28 ms·

Ask HN: What are some Good Books you have read in past one year or so..

5 points by fromdoon 14y ago

Hi, I have some free time coming up next month and wanted to know if you have some good books to recommend. I'm looking for not-strictly-technical books. After a whole year of going through programming related books, it would be great if I can unwind with some non-technical mind opening stuff. Thanks in Advance! :)

knouroozi 14y ago
Great Expectations (Charles Dickens). It grows on you after you've read through the first part.
Kluny 14y ago
Shantaram by Gregory Roberts. Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow. That's Me in the Middle by Donald Jack.
jaddison 14y ago
If you like sci-fi - try the Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy. Not exactly recent, but I thought quite good.
GuiA 14y ago
A varied assortment: --- The Lifecycle of Software Objects Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind What Is Property The City of Dreaming Books Born to Run Gödel, Escher, Bach
derekja 14y ago
Regenesis by George Church and Ed Regis. Mind-blowing future possibilities for synthetic biology from one of the main leaders in the field. I wrote a full review here: http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/11/george-church-and-the-potential-of-synthetic-biology.html http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/11/george-church-and-the-poten...
mvleming 14y ago
The Seven Mysteries of Life I read last November over the span of a month, and this book is probably the one that has most-defined who I am today, even though it's been just a year. The author, Guy Murchie, spent 15 years writing it. From it I learned the most anybody is from me is 50th-cousin. I also learned that there are insects so small they don't feel gravity, and for them flying through the air feels like swimming. Seriously, get this book, it is earth-shattering. I'm also going to recommend another book but I hope not to undermine my first recommendation. It was written by Joseph Campbell and it's called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. I read it in January. In it Campbell writes of many mythological stories and then ties their common themes back to the journey the 'hero' must take. And from this journey the hero must take I got insights that were profound. I'm not kidding when I say I hold a deep reverence for this book. I hope you check 'em out. :) Edit: Here are the links to the books on Amazon: The Seven Mysteries of Life: http://www.amazon.com/The-Seven-Mysteries-Life-Murchie/dp/0395957915/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352955359&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+mysteries+of+life http://www.amazon.com/The-Seven-Mysteries-Life-Murchie/dp/03... and The Hero with a Thousand Faces: http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352955351&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hero+with+a+thousand+faces http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbe...
cup 14y ago
I've slowly been working my way through Kitab Al-Hikam by Al Iskandari. It's pretty interesting, reminds me of eastern philosophies, zen koans and the inter connected nature of religions or philosophies which don't seem to share any apparant connection.
khetarpal 14y ago
The power of habit by Charles Duhigg. Whether its getting up early in the morning, going to the gym, learning new skills - it all comes down how good a person is in forming new habits and sticking to them. This book helps get into the mechanics of how habits are formed, and the elements that will help make them stick. The best part is that the book is loaded with specific case studies for both personal use as well as case studies relevant for product-based organization. I loved it! Not that I'm going to the gym any more regularly though :)
timmm 14y ago
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho. King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Moore and Gillette The lean startup Paul Graham how to start a startup Mark Hyman Ultimate Mind Solution Tribal Leadership Wheel of Time Think and Grow Rich Superior Man David Deida The Fountain Head Eckhart Tolle New Earth 50th Law Good to Great Jed Mckenna Earl Nightengale Long Walk to Freedom Outliers Good to Great Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz (Self-image) Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey(Being awesome) Wealth of Nations Wayne Dyer The Tao System of the World Origin of Species Brave new world Thank you economy Crush it Built to Last Who Moved my Cheese Stillness Speak Eckhert Tolle Mastery George Leonard Steve Jobs Biography The Last Lecture Steve Pavlina Books Iacocca Striking Thoughts Bruce Lee Carlos Castaneda Ghost in the Wires Richest Man in Babylon Way of the Superior Man Losing My Virginity Think and Grow Rich Delivering Happiness
spuiszis 14y ago
Man's Search for Meaning - ViktorFrankl Endgame (Biography of Bobby Fischer) - Frank Brady Walt Disney - Bob Thomas The Given Day - Dennis Lehane (Fiction) Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane (Way better than movie) Michael Lewis - The Big Short Churchill - Paul Johnson (faster read than the others)
fsethi 14y ago
Some old that I have re-read, some new, all worth your time: Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway IQ84 - Haruki Murakami The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch On Writing - Stephen King When Bad Things Happen To Good People - Harold Kushner Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger Notes To Myself - Hugh Prather
staunch 14y ago
I re-read Julius Caesar's Commentaries at least five times a year. I find them some of the most absolutely fascinating texts that exist. Discovered them when I was maybe 15 and they sparked my love of ancient history. Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" is interesting in some similar ways.
SuperChihuahua 14y ago
Coders at work The numbers behind Numb3rs Statistical methods in counterterrorism Total recall (the biography by Schwarzenegger) From dictatorship to democracy (available for free here: http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations98ce.html http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations98ce.html) The miracle of mindfulness The design of everyday things Escape from camp 14
satyajitsdt 14y ago
Last month I read "Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig and just completed reading "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions" by Dan Ariely. I would recommend both of these books. I have just started with 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman.
kaipakartik 14y ago
I quite liked the following 1) Angelmaker 2) Gone away world 3) The Hobbit 4) Fables the comic seriers Non fiction 1) Steve Jobs 2) Thinking fast and slow Have a look http://blog.kaipakartik.com http://blog.kaipakartik.com for the books I enjoyed reading
dontstealmyname 14y ago
I found the book "The definitive book of body language: How to read others's thoughts by their gestures" by Allan and Barbara Pease to be a great read. The greatest show on Earth - Richard Dawkins was an excellent read. Surely you're joking Mr Feynman by Richard p.Feynman was terrific read by a very small bit can considerred offensive or at the least dated in its outlook but if you can get past that its great! I recently finished a book on ID called "Masters of doom" by David Kushner which I rather enjoyed as well. I also love reading about crackers from the (mostly) 80's and I can recommend. Cuckoo Egg by Cliff Stoll Masters of deception We are anonymous - Inside the hacker world of lulzsec, anonymous and the global cyber insurgency by Parmy Olson I loved "Underground Hacking Madness and the obsession on the electronic frontier" once I got past the first 2 or 3 chapters (also it was researched by Julian Assange before wikileak and has a chapter about his hacking) An Ebook copy can be found on the authors website http://www.underground-book.net/download.php3 http://www.underground-book.net/download.php3 Ghost in the wire Kevin Mitnick
GoTeamMN 14y ago
I just read The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. It's a beautifully written book. It's fiction.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
pitchups 14y ago
Everything Is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer by Duncan J. Watts Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars by Shankar Vedantam The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry) by Siva Vaidhyanathan In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy Idea Man: A Memoir by Paul Allen The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar
pencil 14y ago
I like this thread very much. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663791 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663791
earroway 14y ago
"Running with Kenyans"- Adharanand Finn

5 points by fromdoon 14y ago

knouroozi 14y ago

Great Expectations (Charles Dickens). It grows on you after you've read through the first part.

Kluny 14y ago

Shantaram by Gregory Roberts. Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow. That's Me in the Middle by Donald Jack.

jaddison 14y ago

If you like sci-fi - try the Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy. Not exactly recent, but I thought quite good.

GuiA 14y ago

A varied assortment: --- The Lifecycle of Software Objects Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind What Is Property The City of Dreaming Books Born to Run Gödel, Escher, Bach

derekja 14y ago

Regenesis by George Church and Ed Regis. Mind-blowing future possibilities for synthetic biology from one of the main leaders in the field. I wrote a full review here: http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/11/george-church-and-the-potential-of-synthetic-biology.html http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/11/george-church-and-the-poten...

mvleming 14y ago

The Seven Mysteries of Life I read last November over the span of a month, and this book is probably the one that has most-defined who I am today, even though it's been just a year. The author, Guy Murchie, spent 15 years writing it. From it I learned the most anybody is from me is 50th-cousin. I also learned that there are insects so small they don't feel gravity, and for them flying through the air feels like swimming. Seriously, get this book, it is earth-shattering. I'm also going to recommend another book but I hope not to undermine my first recommendation. It was written by Joseph Campbell and it's called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. I read it in January. In it Campbell writes of many mythological stories and then ties their common themes back to the journey the 'hero' must take. And from this journey the hero must take I got insights that were profound. I'm not kidding when I say I hold a deep reverence for this book. I hope you check 'em out. :) Edit: Here are the links to the books on Amazon: The Seven Mysteries of Life: http://www.amazon.com/The-Seven-Mysteries-Life-Murchie/dp/0395957915/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352955359&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+mysteries+of+life http://www.amazon.com/The-Seven-Mysteries-Life-Murchie/dp/03... and The Hero with a Thousand Faces: http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352955351&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hero+with+a+thousand+faces http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbe...

cup 14y ago

I've slowly been working my way through Kitab Al-Hikam by Al Iskandari. It's pretty interesting, reminds me of eastern philosophies, zen koans and the inter connected nature of religions or philosophies which don't seem to share any apparant connection.

khetarpal 14y ago

The power of habit by Charles Duhigg. Whether its getting up early in the morning, going to the gym, learning new skills - it all comes down how good a person is in forming new habits and sticking to them. This book helps get into the mechanics of how habits are formed, and the elements that will help make them stick. The best part is that the book is loaded with specific case studies for both personal use as well as case studies relevant for product-based organization. I loved it! Not that I'm going to the gym any more regularly though :)

timmm 14y ago

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho. King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Moore and Gillette The lean startup Paul Graham how to start a startup Mark Hyman Ultimate Mind Solution Tribal Leadership Wheel of Time Think and Grow Rich Superior Man David Deida The Fountain Head Eckhart Tolle New Earth 50th Law Good to Great Jed Mckenna Earl Nightengale Long Walk to Freedom Outliers Good to Great Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz (Self-image) Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey(Being awesome) Wealth of Nations Wayne Dyer The Tao System of the World Origin of Species Brave new world Thank you economy Crush it Built to Last Who Moved my Cheese Stillness Speak Eckhert Tolle Mastery George Leonard Steve Jobs Biography The Last Lecture Steve Pavlina Books Iacocca Striking Thoughts Bruce Lee Carlos Castaneda Ghost in the Wires Richest Man in Babylon Way of the Superior Man Losing My Virginity Think and Grow Rich Delivering Happiness

spuiszis 14y ago

Man's Search for Meaning - ViktorFrankl Endgame (Biography of Bobby Fischer) - Frank Brady Walt Disney - Bob Thomas The Given Day - Dennis Lehane (Fiction) Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane (Way better than movie) Michael Lewis - The Big Short Churchill - Paul Johnson (faster read than the others)

fsethi 14y ago

Some old that I have re-read, some new, all worth your time: Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway IQ84 - Haruki Murakami The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch On Writing - Stephen King When Bad Things Happen To Good People - Harold Kushner Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger Notes To Myself - Hugh Prather

staunch 14y ago

I re-read Julius Caesar's Commentaries at least five times a year. I find them some of the most absolutely fascinating texts that exist. Discovered them when I was maybe 15 and they sparked my love of ancient history. Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" is interesting in some similar ways.

SuperChihuahua 14y ago

Coders at work The numbers behind Numb3rs Statistical methods in counterterrorism Total recall (the biography by Schwarzenegger) From dictatorship to democracy (available for free here: http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations98ce.html http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations98ce.html) The miracle of mindfulness The design of everyday things Escape from camp 14

satyajitsdt 14y ago

Last month I read "Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig and just completed reading "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions" by Dan Ariely. I would recommend both of these books. I have just started with 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman.

kaipakartik 14y ago

I quite liked the following 1) Angelmaker 2) Gone away world 3) The Hobbit 4) Fables the comic seriers Non fiction 1) Steve Jobs 2) Thinking fast and slow Have a look http://blog.kaipakartik.com http://blog.kaipakartik.com for the books I enjoyed reading

dontstealmyname 14y ago

I found the book "The definitive book of body language: How to read others's thoughts by their gestures" by Allan and Barbara Pease to be a great read. The greatest show on Earth - Richard Dawkins was an excellent read. Surely you're joking Mr Feynman by Richard p.Feynman was terrific read by a very small bit can considerred offensive or at the least dated in its outlook but if you can get past that its great! I recently finished a book on ID called "Masters of doom" by David Kushner which I rather enjoyed as well. I also love reading about crackers from the (mostly) 80's and I can recommend. Cuckoo Egg by Cliff Stoll Masters of deception We are anonymous - Inside the hacker world of lulzsec, anonymous and the global cyber insurgency by Parmy Olson I loved "Underground Hacking Madness and the obsession on the electronic frontier" once I got past the first 2 or 3 chapters (also it was researched by Julian Assange before wikileak and has a chapter about his hacking) An Ebook copy can be found on the authors website http://www.underground-book.net/download.php3 http://www.underground-book.net/download.php3 Ghost in the wire Kevin Mitnick

GoTeamMN 14y ago

I just read The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. It's a beautifully written book. It's fiction.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

pitchups 14y ago

Everything Is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer by Duncan J. Watts Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars by Shankar Vedantam The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry) by Siva Vaidhyanathan In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy Idea Man: A Memoir by Paul Allen The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar

pencil 14y ago

I like this thread very much. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663791 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663791

earroway 14y ago

"Running with Kenyans"- Adharanand Finn