6 ms·

Textbooks. Everyone hates them for some reason, but then again I don't know anyone who uses them the way they were designed to be used. From economics to biolo

• epgui 5y ago
  Oh, and for science news, I get mine from journals, eg: - https://www.nature.com/ https://www.nature.com/ - https://www.science.org/ https://www.science.org/
• schnitzelstoat 5y ago
  The problem I have with this is that textbooks can be quite difficult to read in that they are often large A4-size pages with many images. This makes them practically impossible to read on an e-reader and even reading on a tablet isn't ideal. Meanwhile the physical copies can often be large and unwieldy. If there was an easy way to sit and read them in bed, on the bus etc. like there is with normal books and my Kindle then I'm sure I'd read a great many more.
  • macinjosh 5y ago
    In the 90s/ 00s I'd xerox one chapter at a time (only pages with actual content) and put the pages in a binder or spiral bound format for easy luggability. The iPad is good enough for me now.
  • tmaly 5y ago
    I find many of the modern textbooks loaded with colorful boxes on the sides to be quite a distraction. If the goal was to help you learn, they should have optimized for focus.
    • epgui 5y ago
      As obvious as it seems now that you say it, I think what you say makes sense.
  • sn9 5y ago
    Though this is horrific to me, if it's convenience that you're after you could always take a box cutter to the textbooks, cut them into chapters, and maybe have them spiral-bound. Alternatively, you could see if there exists a loose-leaf copy of your textbook.
  • abdullahkhalids 5y ago
    Textbooks are meant to be read sitting at a desk, with a notebook and pen on the side. You are supposed to summarize the information in written form and answer the end of chapter questions. Reading on the bus gets you barely any mileage out of the textbook - you are better off reading a popular book on the subject.
• lifefeed 5y ago
  They cost far less than that if you buy international editions off eBay. Same content for less money, even new. (And if you want to know why they sell the same books for less money to different markets, pick up Principles of Economics by Mankiw)
• albrewer 5y ago
  I find it hard to read some textbooks, especially older ones. If I'm missing a core concept or key piece of background, it's difficult or impossible to even know what the gaps are that need to be filled in my knowledge, and the book assumes prior knowledge.
• amerine 5y ago
  What has been your favorite recently?
  • epgui 5y ago
    More recently, I've really enjoyed: - Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives (John C. Hull): https://www.amazon.ca/Options-Futures-Other-Derivatives-10th/dp/013447208X/ https://www.amazon.ca/Options-Futures-Other-Derivatives-10th... - Financial Accounting Theory (Scott & O'Brien): https://www.amazon.ca/Financial-Accounting-Theory-8th-Edition/dp/013416668X https://www.amazon.ca/Financial-Accounting-Theory-8th-Editio... - Networks (Mark Newman): https://www.amazon.ca/Networks-Mark-Newman/dp/0198805098/ https://www.amazon.ca/Networks-Mark-Newman/dp/0198805098/
  • chermi 5y ago
    You didn't ask me, but piggybacking anyway. Some of these I've been going back to for years starting back in my PhD, working through some ideas as I have time. Some I have recently been learning new things from. Approximately in that order below: Too many stat mech books, but honestly favorite is this old one. If you want a real challenge try to read to the OG Gibbs. Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics Lectures On Phase Transitions And The Renormalization Group Probability Theory: The Logic of Science Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms Information, Physics, and Computation Elements of Information Theory Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning The Nature of Computation Principles of Cyber-Physical Systems Introduction to Embedded Systems, Second Edition: A Cyber-Physical Systems Approach Data-Driven Science and Engineering: Machine Learning, Dynamical Systems, and Control An Invitation to Applied Category Theory: Seven Sketches in Compositionality BTW, feel free to ask for recommendations in physics, especially stat mech, simulation/computation, condensed matter theory
    • chermi 5y ago
      I also liked slatestarcodex a lot, but I think he has a new website now after journalism drama. He was some sort of psych professor if I recall. Just overall good, honest open reading + discussion. Sometimes political, sometimes not. I always point people to this motte and bailey article as I find it's a litmus test to see they find him too much. --https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/03/all-in-all-another-brick-in-the-motte/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/03/all-in-all-another-bri... If you're into science, you might like Quanta Magazine. I don't think there's any science journalism that will ever not bother me, but this one tries really hard. I happen to know that Jennifer Oullete in particular puts a lot of hard work into her articles
• randmeerkat 5y ago
  What’s your favorite textbooks? How do you discover which ones to buy? Is there a space online where people are talking about this?
  • epgui 5y ago
    I spend a lot of time sniffing them out. One thing I'll do once in a while is visit a university bookstore to get a sense of what's being used in classrooms. I ended up with a lot of my law textbooks like that. In law, I've really loved: - Canadian Administrative Law (Guy Régimbald): https://store.lexisnexis.ca/en/categories/shop-by-jurisdiction/federal-13/canadian-administrative-law-3rd-edition-skusku-cad-00635/details https://store.lexisnexis.ca/en/categories/shop-by-jurisdicti... - Tort Law (Horsey & Rackley): https://www.amazon.ca/Tort-Law-Kirsty-Horsey-dp-019886776X/dp/019886776X/ https://www.amazon.ca/Tort-Law-Kirsty-Horsey-dp-019886776X/d... - Handbook of Canadian Higher Education Law (Shanahan, Nilso & Broshko): https://www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Canadian-Higher-Education-Law/dp/1553394429 https://www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Canadian-Higher-Education-Law... I've been on a maths, stats and ML/AI binge in the last year, and so far my top picks are: - Calculus (Stewart): https://www.amazon.ca/Calculus-James-Stewart/dp/1337624187/ https://www.amazon.ca/Calculus-James-Stewart/dp/1337624187/ - Linear Algebra Done Right (Sheldon Axler): https://www.amazon.ca/Linear-Algebra-Right-Undergraduate-Mathematics-ebook/dp/B00PULZWPC https://www.amazon.ca/Linear-Algebra-Right-Undergraduate-Mat... - An Illustrative Guide to Multivariable and Vector Calculus (Miklavcic): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/3030334589/ https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/3030334589/ - Probability: A Graduate Course (Allan Gut): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1461447070/ https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1461447070/ - Statistical Rethinking (McElreath): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/036713991X/ https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/036713991X/ - An Introduction to Statistical Learning (James, Witten, Hastie & Tibshirani): https://www.amazon.ca/Introduction-Statistical-Learning-Applications-dp-1071614177/dp/1071614177/ https://www.amazon.ca/Introduction-Statistical-Learning-Appl... - Regression and Other Stories (Gelman, Hill & Vehtari): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1107676517/ https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1107676517/ - Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models (Gelman & Hill): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/052168689X/ https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/052168689X/ - Statistical and Data Analysis for Financial Engineering (Ruppert & Matteson): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1493926136/ https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1493926136/ - Reinforcement Learning (Sutton & Barto): https://www.amazon.ca/Reinforcement-Learning-Introduction-Richard-Sutton/dp/0262039249/ https://www.amazon.ca/Reinforcement-Learning-Introduction-Ri... - Deep Learning (Godfellow, Bengio & Courville): https://www.amazon.ca/Deep-Learning-Ian-Goodfellow/dp/0262035618/ref=pd_bxgy_img_1/136-5872634-9070117 https://www.amazon.ca/Deep-Learning-Ian-Goodfellow/dp/026203... - Networks (Mark Newman): https://www.amazon.ca/Networks-Mark-Newman/dp/0198805098/ https://www.amazon.ca/Networks-Mark-Newman/dp/0198805098/ I have a ton of textbooks in my wishlist that seem noteworthy and interesting, but that I haven't gotten the chance to read yet: no promises, but you might find something in there https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/1FWW046Q3RWWM https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/1FWW046Q3RWWM My area of expertise is biochemistry, life science, immunology, cell bio... So if anyone wants good recommendations in these topics I have plenty! :)
• wenc 5y ago
  Textbooks are great for quickly acquiring tree-level knowledge (i.e. the basics or the canon of the field). There's one downside however -- college textbooks are incentivized to be comprehensive and hence they will often cover chapters on topics that don't matter or ought to be given less weight in the larger scheme of things. If you are uninitiated in a particular subject, you will be hard pressed to discern what's important and what's not. Many textbooks also tend to cover textbook theory which are useful for understanding the subject matter but not useful in the real world (e.g. the determinant method for solving linear systems of equations is almost never used in the real world) Textbook authors are also incentivized to add chapters every couple of years so that new editions can be published. Sometimes those new chapters are important, sometimes they are not. Textbooks are a starting point but they generally should not be read end-to-end. A better way to read them is the guidance of an instructor or a (online?) community of practitioners that can tell you what to pay attention to and what chapters to skip.
  • epgui 5y ago
    My (rather strongly held) view is that most things in textbooks tend to be much more useful than people think, and I actually rather love reading textbooks cover to cover, in the order it's presented, preface and all.
  • zx321 5y ago
    If lacking assistance, you can get guidance on which parts of your books are worth reading by googling for college course syllabi.
• godelski 5y ago
  It's because most are very dry and poorly written. There are some real gems out there though. So maybe we can list some here? Here's some of my favorites: - Statistical Rethinking : Richard McElreath (also great Twitter and online lectures) - Introduction to Quantum Mechanics: Griffiths (anything he writes is good) - Classical Dynamics of Particles and System : Stephen Thornton
  • schnitzelstoat 5y ago
    +1 for Griffiths. His Electromagnetism book was also really good.
  • Aromasin 5y ago
    One to add, which entirely shaped the trajectory of my career, would be The Art of Electronics by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill. I was convinced that I wanted to go into aerospace, mechanical, or software engineering before I read this book. They all made logical sense, within their layer of abstraction, compared to electronics which seemed closer to a dark-art. Granted I still sometimes see it that way, but with much less fear. No-one I knew could concisely explain how electronics worked to me (outside of some very rudimentary explanations), so this book felt like I was reading occult material. I devoured it cover-to-cover in the space of a few of months, completed every exercise, and either simulated or built all the circuits that I thought to be interesting or useful. I still have a shelf full of stripboard circuits from that time that I still reference for projects. The local dump workers knew me by name, as I was there every weekend to scavenge old toasters and microwaves and gut them for parts. To this day it's still some of the most fulfilling engineering work I think I've ever done, and my personal edition is now dog-eared like a good Christians' bible.
    • chermi 5y ago
      +1 to Horowitz & Hill. Get the lab manual thing too!
  • piceas 5y ago
    What is this thing called Science? : Chalmers
• racl101 5y ago
  Hate paying the typical exorbitant prices for them but I like reading them.