3 ms·

More accurately, this could be titled "most frequently mentioned books in replies to 'Ask HN' posts that have 'book' in their title". (Like "Ask HN: Math books

by svat 3y ago

More accurately, this could be titled "most frequently mentioned books in replies to 'Ask HN' posts that have 'book' in their title". (Like "Ask HN: Math books that made you significantly better at math?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34439828 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34439828 and "Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35929112 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35929112 and "Ask HN: Sci-Fi Book Recommendations" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35052757 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35052757) As such, the selection process here will be biased towards the kinds of 'Ask HN' posts that can get voted highly (to be visible, to attract many comments), and within those, these are the most frequently mentioned books. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's always a good idea to pay attention to the selection criteria, as selection effects are everywhere. For example, it would also make sense to exclude such threads, to get a more representative idea of what books HN comments tend to talk about in natural contexts.)

moomin 3y ago
Glad to see I helped get Rudin into the top 10. :D More seriously, I remember many of these questions and it’s important to understand sentiment matters. Many of the mentions of SICP are not glowing. Indeed, they’re specifically written by people who want to puncture the bubble of worship around the book. With all of that said, I think this list is fun.
deleted 3y ago
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mindcrime 3y ago
'Ask HN' posts that have 'book' in their title". Yeah, that kinda puts a damper on it for me. Only selecting "book" Ask HN's leaves out a lot of stuff. Just to illustrate: I was initially surprised not to see The Four Steps to the Epiphany on the list. Heck, I probably mentioned it 6 or 7 times last year on my own. But when I went back and searched, it seems like all the times that I mentioned that book were in threads that weren't about books per-se. And I'm sure plenty of other people will have similar anecdotes. For example, it would also make sense to exclude such threads, to get a more representative idea of what books HN comments tend to talk about in natural contexts.) Yes, exactly. I'd like to see a similar analysis done, but excluding those threads for the same reason.
- hammock 3y ago
  It seems like with LLMs this year it ought to be easy to look at the whole comment base and pull out the book titles without having to use a “book” keyword

by svat 3y ago

moomin 3y ago

Glad to see I helped get Rudin into the top 10. :D More seriously, I remember many of these questions and it’s important to understand sentiment matters. Many of the mentions of SICP are not glowing. Indeed, they’re specifically written by people who want to puncture the bubble of worship around the book. With all of that said, I think this list is fun.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

mindcrime 3y ago

'Ask HN' posts that have 'book' in their title". Yeah, that kinda puts a damper on it for me. Only selecting "book" Ask HN's leaves out a lot of stuff. Just to illustrate: I was initially surprised not to see The Four Steps to the Epiphany on the list. Heck, I probably mentioned it 6 or 7 times last year on my own. But when I went back and searched, it seems like all the times that I mentioned that book were in threads that weren't about books per-se. And I'm sure plenty of other people will have similar anecdotes. For example, it would also make sense to exclude such threads, to get a more representative idea of what books HN comments tend to talk about in natural contexts.) Yes, exactly. I'd like to see a similar analysis done, but excluding those threads for the same reason.

hammock 3y ago
It seems like with LLMs this year it ought to be easy to look at the whole comment base and pull out the book titles without having to use a “book” keyword