4 ms·
Ask HN: Good literature for a technical guy
during the last year i've been reading complex and highly technical books, from programing to linear algebra and computational biology, i'm starting to miss some good literature, some recommendations?
- c23gooey 16y agothis was discussed not too long ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1226736 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1226736
- m1k3r 16y agoThanks!
- jackfoxy 16y agoArticles about Apple censoring the illustrated Ulysses have made it to HN lately. It took Joyce 7 years to write Ulysses. Ken Kesey wrote Sometimes a Great Notion, a favorite of mine, in about 3 months. It struck me that Kesey touches on some of the same themes as Joyce. I consider it an overlooked masterpiece.
- ghotli 16y agoYou're going to enjoy spending time with Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. It's mostly metaphor, his writing style is quite vivid. The interactions of people and things in his fictional cities touch on many facets of what it is to be alive. It's short. You can read it in one sitting.
- shipstar 16y agoHeavily second the Italo Calvino recommendation. Although I love Invisible Cities, I think "If on a winter's night a traveler" is probably even better for the technically minded. It's somewhat recursive in structure, as the book is actually about reading itself. Highly recommended.
- mquander 16y agoI have a soft spot for The Castle of Crossed Destinies, whose imaginative structure I'm sure would appeal to any systematic kind of mind.
- mquander 16y agoI just happened across Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game recently. For whatever reason, I had never read it before, and it's probably been my favorite book of the past six months. As a programmer, you may find yourself with a unique perspective on the Game.
- adrianwaj 16y agohttp://www.sacred-texts.com http://www.sacred-texts.com (not literature, but still interesting)
- arrogantrobot 16y ago"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. Apocalypse Now was based on this book. Fairly short and very good.
- exline 16y agoI'd highly recommend anything by Vernor Vinge. He is a science fiction writer who's other job was a computer science professor at San Diego State University. One of the best professors I had at school and one of my favorite authors. There are bits and pieces of programming sprinkled though out his books that only software developers can really appreciate.