My top recommendations here for the Hacker News crowd - with a nudge for the under-rated, are:
The Time Paradox - by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd
https://sivers.org/book/TimeParadox
Profound idea that everyone has a primary time focus: either Future-focused, Present-focused, or Past-focused. Fascinating implications of each. Because I'm so future-focused, reading this book helped me understand people who are very present-focused. Also great advice on shifting your focus when needed. I read it 7 years ago, but still think about it almost every day.
--
Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want - by Nicholas Epley
https://sivers.org/book/Mindwise
Many new brilliant insights, especially about over-estimating the differences between you and others, thereby separating into us-vs-them tribalism. Scan to the end of my notes, to see. If you know more books like this, please recommend them to me. I adore this subject.
--
The War of Art - by Steven Pressfield
https://sivers.org/book/WarOfArt
Have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what “Resistance” is. This book is about that. Read it.
--
E-Myth Revisited - by Michael Gerber
https://sivers.org/book/EMythRevisited
Absolutely everyone who is an entrepreneur or wants to be one needs to read this book. I first read it after 10 years of successfully running my company, and was still blown away and totally humbled by its wisdom. Re-reading it today, I'm amazed how my view of business was completely changed by this one little book. See my notes for examples, but definitely read the book itself to get the real impact.
--
The Courage to Be Disliked - by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
https://sivers.org/book/Disliked
Wow. A profound little philosophy book from Japan, communicating the psychology of Alfred Adler - a rival of Freud. Told as a conversation between an angry student and a patient teacher. A little book so good that I rushed home from other activites to keep reading it, and finished in a day. A surprisingly fresh perspective on how to live. (The “disliked” part is not the point, so don’t let the title distract you.)
Other books which I find interesting
- The Slight Edge
- Sapiens
- The Master and Margarita (apart from the fact it is a great novel, this is so wickedly funny )
Nonviolent Communication.
I think it was linked on HN where it caught my attention. This book teaches a great way to communicate, but for me, it has also helped me think about my feelings and how I can communicate those feelings better. I feel more in touch with my feelings and more empathetic as a direct result from following what the book is teaching.
On the communication side, it has helped me put more structure around tough conversations, personally and professionally. It has helped me understand others more and vice versa. It's also helped me see toxic traits in others. Such as people who aren't interested in understanding or people who struggle to understand their own emotions.
* I read the Bible out of curiosity and ended up joining a church, so that's pretty consequential.
* Moby Dick and Journey to the West were probably the most sheer enjoyment I got out of books
* Learning C# 3.0 by Jesse Liberty is extremely dated at this point, and was dated even when I read it, but was the first book that made me "get" many basic OO concepts and taught me a language I've gotten a lot of professional mileage out of
* Skiena's Algorithm Design Manual and Sedewick/Wayne's Algorithms. Most people do algorithms in school. I learned about it while I was already writing programs for money all day, which means it deeply impacted the way I think about my work.
* Discrete Math with Applications by Epp -- I didn't read it all the way through but gave me the foundations to actually understand what the hell the books in the last bullet were talking about
* Battle Cry of Freedom by MacPherson was the first really meaty historical book I read. Turns out I like those a lot.
So many more but this seems like a reasonable place to stop for this discussion.
“ When we meet somebody whose separate tunnel-reality is obviously far different from ours, we are a bit frightened and always disoriented. We tend to think they are mad, or that they are crooks trying to con us in some way, or that they are hoaxers playing a joke. Yet it is neurologically obvious that no two brains have the same genetically-programmed hard wiring, the same imprints, the same conditioning, the same learning experiences. We are all living in separate realities. That is why communication fails so often, and misunderstandings and resentments are so common. I say "meow" and you say "Bow-wow," and each of us is convinced the other is a bit dumb.”
“In the space between stimulus (what happens) and how we respond, lies our freedom to choose. Ultimately, this power to choose is what defines us as human beings. We may have limited choices but we can always choose. We can choose our thoughts, emotions, moods, our words, our actions; we can choose our values and live by principles. It is the choice of acting or being acted upon.”
- High Growth Handbook (general company building tips)
- Traction (the one by Weinberg and Mares; engineer-friendy guide to marketing and growth)
- Understanding Michael Porter (great intro to business strategy)
- Monetizing Innovation (pricing advice)
- Thinkertoys and Cracking Creativity (how to be more creative)
- Atomic Habits (how to establish good habits)
- A Guide to the Good Life (friendly intro to stoicism)
- What Got You Here Won't Get You There (building self-awareness)
- Richard Feynman autobiographies
- The Martian
- Shadow Divers
- Ready Player One
- The Myron Bolitar Series (mysteries with a good sense of humor)Non-fiction: The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. Of all the books of the last ten years, I can't think of one that more transformed my understanding of (and compassion for) my fellow thinking, feeling, moralizing, tribal primates. https://righteousmind.com/
"Stoner" by John Williams; fiction; this book knocked me on my butt and I read it all in almost one sitting; about an English professor who refuses to relinquish his integrity in the face of great adversity
"Light Years" by James Salter; fiction; inexpressibly beautiful novel that takes place largely on the Hudson River above New York
"Narcissus and Goldmund" by Hesse; fiction; a fun yet literary adventure novel about the importance and fun of living life with integrity
"When Things Fall Apart" by Chödron; non-fiction; Chödron proposes that leaning into suffering, experiencing it as directly and fully as possibly and without resistance paradoxically leads to profound relief from suffering
"Enlightenment Now" by Pinker; non-fiction; proposes, convincingly, that life nhas drastically improved for nearly everyone on earth due to a shifting philosophical orientation towards enlightenment values; proposes that although much is problematic, there is reason for great hope, too
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is also excellent.[2]
[1] - https://tripinsurancestore.com/4/on-the-shortness-of-life.pd...
[2] - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...
I didn't necessarily agree with all of it but it helped me understand the changes I've seen across workplaces, colleges and beyond. It was also a nice way of thinking more "grey" in terms of the current political climate, and trying to understand the reasons behind people's actions regardless of their political stance.
Also on my list are the already-mentioned "Getting To Yes" and "Nonviolent Communication". I also really enjoyed "Good for You, Great for Me" by Lawrence Susskind, which is a slightly more real-world take on the ideals put forth in "Getting to Yes".
I also studied Physics in College and my course on Classical Mechanics was really the impetus to continue down that path for a while. Textbook was "Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems" by Thornton and Marion.
David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity. If you know him, it's probably because Deutsch did some pioneering work in Quantum computing back in the day, but this book covers everything from physics to biology to computing to art with a grand sort of theory of everything. There are few popular science books more densely packed with original ideas.
Borges' collected fictions. There probably isn't much that needs to be said about this that hasn't already been said. Borges was a visionary.
Proust.
Stanislaw Lem's Solaris. Completely changed the way I think about sci-fi.
Nick Bostrom's Superintelligence. I think this is still the gold standard of speculative AI books.
Sapiens. Like everyone else I loved this one.
2011 - In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
2012 - Born to Run, Christopher McDougall
2013 - Four Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss
2014 - Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon
2015 - Awaken the Giant Within, Tony Robbins
2016 - Black Swan, Nicolas Taleb
2017 - Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman, Richard Feynman
2018 - The Prophet, Khalil Gibran
2019 - Three Body Problem (series), Liu Cixin
These aren’t publishing years, just the year these books transformed me.
- Jobs by Walter Isaacson. To learn about the Apple and Steve Jobs himself. I thought it was great
- Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's older than a decade (about 4 decades old actually) but I only read it a few years ago when I studied philosophy and it left quite an impression on me, food for thought.
- The Dip. It's motivational, I think back on it every now and then when pushing myself through a rough patch in the gym or professionally.
- Turing's Cathedral, it's a history of computers basically. Recommended if you're into software/computers.
It's a good middle point on the understanding of 'mastery' that Gladwell started in the late oughts and whose meme of '10k hours' kinda infected a lot of pop-psych and MBAs. Epstein argues that there are areas where 10k hours work, but limits very much exist. His thesis is that you have to know your environment and that most environments are too chaotic for just grinding out hours. A larger Range of knowledge/experience is likely a better strategy for many areas of life.
I gave copies of the book out as a thank you note/gift after an interview, as I think the book is really good and that the firm could get something out of reading it; that even if they did not hire me, it would help them.
I know that's a bit looney, but it worked. I got my dream job and a hefty pay raise, great benefits, and a short commute.
Literally, the book changed my life.
Mastery - Robert Greene
The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle
Peak - Anders Ericsson
The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy - William B. Irvine
The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning - Peter C. Brown
Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art - Stephen Nachmanovitch
Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; I have no words for this except that it was profound and I was ready for it.
2. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; a classic where history knows better than we do.
3. Special Topics in Calamity Physics; a fictional tale that shows you how damn easy it is to get lost in conspiracy and speculation.
4. House of Leaves; you can't beat a mind-bending horror like that. I live for this stuff.
5. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse; It's 50 pages long, just read it.
6. Tantra Illuminated; A well researched and academic study into the history and the beliefs of Tantra
7. The King in Yellow and its derivatives; The Hanged King lore in the SCP universe is obsessively fascinating to me.
Gai-Jin by James Clavell
It showed me how different cultures can have very different "codes", how they can see others as "barbarians" purely based on that; more specifically, helped me look more critically on (part of) European culture and history through "foregin eyes", and better understand some aspects of Japanese culture taking them nearly all the way from "weird" to "natural". While at the same time being just a super entertaining and engrossing story!
The series of books has largely inspired George R. R. Martin's novels, and you will recognize many character traits, as well as the trademark realistic scenario, where main characters also die a lot... Unlike A Song of Fire and Ice, it is based on actual European history, and is fairly accurate - so no nightwalkers or dragons, but it is every bit as epic a saga.
* (Lot's of machine learning books to list: PRML, All of Stats, Deep Learning, etc.)
* Active Portfolio Management - Kahn, Grinold
* Thinking, fast and slow - Kahneman
* Protein Power (the Eades') / Why we get fat (Taubes)
* Why we sleep (Walker)
* Deep Work / So Good They Can't Ignore You (Newport)
* Flowers for Algernon (Keyes)
* Getting to Yes (Fisher)
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-21st-Century-Yuval-Harari/d...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Factfulness-Reasons-Wrong-Things-Be...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laws-Power-Robert-Greene-Collection...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wealth-Poverty-Politics-Thomas-Sowe...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noonday-Demon-Andrew-Solomon/dp/009...
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Write-Thesis-MIT-Press/dp/02625...
It was on my list for the past like, twenty years, and after reading it I really wish I would have read it back then.
- Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake
- Sherlock Holmes: The definitive collection
Born to Run - Chris McDougall
I had a chance meeting with this book at a newsstand in Logan Airport. I purchased it on a whim. It converted me from a sometimes runner to a full-blown run fanatic - marathons, and mountain, trail, ultra especially. It changed the entire trajectory of my life.
I also really enjoyed Manufacturing Consent, which is prime reading right now for anybody in the US because it's about media manipulation in free society.
Never Split the Difference - some very practical negotiation strategies.
Mini Habits by Stephen Guise - short book but awesome method. I am still doing the one pushup habit since last March.
How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck by Steve Stockman - I wanted to improve my video production for my programming course for kids. I am still learning but this book has been a huge help.
The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking by Barbara Minto - huge help with improving my written communication at my job.
The Coaching Habit by Michael Stanier - short book but huge help when your transitioning to managing people.
Made to Stick by Dan Heath - was a huge help in planning how I would teach elementary students last month about programming.
The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch - aside from application of Pareto principle, I took away the idea that books provide the best bang for your buck for knowledge density.
The 4 Hour Work Week - great inspiration to start your own thing.
The $100 Startup - like the 4HWW but with more details.
Alexander Watson's "Ring of Steel" is World War I seen from the perspective of the Central Powers. OK, it didn't really help me personally or professionally, so I'm not sure it counts. But it was definitely a huge perspective-changer, and so beautifully written too.
- Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
- Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
- Kochland by Christopher Leonard
- Masters of Doom by David Kushner
I read a lot of "business consultant" books and began to be annoyed with them since many of them can be summed up by the title and the first couple of chapters.
I like the books above because they presented factual events that allow you to draw your own conclusions.
I especially like Schwarzenegger's book and Bad Blood because of their depth. It was interesting to hear about Schwarzenegger's crazy business ideas like how he became a millionaire before becoming an actor and how he bought a 747.
I found the audiobook "Master's of Doom" (book is 2003 but audiobook is newer) to be really entertaining as it was read by actor Wil Wheaton who did a great job.
If only I could actually apply its principles at my job in an open office with an IM chat system.
1. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett (this might actually be more than 10 years ago, but I'll still list it) I really like this one because it emphasizes the value of caring about the _core_ of anything instead of the _trappings_ that will spring up around it. Keeping this book in mind reminds me to focus on the thing instead of the appearance of the thing.
2. On Writing Well, William Zinsser I'm a programmer, and I've often found that improving my ability to write clearly translates directly to programming well: On Writing Well is the best – and warmest – book I've read on writing nonfiction.
3. Incerto, NN Taleb This series forced me to revisit several assumptions. Something that still resonates is valuing anything – particularly books – that has aged well across several years, because it's clearly valuable; and to discount the new shiny.
4. The Pragmatic Programmer, Andy Hunt & David Thomas I started an open source project in my 3rd year at college – as part of Google Summer of Code; inevitably every release would break something and I started hungering for skills that would let me create new releases _without_ breaking the world every time. I stumbled across the pragmatic programmer in my 4th year, and immediately started applying it on my project. This carried through to work and helped me a lot early in my career.
5. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering, Richard Hamming There are so many gems in this book: from the emphasis on fermi numbers for quick approximations, to a simple demonstration of the distance covered by a random walk as opposed to the distance covered by choosing a direction, to asking the question: "Am I working on the most important thing I could be? If not, why not?". He also predicted that great programmers will have one thing in common with great writers – clarity of thought.
There are some books I'm reading right now that I suspect will end up on this list: Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (available at https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig...) – for making better decisions with limited data; and The Power of Choice – to allow me to pay attention to the non-technical parts of doing valuable work.
If you've got even a hint of depression or anxiety this is a great resource. Reading/understanding the "10 cognitive distortions" in this book is worth the time for anyone, imho.
[1] so
[2] many
[3] footnotes[a]
[a] Which, I must say, I found interesting and informative[b]
[b] If a bit excessively nested.
* Jack Reacher: I've read all but the latest one. I would recommend it if you liked the story in both movies.
* Discworld: I'm currently on The Truth. These books have been really entertaining and witty.
Non-Fiction:
* The Doors to Perception by Aldous Huxley: The book covers Aldous' thought about his experience while under the influence of mescaline.
edit: formatting
https://www.amazon.com/Afghanistan-Cultural-Political-Prince...
The author is one of the leading American scholars on Afghanistan and provides fascinating and pertinent insight into the history of Afghanistan. Highly recommend if you want to understand how and why Afghanistan came to exist as it does today, and to gain insight and respect for its people, culture, their struggles, and the geopolitical significance of Afghanistan.
Why all fiction? No matter how much I read about the human mind or current affairs or computer science or quantum physics or ..., there is no deeper, more lasting feeling in my soul than finishing an epic tale that has grabbed every ounce of my attention. So much fun, so many characters and plot twists and emotions and gains and losses. I loved every second reading these books and they have restored my faith in modern writing. Well done.
- Digital Minimalism: Cal Newport
- How Democracies Die: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt
- How to Disappear: Akiko Bush
- Bullshit Jobs: David Graeber
- Its basic Income: Amy Downes and Stewart Lansley
- Utopia for Realists: Rutger Bergman
- Human Rigths and the uses of History, Samuel Moyn
- Too much Stuff: Kozo Yamamura
I was influenced by Eliezer Yudkowsky and his take on rationality. His fanfiction "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" serves as a nice introduction. http://www.hpmor.com/
Worm by John McCrae is an epic superhero/villain story. Consider it Game of Thrones in the superhero genre. With 16 million words it is a really long story. For comparison, the Harry Potter series is 10 million words.
The Metropolition Man by Alexander Wales is also in the superhero genre, but turns it on its head. Lex Luthor is the hero standing up against Superman.
The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov does the same to Lord of the Rings. It effectively becomes a fantasy spy thriller.
These three are great stories that show how good and evil are a point of view. An important lesson to learn in a time when US and China are increasingly hostile. Since HN is american, China might be compared to Mordor and Xi Jinping to Lux Luthor. Fiction stories may help you to at least imagine that they consider themselves as the good guys.
Accelerando by Charles Stross turns the concept of technological singularity into a well-written story. As the story spans a looong timespan and shows how humanity antiquates itself, it makes you feel small in a good sense.
Website link below has whole program for listening (I recommend), as well as a published list of all recommendations:
https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101874704/tell-us-your-favori...
Despite it being a satire and taking capital allocation and tax avoidance to absurd extremes it actually imparted on me a better appreciation of what it is to run a business from a finance perspective (I have a software background and find myself too focused on product at the expense of focusing on the entire business)
I also recently read The Outsiders, that new book about 8 CEOs that are great at capital allocation and created incredibly high returns for shareholders. The Outsiders is almost like a real life serious version of JR.
As far as fiction, this decade I discovered Peter Watts, Ted Chiang and Clive Barker. Now I am obsessed with horror and sci-fi in the style of these authors. If you are into these genres (and possibly authors), who/what blew you away this decade? Thanks.
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality Firefall series by Peter Watts (Blindsight & Echopraxia) Axiomatic by Greg Egan N.N. Taleb's books
These are all books I had seen written about in previous HN threads like this and ended up reading, so glad I did!
"Your Brain At work" - Practical insight into how emotions affect thinking, limitations of cognition, etc. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6899290-your-brain-at-wo...
Cryptonomicon! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon
Finally, if you happen to be Finnish: "Alastalon Salissa", A novel ahead of its time. Not translated unfortunately, but should be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastalon_salissa
* "Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress Hardcover," by Steven Pinker -- even if you disagree with him about some things (for example, on principle), the book is really worth a slow, careful read.
* "The Better Angels of Our Nature," also by Steven Pinker -- in many ways, this is a precursor to the above book, and also worth a careful read. In particular, I found it eye-opening to learn how much everyday violence human beings have inflicted on each other throughout history, and how remarkably non-violent most lives are today, by comparison, in more developed economies.
It also made me curious to read Ellsberg–his "Limits of knowledge" chapter is a marvellous read.
Turing's Vision: The Birth of Computer Science, Chris Bernhardt.
The Peripheral, William Gibson.
Lila, Robert Pirsig. (re-read)
Changed the scale I perceive existence
The second one is Science and Method by Henri Poincare. I'm not in a position to fully understand and appreciate this book, but I just want to share a few quotes[0] that stood out for me when I read it:
"The subliminal ego is in no way inferior to the conscious ego; it is not purely automatic; it is capable of discernment; it has tact and lightness of touch; it can select, and it can divine. More than that, it can divine better than the conscious ego, since it succeeds where the latter fails. In a word, is not the subliminal ego superior to the conscious ego?"
"Under this second aspect, all the combinations are formed as a result of the automatic action of the subliminal ego, but those only which are interesting find their way into the field of consciousness. This, too, is most mysterious. How can we explain the fact that, of the thousand products of our unconscious activity, some are invited to cross the threshold, while others remain outside? Is it mere chance that gives them this privilege? Evidently not."
"All the difficulties, however, have not disappeared. The conscious ego is strictly limited, but as regards the subliminal ego, we do not know its limitations, and that is why we are not too loth to suppose that in a brief space of time it can form more different combinations than could be comprised in the whole life of a conscient being."
[0]https://archive.org/stream/sciencemethod00poinuoft/scienceme...
- Daniel J. Levitin - Organized Mind
- Shunryu Suzuki - Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
2. The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek
3. Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell
4. An American Life by Ronald Reagan
5. The Rust Programming Language by Steve Kablink
Gravity’s rainbow: Not the easiest read but immensely rewarding. For better or worse some of Pynchon’s vivid descriptions are burned into my soul.
Crime and punishment: I’m not into literature but this one is worth it. A great dive into human psychology.
Deliverance: intense story, read it in one night. Not sure it taught me much but man it is good.
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Great insights on the way ideology and politics work.
Wasted time on a bunch of self help books. Most tips contained in these require you to accept yourself and the world to be applicable. And that’s the hardest bit...
Weapons of Math Destruction -- Cathy O'Neil
Race After Technology -- Ruha Benjamin
Still going through the chapters and it is illuminating.
2. 12 Week Year: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10009377-the-12-week-yea...
Some might find it very basic but I found that breaking my intentions to 3 months and tracking them has helped me see what I want and where I want to go.
* The Three-Body Problem * The Dark Forest * Death's End
Expanded my perception of life, death, love, time and our potential purpose, via some very well written fiction (space opera style). Chixin Liu nailed it!
These lectures were given in 1973 but they weren't properly published until 7 years ago. Kripke was probably the most influential philosopher of language of the second half of the past century. Reference and Existence is largely about how to talk about fictional entities and empty names. Kripke's philosophy is a really nice demonstration of applying rigorous logical thought to domains outside math/science, without getting mired in over-engineered abstractions and mathturbation.
Extreme Ownership - As I have advanced in my career, it became clear that leadership and communication are the keys to success. EO (and related books by the same author) provides so many varied benefits, but the largest for me was to detach, check my ego, and control my emotions. Thinking in this manner has literally changed every relationship I have for the better.
Never Split the Difference - https://amzn.to/2sAfLGj
Bad Blood - https://amzn.to/2F4IW71
The Alchemist - https://amzn.to/356NRyV
The Hard Thing About Hard Things - https://amzn.to/39mLs6t
- Masters of Doom
- Mastering Emacs
* The Road - Cormac McCarthy
* Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
* No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
* On Writing - Stephen King
* 11/22/63 - Stephen King
* The Stand - Stephen King
* Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson
* East of Eden - John Steinbeck
* Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion
* In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Of course it is hard work, but the underlying principle it teaches is so powerful, that as long as I keep practicing that, i seem to improve in all the important areas of my life.
By David Deutsch
In the book he details his theory of everything. Quite ambitious and very thought provoking.
She takes a post-modern stance on creating relationships that work rather than just following society’s prescribed path.
Deep Work - Cal Newport
Value-Based Fees - Alan Weiss
Technology Strategy Patterns - Eben Hewitt
The Road Less Stupid - Keith J Cunningham
The Business of Expertise - David C Baker
Atomic Habits - James Clear
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/64930929-tripu?utf8=%E...
- Babi Yar (full version) by Anatoly Kuznetsov - after my discovery that the version I've read earlier was heavily censored.
- The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
- Collapse and The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond
- Martin Eden, a great tragic adventure from the late 19th century about a poor smart guy from the slums who tries to make his riches as a writer
- The Moon is Harsh Mistress, Elon’s favorite sci-fi books
- Foundation by Asimov
- Homo Deus by Harari
- Principles by Ray Dalio
* Sapiens - Yuval Harari
* Thinking, fast and slow - Daniel Kahneman
* Power of Habit - Charles Duhig
While it may not be the most important, if you've been meaning to up your terminal game and want a bit more dexterity when shuffling between panes, tmux and vim are a good area to invest time in [1]
Personality theories:
Textbooks in this area. Affordable on Amazon if you get them used, some are also on kindle but pricey.
An Introduction to Theories of Personality: 7th Edition by Robert B. Ewen is so good.
They can be used as sampler to springboard into areas of psychology you like. The material in this space - normally in paper books - is fantastic. It's totally normal to read through material from 50-70+ years ago.
[1] Not the configuration part, though. That's where the timesink is. Try to be basic as possible with vim configs. `vimtutor` is nice to play with.
- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
- A Closed and Common Orbit
- Record of a Spaceborn Few
(Her more recent "To Be Taught, If Fortunate" is unrelated to the series but also a great read.)
EDIT: Formatting.
No it did and does not make me "religious" but gives me faith.
* Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
* A Universe From Nothing by Lawrence Krauss
Fooled by randomness- Nassim T
Principle - Ray Dalio
Drive - D Pink
The Laws of Human Nature -R Greene
Influence- Robert Cialdini
21st lessons for 21st century - Y. Harari
Why we sleep -M. Walker
Skin in the Game - Nassim T. Social Animal - David B.
Einstein - Isaacson
Steve Jobs - Isaacson
Blink - malcolm gladwell
Outlier - malcolm gladwell
The tipping point - malcolm gladwell
Game of Throne series
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933 - by Anne Applebaum.
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Phillip Tetlock.
The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by David Epstein.
Edit: Crud, `why we sleep` was easily my first, but I'm now digging into the potential debunking of it.
Sapiens made history very interesting, I loved the idea behind our species being able to believe in the concept of a Created Myth( capitalism , companies, money, socialism, religion) as the main thing that made homo sapiens thrive.
The view of empires as not something bad and how they shaped our world of today and we essentially living in a global empire as well was a great point.
Buddhism is truly incredible and while I don't consider myself a Buddhist I have very similar approach to life.
Having a western psychologist/ researcher having conversations on topics about suffering, happiness, death, loneliness with Dalai Lama and how their separate views of the world interacted was awesome.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Neither were written this decade but they influenced my worldview the most, by far.
Management & Leadership : High Output Management, Presence Based Leadership, Leaders Guide to Story Telling & Dare to Lead
-Secrets of Sandhill Road
-Hackers and Painters
-The Great CEO within
-Venture Deals
-Predictable Revenue
-Zero to One
-The Hard Thing About Hard Things
-Lean customer development
-Lost and founder
-Lean B2B
-From Impossible to Inevitable
-Traction
Best computer science books:
-Competitive programming 3
-Structure and interpretation of computer programs
Best for fun (non-fiction):
-Meditations
-Sapiens
-How to win friends and influence people
-A brief history of time
-Self-reliance
-Frente a la estrella polar
Race Against The Machine by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang
2.Looking for Alaska
3.Blindness
4.Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
5.The Martian
6.Never Let Me Go
It clearly shows why huge human groups aren't adequate.
Sapiens
The Universe in a Single Atom
Reality is not what it seems
The Organized Mind
The Power of Habit
Zen Mind Beginners Mind
Restoration Agriculture
A Random Walk on Wall Street
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying-up
* Ender's game
* Children of time
* Kingkiller Chronicle (series)
* Skyward
American nations by Colin Woodward. Great book to understand the historical underpinnings of different regions in America.
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons (who wrote Hyperion). Great horror scifi book with a nice concept. Fairly long though.
Thwarting enemies at home and abroad by William R Johnson. If you like spy novels or it’s text book albeit somewhat dated now likely on counter espionage.
On technical books I read the Linux programming interface by Michael Kerrisk. Really interesting incredibly detailed Linux book and always a great reference. Find myself keeping going back to it.
Ready player one the book by Ernest Cline. Way different than the movie. I actually preferred it as the movie justifiability leaves a lot out and condenses the story.
If anyone knows similar books, please please point me to them.
Sapiens - A short history of humankind, by Yuval Harari
- Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days (Great interviews by incredibly successful start up founders. Lesson 1: determination was the number one predictor of start up success. Lesson 2: most of the founders had no idea on how huge some of the companies would become nor the huge amounts of revenue their ideas would generate. Their number one focus was always grounded in solving a problem or delivering something great; everything else was secondary.)
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Great crime story. It shows how small things can make a big difference. A seemingly inconsequential and small prison event where a man spreads a rumor about a family having lots of wealth in their household leads to a series of robberies which nightmares are made of. Completely true story and incredibly well written by Mr. Capote. It convinced me that life is ruled by chaos. Small things and seemingly small events play a vital role in determining its outcome).
- The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook (Amazing book showing that a lot of personality disorders stem from childhood trauma / experiences).
- Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (Great overall book on UI design which definitely had an effect on how I approach designing user interfaces).
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Great thoughts from a great mind).
- How to Develop Superpower Memory by Harry Loraine (Great advice on how to drastically improve your memory using your visual cortex – as well as a great general overview of the methodology current world memory champions use to remember large volumes of information).
- Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger (Worldly wisdom from one of the world’s greatest investors).
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan (Great thoughts and advice from Carl Sagan. The last chapter had a profound effect on the way I think of the US constitution).
- The Things They Carried (Great novel about the hell of war, as well as incredible prose writing).
- Mindfulness in Plain English (Great book about mindfulness meditation).
- My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson (Great teachings and stories from the grand master of hypnosis).
- How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease (Great book with great advice on healthy eating).
- Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (It taught me how incredibly important exercise is when it comes to brain development / general health. If you could bottle its effects in a pill form, people would pay hundreds of dollars to unlock the incredible stuff it delivers).
- A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form (Great overview of what’s wrong with the current state of mathematics and the way that its taught. I completely agree with with the sentiment and the message).
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter
Thinking: Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won't Learn in College About How to Be Successful by Michael Ellsberg
I'm almost sure it was slightly over a decade ago, but I'll go ahead and throw in a mention of The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank. I consider it one of the most influential books I've read, period.
Also, in terms of fiction, I'd add
Permutation City by Greg Egan, and the Foundation Trilogy by Asimov (that one's cheating a little as that was a re-read, but they are still very good).
It's about making decisions based on facts rather than feelings and setting a few common misconceptions straight. Such as that the world is going to shit (we've been doing great in reducing worldsuck), violence is increasing (it's not), that most people on the planet don't get vaccinated (globally, 90% of one-year-olds have some vaccination), etc. It provides practical methods to understand better how things work, for example the graph of world population growing exponentially in the past century is something that looks unsustainable, but the truth is that it's slowing down (I think many people know this nowadays, the book is already showing its age two years down the road) and that families are getting smaller when health increases, irrespective of religion or geographical location.
Of course, we have an absolute emergency regarding our CO2 emissions and the ongoing 6th extinction event, that's not what this book is about. The book just shows we've been doing great and how to get a better sense of reality and what's important. I think it's a positive and helpful foundation for putting the current status of humans on this planet into perspective.
In fact I think it would be really good if everyone did read this book. I've made a preview that includes part of the first chapter that you can use to make a decision whether this book is something for you, send me an email if you want to take a look (not sharing publicly because it's in the grey area of fair use). I'm also willing to help with the purchasing price if you can't afford it, somehow non English versions are twice as expensive. Note that I have zero affiliation with the author or anything, I just think everyone should read this material.
-----
On the fiction side, The Martian is my all time favorite. It's very entertaining, clever, and even educative if you like to learn about space stuff.
If you enjoy that, you'll probably also enjoy The Expanse (last, 9th, book is coming out next winter probably).
A little bit further out but also a similar genre are the books from Daniel Suarez, all of which I can recommend as well, though not all of his books are from the last decade.
Edit: just found another comment about factfulness, it's accurate: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21902411
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts - Gave me spirituality without supernatural beliefs that I can lean on when all else fails. (Someone else mentioned The Wisdom of Insecurity by the same author, it works just as well)
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - I don't necessarily endorse it either as a work of literature or philosophy, but it gave me a little push that ultimately sent me on a very deep journey exploring my ethical beliefs.
Blood Meridian
Lord of the Flies
Deliverance
- Vagabonding (Potts): made me travel more than ever
- Steve Jobs (Isaacson): amazing life story, beautifully described
- The Mom Test: required reading for any young founder/PM IMO, I've gifted this more than any other book
- It doesn't have to be crazy at work (DHH/Fried): best advice on how to run a company in a sustainable way to maximize team happiness & output
- Masters of Doom: epically entertaining, super nostalgic
Love this book
- The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell was a pretty good one. He has a lot of ideas that were ahead of their time (positive psychology, etc). You can see a lot of parallels between his ideas and modern Stoicism (although Russell criticized it elsewhere, I think he came to some of the same conclusions).
- Introduction To Mathematical Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. Another Russell one. I think this is probably the clearest and easiest to understand explanation I've ever read of the underpinnings of mathematical foundations. It's written in a style that should be accessible to almost anyone with a high school education. He wrote it while he was in prison (for refusing to be drafted) during WW1. Apparently he left a copy of it to the prison warden.
- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume. This is worth reading because it is the motivation for basically all of modern philosophy of science (at least in the west). It's also pretty easy to read and if you read it you'll be able to more easily understand other books and papers that are responses to it.
- Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson. This book should be required reading for every programmer or aspiring programmer IMO. I learned so much about the history of computing that I didn't know before reading this. You will not regret buying this one.
- I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. Obviously everyone knows about GEB, but he also wrote a shorter follow up that in my opinion expresses his ideas much more clearly. I think that even if you disagree with him, it's worth reading because there are so many things you can take away from this book. For example, he talks about his wife's death, and ties that into his theory of mind and explains the unstated purposes of why we have funerals/wakes for people.
- An Introduction to Information Theory by John R. Pierce. For someone like me who doesn't really have a very strong math background, this was a very clear intro to the ideas behind information theory, and why they're important historically. I would recommend this to anyone who feels like they need a gentle intro to the ideas and motivation for them. Dover mathematics books in general are great.
- Borrow: The American Way of Debt by Louis Hyman. This is a fantastic historical overview of personal credit in the US that covers the past 120 years or so. I learned a ton from reading this that I had no clue about. Recommended to anyone who wants to understand the origins of credit cards / loans, and how society came to embrace being in debt.
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.222834/page/n7
https://people.umass.edu/klement/imp/imp-ebk.pdf
https://archive.org/details/humeenquiry00humerich/page/n7
https://www.amazon.com/Turings-Cathedral-Origins-Digital-Uni...
https://www.amazon.com/Am-Strange-Loop-Douglas-Hofstadter/dp...
https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Information-Theory-Symbo...
https://www.amazon.com/Borrow-American-Debt-Louis-Hyman/dp/0...
Debt: The first 5000 years
Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
All incredible mind expanding books.