were one book.
[1] https://leanpub.com/b/generalsystemsthinkerbundle
Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari, 2014 [English]) - A bit late to the party on this one. Mostly enjoyed it, especially the early ancient history stuff, but I felt it got a bit contrived in the middle - like the author was forcing it. Overall a good read though.
How to Invent Everything (Ryan North, 2018) - First book I've pre-ordered in a long time. A look at the history of civilization and technology through a comedic lens. Pretty funny and enjoyable.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (Edmund Morris, 1979) - Randomly happened across this book while browsing a used bookstore for some stuff to read on a summer vacation. Loved it. It's big, but reads pretty quick for a biography. I've been a fan of TR since I first really learned about him in High School and I would recommend this for anyone interested in TR/The West/Americana.
Jaws (Peter Benchley, 1974) - Quite a bit darker than the movie.
Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn, 2006) - I enjoyed Gone Girl (book and film) so I wanted to read this before the HBO series. To be honest...not my cup of tea. It was okay.
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein, 2008) - Made me cry on an airplane. Thankfully my coworkers were on a different flight.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: A reread. A bit depressing considering the state of the world today. I found myself wondering which reality would be preferable.
Letters to a Young Mathematician by Ian Stewart: Easy, but fruitful read. I've struggled a lot with math confidence, and this helped alleviate a lot of that.
How to Speak, How to Listen by Mortimer J. Adler: A lot of practical advice. My biggest takeaway was this: if it's worth talking about, even if the conversation sucks or the other person doesn't understand, any bit of advancement and understanding is worth the effort. Really helped me increase my patience when talking to people.
Quack This Way by David Foster Wallace and Bryan Garner: Super useful and practical discussion between two lovers of language. I keep a copy with me at all times.
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane: Just a fun read while on vacation. "If Gucci can do it, you can do it".
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson: A nice if brutal read. It was my first foray in DJ. I felt Cormac McCarthyish vibes.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy: A classic. The Judge.
Thinking About Mathematics by Stuart Shapiro: Highly recommended for anyone interested in the philosophical questions of mathematics. Shapiro writes clearly, concisely, and in a manner that is easy to read.
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr: Pretty great but brutal.
The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace: I really enjoyed it. It's ode to Wittgenstein and it helped me cope with a lot of questions that I felt after studying LW.
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: I think we've all been in Werther's shoes. Though I hope that nobody comes to the same conclusion he came to.
Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, & Sharpen Your Creative Mind: A pretty great book. I find myself writing a book report on it to make sure I internalize a lot of the lessons. If you're having trouble doing creative work while working, read this.
I actually started this while on vacation but took a break to read something else. I'm tempted to continue.
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane was actually really good. While all the adjectives you listed fit, I found myself mostly inspired. You can tell that he's being brutally honest with himself, and that he sincerely made an effort to learn from his mistakes. I think any human being can appreciate that. If you're interested, I say go for it.