Ask HN: If I am 16 what should I learn? Which books should read?
I want to hear some advices to not waste time on smth. You can advise everything what you want or you can share any experiences or stories.
If I could tell myself something at 16 it would be: Do what you want. Not what others want of you. Go after what you want, regardless of whether you think it will work out, or make you rich, or make your parents happy, or make your friends happy, or what religion says you "should" do, or what anyone says you "should" do.
Some of my favorites include: a moveable feast, watership down, 11.22.63
I remember how lost when I was 16, truly it was just a massive wave of depression and fear and loss. I encourage you to do what I did and explore as many facets as you can possibly imagine (coding, guitar practice, drawing, 3D modeling, pixel art, car tuning, botany, gardening, astronomy...) and if you find something you love and you find yourself doing it for months almost like second nature, you should follow that in whichever career direction it leads you or wherever it takes you with school and opportunities.
There's no one set path, and I did struggle with that as a 16 year old as some paths appear better than others. In my time, html, css, and js bootcamps were literally everywhere and now, look at the development space. you never know and you can never predict the future, but you can follow what you love and opportunity will present itself for you to shine and feel comfortable.
It's important to understand mappers and packers, and figure out where you are on that continuum. https://wiki.c2.com/?MappersVsPackers
Learn what capability based security is. Computer security is a solved problem, has been since the 1980s, but the solution hasn't been widely adopted yet.
Know that this is a time of immense abundance, we have access to things that even the King of France couldn't afford, like antibiotics and modern medicine, but don't try to keep up with the Joneses, that way lies ruin.
As for reading, I don't think any one book will affect everyone the same way or have the same impact, but do read. Don't be afraid to read things that make you uncomfortable. In fact, embrace discomfort in reading and in all aspects of life.
I am in Northern Ireland and very fortunate our public library provides digital access to books and magazines through the free Libby app. The app has some of the best computer magazine publications.
Regardless, don't discard magazines. They are good for keeping up to date and sparking ideas.
Sounds corny, but the advice is timeless and eye opening if you don't have natural knack for dealing with people. It will save you a lot of frustration. I didn't read it until 30 and I wish I had read it at 16.
But my 2 cents anyway: I think you need to figure out your life first. You are 16 so you are going to college (or do other things) soon. You should at least figure out the general direction you want to pursue and then make plans. You don't have to stick to one direction, though.
Another advice -- restrict the resources you have access to when you are learning anything seriously. Remove as much of AI, Internet, mobile from your learning process as possible. I know this is controversial, but I believe that constraint is the father of creativity.
Not true! The OP should learn not only about (and from) models but also anti-models!
Addressing OP:
On anti-models, read NN Taleb's books (the Incerto) and Charlie Munger (his speech on inversion / thinking about what you would do, and how you would do it, in order to ensure a miserable life — and then not doing those things). Read statements from the elderly / terminally ill about what they regret having done or not done in their lifetimes.
A lesson I wish I had learned at your age: for most things in life, B– quality or "80% of the perfect performance/solution" is almost always more than enough, and can be accomplished quickly. (E.g., it's easy and fast to sweep the floor so that it's mostly clean / 80% of optimal cleanliness. You feel better about your surroundings, you clear your head, and fewer future problems arise.) This is the 80/20 principle at work. Get to 80% on everything fast, and then only spend time polishing/perfecting what really matters. (I was raised in a perfectionist family/environment/culture — to my detriment, in many ways.) Similarly, it's OK (and probably beneficial) to do most of your workout sessions (~80%!) at 80% effort. You don't need to go HAM / 6th gear all the time.
Learn that questions are often more important than answers. And learn to ask better questions.
Learn basic probability and expected value, and apply those principles to your own daily life. It's easy to do several times a day in normal situations.
Learn to take (and avoid) repeated, small actions in order to put yourself in a slightly better position with regard to your future. (Increase your optionality; take repeated beneficial actions.) Pick up that dirty cup on your way to the kitchen. Don't drink two beers every day. Don't smoke.
Ask yourself: "If I do (or avoid doing) this same thing 1,000 times (or days) in a row, where will I end up?" (That helps you develop consistency and the habit of repeated actions/practice, and it magnifies the effects of your daily choices.)
Remind yourself: "What I do today, I do every day. What I do now, I choose to do every time I have the choice."
Read real books, not Internet stuff. Read particularly from (long) before 2022 (avoid LLM-generated text). Read as much as you can and develop a maintainable note-taking system.
Learn other languages and read the greatest books from other countries, cultures, and eras.
Taleb's general rule is not to read anything written in the last 10 years. Take that with a grain of salt.
On reading (and not reading) books in general, and in a meta-reading sense, I strongly urge you to read How to Read a Book (by Adler & Doren) and How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read (by Pierre Bayard).
You'll also find no shortage of suggested reading and lists of books of all sorts here on HN.
Daily exercise, good eating, sleep, hygiene, and overall mental health and self-care are table stakes. Personally, I've found that my optimal amount of physical activity is much higher than one would think: 2–3 hours per day, 5–6 days per week. (That's my experience, not a prescription for you.) Taking care of myself has required life- and work-organization choices and sacrifices to make it happen. Everything is about trade-offs.
The most important thing is that it's better to consistently practice implementing a single piece of advice than to collect or merely think about or imagine implementing lists of advice. You'll find lots of great advice everywhere. But EXECUTION IS EVERYTHING.
Three Kingdoms from the East.
See the reading list on topics of interest in the podcast "In our time." Thumb nail sketches of powerful people is a work by a Greek tutor transmitted somewhere in there.