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> Maybe I missed something about the reason you oppose the website... It sounds like you took the primary criticism in the parent comment to be about reading i

> Maybe I missed something about the reason you oppose the website... It sounds like you took the primary criticism in the parent comment to be about reading in general. I took it to mean that the best way to learn say economics is not to read one of "the top 5 recommended books on economics" but rather start by googling a specific aspect or question about economics that interests you and then following the thread. Granted, reading one of the top 5 books may be a great entry point for many people but I think there's also a false promise of knowledge offered by sites like this.

zztop44 3y ago
I’m genuinely interested, what is the false promise of knowledge offered by this site?
- RheingoldRiver 3y ago
  Not OOP but - they sell you pop science (or economics or what have you) and make you think that after reading 1 book you'll be an expert in that field. Most people haven't studied any single field deeply, and they don't know how many hours of commitment it takes, how much practice, how much failure, how many projects & validated hypotheses it takes to actually understand something. Reading a book written for non-experts is barely going to give you a sense of what you don't know, nothing more. They're implying, "read this and you'll become an expert." Again try to read this through the eyes of someone who hasn't become an expert at anything. That's the target audience. Anyone who has, would never read the most popular book on a subject to learn from it, They'd read the introductory books meant for people who are planning to go on to study that subject.
  - latexr 3y ago
    > they sell you pop science (or economics or what have you) and make you think that after reading 1 book you'll be an expert in that field. No, they do not. I picked one interview at random and one from the homepage: The interview about food books¹ has one solely about cheese which is praised for the photographs. On three of them the story of the people is the focus. The interview on perfume² has two fiction books. > They're implying, "read this and you'll become an expert." This is demonstrably not the case. These are books on specific subjects that certain people familiar with the fields find interesting and worthy of your time. No one is selling you the idea that you’ll become an expert if you read them. You might be assuming they are, but the content tells a different story. ¹ https://fivebooks.com/best-books/food-books-2023-clare-finney/ https://fivebooks.com/best-books/food-books-2023-clare-finne... ² https://fivebooks.com/best-books/denise-hamilton-perfume/ https://fivebooks.com/best-books/denise-hamilton-perfume/
latexr 3y ago
> It sounds like you took the primary criticism in the parent comment to be about reading in general. I took it as being about this website or something the website represents. I do hope no one is against reading in general. > I took it to mean that the best way to learn (…) start by googling a specific aspect People learn different subjects in different ways. Perhaps googling fits some people and some subjects, but if you don’t know anything about a field you don’t know which questions it makes sense to search for or which websites to trust. > but I think there's also a false promise of knowledge offered by sites like this. I don’t get that at all from this particular website. They’re quite open that they’re presenting “the best books as recommended by X”. The person doing the recommendation is an integral part, they are interviews.
- nathansherburn 3y ago
  Yep fair points. I should say, given this is hackernews there's every chance you might know the person who made this and if you are coming at it from something like this angle, I can understand your frustration. The site is a nice idea and does what it says honestly and well. I certainly don't have anything bad to say about the people who like it or who made it. My feeling towards these sites is more of a personal frustration I have with the advertisement of books in general - whether that be through good reads, best seller lists, book stores etc. I often find myself making lists of books to read like this but all it ever results in is me beating myself up for never getting around to them. On the other hand, the way I have actually learnt things has always been through googling an interest and following the thread. Often the thread leads me to reading a book or two. But rarely does the thread lead me to needing to find the top 5 books on x. For me these sites mostly just create a sense of guilt for not having read the relevant "must read" books. I suspect this is what's behind OPs frustration at the idea of "ticking off" books on a list.

zztop44 3y ago

I’m genuinely interested, what is the false promise of knowledge offered by this site?

RheingoldRiver 3y ago
Not OOP but - they sell you pop science (or economics or what have you) and make you think that after reading 1 book you'll be an expert in that field. Most people haven't studied any single field deeply, and they don't know how many hours of commitment it takes, how much practice, how much failure, how many projects & validated hypotheses it takes to actually understand something. Reading a book written for non-experts is barely going to give you a sense of what you don't know, nothing more. They're implying, "read this and you'll become an expert." Again try to read this through the eyes of someone who hasn't become an expert at anything. That's the target audience. Anyone who has, would never read the most popular book on a subject to learn from it, They'd read the introductory books meant for people who are planning to go on to study that subject.
- latexr 3y ago
  > they sell you pop science (or economics or what have you) and make you think that after reading 1 book you'll be an expert in that field. No, they do not. I picked one interview at random and one from the homepage: The interview about food books¹ has one solely about cheese which is praised for the photographs. On three of them the story of the people is the focus. The interview on perfume² has two fiction books. > They're implying, "read this and you'll become an expert." This is demonstrably not the case. These are books on specific subjects that certain people familiar with the fields find interesting and worthy of your time. No one is selling you the idea that you’ll become an expert if you read them. You might be assuming they are, but the content tells a different story. ¹ https://fivebooks.com/best-books/food-books-2023-clare-finney/ https://fivebooks.com/best-books/food-books-2023-clare-finne... ² https://fivebooks.com/best-books/denise-hamilton-perfume/ https://fivebooks.com/best-books/denise-hamilton-perfume/

latexr 3y ago

> It sounds like you took the primary criticism in the parent comment to be about reading in general. I took it as being about this website or something the website represents. I do hope no one is against reading in general. > I took it to mean that the best way to learn (…) start by googling a specific aspect People learn different subjects in different ways. Perhaps googling fits some people and some subjects, but if you don’t know anything about a field you don’t know which questions it makes sense to search for or which websites to trust. > but I think there's also a false promise of knowledge offered by sites like this. I don’t get that at all from this particular website. They’re quite open that they’re presenting “the best books as recommended by X”. The person doing the recommendation is an integral part, they are interviews.

nathansherburn 3y ago
Yep fair points. I should say, given this is hackernews there's every chance you might know the person who made this and if you are coming at it from something like this angle, I can understand your frustration. The site is a nice idea and does what it says honestly and well. I certainly don't have anything bad to say about the people who like it or who made it. My feeling towards these sites is more of a personal frustration I have with the advertisement of books in general - whether that be through good reads, best seller lists, book stores etc. I often find myself making lists of books to read like this but all it ever results in is me beating myself up for never getting around to them. On the other hand, the way I have actually learnt things has always been through googling an interest and following the thread. Often the thread leads me to reading a book or two. But rarely does the thread lead me to needing to find the top 5 books on x. For me these sites mostly just create a sense of guilt for not having read the relevant "must read" books. I suspect this is what's behind OPs frustration at the idea of "ticking off" books on a list.