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I like books which are sort of lessons within a biography format. Points pulled from real experience. For me, this adds context and makes a book readable. If yo

by gexla 7y ago

I like books which are sort of lessons within a biography format. Points pulled from real experience. For me, this adds context and makes a book readable. If you don't learn anything, then at least you might get to read a good story. The hard thing about hard things, by Ben Horowitz The Score Takes Care of Itself, Bill Walsh (49ers Coach) Creativity, Inc, Ed Catmull (Ran Pixar) To Pixar and Beyond, Lawrence Levy (CFO of Pixar with interesting different POV than Ed Catmull) Otherwise for any dumpster fire of a subject I want a book on, I'll try to trace the "lineage" to see where the starting points were. The trash today won't be a thing 50 years from now. So, maybe look at books from 50 years ago or more.

trwhite 7y ago
+1 for all of these. Ben Horowitz's new book "What You Do Is Who You Are" is also well written and quite entertaining. There's a good mix of personal experience, humour and history.
rimliu 7y ago
+1 for Creativity, Inc. (haven't read the others on the list). I also liked both books by Ricardo Semler a lot (Maverick and Seven Days Weekend).
teddyh 7y ago
> I like books which are sort of lessons within a biography format. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert) also fits this description.
- jtms 7y ago
  Why is this being downvoted? Did Scott Adams get cancelled or something?
  - gexla 7y ago
    Maybe explain how it fits. All the books I mentioned were written about these people running or being placed at a high level in these organizations and making decisions which had a substantial impact on them. Does Scott Adams cover this in his book or did he largely work solo?
    - teddyh 7y ago
      It fits your description of being a book of advice about how to succeed which is also largely autobiographical. As far as I know, Adams worked solo, and failed to gain any traction in any large organization, so if that’s what you want to have advice about, the Dilbert guy might not be the one to advise you about how to enjoy success in large organizations.
  - Pxtl 7y ago
    Adams has gone a bit nuts in recent years and has become quite a controversial figure. Like, Ive seen him in political flamewars on Twitter responding to criticism with pictures of his abs. He was a little weird for a long time, but his divorce in 2014 kind of unmoored him.
    - jtms 7y ago
      oh that’s a shame. I used to really like his work back in the day - thanks for the answer
    - teddyh 7y ago
      As far as I know, his “cancellation” stems from one thing, and one thing only: He says that Trump is skilled at being convincing (and explains how, at length). This, in the eyes of others, makes him a Trump apologist, and must therefore be shunned. If you had a link to that weird tweet I would like to see it; it would be interesting to see if I agree with your characterization.
      - Pxtl 7y ago
        It's not just the Trump thing. He loves to butt heads with the social justice types in a way that makes him look awful. Wrote some creepy antifemist blog-posts too. In the wake of a shooting (can't remember which) he tried to push his WhenHub product as a journalism tool. And his fence-sitting support of Trump has always been "now I'm no Trump fan but here's a long list of things Trump is good at and I'll be very defensive about criticism". I was a huge Dilbert fan, so watching his decline sucks.
        teddyh 7y ago
        Again, actual references to your allegations would be useful.
        Pxtl 7y ago
        https://ew.com/article/2011/03/30/dilbert-scott-adams-feminist-outrage/ https://ew.com/article/2011/03/30/dilbert-scott-adams-femini... https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1155679797223182337 https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/11556797972... https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/759398459224920064 https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/75939845922... Also the sockpuppet incident: https://www.salon.com/2011/04/19/scott_adams_sock_puppetry_scandal/ https://www.salon.com/2011/04/19/scott_adams_sock_puppetry_s... There's also the Affirmations thing - the guy believes in his own brand of The Secret, where writing something down over and over again and wanting it bad enough will magic the universe into making it happen. http://mindhacks.org/scott-adams-affirmations/135 http://mindhacks.org/scott-adams-affirmations/135 The guy is kind of a mess. At this point he's his own worst enemy, PR wise.
  - jtms 7y ago
    Hilarious people downvoted me even asking why the other guy was getting downvoted. I guess people are so upset by even seeing this guys name they feel the need to lash out at it no matter the context. My inquiry was a sincere attempt to understand what had happened with Scott Adams, but I guess even mentioning his name is enough to justify a downvote. Hacker news used to be able to discuss things without everyone trying to silence and censor anything they disagree with...

by gexla 7y ago

trwhite 7y ago

+1 for all of these. Ben Horowitz's new book "What You Do Is Who You Are" is also well written and quite entertaining. There's a good mix of personal experience, humour and history.

rimliu 7y ago

+1 for Creativity, Inc. (haven't read the others on the list). I also liked both books by Ricardo Semler a lot (Maverick and Seven Days Weekend).

teddyh 7y ago

> I like books which are sort of lessons within a biography format. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert) also fits this description.

jtms 7y ago
Why is this being downvoted? Did Scott Adams get cancelled or something?
- gexla 7y ago
  Maybe explain how it fits. All the books I mentioned were written about these people running or being placed at a high level in these organizations and making decisions which had a substantial impact on them. Does Scott Adams cover this in his book or did he largely work solo?
  - teddyh 7y ago
    It fits your description of being a book of advice about how to succeed which is also largely autobiographical. As far as I know, Adams worked solo, and failed to gain any traction in any large organization, so if that’s what you want to have advice about, the Dilbert guy might not be the one to advise you about how to enjoy success in large organizations.
- Pxtl 7y ago
  Adams has gone a bit nuts in recent years and has become quite a controversial figure. Like, Ive seen him in political flamewars on Twitter responding to criticism with pictures of his abs. He was a little weird for a long time, but his divorce in 2014 kind of unmoored him.
  - jtms 7y ago
    oh that’s a shame. I used to really like his work back in the day - thanks for the answer
  - teddyh 7y ago
    As far as I know, his “cancellation” stems from one thing, and one thing only: He says that Trump is skilled at being convincing (and explains how, at length). This, in the eyes of others, makes him a Trump apologist, and must therefore be shunned. If you had a link to that weird tweet I would like to see it; it would be interesting to see if I agree with your characterization.
    - Pxtl 7y ago
      It's not just the Trump thing. He loves to butt heads with the social justice types in a way that makes him look awful. Wrote some creepy antifemist blog-posts too. In the wake of a shooting (can't remember which) he tried to push his WhenHub product as a journalism tool. And his fence-sitting support of Trump has always been "now I'm no Trump fan but here's a long list of things Trump is good at and I'll be very defensive about criticism". I was a huge Dilbert fan, so watching his decline sucks.
      - teddyh 7y ago
        Again, actual references to your allegations would be useful.
        Pxtl 7y ago
        https://ew.com/article/2011/03/30/dilbert-scott-adams-feminist-outrage/ https://ew.com/article/2011/03/30/dilbert-scott-adams-femini... https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1155679797223182337 https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/11556797972... https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/759398459224920064 https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/75939845922... Also the sockpuppet incident: https://www.salon.com/2011/04/19/scott_adams_sock_puppetry_scandal/ https://www.salon.com/2011/04/19/scott_adams_sock_puppetry_s... There's also the Affirmations thing - the guy believes in his own brand of The Secret, where writing something down over and over again and wanting it bad enough will magic the universe into making it happen. http://mindhacks.org/scott-adams-affirmations/135 http://mindhacks.org/scott-adams-affirmations/135 The guy is kind of a mess. At this point he's his own worst enemy, PR wise.
- jtms 7y ago
  Hilarious people downvoted me even asking why the other guy was getting downvoted. I guess people are so upset by even seeing this guys name they feel the need to lash out at it no matter the context. My inquiry was a sincere attempt to understand what had happened with Scott Adams, but I guess even mentioning his name is enough to justify a downvote. Hacker news used to be able to discuss things without everyone trying to silence and censor anything they disagree with...