Ask HN: How would you spend $25 on barnesandnoble.com?

3 points·quizbiz··5 comments

I trust this community a lot and I just got a $25 gift card. I am not a very savvy or well read reader. I really enjoyed superfreakenomics and Founders at Work.

What reading does HN recommend these days? I have not read Hackers and Painters.

p.s. I am a college freshman.

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I really can't recommend The Long Tail enough. It is overrated and overstated and still the single most important book I've ever read about marketing on the Internet.

Although its not really in the same vein as hacker news, I really enjoyed Gang Leader for a Day: http://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp...

buy Zen-and-the-Art-of-Motorcycle-Maintenance (paperback, $7.21), spend the rest on coffee

It's a very cheesy book and tedious in parts and overall is rather pretentious. The central metaphor, though, makes a brilliant recommendation for someone who "trusts" HN so much, etc.

But... college freshman.... presumed to be "typical" ... hmm...

Maybe there's a good dictionary in that price range? The "Concise English Oxford" is about $25, though I haven't personally seen it so can't specifically recommend it.

Or, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook? Or something about how to do laundry? Or something about law for tenants in landlord-tenant relations?

Perhaps some artsy fartsy book of erotic photos?

Oh! Got it! In the same vein as "Zen and the Art of...", how about "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character" by Richard Feynman?

p.s., re: "I really enjoyed superfreakenomics and Founders at Work." Which is a good reason to not recommend any books in that vein and to instead suggest books that encourage becoming mature and balanced.

art of the start by guy kawasaki

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