5 ms·
Ask HN: The book you always wanted to read but never had time or motivation for?
What is the book you always wanted to read but never had time or motivation for?
Three answers are allowed, one is to look smart (eg: "The Count of Monte Cristo"), one is for the title you are a little ashamed of (eg: "The Neuromancer"), one is for a tech book (eg: "Lions' Commentary on Unix").
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
- lemma 13y agoto look smart Gravity's Rainbow ashamed of: the Dark Tower series tech: no interest in reading one from cover to cover, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise edit: not sure which way I interpret "ashamed", take it how you will!
- gghh 13y agoto look smart: The Count of Monte Cristo, A. Dumas ashamed of: The Neuromancer, W. Gibson Tech: Lions' Commentary on Unix, J. Lions
- mindcrime 13y agoone is for the title you are a little ashamed of FWIW, I'm interpreting this as "ashamed to admit you haven't read this title yet" as opposed to "ashamed to admit you want to read this title". To Look Smart: Wolfram's A New Kind of Science Ashamed Of: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Tech: Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming
- gghh 13y agocorrect interpretation of my shame. All my friends have read Neuromancer, when they talk about it only think I can do is to try drifting the topic on something else.
- selimthegrim 13y agoDon't be so ashamed - it's a good book but even Sussman and Abelson teach their courses out of other books now.
- contextual 13y agoTo look smart: The Tao of Physics Ashamed of the title: Yoga, Inc Tech book: CSS and HTML Web Design (because I've been faking it all along)
- callmeed 13y agoTo look smart (I think): Gödel, Escher, Bach or anything by Ayn Rand
- ameister14 13y agoI don't mean to offend you, but for a large segment of the U.S. population reading Ayn Rand does not make you look smart.
- callmeed 13y agoNo offense taken ... I have no dog in the fight
- w_t_payne 13y agoErr.... all of them?
- clockwork_189 13y agoMoonwalking with Einstein(http://www.amazon.ca/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Remembering-Everything/dp/0143120530 http://www.amazon.ca/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Rememberin...) Thinking, Fast and Slow (http://www.amazon.ca/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0385676514/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b http://www.amazon.ca/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0...)
- andrewcooke 13y agofast and slow is worth it. really. i am a picky reader - often stop reading books half way through - but i couldn't put that one down. very good book.
- mariuolo 13y agoIn search of lost time, by Marcel Proust. I've had it on my shelf for a while.
- terrykohla 13y agothat book by Marx, just to know what all the fuzz is about.