5 ms·

Ask HN: What single book is the best intro to your field for laypeople?

jbonniwell 9y ago
When I was doing Bluetooth Low Energy development for IoT devices, this book was the goto reference for both the embedded firmware and mobile app folks: https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Low-Energy-Developers-Handbook/dp/013288836X https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Low-Energy-Developers-Handb...
- stefanpie 9y ago
  May I also ask if you have any more books on embedded devices or IoT devices not specific to just Bluetooth. I'm worked on a research project I led last summer where I fist learned about software and hardware development for small embedded devices like microcontrollers and this year I'm working on another research project using the same technology. I feel as if I understand the technology but am not proficient with it at all. If you have any other resources let me know.
earngurus 9y ago
https://www.earngurus.com/tips-protect-wannacry-ransomware-virus/ https://www.earngurus.com/tips-protect-wannacry-ransomware-v...
lasoandrade 9y ago
Rebel Buddha by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Buddha-Guide-Revolution-Mind/dp/1590309294 https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Buddha-Guide-Revolution-Mind/dp...
garyfirestorm 9y ago
Noise and Vibration Analysis http://www.abravibe.com/book.html http://www.abravibe.com/book.html
santoshmaharshi 9y ago
One of the first books many many years back, introducing me to software business and open source culture The Cathedral and the Bazaar Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary By Eric S. Raymond- http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/ http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/
e9 9y ago
The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing By Steven W. Smith, Ph.D. http://www.dspguide.com/ http://www.dspguide.com/ http://www.dspguide.com/pdfbook.htm http://www.dspguide.com/pdfbook.htm
- derstander 9y ago
  I also enjoyed Lyon's "Understanding Digital Signal Processing" when I went from a dual CS/Physics undergrad to working as a radar engineer.
yitchelle 9y ago
http://dilbert.com/ http://dilbert.com/ - for the management activities of my work.
- kleer001 9y ago
  and budding climate change deniers and misogynists /s
cm2012 9y ago
Being Direct by Lester Wunderman is a great intro to the world of direct marketing.
jamessb 9y ago
The same question was asked on Ask Metafilter a decade ago, and received 237 answers: http://ask.metafilter.com/71101/What-single-book-is-the-best-introduction-to-your-field-or-specialization-within-your-field-for-laypeople http://ask.metafilter.com/71101/What-single-book-is-the-best...
brudgers 9y ago
48. The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland"; but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman. -- Alan J. Perlis http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html
true_tuna 9y ago
"Getting started with Raspberry Pi" is a wonderful introduction to systems, Linux, and IOT projects. Super approachable language, but also quite complete.
bkohlmann 9y ago
For aspiring fighter pilots: The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.
3131s 9y ago
For pure linguistics I'd recommend Transformational Grammar by Andrew Radford and Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. And for NLP, Dan Jurafski and James H. Martin's Speech and Language Processing is excellent, and there are great projects like spaCy, NLTK, WordNet, FrameNet, COCA. etc.
jachee 9y ago
As a systems administrator with an eye toward DevOps principles, I highly recommend (the possibly cliché) The Phoenix Project by by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spaffor. It's a novel that reads like a thriller, but is infused with IT info.
imauld 9y ago
https://books.google.com/books?id=jpVHAQAACAAJ&dq=what+is+a+computer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwieooqkw6PUAhVM6mMKHaizCmEQ6AEIJDAA https://books.google.com/books?id=jpVHAQAACAAJ&dq=what+is+a+...
Amogha_IO 9y ago
Hands down the best book to give an intro into my field: "How to win friends & influence people" by Dale Carnegie. (I am a startup CEO, w/ technical background. Learnt a LOT from this book. Would probably not be in the same job if I hadn't read this) Other good books that will give an intro into tech startup management for laypeople: -Zero to One (Peter Thiel) -The hard thing about Hard things (Ben Horowitz)
SirLJ 9y ago
"More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite" by Sebastian Mallaby - this is a great read and motivator for someone interested in quantitative trading systems - started as a side project for me, but looks like it will give me my early retirement + my legacy money to leave behind one day...

When I was doing Bluetooth Low Energy development for IoT devices, this book was the goto reference for both the embedded firmware and mobile app folks: https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Low-Energy-Developers-Handbook/dp/013288836X https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Low-Energy-Developers-Handb...

stefanpie 9y ago
May I also ask if you have any more books on embedded devices or IoT devices not specific to just Bluetooth. I'm worked on a research project I led last summer where I fist learned about software and hardware development for small embedded devices like microcontrollers and this year I'm working on another research project using the same technology. I feel as if I understand the technology but am not proficient with it at all. If you have any other resources let me know.

earngurus 9y ago

https://www.earngurus.com/tips-protect-wannacry-ransomware-virus/ https://www.earngurus.com/tips-protect-wannacry-ransomware-v...

lasoandrade 9y ago

Rebel Buddha by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Buddha-Guide-Revolution-Mind/dp/1590309294 https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Buddha-Guide-Revolution-Mind/dp...

garyfirestorm 9y ago

Noise and Vibration Analysis http://www.abravibe.com/book.html http://www.abravibe.com/book.html

santoshmaharshi 9y ago

One of the first books many many years back, introducing me to software business and open source culture The Cathedral and the Bazaar Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary By Eric S. Raymond- http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/ http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/

e9 9y ago

The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing By Steven W. Smith, Ph.D. http://www.dspguide.com/ http://www.dspguide.com/ http://www.dspguide.com/pdfbook.htm http://www.dspguide.com/pdfbook.htm

derstander 9y ago
I also enjoyed Lyon's "Understanding Digital Signal Processing" when I went from a dual CS/Physics undergrad to working as a radar engineer.

yitchelle 9y ago

http://dilbert.com/ http://dilbert.com/ - for the management activities of my work.

kleer001 9y ago
and budding climate change deniers and misogynists /s

cm2012 9y ago

Being Direct by Lester Wunderman is a great intro to the world of direct marketing.

jamessb 9y ago

The same question was asked on Ask Metafilter a decade ago, and received 237 answers: http://ask.metafilter.com/71101/What-single-book-is-the-best-introduction-to-your-field-or-specialization-within-your-field-for-laypeople http://ask.metafilter.com/71101/What-single-book-is-the-best...

brudgers 9y ago

48. The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland"; but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman. -- Alan J. Perlis http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html

true_tuna 9y ago

"Getting started with Raspberry Pi" is a wonderful introduction to systems, Linux, and IOT projects. Super approachable language, but also quite complete.

bkohlmann 9y ago

For aspiring fighter pilots: The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.

3131s 9y ago

For pure linguistics I'd recommend Transformational Grammar by Andrew Radford and Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. And for NLP, Dan Jurafski and James H. Martin's Speech and Language Processing is excellent, and there are great projects like spaCy, NLTK, WordNet, FrameNet, COCA. etc.

jachee 9y ago

As a systems administrator with an eye toward DevOps principles, I highly recommend (the possibly cliché) The Phoenix Project by by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spaffor. It's a novel that reads like a thriller, but is infused with IT info.

imauld 9y ago

https://books.google.com/books?id=jpVHAQAACAAJ&dq=what+is+a+computer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwieooqkw6PUAhVM6mMKHaizCmEQ6AEIJDAA https://books.google.com/books?id=jpVHAQAACAAJ&dq=what+is+a+...

Amogha_IO 9y ago

Hands down the best book to give an intro into my field: "How to win friends & influence people" by Dale Carnegie. (I am a startup CEO, w/ technical background. Learnt a LOT from this book. Would probably not be in the same job if I hadn't read this) Other good books that will give an intro into tech startup management for laypeople: -Zero to One (Peter Thiel) -The hard thing about Hard things (Ben Horowitz)

SirLJ 9y ago

"More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite" by Sebastian Mallaby - this is a great read and motivator for someone interested in quantitative trading systems - started as a side project for me, but looks like it will give me my early retirement + my legacy money to leave behind one day...