Ask HN: Suggest Some Books to Read | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Suggest Some Books to Read

9 pointskilodeca18 comments

I am frustrated by the things I want to do but don't know how to do them.

I want some books to read. Suggest any book that vastly improve your skills.

Last year I read Masters of Doom by David Kushner after someone mentioned it on Hacker News. It was the best book I had read in a long time. It won't improve your skills, but I think it will motivate and inspire you to immerse yourself (if we're talking programming, doing small projects and getting feedback is a better way to improve your skills anyway).

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222146.Masters_of_Doom

I love that book. Dopamine in written form.

Paradigms Lost by John Simon. He is often too pedantic, but I find his extreme focus on writing and speaking English properly to be refreshing in a world of laxity. Reading his book definitely improved my writing skills.

The Pragmatic Programmer.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pragmatic_Programmer

Unix Power Tools

https://docstore.mik.ua/orelly/unix/upt/index.htm

If you want the doorstop:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Unix+power+tools&tag=duckduckgo-f...

Deep Work, by Cal Newport : to focus on what matters. The talent code, by Danie Coyle : to understand the value of deliberate practice. Brain at work, astonishingly useful mixing practical neuroscience and concrete situations. Getting things Done : to adopt a good time management system (you can tweak the method). Good luck !

- 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

- Extreme ownership

- Design of everyday things

- The Spirit of Kaizen: Creating Lasting Excellence One Small Step at a Time

I never expected a Jocko Wilkins or a Jordan Peterson book here. It's curious how I find more and more psychology aficionados around here and people who enjoy their books without being.

I'm currently finishing up the last novel in Banks' Culture series. I can recommend them.

In nonfiction land, I'm almost done with Drucker's The Effective Executive, which I think I got from an HN comment rec.

“One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.”

Deep Work by Cal Newport

What skills do you want to improve?

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

great one!

Factfulness, this book changed how I see the world.

Code Complete

I really like “Smell Detectives” by Melanie Kiechle (a little review - https://ivypanda.com/essays/smell-detectives-by-melanie-kiec...). It is a book that focuses on a concerted effort by physicians and public health officials to promote hygiene in the United States’ urban centers. So, pretty informative and interesting if you are a fan of something like this ;)

If by skill you mean something you do with your hands (and this includes coding and math) reading books is not the answer. Repetition by doing, interspersed with targeted googling, is.

On writing well

Allegory of the cave by plato

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