I'm a person that struggles with boundary-setting and have spent numerous years in relationships that have left me as less-than I was before. Imagine people-pleasing to an absolute fault, and being more of a chameleon that adapts to avoid conflicts. This has led to problems of identity, and deriving my sense of worth through others which isn't healthy.
Fortunately, I do not have the same problems professionally and part of my people-pleasing skills have been put to good use there.
However, history continued and continues to repeat itself to this day. I'm more than half-way into this book and am not only seeing patterns from my childhood, my relationships with my parents, and my early relationships (platonic & romantic)
It's been eye-opening, and I consider it my first step in breaking this trend.
It's a book from the 1980's about operational management. In particular, it focuses on physical manufacturing.
It's in the form of a fictitious personal tale. A plant manager struggles to save his plant from closure, and his marriage from falling apart.
The lesson is about lean management.
My main takeaway is the realization that when we try to optimize something, we focus on how to do something more efficiently. What more often is a problem is that people and processes are blocked from doing work. They spend a lot of time waiting and doing nothing. Focusing on reducing waits will produce better results than focusing on doing the work faster. Of course reducing the waits might mean doing some targeted piece of work faster. It could also mean doing better scheduling or focusing on other resource contention.
Recently I used this mindset to optimize a legacy DB struggling under the weight of a hodgepodge of unmaintained code. It worked wonderfully. Instead of fixing the slowest queries, focused on fixing the ones that block the most often. The result was that the DB was able to handle the workload after all.
The banking book is called "The Most Fun I Never Want To Have Again: A Mid-Life Crisis in Community Banking"[0] and it tells the story of an attempted bank startup in Georgia just before the financial crisis. It has a very clear explanation of the bank business model and how small banks make money. One of the surprising things I took away from it is that bank founders think of starting a bank in ways that are very similar to how tech founders think of starting of company. The main difference is that the bank business model is already well understood to those in the industry and success depends much more on your positioning in the market than it does on innovation.
The insurance book is called "Risk & Reward: An Inside View of the Property/Casualty Insurance Business"[1] and is by Stephen Catlin, who founded an insurance company that he grew to several thousand employees with offices around the world and later sold for $4 billion. Very UK centered since that's mostly where his career took place but I don't think the fundamentals of the industry change that much around the world. Pretty detailed on the mechanics of how insurance underwriting works and what insurance underwriters think about when pricing risk. Made me realize insurance is much more like trading than I'd previously thought.
How to do nothing. About resisting the attention economy and reorienting one’s relationship with technology and the environment. A very thought provoking and timely read, especially while I’m on sabbatical.
Flow. Explores the psychology of optimal experience, and again has been rather applicable while I’m on sabbatical trying to recover from burnout. It explores the flow state: how people achieve it, why it’s so enjoyable, and shifting towards a mindset that seeks to find flow in everyday moments.
Learned Optimism. Explores the original research that revealed the concept of Learned Helplessness, provides tools to assess one’s own level of optimism/pessimism (this was…revealing), and makes a strong case for replacing certain pessimistic defaults through simple retraining exercises. Really helpful if you grew up in an environment that hammered pessimism into your core. Has been life changing.
Refutes most of the claims made by Harari in Sapiens, and shows everything you though you knew about prehistory is plain wrong. It's a great book, very well written and well informed.
Made me think that humanity's history isn't an arrow pointing in the direction of progress; we make experiments. Our current way of life is not the "best so far", it's but one arrangement among many other possible configurations. The alternative between this and going back to living in caves is a false choice.
Wildberger is a mathematician, and a finitist. This means that he doesn't believe in infinity in the modern mathematical sense (I'm sure he won't dispute that the integers are unbound, for example). Which means he does not believe that Real numbers are properly defined either, or that limits are really a thing.
So he put his money where is mouth is and invented a branch of trigonometry that only uses rational numbers, by replacing length and angle with square distance (which he calls "quadrance") and the square of the sine (which he calls "spread").
All of the above is just what motivated him, what's interesting is that the resulting maths itself is all correct and quite nice to go through. It basically boils down to saying "hey, it's called trigonometry for a reason, so maybe it makes more sense to make actual triangles the fundamental unit, not circles," and working your way from there.
Personally I'm kind of curious if his approach might be more practical for computer implementations too, since all number representations on computers are either rational numbers or approximations of other numbers via rational numbers.
Kind of long and seems like a book just as a focal point but give Attia a break because he has hundreds (thousands?) of hours of podcasts and blog posts as well.
Although it must be nice to do the expensive tests his clients do, the book did give me some affordable tests that I ran to identify additional cholesterol labs beyond what my doc normally runs (Lpa and ApoB) and that was an immediate help. Also while I won’t pay for a proper VO2Max test, I do pay more attention to my watches estimation.
The WEIRD acronym stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The thesis is that the Christian Church inadvertently created modern society by prohibiting polygamy and cousin marriage.
The topic of polygamy is what’s really stuck in my head. Polygamy is a more natural state for civilized human societies than we think it is. It may be to women’s advantage to choose an “elite” spouse she has to share because it could mean a better quality of life for her and her children than the alternatives. Chris Hemsworth could have two dozen wives if it were legal and social acceptable (and he wanted to), and his wives might be happy with that. But the downside (or one of them) is that it creates huge imbalances in society—men find it really hard to find a mate. They then do risky stuff to make it into the elite to try to attract a mate—steal to accumulate wealth or kill potential romantic rivals.
This isn’t in the book, but it made me think—are we back in that same position now? Polygamy isn’t *technically* legal or common, but you still have plenty of people who have many romantic partners—just not at the same time. We know the what the activity of dating apps looks like—a very small subset of “elite” men get an outsized proportion of likes and matches from women. It’s slim pickings for the rest of the men. Are men, unable to find a mate, going to resort to risky behavior to try to make it into that subset that are able to attract women?
I recommend this book by Bob Bowman and Charles Butler is a self-help book that provides guidance on how to achieve world-class excellence in any area of your life. The book is divided into ten chapters, each of which focuses on a different golden rule. Its written in a conversational style and is full of personal anecdotes from Bowman's own life and career.
It's often classified as Sci-fi, but there's nothing particularly sciency or techy about the story. As far as "how it works", there are lots of curiosity, and very few answers. The book reflects more heavily on society, politics, gender, and most centrally, the personal qualities of honor/face/loyalty.
Having recently start keeping snails, I naturally draw parallel between my dear invertebrates with the hermaphroditism in the book, which is an extra curiosity for me.
Computer Networking - a Top Down approach is a technical book, but oh boy what an awesome read it is. I've just recently obtained a BSc degree in Computer Science, and the course curriculum didn't paid much attention to computer networks. We mostly studied cryptography algos, but not really looked into networks protocols and such.
This book is hence filling the gaps I have in computer networks (I'm mostly interested in web dev/cloud architectures).
The only other technical book that comes close to it is "Operation Systems: three easy pieces" by Remzi and Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau. Another great read.
Now, in terms of fictions books, I just finished re-reading "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It's a masterpiece, but I'm not sure if the author is widely known in english speaking countries.
It's a beautifully written guide to artistic work, but also a manual for a mindful life. Savor every page packed with insight, subtlety and poetic aphorisms.
Also recommend The Dawn of Everything by Graeber & Wengrow, previously cited on this page.
Next will be The Matter with Things by Iain McGilchrist. The two hefty volumes are staring at me from my desk...
The book is very old, first published in 1999, but I did not know about it till my colleague brought it to work recently. The following stories are very interesting and read as detective novel: 1) how Enigma worked and how it's code was cracked; 2) how Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered, which appeared to be very common to Coptic language[2]; 3) how Linear B writing decoded[3], which appeared to be ancient Greek.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Code_Book [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_language [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_B
I bought it because it was inexpensive and I the title was a "me-shaped" hook. :)
I chuckled after a few pages, after about 1/3rd I couldn't put it down, or read it fast enough. Challenging, as it started to rain during my walk to work (as evidenced by the dozen wrinkly pages towards the end). The next day as I read, I was pacing around my apartment, alone, gesticulating, with a VERY SPECIFIC flavor of happy that, gosh, I hadn't felt since well before she left me so... 4 years? Longer? A flavor of happy I had almost forgotten existed.
The only bad part is the book was finished the next day. :(
If your brain has a certain shape and polarization it's likely to bring great joy. (tho I have no idea how rare we are)
I also finished reading Annihilation by VanderMeer, what a friend insisted in exchange for him reading TIHYLTTW. It was .... good, I guess? I donno. Solid B-. I mean, I enjoyed it I think. Very simple, straightforward read. Some of the characters didn't feel ... relatable?
But wow, TIHYLTTW... felt like the authors had root on my brain or something. At numerous times I joked to myself that I must have been compromised. Hidden cameras.
If you're going to read it, don't google or read any commentary or anything :) I did not, and, looking at the commentary and comments, I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if I did otherwise.
The other two people I convinced to read the book did not have nearly as strong a response as I. I think it requires a certain brain polarization. Or brokenness. :)
Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise https://www.amazon.ca/Ecology-Planted-Aquarium-Practical-Sci...
Having a slice of nature in my home that's genuinely self-sufficient by all practical means has been wildly educational, rewarding, and fascinating. So many species emerged from such small samples of local ponds, lakes, and streams where I found my materials. I thought I understood ecological diversity and the staggering number of living things out there, but seeing this thriving ecosystem in only 10 gallons of volume really drove it home... The earth is absolutely covered in life.
And it all came out of mud!
I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to nerd out on ecology, aquariums, water, etc.
https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/ultralearning/
> Combining stories of dramatic ultralearning feats with the detailed science on how to learn anything effectively, ULTRALEARNING will transform how you work, live and learn.
It made me realise that for most of my life, the things I was doing to try and learn new skills, techniques or technologies was actually more akin to entertainment than actually learning the thing.
It also helped me understand why I have been able to learn really specific things really effectively, and use those patterns to intentionally learn other things that I'd usually find really hard to crack.
Short interesting read for anyone interested in China or development economics. The book does a great job composting to other countries and showing that way how development works and doesn't.
'Ukridge' is perhaps the funniest collection of stories ever written, it's magic. I love all the books set in Blandings. While the Jeeves books were not my favorite when I was younger, I really really enjoy them now.
Tao of Wu [1] by RZA. Because, perspective.
The author does an amazing job presenting the different views about the world and some important differences between cultures. If you are like me and haven't interacted that much with other schools of thoughts outside of the Western world, but are interested in learning more about them, you'll enjoy the introductions to Indian thinking as well as Chinese, Islam and some African philosophies. Also, he does a good job of highlighting some of the limitations of each, including Western thought.
The Genius of The Few by Christian and Barbara Joy O'Brien, an alternative take for garden of eden and Anunnaki compared to Sitchin
Built To Sell by John Warrillow, on how to build a business you can exit with a profit.
I read 30+ books in the last and this year so there are others but three is enough for this list.
- "Ace: What asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex" by Angela Chen. Really helped me understand my ace friends better.
- "Complex PTSD: From surviving to thriving" by Pete Walker. Helped me recover from a lot of trauma that was causing me duress
- "The Wizard and the Prophet" by Charles C. Mann. Helped me recover from anxiety disorder caused by climate change.
- "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey. As a former competitive gamer, this really helped me step back from competition and just enjoy the game.
- "Neurotribes" by Steve Silberman. Great book about the history of autism. Extremely sad but hopeful book.
- "Different Loving" by Brame, Jacobs, and Brame. A fascinating look back in time to the kink world of the 90s.
For fun I recently read and enjoyed: Foundation, Project Hail Mary (who's cutting onions in here), Going Postal, God Emperor of Dune, and Heart of Darkness.
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Remembrance-Earths...
Blind Sight by Peter Watts is some amazing fiction, a gripping First Contact story
The Body Keeps the Score and My Grandmother's Hands are two excellent books to assist at recognizing and processing the generational habits and traumas that impact us deeper than we realize
It's a good, and gentle, introduction to the biochemistry and thermodynamics of digestion, and the history of calorie estimates.
https://www.amazon.com/Why-Calories-Dont-Count-Science/dp/16...
Adam Ragusea interviewed him on his YouTube channel.
I no longer waste so much time on trivial unimportant nonsense.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stop-Reading-News-information-overl...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Subtle-Art-Not-Giving-Counterintuit...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turning-Mind-into-Sakyong-Mipham/dp...
Tokyo Express - Seicho Matsumoto [2] -- very japanese crime story, liked it
And my absolute delight:
50 Years of Text Games - Aaron A. Reed [3] -- I am just a sucker for everything text game/hypertext/interactive fiction. This book is amazing.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1593668
[2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38588764-tokyo-express
[3] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aaronareed/50-years-of-...
The Attention Revolution - In-depth guide to how to meditate without too much fluff. It basically directly goes into all the details of meditation practice as a thing you do and how to do it. Also very comprehensive and jumps straight into how to meditate.
The Practicing Stoic - Great overview of Stoicism with a lot of quotes from all the well-known Stoics compiled into one Book. I think it's a great introduction for anybody who isn't quite sure about Stoicism or what it's about, but it's also a great book to go back to as somebody more well-versed in it to refresh the concepts.
The Expanse series is great, but I reckon people already mentioned it elsewhere in the thread.
James Islington's Licanius trilogy is one of my favourite fantasy book series probably. He recently started a new series called Hierarchy, which I also recommend. They're very "grounded" fantasy, and the magic systems is very woven into society and its structure. The human relationships in his books are pretty nuanced, which is why I like his works so much.
And I loved it - despite the topic (few young guys eating pizza and staring at screens) it reads like Clive Cusslers book.
It's a great study of team dynamics and have some insides into what it takes to be the greatest at something (getting from Commandor Keen to Doom 3 costed Carmack almost 10 years of his life working day and night)
Interesting:
The Ark before Noah, Dr Irvine Finkel: A very engaging and slightly humorous history of arks from before the time of the Bible. Its not a religious book, its a book about myths/history.
A very english Scandal: a long tale about how the establishment closed ranks around a slimy piece of shit.
Fun:
Will save the galaxy for cash, by Yahtzee Croshaw: Actually funny scifi, best listened to when narrated by the author. His other series is also great too.
Death and Croissants, Ian Moore: gentle humorous crime thriller. Follows a divorced slightly unsuccessful middle aged man who has emigrated from britian to france and runs a B&B. he bumps into a glamorous but mysterious woman who he struggles to keep up with. best listened to by the author.
Engaging:
Casino royale: ian flemming. Its not at all like the movies. A page turner, but has 1930s attitudes to things. Its not as obvious as Live and let die, which is full of words you cant say in public.
Really makes me want to buy a boat or something :^D
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series
It changed the way I think about progress.
"The origins of this book go back to the twin shocks of 2016: the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the presidential election in the United States. Like many others, we were struck by how deeply fundamental critiques of economic global- ization appeared to resonate among voters in these two countries. We were also concerned about the dismissive reactions of many establishment figures toward the competing narratives. Some seemed to view the logic of economic globaliza- tion as beyond question and focused their energies on discrediting the critiques put forward by populist politicians as economically illiterate and xenophobic."
[0]: https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/acceler...
https://archive.org/details/lombardstreetad00bagegoog/page/n...
Definitely disrupted my perspective on work and the monotonous, sometimes futile, insanity that some of us subject ourselves to in order to make a living.
Features extensive world building, character building, Lots of fleshed out characters, contains humour as well as serious stuff, has dragons, fae, aliens, time travel, hiveminds, automatons, cute pets, cosmic horrors, history lessons, magic, alchemy and steampunk engineering.
It's a bit longish and not finished yet, 2/3 done as of this year.
The Idiot: What happens to a close to perfect person in an imperfect world. What I loved about this book, it doesn't go the obvious route (e.g. oh he is too nice and gets exploited, it's subtle)
Why you should read: Both books give an interesting inside of "russian" mentality (which I think is very important with the war going on). You will feel like you have gotten to know 4 close new friends.
Why you shouldn't read it: 1. It is a very male point of view, women in those books get displayed quite badly. 2. They are absolutely soul crushing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breath:_The_New_Science_of_a...
It's a collection of articles the author wrote for The New Yorker around the middle of the last century. The stories are portraits of weird, eccentric people and peculiar places in and around New York. Mitchell describes his subjects with dignity, without putting them on a pedestal.
The author is a very good writer and his stories are enjoyable, but only after I had read the book to the last page, I understood what makes this book so great. The stories tell you as much about the author as they tell you about the protagonists. I started the book to get a glimpse of the old New York and finished the book with a great curiosity about the author himself.
I'm going to get my EPA 608 certification so I can purchase and handle refrigerant in my HVAC system, because I'm done with the HVAC industry.
It kinda feels like an alternate history fantasy novel, but it's actually real. It tells the history of the world, but from a central asian perspective.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful...
This would make an epic miniseries!
So here's another mention! If you haven't read it, it's a great story and informative too if you're a founder (on how not to run a company).
Not obscure or niche by any means but it surprised how good it was (again). Do recommend!
I also keep referring to “An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments” by Ali Almossawi [1] as it’s fun and seems to me to be technically correct. I recently had to look it up to remember if it’s “natural fallacy” or “naturalistic fallacy” or something else. It’s not covered in the book but I did get to read about others with sepia animal drawings. I’ve also found it useful for introducing critical thinking and avoiding logical fallacies to young people.
It really goes to town on how the McKinsey consultants working in government and private sector will work both angles to get a favourable outcome to ensure they become indispensable. Also the way McKinsey try to balances a "fair and honest" culture with the real dirty work they do. The section on the UK Public Health Service (NHS) was shocking.
It's not a novel, but a reference guide to mushrooms. It's phenomenal, is small, it's funny, and is a really good starter reference for mushroom foraging. 10/10 just for the cover, 20/10 for the content.
(https://www.amazon.com/All-That-Rain-Promises-More/dp/089815...)
• Fashion Climbing: A Memoir, an autobiography of Bill Cunningham who you might know from the street style photography he did for the NYT.
• Kings of their Own Ocean, a non-fiction history of Bluefin Tuna fishing.
It has loads of interesting stats on how generations have changed.
It still amazes me to find out that in the 1950s in the US half of brides were teenagers. The average age of having a child was similarly super low compared to now.
My review is at:
I'm currently reading The Dictator's Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita[3].
In my mind, the nutrition books could be shorter so it might not be the best use of your time. But the 2nd one contains chapter for each common disorder so you could check the ones that (might) apply to you. The Dictator's Handbook is very interesting and it got me interested in politics more. I'll read Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson and The Invention of Power, another book by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita.
[1]: https://www.worldcat.org/title/607975714
I like to always be reading one fiction and one non-fiction book. (My brain can't do two fiction books at once).
I already have a bottomless list of recommendations of nonfiction books from threads like this.
- Thought as a System
- On Dialogue
These are great books for removing mental fog, confusion, about the nature of our existence. They have great healing value, allowing us to integrate the world around and within us. They can also help in dealing with practical challenges in how we run organisations, develop teams, and in general help people cooperate together. It is a kind of "red pill" to enter the matrix :)
Contrast that to Dune, which I heard so much praise for and was very very disappointed by. The first Dune book was ok, but it just went downhill from there. The God Emperor of Dune was the most boring garbage I’ve ever read, and I’m convinced people think it’s great because they read it in high school or middle school and thought it was “deep” when it’s just a bunch of fluff with no substance. The plot is terrible too. Once again, the first Dune book was alright, but the rest are absolute trash in my honest opinion.
While it wasn't the primary purpose, I also really enjoyed it from a personal perspective to Manning's upbringing. I have not seen the unique dynamic of growing up in a digitally connected America captured as well as it was in this book. The feeling of immense loneliness in real life but a deep connectedness online resonated very strongly with me.
The Design Thinking Playbook - by Lerwick et al. Global Strategy - by Peng
I think they're both highly relevant to some of the fast pace changes happening in the world, especially in tech. Even though they're not about tech stuff specifically, they're full of good ideas and also have great frameworks for either design AND strategy and some interesting case studies are in Global Business too.
Apart from that, lately, I've been swamped with psych textbooks and journals, so not really had time for a book per se, however I have been reading about offender profiling (of sex offenders) and doing so in conjunction with a case study on Ted Bundy, and I find that really interesting.
The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again [2] by M. John Harrison. Beautiful writing. His descriptions give me vivid dreams if I read before bed.
The Thursday Murder Club [3] by Richard Osman. Light reading, amusing, beginning of a series.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echopraxia_(novel)
[2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49201192-the-sunken-land...
[3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54846475-the-thursday-mu...
I enjoy reading up on computer history, and this is a pretty good retelling of an important story. However, the parts that really struck me are the personal accounts of the author in trying to recover this history. The ENIAC 6 played an important role in the history of the first computer and of programming as a vocation, but their story was almost forgotten. To the point that these women were not even invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ENIAC. That's shameful, and I'm happy that they finally have started to get the recognition they deserve.
If you're interested in this history, Jean Jennings Bartik also wrote an autobiography, that tells the story from her perspective.
Caro's a talented writer, but what really shows through is just the sheer years of hard work he clearly put into the books. I don't know how one can focus for so many years on just one writing project.
Aristotle's Ethics helped me reconcile my desire to constantly strive to do more and what to make of it when it seems never-ending.
Plato's Republic goes deep into virtue in a way that somehow doesn't (and might need to) get explored more often today.
Excellent Sheep is the book that got me to read the above books in the first place.
In a similar vein, although it's been a while since I read it, I'd strongly recommend J G Ballard's semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun - especially the earlier sections set in pre and post invasion Shanghai are also very evocative.
Not spoiling anything when I say that reading about one person running a fictitious group of spies across the UK from a flat in London, feeding thousands of pages of fake intelligence to the Germans amazes me. The creativity and mental capacity to stay on top of all those lies is astounding.
Oh and Expeditionary Force for some fun, slightly thought provoking space opera sci fi, first book is on Audible Plus so you can get into it without using a credit.
The narrative follows the author as he takes a canoe trip down the Brazos river in North Central Texas during the late 1950’s. Along the way you are told stories about the people who lived and settled that area, during the old days.
For me, the book reminded me of the stories I heard from my grandfathers about the way things used to be.
I’d recommend the book just as a way to experience North Texas at that time.
- The Long Game: been thinking a lot about how to long term plan, stick to it and revise when needed. I think this book has been helpfull in those reflections.
- The Complete Investor: just to keep thinking and working on wealth creation, I've been reading this one.
- The Language of Emotions: this one came from Kent Beck's blog. The first half is not something I might ever use (contracts, etc...) but the second part, when it develops each emotion, is nice.
- Taking the Work Out of Networking: I need to make more connections :D And I think this readining will help me out a bit and freshen perspectives on how to build those. The Long Game also has some synergy with this one.
Also, inspired by Jared Henderson lastest video on Stoicism, I've been meaning to read Lessons in Stoicism and a bit of Seneca + Epictetus (no Marcus Aurelius for now, Jared's view conviced me to keep this one for later).
A Jungian dissection of the tale of a man that transforms into a donkey, and his journey of self discovery and redemption.
It gave me a whole new way of reading books (a "superpower" of sorts, lol).
Going back and reading stories I used to write as a child/teenager, I can now read between the lines and study my subconscious in ways I wasn't able to before.
Really helped with my own journey of self-discovery. Most impactful book I've read, by far.
It breaks down if you think about it too hard, but hey, enjoy it while you can.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710281/titanium-noi...
Math foundation of programming. Church–Rosser theorem, Curry–Howard correspondence, intuitionistic logic, theorem proving with dependent types, etc.
2. Rust Atomics and Locks: Low-Level Concurrency in Practice by Mara Bos
Great introduction even for non-Rust programmers.
3. Statistical Consequences of Fat Tails by N. Taleb et al.
I've just started to read it, but looks promising (lot of mathematical statistics).
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/james-gillray-tim-clayton...
https://blacklephant.com/ouvrage/une-histoire-populaire-du-b...
Yes, a book about baseball written by a Frenchman. Interesting that did focus on the "big names" (Ruth, Gehrig, Mayes, etc.) but instead focused on Edith Houghton, Victor Starffin, Moses Walker, Bonnie Baker, Bill Veeck, Effa Manley, Amanda Clement, AG Spalding, Bill Lee, and Juile Croteua.
Yes, he talks about other famous players, but it certainly is a different perspective. As an amateur baseball historian, it was well written and different from what I'm use to reading.
If you can overcome the small problem of it being written in French, and you like baseball, I highly recommend it.
I’ve admired The Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger. This book is a collection of his journals from a couple of trips he took to North and South America in the 40’s to give talks and visit with friends and colleagues.
I particularly enjoy the style of writing he uses in these journals.
I think teaching individuals to think in cause/effect, correlations, and chronological order is very important - but I think there's a missing fourth branch of deductive reasoning that we haven't taught en masse: Mereological.
Mereology is a disciplinary and philosophical perspective that implies that everything in the world is a set of parts and wholes; with every entity being both a part OF something, and a whole OF something else.
I think if more people thought of things and systems in part-whole relations, they'd get a more intimate understanding of what things are, how they work, their flaws, and how they can fix them - sometimes with other parts and wholes :)
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717356/the-creative...
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691156668/th...
Overall very short book and kind of repeats but is very clearly written. Leans towards academic thinking but I think it is pretty good. 5 elements refers to earth, fire, air, water, and the 5th element is the one which will hopefully "change" your thinking.
First was Gene Wolfe’s The Shadow of the Torturer. After about 1/4th of the book, I didn’t care about anything. Neither the world nor the main character. Decided to stop there, it seems it’s not for me.
Next up, Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea Again, I stopped after 25%. This time the story was interesting enough, but I couldn’t stand her writing style, everything was written as if it was a prologue and the actual story is starting anytime now. That just got real annoying when it’s the main story.
Finally, I jumped many years forward (both regarding the release, and the setting), and started Pierce Brown’s Red Rising which I’m enjoying very much so far.
Might sound a bit niche, and it is, but even if you ignore the stuff about actually certifying stuff to fly, it has some extremely useful and interesting tidbits about how to go about running very large and highly complex hardware/firmware projects in safety critical industries.
The chapter on requirements is especially useful, and the whole thing is written in a (relatively, for the topic) light-hearted way.
Nice book if you find this part of world interesting.
Now started to read "The Border: A Journey Around Russia" by same author.
2. Tyranny, Inc. by Ahmari
3. American Revolutions by Alan Taylor
4. Everything Flows by Vasili Grossman
It’s a really, really hard book to get into due to the way it’s written, but its really a quite unique fantasy world populated (and historically ravaged by) wizards and sorcerers.
It also has a fire breathing sheep called Eustace.
The rest of the series basically constantly expands on the world and the lore through the interactions people have, generally with different viewpoint characters.
I’m down to the last book, and a bit sad that the trip will be over.
Had a lot of nice insight into good ways of doing DevOps, and I found the examples from real companies incredibly helpful in understand how the concepts help in the real world.
This book introduces phages and their pivotal role in advancing human health through phage therapy. In my opinion, it illustrates the inevitability of phage therapy's integration into mainstream medical practices, underscoring its potential to effectively combat antibacterial resistance.
It’s a collection of quotes from various influential people along with Tolstoy’s own thoughts. The book is arranged in a daily reading sort of format but I found reading it normally fascinating.
She does a great job at highlighting the social pressures that prevented these women either from achieving long lasting recognition or from reaching the same access to education, tools or simply dissemination as their male counterparts.
A mindblowing vision and project of a vehicle that would offer the capability to truck TONS of stuff as far as, say Saturn, or offer speedy travel to Mars.
Born in the nuclear optimism of 1950's, killed by politics and bad optics of nuclear bomb enabled spaceflight.
The more I read of the book the more exciting the topic became. I did not realize how superior and feasible the nuke powered spaceship would be if built.
I hope Orion will fly one day, it's that awesome.
From Strength to Strength, Brooks - it's a self-help book for midlife crises. Has all the normal issues of self-help books but I found the exploration of the acceptance of inevitable age related decline in some abilities interesting and useful.
Dystopian-future novel with a backdrop of water scarcity in the western United States. A "water knife" is a name for a security contractor who enforces water rights...
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It (1985) by Michael E. Gerber
I'm halfway into this book. It talks about how technology is increasingly fragmenting our attention.
Used to think fiction was a waste of time a month ago. Not anymore.
These follow 1) the evolution of human conceptions of God, 2) the historical Jesus, and 3) the historical Muhammad, respectively. They're extremely accessible and have deeply influenced my thoughts on religion.
It's a nice mix of being data driven but accessible.
Excellent breakdown of the problem of politics and the increasing polarization of our times. Plus loads of great illustrations and humor besides. Can’t recommend it enough.
But I grew up on their games, both playing and modding, so I do have a soft spot for their history.
About halfway through. Pretty enjoyable read. Didn’t know much about AI before starting but the book approaches it on a fundamental level with relevant history so I feel like I’m getting a comprehensive education.
A pretty interesting history of Detroit in the 60s and 70s that relies heavily on first hand accounts and primary sources.
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/458-detroit-i-do-mind-d...
Best tech book has been "Designing Data-Intensive Applications".
"Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. I re-read this every 4-5 years just to enjoy the discussions about quality and why it matters.
A work of historical fiction focusing on (real) scientists who grapple with the consequences of their discoveries. Actually had a very similar vibe to Oppenheimer for me.
A tremendous read, about our human nature and creativity. An analysis on our limits, what talent is, and the common fears. A very freeing experience.
Gorgeous book and immensely satisfying for self-studying mushroom foraging because of its comprehensiveness (thousands of species) and novel accessible organization.
Seems like a heavy read and I was wondering what to expect.
by Richard H. Thaler
It's an interesting read about history of religion and how much is misunderstood nowadays.I would recommend it to both atheists and believers.
It made me change the relationship to my belongings.
Also practical tips on how to organize the stuff that actually works.
Stories of Your Life and Others: Ted Chiang 978-1529039436
Leonardo da Vinci 978-1501139154
For pleasure: Altered Carbon Trilogy
I found her observations about the moral conditions behind people committing atrocities were made on behalf of humanity in general, but somewhat at the expense of a necessary respect for the (then) new nation Israel at the time. I understand the criticisms of her, but I think most of her conceits are worth forgiving to understand how important her observations were.
She did derive a formula by which these things occur, since as a philosopher, she was able to see the role of ideologies as objects and moral mechanisms, with the trial evidence and dozens of hours of his testimony and psychological interviews as the example. Much of what she describes resembles normal government bureaucracy abstractions and what we recognize as crowd behaviors today - but driven by the zeal of a nihilistic inevitability, a sense of privileged enlightenment ("a bearer of secrets"), and a base materialist ontology. His defense was that he was dutiful, everything was "legal," it was an "act of state," his victims actively cooperated, the killing was "a medical matter," and that this was a sufficient moral basis for orchestrating a genocide.
I've found that the evil is far upstream of action, it begins in the blunting and dulling of the human spirit with cliches and ideology, and the horrors are a downstream effect of what was set in motion much earlier. I've read her "origins" book as well, but I'd recommend this one as more directly illuminating.
It's a strange, beautiful book tracing parallels between Christian theology and transhumanism.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567075/god-human-an...
° Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
° Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Thriller:
° Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe
Do you have a favorite book about complex adaptive systems?
* Anything by QNTM. You can start with short story Lena which I think would appeal to HN crowd: https://qntm.org/mmacevedo
Both of these writers make phenomenal amount of their work available for free online; I've also purchased a lot of their hard-copies for friends :)
* Open Borders by SMBC guy. I'm a fairly liberal guy AND I'm an immigrant to North America, and still this very short read transformed my position on immigration: https://www.smbc-comics.com/openborders/
* SnowCrash and Neuromancer; have to put it out there as I re-read them every year or two - I know the story by heart but they are like places and towns and countries I like visiting for the atmosphere and company :)
* In that cyberpunk vein, I only recently read Hardwired and it was surprisingly good; first few pages felt like a bit of a variation on the theme, but then it built its own identity.
* The God Engines by Scalzi. ~50 page novella (novelette?). It's a... sci fi fantasy religious tale of space travel and manifested gods? It's different and inventive and sobering and one of those books that you put down after finishing and just stare at the ceiling for a bit. Cathartic.
* And for anybody who hasn't yet, Culture Series by Iain m. Banks. I don't personally love the very first entry, Consider Phlebas, but everything from Player of Games onward is just gold.
I'm currently reading "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff". If you need a book to unwind from a brick about the civil war, this is it. It's hilarious.
"Salt Fat Acid Heat" is recommended by everyone for a reason. Unfortunately, I read before bedtime and it makes me want to get out of bed and cook things.
"A very brief introduction to Marx" is exactly what's on the tin. These very brief introductions are a great way to read about something, although the writing quality varies from book to book.
Meiville normally write weird fiction with a heavy handed communist slant e.g. mutant railroad workers revolt against their capitalist masters and escape by laying and digging up tracks as fast as the train moves, they form a collective and live happily ever after.
The City & the City is his style, but constrained to the structure of a noir mystery novel. Classic gritty cop, loose cannon partner, dead woman, many suspects, second victim, big gunfight, climatic unmasking etc.
The set pieces Meiville is forced to work with results in an incredibly creative and enjoyable ride.
Note: this is not fantasy, it is a noir written by a fantasy writer. Many disappointed readers resulted from this misconception.
Fiction:
- How High We Go in the Dark, a deeply moving science fiction story about loss - https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-high-we-go-in-the-dark-sequ...
- Severance (no relation to the TV show), which works as a pretty good double bill to the above - https://bookshop.org/p/books/severance-ling-ma/9880874
- Ripe, about the artifice of Silicon Valley and its human cost - https://bookshop.org/p/books/ripe-sarah-rose-etter/18992345
Non-fiction:
- The Jakarta Method, on US foreign policy (really should be required reading for every US citizen) - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-jakarta-method-washington-s...
- Poverty, by America, which is in some ways a cathartic read about the systemic ways poverty is incentivized (by the author of the deservedly award-winning Evicted) - https://bookshop.org/p/books/poverty-by-america-matthew-desm...
- README.txt: Chelsea Manning's memoir, which is riveting - not just about her story, but also in the little details about the information work she did while she was deployed - https://bookshop.org/p/books/readme-txt-a-memoir-chelsea-man...
(The Disney+ series "A Small Light" is loosely based on the events in this book.)
Miep was Otto Frank's employee, close friend of the Franks, and helped hide the family during the time that Anne wrote her diary. (She was the person finding the Frank's food.) After the Franks were arrested, Miep rescued the diary and then gave it to Otto Frank when he learned that Anne didn't survive the concentration camps.
The book gives significantly more context than Anne's diary regarding who the Franks were, and the struggles they encountered. Not only is it a vital companion to Anne Frank's diary, Miep's account of Amsterdam during WWII describes in detail what life was like under the Nazi regime. She gives a lot more of the "who, what, where, why, and how," that Anne's diary omits. (Remember, Anne was a teenager who, initially, was writing for herself and not for a global audience.)
The first section of the book describes some of Miep's background, how she met the Franks, their relationship, and the history of the Franks. The second section describes the period where she helped hide the Franks, and often gives an alternate perspective to events that Anne wrote about. The third section describes the Frank's arrest and the famine that happened in Amsterdam before the Germans surrendered.
I read the book because some events in "A Small Light" were a little difficult to believe. And, yes, the events in "A Small Light" that I didn't believe weren't part of the book.
Edit: https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Frank-Remembered-Helped-Family-e...
Edit 2: I also recently re-read Anne Frank's diary. As an adult with children, it provides a strong reminder of how teenagers' minds work. It also shows that even our heros were immature as youngsters. In Miep's afterword, she points out that she was really hurt at the way that Anne described some of the people in hiding.
'Drawing on eyewitness accounts and compelling testimony from those who have suffered at Putin's hand, we see the heroism of the Russian opposition, the bravery of the Ukrainian resistance, and the brutality with which the Kremlin responds to such acts of defiance, assassinating or locking away its critics, and stopping at nothing to achieve its imperialist aims.'
»McKenzie Wark argues that the all-pervasive presence of data in our networked society has given rise to a new mode of production, one not ruled over by capitalists and their factories but by those who own and control the flow of information. Yet, if this is not capitalism anymore, could it be something worse?«
The titular Ishmael is a gorilla who learns to communicate with humans (telepathically) and seeks to teach humanity how to see the underlying cultural narratives that we are captive to, and that define our entire worldview. It's set up as a Socratic dialogue so the character of the pupil can be a bit annoying in his boneheadedness (a device used by the author to advance his points) but otherwise an excellent read.
Its main lesson is that culture tells us there is only one way for civilization to act in the world and that we cannot examine this imposition -- because of the "fish asks 'what's water?'" situation we're in -- until we really unpack what narratives are driving people to act and think in the ways they do. These narratives were never independently developed by the people acting through them but rather largely inherited from what is said (how topics are conceptualized) and what's not said (how topics are avoided) that keeps these narratives self-propagating through society.
An interesting perspective on the psychic appeal of capitalism + an approachable introduction to lacanian psychoanalysis -- if you're into that sort of stuff.
"The Man Who Folded Himself" by David Gerrold A fascinating exploration of time travel, despite its poor writing quality, according to the commenter.
"Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction" by J. Allan Hobson A hard science neurophysiological overview of dreaming.
"Material World" by Ed Conway A detailed look into basic minerals like sand, salt, oil, their supply chains, and the process of converting ores to materials.
"Blindsight" and "Echopraxia" by Peter Watts Sci-fi novels that deal with themes of consciousness and first contact with alien intelligence.
"The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again" by M. John Harrison Noted for beautiful writing and vivid descriptions.
"The Thursday Murder Club" by Richard Osman A light and amusing mystery novel; the beginning of a series.
"The Roman Empire in Crisis" by Paul N. Pearson A detailed account of the Crisis of the Third Century in Rome, incorporating recent archaeological discoveries.
"The Good Virus" by Tom Ireland Introduces phages and their pivotal role in advancing human health through phage therapy.
"Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness" by Richard H. Thaler A book about behavioral economics that suggests ways policies can be designed to "nudge" people into making better decisions.
"Blindsight" by Peter Watts A sci-fi novel that offers a less "anthropomorphic" first contact experience.
"Open Borders" by SMBC guy A book that presents an argument in favor of more open immigration policies.
"Snow Crash" and "Neuromancer" Classic cyberpunk novels, recommended for annual re-reading by the commenter.
"The God Engines" by John Scalzi A novella that is described as a sci-fi fantasy religious tale of space travel and manifested gods. Culture Series by Iain M. Banks A series of space opera novels set in a post-scarcity society.
"Art & Fear - Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by David Bayles & Ted Orland A book about human nature and creativity.
"The Case for God" by Karen Armstrong A book about the history of religion and how much is misunderstood in modern times.
"Years of Lyndon Johnson" by Robert Caro A detailed and well-researched biography of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.
"The Captured Economy" by Lindsey and Teles "American Revolutions" by Alan Taylor "Everything Flows" by Vasili Grossman "Silk Roads" by Peter Frankopan A history of the world from a Central Asian perspective.
"Too Perfect: When Being in Control Gets Out of Control" by Allan Mallinger "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael E. Gerber A book about why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it.
"Prisoners of Geography" by Tim Marshall An exploration of how borders and geography shape nations.
"Impro" by Keith Johnston A book with unique and radical views about how society functions.
"Peter Singer's books" Noted as being worldview-changing, but specific titles aren't listed.
"Two Years Before The Mast" by Richard Henry Dana An account of the cattle hide trade along the California coast in the 1830s.
"Empire of the Summer Moon" A book about the Comanche tribe and their conflict with settlers in the American West.
"Dune" by Frank Herbert A classic science fiction novel about politics, religion, and ecology on a desert planet.
"God, Human, Animal Machine" by Meghan O’Gieblyn Traces parallels between Christian theology and transhumanism.
"The Water Knife" A dystopian future novel set against a backdrop of water scarcity in the western United States.
by James Bridle. James pulls an brilliant move of using various examples in technology as a tool to help us rethink our place in nature & reconnect with the (beyond human) world.
He weaves a fascinating tale with myriads of threads such as Cybernetics, Neural Nets, Internet, Random Numbers, Analog computers, Slime molds, Sortition vs Voting, Mycelium, Mysticism in animals, Turing machines, Personhood of non-humans etc.
A nice summary to whet your appetite, https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/07/more-than-human/#umwelt
Really amazing biography about a man who became president by accident and guided country during the initial years of the atomic age. He was perfect, but the book depicts him to be a great person and a good president .
The End of the World Is just Beginning: https://www.amazon.com/End-World-Just-Beginning-Globalizatio...
Uses lots of data to back up his hypothesis two events
1. the US no longer policing the world 2) demographic shifts in most countries not reproducing
have create a situation where the the world as we know it is changing, and things are only going to get worse, the peace we know and the supplies we rely on will no longer exist soon.
Countries like China and most of West Europe are completely fucked because their populations are going to decrease by > 50% in the next few decades and they do not have the workforce or immigration policies in place to solve these problems. Ironically, he claims the US is in the best position because we have all the natural resources we need, we are not dying demographically, and Mexico and Canada are not threats.
We should expect to see less peace, more nationalism and overall a lot more instability in the future.
I'm sure you've heard of it. It's smutty and insane. Oddly reminds me of 1000 Plateaus by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari with its "rhizomatic" style.
After reading it I find myself in a state of mind that only a couple other works have achieved in me, one of free poetic openness to human experience, particularly when in society. It's a strange experience bordering on solipsism or paranoid schizoprenia but feels very liberating from the demands of stuffy "rational" existence.
It's the second book in The Three Body Problem series. To be honest, I found it a bit dull in similar ways to the first book in the series. There are good chunks of technical details (Hard Scifi), and specific ideas or concepts that are interesting, but it's then brought up during romantic relationships and other matters I'm not not invested in. If you can get passed the parts that drone on about flowers and clouds and whatnot, there's some good meat.
I don't want to give too much away, but I'll try to give you the general premise of situations that come up in each book:
* How does a civilization examine and come to understand the world around it, if that world is incredibly unstable and deadly at some points, and eerily stable at others?
* How would worldly matters like strife, unrest, famine, and suffering impact the mindset of people who attempt contact with other civilizations?
* If all you have is a rock and a loin cloth, how could you possibly fight someone with strategic bombers and nuclear warheads? ...
* ... Assuming you came up with any ideas at all, how would those plans or inventions impact the society you live in? How long would you need to prepare to even offer the semblance of a fight against that kind of enemy? ...
* ... If the threat you face is by an enemy that can hear every word you say, and read every word you write, how could you even begin to plan or mount any kind of a defense against it?
2) The Celtic World by Dr. Jennifer Paxton, PhD
A detailed look at the Celtic identity throughout history. Where did they come from? Who are they? Where do they live? What were their beliefs? What is their legacy in the modern day?
There's nothing specific that I can point to and say "And this is why you should listen to it!" It's simply very well done. It wraps up the history in a way that is engaging, without being excessive or dull, while still feeling incredibly detailed. It's entertaining, engaging, but also factual. In areas where things are murky or grey, the author makes it clear what is opinion, what is known, and what is uncertain. It doesn't feel like "infotainment" ala Discovery Channel, TLC, etc. It feels like those classic documentaries or miniseries you could sometimes find, where something hit that perfect mix of being: well produced, insightful, and complete.
You can feel the genuine passion that the author has for the topic, and it shines through to such a degree that, if you have even a passing interest in the topic, or history in general, you're sure to find something in there that piques your interest.
I also really appreciated that the author made a point of not looking her nose down at any misconceptions that people may have about various aspects of the Celtic world. There are a lot of half-truths and outright falsehoods that I had been told about the historical Celt that are wrong. It would have been incredibly easy for the author to sneer at such errors as "uneducated nonsense" or some other dismissive comment, but the author didn't do that at all! She made a point of saying that common misconceptions are...well, common, and that it's understandable that people think this way or that as a result. It was completely free of the kind of pretention that I had been concerned about, which made it far more accessible as a complete dullard on the topic.