Ask HN: What are you reading? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What are you reading?

16 pointscalabin21 comments

What book, article, paper, etc. are you reading right now?

I just finished Ben Rhodes' book The World As It Is, about his eight years in the Obama administration as the U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications. I have always found the scale of a U.S. president's duties pretty awe-inspiring so I found the book fascinating. If you share that interest, I would also recommend Days of Fire about the Bush administration.

I've also recently finished up Into the Black, the true story of Space Shuttle Columbia's first mission, and the coming together of the shuttle program as a whole. It was filled with interesting details, though I did feel like it jumped around a bit.

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I'm a huge sci-fi geek. I've recently been listening to The Expanse series. I'm on book 3. The narrator of all 3 thus far is fantastic - the subtle voice changes and accent put-ons and various other verbal techniques makes the experience far easier to follow and immerse yourself into. One of the best narrators for any audiobook I've heard.

Agreed. For another great sci-fi audiobook narrator, check out John Lee.

I'm reading a couple books at the moment.

Valley of Genius[1] is a history of silicon valley, but told via excerpts and quotes from influential members of the SV community. It's quite a fascinating book, and I highly recommend it. I'm in my early thirties, so this book really helps to provide context for when people say we're just rebuilding things that have been done before. Learning about what was going on at Xerox with Alan Kay is just incredible.

The other book I'm reading is the Selfish Gene[1], by Richard Dawkins. I've read this book 3-4 times already, so at this point I read it for almost philosophical reasons. It's a wonderful explanation of evolution and micro-biology. I'm sure there are more up-to-date texts, but Dawkins is a superb writer.

[1] Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley (As Told by the Hackers, Founders, and Freaks Who Made It Boom)

[2] The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins

The best book about the ARPA/Parc research in the 60s and 70s is "The Dream Machine" by Mitchell Waldrop.

Thank you very much for the recommendation. I'll definitely give this a read.

Recently finished The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte and How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. I would have been embarrassed to have been caught reading the latter given the subject matter, despite how influential he's been on how I think about food, but it was a real insightful treat.

Currently reading The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South and Safe Area Goražde, a comic book about the Bosnian War.

Also reading Bertrand Russell's The History of Western Philosophy in between books, but that's a book I'll never really finish.

I just finished reading the death's end by Liu Cixin, the third part of the three body problem Trilogy. It was a great read and the last novel was absolutely riveting I am I was in awe of the author when I read the first one but after having completed the Trilogy I am I don't know what to say this guy as can you guys suggest me something like this I have read neal stephanson and I am looking forward reading more space fantasies that I still grounded in the present Times to a certain extent

Harmony and Voice Leading, Aldwell and Schacter. Also, The Art of Saxophone Playing by Larry Teal. I think the typical thing for a guy my age is that they're supposed to go out and get like a sports car and/or a mistress, but I can't afford those things, so I got a saxophone instead. And . . . a banjo.

Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

I'm normally flipping between a few, due to trying to get better at technical work, management/people work, and personal tinkering.

The Score Takes Care of Itself

Building Evolutionary Architectures

Design It!

Managing Humans

Big Nerd Ranch Kotlin

After just finishing my dessert, Jeri Westerson's latest Crispin Guest Mystery, I'm on to more serious matter in The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday.

mathematics form and function by Mac Lane (sweeping coverage of all of math at about the undergrad math major level by one of the best mathematicians of the 20th) and the power broker by Caro (no clue really - Robert Moses was the most effective public works new York has ever had, brought down Tammany hall but also quite racist - came highly recommended in an r/NYC thread about him)

I'm currently making my way through the federalist papers. I'm about 40% done.

Right now I'm reading Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt and Cryptonomicon.

Current reading material

Dark Matt and Trojan Horses by Dan Hill

Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

Simplicity by Edward de Bono

Just finished - Only the Paranoid Survive & Measure What Matters

How did you like Measure What Matters?

At any given time I'm "reading" about 30 books, as in, I have read at least some portion of it, put a bookmark in it, and added it to my "currently reading" queue on Goodreads.

More pragmatically, at any given time there are usually 2-3 books that I'm actively making meaningful progress on and expect to finish in the next 1-30 days or so. Right now that set includes:

A Canticle for Liebowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas Hofstadter

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies - Nick Bostrom

Beyond that, I'll just link to the aforementioned Goodreads profile. Feel free to friend me on there, I always enjoy following what other HN'ers are reading.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/33942804-phillip-rhodes

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