41 ms·
YC's Winter Reading List
- minimaxir 10y agoPrevious discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521
- pugio 10y agoThe majority of discussion on the previous post was about how many/most of the books conflicted with the 1-week ban on highly charged topics. Since that's over (right?) - perhaps people can now share their opinions on the book list itself...
- bigethan 10y agoIt was "politics" not "highly charged topics" - eg a post about javascript frameworks was fine. And I have no idea how to tell if it's over or not.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- grzm 10y agoThe week-long experiment was terminated early. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13131251 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13131251 It would have been over by now regardless.
- protomyth 10y agoI wish they had put that on the front page since I was still flagging political articles per the request in the original message.
- grzm 10y agoYeah, I think that would have been a good idea, too, especially as they kicked it off with a "Tell HN". I think they chose to address it as it came up in the comments. That said, this is getting off-topic :)
- jdp23 10y agoYes, it's over: https://medium.com/a-change-is-coming/learning-from-hacker-news-political-detox-experiment-996db0187c35 https://medium.com/a-change-is-coming/learning-from-hacker-n...
- minimaxir 10y agoThat's why I didn't call it an outright dupe. (I wish there were finer guidelines on "significant attention")
- wainstead 10y agoCannot recommend "City of Gold" enough. Great writing and a page-turner. Full disclosure: I knew Jim Krane in the 80s when he played guitar in hardcore punk bands like Starvartion Army.
- tomcam 10y agoIn case you're wondering about how we knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, sexist, racist, homophobic conservatives really think, "Strangers in their own land" is not a good representation. Anything by bestselling authors such as Mark Steyn Dinesh D'Souza, Mark Levin, or Ann Coulter would be a much closer approximation. Reading "Strangers in their own land" would be like one of those people writing a book about why Hillary failed. You wouldn't trust it, because they are not committed, thoughtful followers of her principles. "Strangers" is the height of condescension and a severe misfire. That said, I do appreciate the effort.
- resfirestar 10y agoMark Levin? Really? My grandmother gave me Liberty and Tyranny at christmas '09 (not weird, we're a politically charged family) and I felt like it was a good introduction to what American conservatives think...for non-Americans who don't have years of immersion in our debates to go on. I already know the typical arguments for a flat tax, states' rights, and privatization of entitlements, I got nothing out of reading them again. I suppose he does present them in a well-worded and (usually) fact-based way, but I think it's safe to assume that HN readers have engaged with smart conservatives online before. And, most narrowly to that book, I doubt the defenses of Bush admin policies and specific hyperbolic warnings about Obama's policies have aged well. I'm not familiar with Steyn and haven't read much by D'Souza. Ann Coulter isn't a good pick if you're trying to dispel stereotypes, seeing as she's the walking strawman.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ska 10y agoNB: if your purpose is understanding such a messy thing as a human social group then reading about how they present themselves as thinking isn't really more or less informative than reading about how they are inferred from the outside to think. You'd need both views and some understanding of how they act (regardless of rhetoric) to get started.
- VLM 10y ago
- blakes 10y agoI actually pre-ordered Grit based on the excerpt I had read with Pete Carroll. It sounds fascinating but I have yet to read it.
- karmicthreat 10y agoHighly recommend Manna. Its short but still worth it.
- ajmurmann 10y agoI've really come to value sorry non fiction books. Too many non fiction books seem to repeat the same point over and over. Less danger of that on a short book. My favorite non fiction author is Ian Buruma. All his books that I've read are short but loaded with information and are highly diligent about giving references.
- evtothedev 10y agoI just finished The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu and I cannot recommend it enough. It traces the history of advertising and attention capture from billboards through Facebook.
- CalChris 10y agoThe Grossman translation of DQ is a fine read. I read it in a seminar which is the academic equivalent of a book club. That was awesome. If you get into it, it's a great discussion book. I'd recommend Marryat's Mister Midshipman Easy over Forester's Mister Midshipman Hornblower. Marryat speaks from authority when he speaks of the sea and of naval warfare. Neither Forester nor Patrick O'Brian sailed.
- vram22 10y agoI really enjoyed reading Midshipman Easy and other similar books as a kid. That particular series by Marryat was good too.
- stinkytaco 10y agoPerhaps Marryat is more authentic than O'Brian or Forester, but he is not as good a writer. Easy lacks the coherent storytelling, character building and -- at least compared to Aubrey/Maturin -- the excellent sense of humor. Worth a read? Absolutely. Better? I enjoy both better than Marryat, but especially O'Brian.
- peller 10y agoBoth The Idea Factory and Titan were excellent. Haven't read any of the others yet. I'd recommend reading The First Tycoon[0] before Titan, as chronologically it sets the stage very well for the world Rockefeller rose to power in. [0] http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4839382-the-first-tycoon http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4839382-the-first-tycoon
- protomyth 10y agoMy disagreement with the placement of "Strangers in Their Own Land" is basically that it really is well loved by Mother Jones[1], NYT[2], etc. but not at all liked by the people it claims to report on[3]. I guess if you hold liberal beliefs and want some reinforcement, then its a good book, but I would think you probably want to read books by people who actually are the people being talked about. 1) http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/trump-white-blue-collar-supporters http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/trump-white-blue... 2) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/books/review/strangers-in-their-own-land-arlie-russell-hochschild.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/books/review/strangers-in-... 3) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2016/09/01/a-berkeley-sociologist-made-some-tea-party-friends-and-wrote-a-condescending-book-about-them/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2016/09/01...
- crucini 10y agoCan you recommend an alternative?
- redthrowaway 10y agoHillbilly Elegy is excellent and touches on some of the points, but really just read conservatives. We're not exactly shy about what we don't like about modern liberalism. Go peruse the pages of National Review or Commentary Magazine.
- TillE 10y agoDidn't both of those publications vigorously oppose Trump? The "conservative intellectual" niche may be the most politically irrelevant group in the country.
- redthrowaway 10y ago>Didn't both of those publications vigorously oppose Trump? Yes. >The "conservative intellectual" niche may be the most politically irrelevant group in the country. Trump won the Presidency, not the Movement. The rest of the GOP, though shell-shocked, has not suddenly ditched conservatism and embraced Trumpism. The vast majority of the GOP members of the House and Senate, and those in state governments, are conservative, not Trumpist. Conservatives, not just Republicans, have far more power in the US right now than at any point in recent memory. And thankfully, the Founding Fathers, sharp blokes that they were, crafted a system of checks and balances. I suspect we'll hear fewer cries of "obstruction!" when Congress blocks President Trump's policies than we did for Obama's.
- overcast 10y agoI guess no book list can ever escape the mediocrity of Neal Stephenson. At least it wasn't Snow Crash this time.
- crucini 10y agoDo you think he's eternally mediocre, or is his recent stuff worse? Is all scifi mediocre? Is the problem that Stephenson "crossed over" and got more mainstream credibility? Is Gibson also mediocre?
- overcast 10y agoMy first experience with Stephenson was Snow Crash, and it was an abomination. I tried Cryptonomicon next, and while slightly more coherent, it was the end of the line for me and this guy. Stephenson likes to write like he's smarter than he really is, plots that are literally everywhere, and characters I really don't care about. Let's not forget the third person present tense writing style. Regarding Gibson, I only read Neuromancer, and enjoyed the writing. Obviously the concepts were ahead of its time, so reading it much later didn't have the same impact. But neat story.
- ashark 10y agoIf you didn't care for Cryptonomicon, you're probably right to stop. I've read four of his novels and that's the only one that didn't fit the pattern of [promising first 1/3], [2/3 section is bad but I'm holding on that it'll go somewhere], [3/3 goes off the rails entirely, no payoff for suffering through the middle third]. Cryptonomicon was consistently OK, at least. The Diamond Age was the most frustrating of them, because it starts off so good, but by the end it's a total mess. There's a whole scene in the last third that exists just to have one character tell you what another's motivation has been since a few chapters in, since it's entirely obscure to the reader. Not in a big reveal kind of way, but in a "uh oh, I let some friends read a draft and they are really confused by this major character, better fix it, but, like, without working very hard" way. I mean, at least he bothers to tell us, but wow. Like you, I enjoyed Neuromancer quite a bit (and I read it after Stephenson—only last year, in fact). The other two in that trilogy are somewhere on my mental to-read list.
- acl2149 10y agoI've read shoe dog. Entertaining fast read but I don't think you should prioritize it unless you're really into sneakers or Nike.
- 40acres 10y agoWhile Shoe Dog has a lot of content about Nike, sneakers and running I would definitely recommend it if you aren't in to that stuff. It's a great story of perseverance and grit, and the characters who helped shaped Nike are quite entertaining. I would recommend it to any entrepreneur.
- lintiness 10y agothanks for including some fiction! so many "data" people miss out on so much because they mistakenly assume something that "didn't happen" can't help or enrich their understanding of what is.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- siavosh 10y agoMy personal picks as I continue to try to understand global economic trends since the 1980's through the prism of the 2008-crash: The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy by Yanis Varoufakis [1] The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future By Stiglitz, Joseph E. [2] The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War by Robert J. Gordon [3] 1. https://www.amazon.com/Global-Minotaur-America-Economic-Controversies/dp/178360610X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481577856&sr=8-1&keywords=yanis+minotaur https://www.amazon.com/Global-Minotaur-America-Economic-Cont... 2. https://www.amazon.com/Price-Inequality-Divided-Society-Endangers/dp/0393345068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481578034&sr=8-1&keywords=price+of+inequality https://www.amazon.com/Price-Inequality-Divided-Society-Enda... 3. https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-American-Growth-Princeton/dp/0691147728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481577993&sr=8-1&keywords=rise+and+fall+growth https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-American-Growth-Princeton/d...
- grub5000 10y ago> The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy by Yanis Varoufakis [1] Have you read "And the Weak Suffer What They Must?"? It's fantastic. Really helped shape my view before the EU Referendum here in the UK.
- siavosh 10y agoNot yet, but it's on my list. I've been watching a lot of Yanis' talks on youtube, very compelling perspectives.
- ThomPete 10y agoCreativity INC is one of the best books I have ever read on creativity and I have read a lot to know how much most of them really suck. It has the added bonus of providing an alternative biography of Steve Jobs which in itself is interesting. It's much more than a story about Pixar. It's a great insight into some of the very problems you deal with as you build and try to maintain a culture. I can't recommend it enough. If you want a peek into the books content Ed Catmul did a great talk at Standford. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhzXNJumqpo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhzXNJumqpo
- heymijo 10y agoCreativity, Inc. is also one of the best books on management. I say this with reverence for the work of Peter Drucker and W. Edwards Deming.
- rcavezza 10y agoRescinded comment Link to original post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521
- grzm 10y agoRead further down in the comments. This is already being discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13161516 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13161516
- rl3 10y ago> Creativity, Inc. “Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter, on how they built a culture of openness, honesty, self-reflection, and risk-taking that protects new ideas and creativity instead of squashing them.” –Aaron Epstein I wonder if it comes with any helpful pointers on how to execute long-term, systematic wage-fixing[0] schemes. The top one-star review[1] on Amazon sums it up nicely. [0] http://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/ed-catmull-on-wage-fixing-i-dont-apologize-for-this-105855.html http://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/ed-catmull-on-wage-... [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/0812993012/R1CW8GBYEH3UQW https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/0812993012/R1CW8GBYEH3UQ...
- ArlenBales 10y agoOne genre that is always missing from HNer's and YC's recommendations is Fantasy. It feels like most people here read books to acquire knowledge and philosophy to apply to real life. Most fantasy books are read for entertainment and imagination. There's no hidden message to parse and put toward your next start-up project. That doesn't mean Fantasy books are a waste of time though if they're engrossing and entertaining. That's why I read them. Some fantasy recommendations: The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch The First Law series, by Joe Abercrombie (especially the standalone books #4, #5 and #6) The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
- maxerickson 10y agoA lot of people get their fantasy fix from science fiction. (this is my favorite place to apply the Arthur C. Clarke quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.", whether he meant it that way or not)
- icebraining 10y agoAnd not just the technology; I mean, what's Arrakis if not a fantasy world?
- astrange 10y agoThe older hard science fiction missed almost all its guesses - just look at all those spaceships - so it's better as pure fantasy than anything else. I feel like I could've learned a lot more about society if I'd read more non-"genre fiction" books and not all those Larry Niven stories where everyone just trades facts about particle physics as conversation.
- VLM 10y agoNo Holdstock and his Ryhope Wood series? Of course that might be the implied problem of a "2016 winter reading list", its not the 1985 winter reading list and you probably should have read Mythago Wood back in 1985 when it was new. On the other hand in the sci fi discussion people are arguing about a hard sci fi book that's over 20 years old, so allowing a 30 year old book isn't too ridiculous...
- datavirtue 10y agoI ordered the first book on the list about a week ago form my son and I over winter. Great minds think alike.
- tomp 10y agoI cannot recommend Manna enough (I assume it's similar to the online version [1]). It portrays a version of the future that I believe is achievable by continuing open-source software development and extending it to (more and more powerful) AI. [1] http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
- n0b0dythere 10y agoThat was great, thank you for posting it up!
- laxatives 10y agoManna is an interesting story, but its incredibly poorly written. It starts out great, but the last few chapters feel like they were written by a high school student realizing their deadline is approaching and is still 5 pages short of the minimum requirement.
- eli_gottlieb 10y agoClassic idea-driven scifi, in that aspect.
- mch82 10y agoAlso consider Robert Harris' historical fiction trilogy "Imperium," "Lustrum," and "Dictator" about the life of Cicero and the fall of the Roman Republic under Julius Caesar (assuming it's okay to recommend additions). The ideas explored in these books are fascinating and could not be more timely. The historical notes are interesting. The reading is fun! "Dictator" is the third book in the trilogy & its Wikipedia page links to the rest: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator_(Harris_novel) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator_(Harris_novel) The narration on the Audible editions is fantastic.
- cylinder 10y agoThis list took a credibility plunge when Thomas Friedman was spotted on it.
- GavinMcG 10y agoIt's a list made up of individuals' recommendations. This is like saying "The credibility of the United States took a plunge when your nutty aunt went on another one of her rants."
- metaphorm 10y agook, but I think it's a valid opinion to express extreme aversion for Thomas Friedman.
- AnimalMuppet 10y agoArguing that the whole list is less credible because Friedman's on it? I mean, it's fine if you want to maintain your own epistemic closure, but expecting everyone else to agree? And even you should read him, if for no other reason to be sure you understand what you're disagreeing with. Then, once you can actually state his position in a way that he would recognize as accurate, then disagree as much as you please.
- metaphorm 10y ago"epistemic closure" is a phrase that bored philosophy majors use to try and disparage their opponents on political grounds. I should know, I'm a bored philosophy major. now would you kindly speak to me like a real person?
- AnimalMuppet 10y agoWell, I don't know. Were you speaking to us like we're real people when you dismissed Friedman as automatically worthy of extreme aversion, without even bothering to give any explanation or justification? Were you even speaking of Friedman like a real person? I submit that you were not. You were in fact speaking like a person whose mind is made up, and who thinks that everyone else's mind should also be made up, and there's nothing that's even worth talking about or considering. I'm not a philosophy major, bored or otherwise, but that's rather close to my understanding of "epistemic closure". (Ah, however, actually looking up the term shows that it means something rather different. My bad.)
- yarper 10y agoFor those interested, C. S. Forester's Hornblower book(s) became a pretty good TV series[0] starring Battlestar Galactica's own Jamie Bamber! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_(TV_series)
- swiley 10y agoMy father read these books to me and my brother when we where younger and I enjoyed them so much! They're also cited as part of the insperation for the game "sail" (which can be installed as part of the BSD games package.)
- tgb 10y agoThe author has some really clever ideas for set-pieces in that book. I've only read the first (chronologically) one, but it caught my attention. At one point, he is captaining a captured merchant ship back to England and is checking it for damage from the skirmish. There's no water in the hold, so the ship must be undamaged, though it's a little strange because every ship has some water in it. Later we find it's actually severely damaged but the ship is transporting rice, which has absorbed all the water.
- yarper 10y agoThis also features in the show!
- Uhhrrr 10y agoThis is my favorite passage from Titan: With a talent for seeing things anew, Rockefeller could study an operation, break it down into component parts, and devise ways to improve it. In many ways, he anticipated the efficiency studies of engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor. Regarding each plant as infinitely perfectible, he created an atmosphere of ceaseless improvement. Paradoxically, the mammoth scale of operations encouraged close attention to minute detail, for a penny saved in one place might then be multiplied a thousandfold throughout the empire. In the early 1870s, Rockefeller inspected a Standard plant in New York City that filled and sealed five-gallon tin cans of kerosene for export. After watching a machine solder caps to the cans, he asked the resident expert: “How many drops of solder do you use on each can?” “Forty,” the man replied. “Have you ever tried thirty-eight?” Rockefeller asked. “No? Would you mind having some sealed with thirty-eight and let me know?”34 When thirty-eight drops were applied, a small percentage of cans leaked—but none at thirty-nine. Hence, thirty-nine drops of solder became the new standard instituted at all Standard Oil refineries. “That one drop of solder,” said Rockefeller, still smiling in retirement, “saved $2,500 the first year; but the export business kept on increasing after that and doubled, quadrupled—became immensely greater than it was then; and the saving has gone steadily along, one drop on each can, and has amounted since to many hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Rockefeller performed many similar feats, fractionally reducing the length of staves or the width of iron hoops without weakening a barrel’s strength[...]
- HiroshiSan 10y agoSounds like Hank Rearden.
- iamgopal 10y agoknowing your business in and out was the only way to success, back in those day. right now, you just google it.
- hackuser 10y agoInteresting story; thanks. I have a few reactions to it: First, it seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO. In your opinion, is the author trying to make Rockefeller relatable? You can see how it works with HN readers. These days his success is attributed to business acumen and notorious practices, not engineering, but I haven't read much about him. What impression does the book give? Also, I would argue that the time he spent on solder drops was a waste of company resources much more valuable than solder: his time. What would he say if he saw the machine operator similarly wasting company time or resources? Rockefeller would have helped his company much more by improving his own efficiency. Finally, in most companies when Rockefeller asks if you can reduce the number solder drops and you are the lowly solder machine operator, you reduce the solder drops no matter what. There is no way that story could have ended differently, and nobody would reveal that the boss's idea had bad consequences: The barrels had to be handled more carefully, they leaked at a higher rate, they had to increase some other sealing process to compensate, etc. All my cynicism may be unfair, however. EDIT: A bunch of edits
- adamnemecek 10y agoThere should be a list like this but more technical
- chadcmulligan 10y agoOne i'd recommend is The illusion of life - the history of animation in disney, it covers some of the business, the people and the techniques and of course the movies, and it's one of the most beautiful books I own. https://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Life-Disney-Animation/dp/0786860707/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481582720&sr=1-1&keywords=the+illusion+of+life https://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Life-Disney-Animation/dp/078...
- clumsysmurf 10y agoA few new books the YC crowd might like: "Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455544590 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455544590 "What the Luck?: The Surprising Role of Chance in Our Everyday Lives" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1468313754 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1468313754 "Shrinking the Earth: The Rise and Decline of American Abundance" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019984495X https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019984495X
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- IndianAstronaut 10y agoNot a book, but definitely check out The Economist's Christmas edition. A lot of in depth articles on a wide array of subjects ranging from historical artifacts to road journeys to contemporary life.
- cocktailpeanuts 10y agoThis is interesting, I just went to one of the book's Amazon page and this is what I see: http://i.imgur.com/O6x8eNQ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/O6x8eNQ.jpg It's almost like a horizontal scroll version of this blog post. I guess it's the small sample size.
- baraah 10y agoThe same thing can be seen for Bill Gates' books of 2016 that was posted here recently.
- ChuckMcM 10y agoActually it is the large sample size. Book lists tend to do this when read by a lot of people, especially if they pull their cover art from Amazon. There was a hack whereby a person used AWS resources to generate this sort of effect on demand. The result was, as expected of such a prank, books on conservative theology having "also viewed" lists which were primarily erotica. Amazon "fixed" this by ignoring item views from addresses within it's own IP space but apparently it still works for lookups from a bunch of IPs.
- kashyapc 10y agoPleasantly surprised to see Lee Child mentioned there. The Enemy (mentioned in the list) is a prequel, though. But it is special in the sense that it is narrated in first person. Special because (no, not a spoiler): Reacher, the protagonist, doesn't say much, but the internal thinking is described in a very attractive way through out (so readers naturally long to hear in first person). The most common thing you read in the books is: "Reacher said nothing". Heck, it's so common that there's even a book written with that phrase as the title; it shadows the author, Lee Child, to investigate what it takes to make the popular character -- http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/529959/reacher-said-nothing-by-andy-martin/9781101965450/ http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/529959/reacher-said-... FWIW, other books from the author I enjoyed and recommend: Echo Burning, Die Trying, Tripwire, Persuader. (/me fondly recalls reading 17+ books (even saving money as a student 10 years ago to pre-order) until a few years of years ago; will resist making a comment on the Reacher movies; but makes a sincere please to read the books first, and ignore, as best as you can, the movies). --- Related author: Robert Crais (characters: Elvis Cole and Joe Pike).
- gadders 10y agoI'd also recommend the Sniper series of books by Stephen Hunter.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- bbcbasic 10y agoIt's 36 degree C here today so guess I'll have to wait a bit to read these.
- wdages 10y agoGlad to see Shoe Dog on this list, that was one of the most memorable books I listened to this year (the audiobook narration was awesome). It's always interesting hearing the origin story and struggles of a company that was the underdog in the industry for so long, and ended up on top. I thought Phil Knight's account of his journey with Nike was really honest and thoughtful, I had no idea how long it took them to get momentum, or how many times they were on the brink of bankruptcy. Can't recommend this enough, I'm looking forward to reading it a second time next year.
- habosa 10y agoI imagine many people here saw Don Quixote on the list and kept scrolling. Sounds like YC is trying to make you go back to a book you probably gave up on in high school. The edition pictured, translated by Edith Grossman, is extremely approachable. It uses mostly modern language which makes the original humor of the book really stand out. It's incredible that a book written over 500 years ago can still be funny and engaging. I'd recommend it to everyone, after reading this translation it moved from 'boring book I couldn't finish' to 'one of my favorite novels ever'.
- midgetjones 10y agoThey didn't help matters by giving it such a glib description.
- miraj 10y agothink this book is a particularly interesting read, especially considering the U.S. election opera of 2016: "Infomocracy" -by Malka Order. +++ some other favorites: When Breath Becomes Air. -by Paul Kalanithi. Arkwright. -by Allen Steele. The God's Eye View. -by Barry Eisler. Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley. -by Antonio Garcia Martinez. Ego Is the Enemy. -by Ryan Holiday.
- siavosh 10y agoRegarding Hillbilly Elegy: I read it after another post-election book list recommended it, and found it to be a very mixed bag and generally a disappointment. The valuable part was the depiction of his home life and the disintegration of the social fabric of his community over a few generations driven by unseen but acutely felt economic trends. Very touching and powerful accounts. The latter half of the book, however, was by far the weakest. There he attempts to recommend fixes for the issue from a libertarian perspective. His beliefs are not surprising given his current employment in a Thiel hedge fund. This part of the book had little insight and seemed to be an ideologically driven argument by, ironically, a newly minted financial elite that his own community distrusts.
- ericdykstra 10y agoComments on a couple of the selections: - Grit - I can see why it's caught on, it's pretty well-written and informative, but it's not one of the stronger books in the genre and I don't think it will stand the test of time. I recommend The Willpower Instinct - by Kelly McGonigal and Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise - by Anders Ericsson in its place. - The Rent Is Too Damn High - Matt Yglesias is an intellectually dishonest pundit and I recommend staying away from anything he publishes. He's a leading representative of what Nassim Taleb calls the Intellectual Yet Idiot[1]. He deleted 3000 tweets praising Obamacare that look bad in retrospect[2][3]. He's also mentioned directly in the Podesta emails as a pundit to be "cultivated."[4] This article from 2011 [5] points out numerous examples of his sloppy reporting and intellectual dishonesty where he doesn't own his mistakes, deletes critical comments, etc. 1. https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577#.yl36fsi5i https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211... 2. https://twitter.com/BuffaloBlueBear/status/791208690598682624 https://twitter.com/BuffaloBlueBear/status/79120869059868262... 3. https://twitter.com/JimmyPrinceton/status/791127776388583424 https://twitter.com/JimmyPrinceton/status/791127776388583424 (check the whole thread) 4. https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/31954 https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/31954 5. http://www.chequerboard.org/2011/02/matt-yglesias-the-one-man-mistake-factory-or-i-laugh-at-the-inferior-intellect/ http://www.chequerboard.org/2011/02/matt-yglesias-the-one-ma...
- ohwello 10y agoCan you provide a more clear link to evidence of your claim that Yglesias deleted 3000 tweets about Obamacare? I see images of a few tweets deleted. Perhaps Twitter is showing us different messages below the message you directly linked.
- rycars 10y agoI don't have a link, but he deleted his whole tweet history a couple months ago. I never saw an explanation, but I doubt it had to do with his attitude towards Obamacare, which is well documented elsewhere, and which hasn't changed that much.
- ericdykstra 10y ago
- dmourati 10y agoI picked up Red Notice from the "library" at a resort in Chile last September for the flight home. What an awesome story. I learned a ton reading it and the book reads like fiction even though it is factual. Highly recommended.
- jaseemabid 10y agoSomeone added all this into a goodreads list, so that you can mark them 'read later'. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/106375.YC_s_Winter_Reading_List https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/106375.YC_s_Winter_Readi...
- wowsig 10y agoExcellent list! I've added all the books for people to save books to their reading list here on ShelfJoy http://shelfjoy.com/shelfjoy/wrap-up-your-2016-with-ycs-winter-reading-list http://shelfjoy.com/shelfjoy/wrap-up-your-2016-with-ycs-wint... The summer reading list is also available here: http://shelfjoy.com/shelfjoy/ycombinators-summer-list-of-2016 http://shelfjoy.com/shelfjoy/ycombinators-summer-list-of-201... Thanks for the wonderful recommendations to everyone at YC!
- soheil 10y agoI spot checked several of these books on Pirate Bay and they were all well seeded and many uploaded today, touche Hackernews! Not that I would be interested in downloading them or anything.
- kriro 10y agoOf course tastes differ but I didn't see much that immediately grabbed my attention (a bit of a letdown because it was the first thing I clicked on this morning). I guess ultimately that's a good thing because my backlog is still fairly long. Titan and the Nike book look interesting but I'm currently not in the mood for a "this amazing person/company" type of book. I might pick up "City of Gold". "Make it so" could also be interesting those are the only two that immediately grabbed my interest.
- listentojohan 10y agoNice to see Weapons of Math Destruction included.