11 ms·
Ask HN: What are the most inspirational blog posts you've ever read?
I was going through my bookmarks and found this:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4000394
- tbirdz 13y agoTeach Yourself Programming in Ten Years by Peter Norvig: http://norvig.com/21-days.html http://norvig.com/21-days.html
- christiangenco 13y agoMr. Money Mustache's account of how he retired at age 30: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-...
- JoshTriplett 13y agoI'm a big fan of that blog, but I actually found the most inspirational post on it to be the one that crunched the critical numbers: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim... The key realization from that post: spending less and saving more helps you retire early not just because you're saving faster, but because you need less to retire: your retirement savings only has to support your expenses, not replace your full income.
- christiangenco 13y agoAhh yes! I go back and re-read that post about once a month for inspiration.
- Morendil 13y agoBut Y would I want to do a thing like this? http://weblog.raganwald.com/2007/02/but-y-would-i-want-to-do-thing-like.html http://weblog.raganwald.com/2007/02/but-y-would-i-want-to-do...
- manojlds 13y agoHow to be more Productive, by Aaron Swartz - http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity
- callum85 13y agoThoreau 2.0 https://static.pinboard.in/xoxo_talk_thoreau.htm https://static.pinboard.in/xoxo_talk_thoreau.htm
- mproenza 13y agoNice article. I liked the Eat The Donuts part. Very well written and really inspiring.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nashequilibrium 13y agohttp://www.chrissiewellington.org/blog/taking-the-plunge/ http://www.chrissiewellington.org/blog/taking-the-plunge/ Because i didn't know what was to come next and whether she would be successful. A snippet from the first blogpost: "Could I be as good as them, if not better? Had I fulfilled my potential, or did I have more to give? Had I pushed my mind and body to the limit? If not, what were those limits? What stars was I capable of grabbing? Without giving it a shot I would never know. I never want to look back and say ‘what if’."
- trumbitta2 13y agoThe bits about creating and shipping products by Nathan Barry and Amy Hoy
- stiff 13y agoMostly not blog posts, but for the last years I tend to revisit the same resources over and over again for inspiration: - "You and your research" by Hamming, and his video lectures which expand on topics in the original talk: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30 - "On teaching mathematics" by V. I. Arnold: http://pauli.uni-muenster.de/~munsteg/arnold.html http://pauli.uni-muenster.de/~munsteg/arnold.html - "Undergraduation" by Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/college.html http://www.paulgraham.com/college.html - "Learn and relearn your field", and many others in the same category, by Terrence Tao http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/learn-and-relearn-your-field/ http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/learn-and-relear... - Steve Jobs Stanford commencement address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc - All articles on programming by Peter Norvig: http://www.norvig.com/ http://www.norvig.com/
- raldi 13y agoA Tale of Two Bridges: http://hintjens.com/blog:16 http://hintjens.com/blog:16
- brickcap 13y agoThanks for sharing this.
- groundbreaker 13y agothink about afterlife
- nader 13y ago"Don't half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing", i.e. "Kill early and often, keeping it alive is not good enough": http://bondero.com/kill-early-and-often-startup-methodology http://bondero.com/kill-early-and-often-startup-methodology
- wellboy 13y ago"It's time to grow up, fuck no" http://appreneur-diaries.com/its-time-to-grow-up-fuck-no http://appreneur-diaries.com/its-time-to-grow-up-fuck-no
- Sandman 13y agoDon't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-programmer/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-pro...
- 3stripe 13y agoHow to be the luckiest guy in the planet, in 4 easy steps http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/ http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-...
- dschiptsov 13y agohttp://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html
- michaelochurch 13y agoEvery time I read something Paul Graham wrote before he became The Godfather I get sad. It may not show in the quality of moderation we see on HN, but he's clearly an extremely talented man.
- S4M 13y agoYep, and I think the quality of his essays dropped recently. Before he became "The Godfather" his writing was really some out of the box thinking, while the recent ones seem to me almost like an ad to go to SV and get funded by YC to try to build the next Facebook.
- dschiptsov 13y agoIt seems like PG always had such ambitions, while the brilliant technical insights came from Rtm.
- evolve2k 13y ago"POOR, POOR CHILD. YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Programming is Hard" http://writing.bryanwoods4e.com/1-poor-poor-child http://writing.bryanwoods4e.com/1-poor-poor-child A brilliant article which lets you know that coding is hard cause it's hard not cause you are stupid and that something can be hard and fun at the same time. I share this with every new coder I help out.
- asselinpaul 13y agoI always like to re-read these: http://worrydream.com/ http://worrydream.com/
- narenrulz 13y agoAng Lee and the uncertainty of success http://jeffjlin.com/2013/02/23/ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-success/ http://jeffjlin.com/2013/02/23/ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-o...
- smoyer 13y agoIt's not a blog post, but I think Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" is perhaps the most inspirational "thing" I've found on the Internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
- noblethrasher 13y agoAbout ten years beore he was famous for the his Last Lecture, he gave a fantastic talk on time management: https://archive.org/details/GabrielRobins_TimeManagement_byRandyPausch https://archive.org/details/GabrielRobins_TimeManagement_byR.... He also gave a revised version of his time management lecture during his brief post-Last-Lecture fame, but I prefer the original.
- deependersingla 13y agoIts about story of YC incubated startup Zerocater founder, everytime I read this it makes me more stronger to work more hard. http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/06/how-i-started-zerocater/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/06/how-i-started-zerocater/
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- coldcode 13y agohttp://thecodist.com/article/all-i-need-to-know-to-be-a-better-programmer-i-learned-in-kindergarten http://thecodist.com/article/all-i-need-to-know-to-be-a-bett...
- brudgers 13y agoI Assume I am Below Average Derek Sivers: http://sivers.org/below-average http://sivers.org/below-average
- giis 13y agoanother one http://sivers.org/zipit http://sivers.org/zipit
- catinsocks 13y agoThere's no speed limit. http://sivers.org/kimo http://sivers.org/kimo
- marsay 13y agoMiyamoto Musashi 21 rules to live your life: http://www.1000manifestos.com/miyamoto-musahi-21-rules-to-live-your-life/ http://www.1000manifestos.com/miyamoto-musahi-21-rules-to-li... Obstacle is the way: http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday/2013/11/26/the-obstacle-is-the-way-interview-with-ryan-holiday-by-zach-obront/ http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday/2013/11/26/the-obsta...
- giis 13y agoGustavo Duarte : Lucky to be a Programmer http://duartes.org/gustavo/blog/post/lucky-to-be-a-programmer http://duartes.org/gustavo/blog/post/lucky-to-be-a-programme...
- hkmurakami 13y agothe complete guide to not giving a fuck http://inoveryourhead.net/the-complete-guide-to-not-giving-a-fuck/ http://inoveryourhead.net/the-complete-guide-to-not-giving-a...
- dominotw 13y agoHis definition of not giving a fuck is wearing vibram fivefingers. weak.
- namzo 13y agoSomething small, every day. https://medium.com/think-different-think-stupid/c6ce326612c8 https://medium.com/think-different-think-stupid/c6ce326612c8
- chestnut-tree 13y agoIn a similar vain http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2013/01/one-a-day/ http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2013/01/one-a-day/
- ek 13y agoMicrocosmographia Academica http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/iau/cornford/cornford.html http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/iau/cornford/cornford.... It's not quite a blog post, but it's as close as one might have come in 1908. I also like a whole host of articles from Matt Might's blog. I think my favorites are 12 resolutions for grad students http://matt.might.net/articles/grad-student-resolutions/ http://matt.might.net/articles/grad-student-resolutions/ and Responding to peer review http://matt.might.net/articles/peer-review-rebuttals/ http://matt.might.net/articles/peer-review-rebuttals/ One last essay that I have enjoyed, also too old to be a blog post, is W.M. Turski's "I was a computer". It's here on Elsevier but fortunately it looks to be open access. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0167642395000194 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0167642395...
- guiambros 13y ago"Lessons from Habitat" [1], by Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer. Not inspirational in the strict sense, but it's amazing to see a paper written more than 20 years ago and still with so many applicable insights in terms of psychology in gaming and virtual worlds. I keep going back and re-reading every couple of years. [1] http://www.crockford.com/ec/lessons.html http://www.crockford.com/ec/lessons.html
- tinger54 13y agoMcKenna said a lot of kooky stuff but this one really speaks to me. http://zenpencils.com/comic/120-terence-mckenna-nature-loves-courage/ http://zenpencils.com/comic/120-terence-mckenna-nature-loves...
- daphneokeefe 13y agoAnd check out Zen Pencil's top 10 of 2013 list.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoI'm not sure about "most inspiring", but this was the first time something on the internet blew my mind: http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html
- ilamparithi 13y agoAlmost all of Paul Graham's essays. Especially How to Make Wealth - http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html How to Do What You Love - http://paulgraham.com/love.html http://paulgraham.com/love.html Inequality and Risk - http://paulgraham.com/inequality.html http://paulgraham.com/inequality.html and Paul Buchheit's My startup path - http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.in/2007/03/my-startup-path.html http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.in/2007/03/my-startup-path.html (I have actually printed a hard copy of this and have it my wallet. This is what finally convinced me to join a startup.)
- mproenza 13y agoPaul Graham's How to make wealth: very very nice article. A must read for everyone. The part where he writes about leverage as a characteristic of technology jobs and it being the only way of multiplying your productivity (or diminishing it) is very illustrative.
- mindcrime 13y agopg's How Not To Die essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html pmarca's The Only Thing That Matters post: http://pmarchive.com/guide_to_startups_part4.html http://pmarchive.com/guide_to_startups_part4.html Pretty much everything Steve Blank has written on Customer Development: http://steveblank.com/category/customer-development/ http://steveblank.com/category/customer-development/ Mark Cuban on How To Get Rich: http://blogmaverick.com/2008/10/04/how-to-get-rich/ http://blogmaverick.com/2008/10/04/how-to-get-rich/ Mark Cuban on Success & Motivation: http://blogmaverick.com/2007/12/24/success-and-motivation/ http://blogmaverick.com/2007/12/24/success-and-motivation/ Jamie Zawinski's Groupware Bad post: http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html
- rsoto 13y agoA few of them: - Blueberry pancakes and battleships → http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/05/blueberry-pancakes-and-battleship.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/05/blueberry-pa... - This Is All Your App Is: a Collection of Tiny Details → http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/05/this-is-all-your-app-is-a-collection-of-tiny-details.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/05/this-is-all-your-ap... - The Personality Layer → http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/07/18/the-personality-layer/ http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/07/18/the-personal... - Asking Questions beats Giving Advice → http://insideintercom.io/asking-questions-versus-giving-advice/ http://insideintercom.io/asking-questions-versus-giving-advi...
- JoshTriplett 13y ago"I won't be able to answer all your questions. Rather, I can show you how to be lost productively, and how to become comfortable not knowing things and teaching yourself." -- David Humphrey, Mozilla developer, http://vocamus.net/dave/?p=60 http://vocamus.net/dave/?p=60 It's one of the most valuable skills you'll need to excel in a technical field, and when mentoring others its one of the most critical skills to impart.
- bennesvig 13y ago- What Would You Do? http://thestoryoftelling.com/what-would-you-do/ http://thestoryoftelling.com/what-would-you-do/ - Reject the tyranny of being picked http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/03/reject-the-tyranny-of-being-picked-pick-yourself.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/03/reject-the-t... - The World's Worst Boss http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/12/the-worlds-worst-boss.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/12/the-worlds-w...
- andersthue 13y agoHow to Deal With Crappy People http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/06/how-to-deal-with-crappy-people/ http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/06/how-to-deal-with-crappy... Made my life easier
- Red_Tarsius 13y agoKejia Zhu (http://kzhu.net/does-life-end-at-35.html http://kzhu.net/does-life-end-at-35.html) helped me to get through the delusional obsession for quick success. I gave it to read to all my friends and it's definitely a must for all HN folks. The good ol' Raymond's How to Become a Hacker (http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html) will teach you the Hacker attitude, which you can apply to anything. It doesn't matter whether you're a programmer or not, either way you'll benefit from it. "1. The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved. 2. No problem should ever have to be solved twice. 3. Boredom and drudgery are evil. 4. Freedom is good. 5. Attitude is no substitute for competence." A Handyman’s Toolbox (http://ninjasandrobots.com/a-handymans-toolbox http://ninjasandrobots.com/a-handymans-toolbox) taught me not to always chase the hot new tech and be confident in my skills. It may be common sense, but it's also well written and straight to the point. Lastly, the following posts are all about traveling and/or alternative lifestyles. They show different POVs, but are all equally inspirational. - http://alexwarren.co.uk/2013/06/27/how-i-live-and-how-i-work/ http://alexwarren.co.uk/2013/06/27/how-i-live-and-how-i-work... - http://jake-jorgovan.com/blog/remote http://jake-jorgovan.com/blog/remote - https://medium.com/better-humans/6620882dde89 https://medium.com/better-humans/6620882dde89 - http://blog.alexmaccaw.com/how-to-travel-around-the-world-for-a-year/ http://blog.alexmaccaw.com/how-to-travel-around-the-world-fo...
- rett12 13y agoWhy you will fail to have a great career by Larry Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKHTawgyKWQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKHTawgyKWQ
- gesman 13y agohttp://swombat.com/2014/1/10/money-and-wealth http://swombat.com/2014/1/10/money-and-wealth
- DavidMunroe83 13y agohttp://www.davidmunroeart.com/artists-blog.html http://www.davidmunroeart.com/artists-blog.html
- merrua 13y agohttp://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/03/code_like_a_gir.html http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/0... http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/09/dignity_is_dead.html http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/0... http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/03/how_to_be_an_ex.html http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/0... http://sachachua.com/blog/2014/01/share-learn/ http://sachachua.com/blog/2014/01/share-learn/
- zackboe 13y ago"how to blog about code and give zero fucks" by Garann Means http://www.garann.com/dev/2013/how-to-blog-about-code-and-give-zero-fucks/ http://www.garann.com/dev/2013/how-to-blog-about-code-and-gi...
- nick_urban 13y agoA transcript of the brilliant speech by Heinz von Foerster titled "Ethics and Second Order Cybernetics". When I read this I found it truly amazing, because it effortlessly connected the existential questions I was facing with the formalism of mathematics and the insight of the humanities, all tied into a beautiful circle. http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/foerster.html http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/foerster.html