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Best book/paper you read in 2018?
What's the best book or paper you read in the last year, and why? 'Best' in terms of value it gave you personally - what's something you learnt from it, or something you used from it, or was it inspiring, what possibilities did it show you; what question(s) did it answer for you, where did it lead etc. Thank you.
I guess it could as well be a lecture, talk, video etc, I don't want to rule something out just because of the format.
- julysun 8y agoIf you have taken some "intro to proofs" or "intro to abstract algebra" or "intro linear algebra" or any other such course where you've seen rigorous proofs, then Jay Cummings' "Real Analysis: A Long-Form Mathematics Textbook" [0] is simply a phenomenal introduction to real analysis. It's a fast paced tour de force through rigorous analysis. I actually wrote a longer comment, but I had to invoke the names of other authors. Better not. Either way, I love the book. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Real-Analysis-Long-Form-Mathematics-Textbook/dp/1724510126/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542422962&sr=1-1&keywords=jay+cummings https://www.amazon.com/Real-Analysis-Long-Form-Mathematics-T...
- nikofeyn 8y agoi found that book this year as well, and it is indeed very good. it's just fun to pick up and read. hopefully the author writes more books in this style.
- dorchadas 8y agoGot any recommendation for those other intro ones with rigorous proofs? Teaching maths and looking to move from a physics background to more pure maths one.
- guiambros 8y ago"Why We Sleep", by Matthew Walker [1]. I've read a lot about sleep over the years, but I still found it fascinating and comprehensive. I've mentioned the book on several other threads [2], so I'll avoid repeating here. Along the same lines of expanding the ability of your body/mind, one that I'm currently reading is "What doesn't kill us" [3]. Pretty fascinating to think that we have a lot more control over our immune system than originally thought. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17606274 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17606274 [3] https://www.amazon.com/What-Doesnt-Kill-Environmental-Conditioning/dp/1623366909 https://www.amazon.com/What-Doesnt-Kill-Environmental-Condit...
- chasedehan 8y agoSubtle art of not giving a f$@k And Ray Dalio’s Principles. Both of those gave me personal aha moments. Neither was what I expected but both delivered.
- kfrog10101010 8y agoBad Blood
- kfrog10101010 8y agoBad Blood.
- sgillen 8y agonot a paper that came out this year but Emergence of Locomotion Behaviors in Rich Environments by Google deepmind: (https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.02286 https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.02286) made me realize that although RL is brittle and slow it can still be super effective the problem domains I care about (robot locomotion).
- yesenadam 8y agoScott McCloud's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (1994), an amazing book on the history, science and philosophy of comics, is itself a comic...then checking out most of the cartoonists he mentions that I hadn't heard of[0], too many to mention. I discovered a load of great stuff from that, e.g. the graphic novels of Will Eisner and wordless novels of Lynd Ward. [0] Library Genesis's comics section helped with that http://libgen.io/comics/index.php http://libgen.io/comics/index.php
- ZainRiz 8y ago"A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas" It's a very insightful read on how you can see the world differently by simply asking questions (even if you never get an answer) https://www.amazon.com/More-Beautiful-Question-Inquiry-Breakthrough/dp/1632861054 https://www.amazon.com/More-Beautiful-Question-Inquiry-Break...
- ___cs____ 8y ago- Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better - Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future
- afpx 8y ago“Behave: the biology of humans at our best and worst” by Sapolsky was my favorite. I knew little about neurobiology, and this went a little deeper.
- yesenadam 8y agoSapolsky's 25 lecture series on Human Behavioral Biology: He's such a wonderful lecturer. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL150326949691B199 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL150326949691B199
- laurentl 8y agoThe Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (the book itself is 20 years old but I only read it recently). It’s a fantastic analysis of why successful companies get displaced by disruptive technologies —or, the other way around, why it’s so complicated to innovate in successful companies. The underlying reasons exposed by the book are timeless and universal. As I read the book (which, again, is 20 years old and focuses on the hard drive industry) I recognized all the pitfalls my previous company went through as it was trying to adapt to public Cloud. This book is a powerful lens to look at disruptive innovation, well-written and very thoroughly researched. A must read if you’re working in technology IMO.
- pbamotra 8y agoShoe dog by Phil Knight. It's a memoir by the co-founder of Nike. This is one of my favorite books till now. The biggest reason being that it's a perfect combo of personal and business story of company that started with $50 and is now selling over $30B of goods annually. It's motivational, lucid, and keeps you on your toes. Phil is a great story-teller and I almost felt as if I was part of the story. A definite 5/5.
- anvsh 8y agoTuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Alboom, really great book about life and everything brilliant about it.
- thenaturalist 8y agoInadequate Equilibria - Where and How civilizations get stuck By Eliezer Yudkowsky First book in a long time which really made me see the world differently and taught better thinking. [0] https://equilibriabook.com https://equilibriabook.com
- olcor 8y agoThorstein Veblen's "The Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899). The book was difficult to read for me since the language is very archaic, but it pretty much explained a lot about how class and community is structured. As an introvert and a social recluse, this book is a goldmine; it eased a lot of confusions in my head about how society and class structures work, and taught me to better avoid the pitfalls of consumerism and peer pressure.
- yesenadam 8y agoI loved that too! Apparently there was Veblen craze in the US when that came out, Veblen societies everywhere. Here's a bit I liked: ...the cheap, and therefore indecorous, articles of daily consumption in modern industrial communities are commonly machine products; and the generic feature of the physiognomy of machine-made goods as compared with the hand-wrought article is their greater perfection in workmanship and greater accuracy in the detail execution of the design. Hence it comes about that the visible imperfections of the hand-wrought goods, being honorific, are accounted marks of superiority in point of beauty, or serviceability, or both. Hence has arisen that exaltation of the defective, of which John Ruskin and William Morris were such eager spokesmen in their time; and on this ground their propaganda of crudity and wasted effort has been taken up and carried forward since their time. And hence also the propaganda for a return to handicraft and household industry. So much of the work and speculations of this group of men as fairly comes under the characterisation here given would have been impossible at a time when the visibly more perfect goods were not the cheaper. - p162
- bsvalley 8y agoThe best book hands down in 2018 is "Bad Blood". Especially if you're into tech and entrepreneurship. It highlights exactly how crazy the system is in Silicon Valley. and how VC's eat their own dog food. This is something that people like Chamath Palihapitiya and Alexis Ohanian are currently trying to finger point. Silicon Valley is broken and this book is the perfect illustration of the reasons why. https://amzn.to/2OPGZxM https://amzn.to/2OPGZxM This is an affiliate link and and I would earn kickbacks on your purchase(s).
- thenaturalist 8y agoThis is an affiliate link and the author of this comment will earn kickbacks on your purchase(s).
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- cofounderYC17 8y agoEcho chamber?
- throwmeplease 8y agoEcho!
- thenaturalist 8y agoEdit to original post reflecting that its an affiliate link was made after my comment, hemce it looks like echo, but isn’t.
- yesenadam 8y agoOk, I wasn't going to comment, but since there are now further comments about this, I will. I was watching just now while bsvalley posted a long ranty paragraph in response to thenaturalist[0], about "I don't know why people don't understand affiliate marketing, it costs the customer nothing", then deleted it after a few minutes because it was being downvoted, then edited their original comment to say "(Affiliate link)" and added a childish one saying "I already wrote it was an affiliate! Didn't you see that! Dah!" or something.. then also deleted that because of downvotes (I was impressed by how fast this downvoting was occurring!) and edited their comment again to childishly mimic thenaturalist's comment, again without mentioning that it was an edit. I'm grateful to thenaturalist, I didn't realize it was an affiliate link, they do seem like ads, or at least cast doubts on the motives of people posting them. [0] which I flagged, as seemed appropriate.
- 21dayhero 8y agoAtomic Habits by James Clear. I work on a habit building platform so read almost all books and papers on habit building and behavioral science. This recent book by James Clear has summarized the key points of what's known about building and replacing habits. It's easy to read and most importantly - practical.
- aalhour 8y agoI am interested in these topics as well, can you share your top 5 resources besides Atomic Habits?
- 21dayhero 8y agosure: James Clear, the above author has the blog where he writes about habits extensively: www.jamesclear.com Tiny Habits is a habit program created by Stanford Prof BJ Fogg - www.tinyhabits.com 21 Day Hero (shameless plug) - is a place where you start building habits through 21 day challenges. We're transitioning however to full-on habit building journey, through an app and other tools/programs - www.21dayhero.com Selfication - http://www.selfication.com/ http://www.selfication.com/ - is also a great blog in the behavioral science direction Best apps out there is Fabulous, Spar!, Habitica, Pacifica and many others. If you want this all in one - our team actually have this secret habit landscape map done, which includes all books, apps, researchers, blogs in the habit space. Haven't shared publicly yet. But can email it to you if you wish
- ishanjain28 8y agoCreativity Inc. It's about Pixar.
- piocho 8y agoGunter Pauli - The Blue Economy
- duykhoa12t 8y agoHow Google works https://www.howgoogleworks.net/ https://www.howgoogleworks.net/ Those ideas and principles of building a successful Google, from making great product, build the great culture and hiring the smart creative people.
- vlindos 8y agoMicrosoft Windows by filter.net Software origins always fascinated me. It was a new world discovery in very recent history.
- thisisrajat 8y agoShoe Dog by Phil Knight (founder of Nike). Hands down the best autobiography I have read. I personally learned a lot about how a brand is created rather than a business. How businesses were built even before VC capital was a thing. And how life is all about making tradeoffs.