Ask HN: Summer readings?
1. What will you be reading this summer?
2. What have you always wanted to read and have never gotten around to?
3. What do you think every hacker/programmer should read?
2. What have you always wanted to read and have never gotten around to?
3. What do you think every hacker/programmer should read?
I've been meaning to read Godel, Escher, Bach (Hofstadter) for awhile now, but I'm not sure if/when I'll get around to it. Next on my list are some introductory number theory texts.
Sometime in the future, I might read Essential Java and Unit Testing in Java: How Tests Drive the Code.
3) Neal Stephensons wired article on laying fibre optic cable across the globe: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html
2. The last few chapters of GEB
3. Regardless of whether you're a programmer, anything by Carl Sagan. The Demon-Haunted World and Dragons of Eden are my favorites.
It's been quite a number of years, and memory fades somewhat, but for me, Zen was one of the most profound reads of my life. I just checked the Wikipedia page for Pirsig, which states (somewhat unclearly, with regard to what "Board" is being described):
Pirsig's publisher's recommendation to his Board ended with "This book is brilliant beyond belief, it is probably a work of genius, and will, I'll wager, attain classic stature."
That was certainly my impression. I should revisit Zen, as well. Unfortunately, my old copy -- full of my scribbled notes -- was I believe lost to water damage.