What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old? | Hacker News Reader

What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?

solipsys.co.uk

154 pointsColinWright205 comments

If I could talk to my 14 year old self, I wouldn't recommend any particular books.

I would say, "Don't stress and worry so much about school or your grades, because absolutely none of that is going to matter in 10 years. Learn how to make things. Start now, and never stop. Learn how to use technology to the fullest, both software and hardware. Learn how to write, speak and communicate ideas as effectively as possible. Learn how to hack people and understand how social structures work. Take that seriously. Most importantly, don't let anyone change who you are. Choose a path and follow it doggedly."

Ironically, some of the best advice I've seen came from a book: "Who you will be in five years is determined by who you meet today and what you read today" [0]. But a 14 year old doesn't need to read a whole book to gain that particular pearl of wisdom, or many of the others. I read a lot now, several of the books mentioned on this thread and many others. But that's because I'm old, and it's too late for me. If I could talk to my 14 year old self, or any 14 year old, I would tell them that there is significantly more to life than what can be learned in a book.

[0] The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp

Most importantly, don't let anyone change who you are. Choose a path and follow it doggedly

I've never really gotten this. It's a popular message- you, child, are completely perfect the way you are. Never change, not one iota.

Personally I think it's ridiculous. Life is a journey of self-improvement, and you cannot, all by yourself, craft yourself into the best you can be.

The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life. -- Muhammad Ali

That's not the way I understand it. For me it means not allowing others to coerce you into being someone you're not and making conscious decisions about where you're going and who you're going to be.

And yes, "you're perfect, don't change" is a recipe for stagnation, a child should not be told this (if (s)he's perfect, why would (s)he learn anything new or work towards something?)

It's particularly strange given that just prior to saying that, the person advocated learning how to 'hack' other people and to seemed to indicate that you should manipulate social structures.

Yeah, it should be "don't let others shape your personality and your life - do it yourself"...

I agree with the comments below. It is not about resisting change. It is about making that change based on your own thoughts and observations, and to not let the notions of others solely guide your path.

One of my teacher used to have this written on the final exam:

"Relax. Don't worry. Outcome of this paper will not matter at all 20--30 years from now. Impress me with your knowledge."

_NB_ it could utterly shape the next 5-10 years of your life and in doing so drastically alter the path of of your life 70 years from now.

(Depending on the exam, but if the exam defines college entry it is not an unreasonable statement. Of course the trick is to realise that success doesn't mean a better life, and failure doesn't mean a worse one. It's like Rimmer getting held down a year at school and becoming Ace instead...)

I started coding around 14. My father bought me a book called Now I Learn Visual Basic 4.0. I was pretty determined to make a game back then and somehow, I made it. It was a stupid game. The player basically had to click around randomly to "find" gold and it wasn't fun at all. But I enjoyed working on it, learning how to program, drawing little gold nuggets in MS Paint. And then, two other games followed.

One of them even made it into a German PC games magazine around 2000. I couldn't believe that my name was printed in that magazine along with 4 other people who submitted their "indie" games.

Back then, I didn't care about any "competition". I just made that damn thing, because I wanted to.

Now, I have a quite successful SaaS business that allows me to work as few as 2 hours per week and still earning twice as much as in the year I had a normal job. Again, this started as a hobby in 2006. I didn't look left and right, I just wanted to learn some PHP coding.

In 2015, I struggle to find a new idea, a new project to work on. Everything seems to exist already, many people are way better coders than me, which paralyzes me. If I have an idea, I go on GitHub and find 10 projects that implement my idea in a better way. Then, once in a while, I try something new only to find out that it gains no traction at all if I don't promote it.

Richard Feynman said that he struggled with physics at some point, and only when he re-discovered his playful attitude towards physics, he could enjoy it again. I know this feeling, because this is how I had the most fun with my projects and with a bit of luck, one of them turned my life upside down.

I guess, I followed the karmacondon's advice pretty closely without knowing about it (Learn how to make things. Start now, and never stop.) and it worked out.

Thank you karmacondon for writing it down in such a concise way and remind me how it all started for me. I need reminders like that to find back to a playful mindset.

I have a very similar problem. It has even got me thinking that it doesn't even matter if I die right now (to the tech world, at least). I can't contribute nothing of value. It's not depression, it's just a feeling of being outsmarted in every way.

I would definitely recommend How to Win Friends and Influence People as an addition to the list. I'd say that learning how to deal with people and communicate ideas effectively is at least as important as learning how to think.

This is also a book I recommend reading, re-reading, and then re-reading again for people of all ages.

Edit: I'd also probably recommend Innumeracy[0] which is a fun book about dealing with numbers. It has some pretty great strategies for coming up with good back-of-napkin estimations which is a pretty useful skill.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/Innumeracy-Mathematical-Illiteracy-Its...

Here is a summary of HtWFaIP that I stumbled upon the other day: http://www.westegg.com/unmaintained/carnegie/win-friends.htm...

The 13-week Dale Carnegie Course is orders of magnitude more valuable than the DC book, I wonder if anyone has adapted it for kids.

fwiw, i read this when I was around 14. It was mostly lost on me.

It's a fantastic book, and I can appreciate that now, but I feel personally I wasn't ready for it. I needed to develop a sense of empathy.

As a counterpoint to what nickysielicki wrote, I read this book when I was 13-14 and it helped me develop a sense of empathy. Thoroughly second this recommendation.

For anybody who reads this and think the advice sounds phony, the key with all of it is to be genuinely interested in the other person. This is hard to fake and even otherwise unassuming people might be more interesting than you'd think at first glance.

I wish when I was 14 I was exposed to more contemporary literature, instead of great classics. And I have no regrets about missing out on math books—most of my friends went to math camp for that kind of knowledge.

I'd recommend David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest; Junot Diaz's This is How You Lose Her; The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis; Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

I wish when I went into college I understood women better, people with mental health issues, sexuality, drugs, rich people, powerful people, old people.

He'll have 2x4 year periods where he'll be able to build long-lasting relationships. Understanding himself and other people will pay off much better than solving puzzles. So I'd stick to really aggressive contemporary fiction. He'll find math on his own.

Agreed with more literature!

More than that: as a guiding principle, read stuff by people who aren't like you. The OP's list has exactly zero female authors in it. It's hard to grow personally when you aren't confronting and coming to terms with radically different experiences, and yet that's what books do best: they confront you.

> read stuff by people who aren't like you

this.

Yup, literature, literature, literature will pay off hugely later in his life, endless math books will lead to frustration!

I'm 25 and I have no understanding of human, sexuality, rich people, old people etc... How do I catch up?

Read stories. Start with short stories and blog posts. Also audiobooks are great for when you are walking around. Take walks where you talk to yourself or a friend about those stories and thereby think about them more clearly via the same mechanism that makes rubber-duck debugging a good way to solve technical problems.

This YouTube series is a good start to how to think about stories: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOeEc9ME62zTf... Actually, John Green's works in general aren't bad for what you are after, but don't restrict yourself to one author.

Accept that not only are all these things maddeningly complex, but that you will never be comfortable with their ambiguity.

Also, go out into the world. Learn to be a good listener so those who are tired, scared, lonely, or otherwise vulnerable will come to you for comfort.

I think you give too much credit to stories.

I fully agree with listening to people. You need to respect them first, though. Every human being tries to live a good life. The filthy beggar on the street, the greedy wall street trader, the corrupt cop, the geeky programmer. I listed stereotypes. If you get to know people, you learn how they are not stereotypes. It does not matter if you travel around the world or around the block. You can meet very different people everywhere. Usually people love to talk about themselves. Just ask questions.

More concrete? Find something you dislike (folk music, Pokemon, PHP, Justin Bieber, conservatives, art museums, baseball, soap operas), then find out why other people love it.

Learn about biases, fallacies, psychology, persuasion. We meatbags are so broken, confused, and warped.

My post definitely does. Too often we pattern-match against stories we already know and don't examine where reality deviates. But I don't know how to counteract that besides other countervailing or attached stories.

I would highly recommend the books of Radcliffe Hall.

If you are up for a bit of a challenge, that will prove very rewarding, I recommend reading "Madame Bovary". Flaubert writes with such poise that it's like being there, experiencing the emotion of the room. But it's very different from a modern book.

Go outside and talk to humans, old people, rich people, and get laid.

No reading necessary.

> get laid

That's a bad goal to direct you to anything useful. Trying really hard to just plain get laid is a self defeating quest because you'll probably creep people out in the process and make them not trust you enough to share their experiences (much less their sexuality) with you.

And in turn learn social cues, how to approach people, rejection.

Mistakes will hurt a bit more than at 16 yo but at the same time the social circle is more mature as well and can express themselves better if necessary.

Also I agree that it's better to not have that as a end goal but if the person feels it as a burden, sex is a great tool for validation and ego boost. And it certainly is a quick way to bond with someone. Also in the pursuit of it people can really focus on improving themselves.

Again it might be unhealthy to try really hard and in turn alienate people but it can also be motivating and can help sometimes. Especially if the person is mature enough and recognises normal limits.

edit:Sorry. I got lost in the comment chain and missed the context of your post, sorry if that edit comes after your post.

It's worked for tens of thousands of years, so I think it's a reasonable goal.

If somebody's goal is to understand sexuality, they should be out interacting with other people instead of reading books.

Actually, unless I'm severely mistaken, most people managed the get laid over the last tens of thousands of years, but they're mostly terrible at understanding human and relationships. I've seen too many relatives, elders and generally people around me making one too many mistakes -- some even seems to do everything wrong. And I'm rather scared of that.

"Getting laid" is definitely a skill by itself, but I disagree whether it has any relations with understanding human beings at large.

angersock mentioned sexuality specifically rather than non-sexual relationships. Getting laid doesn't help as much with non-sexual relationships and it doesn't help as much with non-sexual aspect of human beings. For those, I still agree with the advice they should be out interacting with other people instead of reading books, which means interacting with relatives, elders and generally people around you.

Bingo--author mentioned sexuality, which is something that is specifically best left to fieldwork instead of reading Wikipedia and books...and yes, I'm speaking from experience.

Talking to people at parties and raves and orgies and meetups is going to give you much better experience and understanding.

And as for the non-sexual relationship stuff, I'll attempt no general claims at this time.

I generally wouldn't suggest learning about sexuality first-hand from ones relatives. :|

So, once upon a time I too was very much concerned about making one too many mistakes--part of learning is figuring out that those mistakes are a)somewhat expected of you as a maturing sexual entity and b)harmless.

As long as you treat other people with respect and try to be a good person, your romantic screwups (and you will have romantic screwups) will just be slightly stressful learning experiences.

One thing that I've noticed is that it seems modern intellectual and enlightened internet culture is the worst possible place to discover and explore your own sexuality.

Abnormal urges are treated as standard, and normal urges are treated as discriminatory, barbaric, unseemly, or criminal. Go interact with normal people at bars or coffee shops or social events and see what you can see--it is going to be very hard to find positive role models online in the places you'd normally expect wise elders.

Hell, you're honestly better off looking through 4chan than you are any of the conservative, progressive, or technical sites here.

You can avoid most major relationship mistakes if you actually care about your partner, as in, as an end-in-themselves rather than as a way to get laid. Unfortunately, this is the part most people miss.

I guess a lot of people don't realize how dumb their selfishness really is.

Oh well.

Trying really hard to just plain get laid is a self defeating quest because you'll probably creep people out in the process and make them not trust you enough to share their experiences (much less their sexuality) with you.

If that's the stage you're at, creeping people out, and making people not trust you enough to share their sexuality with you, getting laid is probably a worthwhile thing to practice.

The real reason getting laid is a self-defeating quest - It's very hard to get laid by people you find very attractive. By the time you're good enough at getting laid to get laid with people you find very attractive now, they won't be attractive to you anymore because you've become a lot more attractive than they are. When you're too good at it you can hardly find anyone you could fall in love with, because your expectations have become sky high.

It's worthwhile to get to know the fundamental principles anyway, for those special nights when you want to engage in some special moments between you and your wife/girlfriend, you get how to do the "dance". Being good at this aspect of a relationship makes the relationship that much stronger.

Because that's what you get better at every time you're getting laid. As with everything, more deliberate practice will result in more skill.

On the other hand, don't neglect the classics because you think they're played out. I think someone influential made a snide comment to me when I was young about how overrated and irrelevant Dickens and Shakespeare are, so I didn't read them until after college, at which point I discovered how misguided I had been. But yes, definitely, there is great literature from the 90s, 00s, and 10s that young people are often not exposed to!

I think they're overrated - for teens. I know why we inflict them on kids, but they're hard to appreciate until you're an adult.

I know a super-smart fourteen year old. He tells me The Hunger Games and Harry Potter are the best books he's read.

When I was in my teens I was reading:

Herman Hesse Thomas Mann John Barth (which shows how old I am...) John Irving John Updike Doris Lessing A lot of SF, classic/mainstream and otherwise Literal piles of electronic and computer hobby mags OMNI magazine Articles in Encyclopedia Britannica about tensor analysis and simultaneity which I totally failed to understand A buy-weekly-and-keep popular subscription encyclopedia I talked my parents into getting for me.

Of those, OMNI made the biggest impression because it hit an art/science/futurism sweet spot that I haven't seen copied since. (Mondo 2000 was on a different moon of the same planet. Wired is a very poor imitation.)

The buy-weekly encyclopedia was unexpectedly useful too, because it covered things like art history and politics I'd never have thought about otherwise.

I think 14 is as much about curiosity, creativity and emotions as raw intellect. So if you're just creating a reading list about stuff to think about in a clever way, you're going to be missing a lot of potential for more rounded development.

I'd think about experiences as well as books. Go to sports. Go to an opera. Go to art galleries. Go see bands. Travel and have adventures. Go to a political debate. Go see some classical Greek tragedy or comedy. Couch surf with strangers and take the kid along. Go hiking a long way from the Internet. Teach some survival skills.

If the 14 yo doesn't want to have the fam along, offer free tickets and travel for them and friends. (Not so much for the travel...)

And so on. Leave the compiler theory books for later.

I agree with your entire comment except the very first sentence. I think all the stuff you mention is fantastic for 14-year-olds – Harry Potter and (the first) Hunger Games are great and absolutely "new classics" – but so are some of the standard classics. It's true that most people will appreciate them more as adults, but that doesn't make them useless. Of course time is limited, and prioritizing is tough, so maybe some of the experiential stuff you mention is worth prioritizing above old crusty books, but I still think a good mix is a good goal.

Yes, this. And if I had read DFW and Lydia Davis as a 14 year old, I shudder to think how far I'd be ahead at understanding the complexities of being alive and knowing what to pursue and when. Those two authors did more for my emotional growth than just about anything.

This is such an important question. There are three things you can do for your kids,

1) Let them understand that asking any question is ok

2) Seeking answers to questions informs you about your world.

3) Anything really is possible with infinite time and money, use those goals as vectors to move your life forward.

In terms of recommendations I was pretty blown away by Buckminster Fuller's An Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth[1] as he has such a great way of looking at things differently and to pull you out of your own preconceptions.

I would also recommend an encyclopedia, because frankly it is a great way to get answers to questions and way less dodgy than trying to figure out good data from bad data on the Internet (not to mention few people have gotten into trouble getting caught with an encyclopedia in their room, which can not be said for an Internet connected computer in their room.)

Understanding how to ask questions, how to test your understanding, how to theorize and make predictions and test those theories. Those are the life skills that turn a bright child into a force to be reckoned with early in life.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Operating-Manual-Spaceship-Buckminster...

Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World

Also perhaps Bill Bryon's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" for an entertaining broad view of a variety of scientific areas:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Every...

The Demon-Haunted World was incredibly formative for me, and I was around 14 when I first read it. Prior to reading it, I believed wholeheartedly that UFOs were alien spaceships, and despite already being fairly certain I was an atheist, I was still on the fence about ghosts. The most important thing about that book was that it didn't teach me that things I believed weren't true because a distinguished scientist said so; rather it taught me how to decide whether the things I believed were likely to be true, and how to examine why I believed them.

Of course I didn't immediately transform into a perfect 14-year-old skeptic by reading this book (I'm twice that age now and I'm sure I still believe all manner of things that aren't true), but this was the first time I truly realized that I even needed to be skeptical about what I believed.

I could have written your comment! My father bought me that book when I was about 16 or 17 years old, as a birthday gift. At the time, I too was an atheist, but not a very skeptical one, and TDHW had a huge impact on me.

That book is one of the only gifts I can remember recieiving when I was a teenager, and I still have it on my shelf. It is fair to say that it can be a life changer.

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" is my favorite book. If you're not much of a reader, listen to this in audiobook format (great narrator). This book makes science entirely accessible and inspiring, and human nature humble.

I second "A Brief History" -- it's kind of like Cosmos (the book by Sagan) but more up-to-date and slightly broader.

It seems to me that a lot of the suggestions are are people trying to impress each other with what they've read rather than books they think a bright 14 y.o. might really enjoy or get something out of.

I have a very worn copy of the book in Cosmos that I got in '83 - it's an excellent book and I love it, but I wonder if that's because I also loved the TV series.

I read Cosmos having not seen the series (living in Australia at the time) and it is a great book. I think A Brief History is a similarly pitched book that's somewhat more up-to-date, and Bill Bryson is still around to revise it.

I'm glad to see Cryptonomicon on the list. Looking back, that book has probably had the single greatest influence on my life so far. I've always liked computers, but don't think I'd be nearly involved with them as I am now had I not read it.

I've also heard great things about Measurement but haven't read it myself. Another great math book that I have read is Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Forms, though trying to get through that at 14 would probably be a bit disheartening.

Edited to add: Also, looking back I remember how stressed I was as a teenager because it seemed like there was so much to learn and I had on idea where to begin. I wish someone had told me it was okay to not know certain things. As I've gotten older I've become much more comfortable with learning things as I need them rather than assuming I need to learn everything ahead of time. This has made my life much less stressful and much more enjoyable.

Cryptonomicon and The Diamond Age.

Newer: Ancillary Justice. Really interesting ideas about the self. Over the years: Octavia Butler. Some very challenging ideas.

Honestly, though, I think 14-year-olds should read a lot of random crap from the library. Legal thrillers and historical romance and linguistics texts and home repair manuals and history of Thailand and books about sneakers, and the Tao Te Ching and that famous book about Buddha. Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. That blew me away in 9th grade.

The humanities and body stuff get short shrift. And they have the highest impact when you inhale them young.

So take up meditation.

Make dancing something you do often.

Hack things with your hands.

Sing.

Sing while bicycling.

Play the harmonica with soul.

Perform your poetry to others.

Hug, kiss, and shake hands with enthusiasm.

Find people that make you uncomfortable and talk with them.

Learn a non-european language well enough to dream in it.

Audition for a Shakespeare role.

Startup a new business every three months.

Wait for sex until waiting is excruciating. Then just a bit more.

Find out what's not taught in your school and invent your own private curriculum.

Go out of your way to attend life events like christenings, bar mitzvas, quinceañeras, weddings, and funerals, for people you know and people you don't.

Yoga.

Read something non-fiction written before your great, great, great, great grandparents were born.

Make a box out of wood without power tools.

Interview older relatives and strangers like they are time travelers.

Learn to cook well enough to work in a diner.

Start a lifelong diary.

Invent a religion.

Learn all the medical names for your body parts, inside and out.

Write obituaries.

This is exactly the sort of things I would say, if I could send younger me a note. Broaden your horizons, self.

Academically, professionally, it's all worked out fine- just do what you do, me-of-the-past.

But I would that I had invested a bit more effort into music, culture, arts- and a lot more effort into health & exercise. I basically wrote off physical fitness, which was a huge mistake.

FWIW I'm not the rotund sort, in fact the opposite, skinny as a bean pole in school and it developed a lot of bad habits that I am still correcting and hurt my overall performance & success (being terribly underweight dulls the mind...) I really should have developed a bit more cardio & a lot more muscle.

Hermann Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Bead_Game is a physiological science fiction story about a future world where an economic simulation determines who will run the planet, and the book features the live of one individual that won the competition every year for decades via integrating math, music, eastern and western philosophies to create a harmonic economic view. The book is two parts: first "the book", and then the collected writings of the main character throughout his entire life. Book got a Nobel too.

Reading the synopsis on Wikipedia reminded me a lot thematically of Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. Also a great book, but I think it requires a broader knowledge of history, philosophy, math, etc. than a 14 year old might have had the opportunity to encounter. Then again, there's a glossary in the back that maps in-universe concepts to real-world concepts, so the novel might be a good springboard into exploring those topics independently.

I had this book recommended to me by someone when I was in college; the person that recommended it to me thought I might very well go on to invent the Glass Bead Game...

This summary kind of mischaracterizes the book, though. Far from "running the planet," Castalia, the society within which the Game thrives, rather pointedly does not concern itself with "worldly" matters, being singularly focused on the life of the mind. The Game itself is a reflection of this attitude, consisting of symbols put together to represent cross-linking through various intellectual fields, such as music, mathematics, philosophy, and the sciences.[1] It is the main character, Joseph Knecht, who has risen to become Magister Ludi (master of the Game), who sees Castalia's detachment from the outside world as a danger and a potential threat to its existence, and who ultimately leaves his high post to become the tutor for the son of a friend of his from school who is a "man of the world." Knecht's perspective comes from his rather unique background, not just his friendship with the outsider, but his studies of history (a very non-Castalian field of study) with a prominent historian during a "tour of duty" at a monastery. It's a very deep book, and one which you'll probably find new insights in every time you read it.

On the subject of recommendations that bridge science fiction and philosophy, might I also suggest C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy ( Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength )? It's another work that works on several levels. That Hideous Strength, in particular, is almost entirely a fictional expression of the arguments Lewis presented in The Abolition of Man. There's also a fair amount of attention devoted to linguistics; the books' central character, Prof. Elwin Ransom, was based on J.R.R. Tolkien. And yes, there's a certain amount of Christian philosophy in there, but on a higher intellectual level than The Chronicles of Narnia. A bright 14-year-old would probably enjoy it.

[1] Joseph Knecht's first annual ceremonial Game as Magister Ludi was based on the dimensions and structure of a traditional Chinese house, i.e., the principles of feng shui in Chinese philosophy. It was routinely cited thereafter as "The Chinese House Game."

This book has major irritations for me:

1. It is set in a far future that is technologically identical to 1940. People who write about the future should not miss the mark so completely. The characters are still writing letters by hand and spending days travelling around a single continent.

2. It is hilariously sexist. The intellectual elite are simply assumed to be male and as they may not marry, women are privileged if they are able to take them as lovers for a short time. This is the only time women are mentioned in the book.

3. The main character takes the I-Ching seriously. He's supposed to be a genius, and yet he believes in horoscopes.

4. I found the story itself to be rather boring. I honestly don't know how the author could have won any awards. Perhaps it is much better in German and it is merely the translation that is bad.

- play sports

- have as many friends as you can, girlfriends/boyfriends, don't be shy, drink beer before its legal

most importantly have self discipline. If you manage to have self discipline everything else is easy in life

"This", as they say. Bright 14 year olds manage to read too many books.

They need to get out, make friends, make things - especially learn to finish things.

They need the tortoise and hare fable pounded in by practice.

(As you probably heard before: King Crimson, Discipline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-dZNzXylVE )

Yes! I think being well rounded is extremely important as all kinds of activities can be stimulating and teach you a wealth about yourself and other people. Be it socially or life skills, dating or networking, everything tends to crop up later in life some way or some how and the more well rounded you are as an individual the better you will be prepared to succeed.

Making great companies, products, and decisions can sometimes play into non-technical things, non-computer things. In those cases it's really important to have that "outside" / "neighborhood" background that teaches you the ropes of life without a book.

drink beer before its legal

My own advice would be: don't bother with alcohol until you're well beyond drinking age. And definitely don't bother with heavy drinking of any sort, in those years.

A lot of this has to with the observation being a student really is a 24x7 game, in those years (if you've chosen to go the student route, that is). While I definitely wasn't a "grind", I have to say that the only reason I made through the system as far as I did was that, aside from a healthy amount of distraction (movies, shows; and parties for the sake of socialization -- not for the alcohol) I really was studying, or thinking about the content of my studies, pretty much all the time. It was really all about being "always on" and intellectually focused, all the time.

And getting hammered on anything like a regular basis -- which is pretty much what the college drinking scene is like, these days -- really claws a huge chunk out of that dedicated focus. I'm just not sure I would have made it that far if I had taken up the interest in casual drinking in my mid- to late 20s.

It also, BTW, claws a huge chunk out of your wallet. $5 for a lager is nothing when you have a regular "adult" job, but (scaled up to rounds of 3-4 every few nights) it's a lot when you're on a student budget. There's only a certain period of your life when you can meaningfully benefit from the kind of ascetic detachment from the temptations and corruptions of a fat, "adult" paycheck. Later on, when you're more or less forced to go the high-paycheck route, you can indulge in the comfort-distraction that goes with it.

This is the time of life when you should be getting intimate with the local university library; reading Feynman or GEB or any of the other books mentioned on the bus; learning to draw or to play an instrument (just to show yourself that you can); and spending your last dime on that Godot flick and, perchance, a can of tomato sauce to heat up in fleabag apartment you and 4 others share downtown.

But beer? You'll have plenty of time for that, later.

I disagree. You'll have plenty of time for learning, for thinking about the content of your studies, for the library, for dedicated focus later. You're only young once.

Now I'll agree that getting wasted every weekend is a very bad idea. You will end up dying a painful death very early in your life. But it's a good idea to go to parties. It's a good idea to have fun, to live. Doing what everyone else is doing isn't always the best advice, but sometimes it's the best advice. You have to use your (unimpaired) judgement. I wouldn't have half the friends I have now if I hadn't spent nights puking right beside them. Now as an adult with a professional job, if I want to make new friends, the only way to do that is to have kids and set up playdates. Instead I find myself studying, reading books on the couch next to my wife. When you get older, you lose your ability to party like a college kid. You lose the opportunity to have that kind of bonding experience with your peers.

Young people drinking is a serious issue. You're right, it's harmful to brain development, it gets people in all kinds of trouble, and it can be seriously deadly to the drinker or to someone else they might meet while drunk. That's what makes this really hard to write, because to be honest, I'm not a drinker now but I was in college. And I attribute everything I have to the nights I spent not in front of the books, but in front of the crowd, dancing with a lampshade on my head.

So don't drink. You don't have to. Don't do drugs. Don't put yourself or others at risk like that. But seriously, if you're in college DO SOMETHING SOCIAL. Don't, DON'T sit in the library while your youth passes you by. Sit in the library Monday-Thursday. When Friday rolls around, go hang out with your friends. Because trying to make college-style friends as an adult is 100% impossible.

But it's a good idea to go to parties.

It seems you're plainly misreading what I was saying. Not only did I not say you shouldn't go to parties, I specifically said you should go to parties, at that age. My only point was you should go there to socialize, and not for the alcohol.

And I attribute everything I have to the nights I spent not in front of the books, but in front of the crowd, dancing with a lampshade on my head.

That's fine for you, I guess. Something tells me what might have thought the other a bit "square", and hence avoided each other, in that life phase. Which is also fine.

But again, I never said you should trade parties and friend for books; only that you should definitely trade alcohol for books, by and large, during those years. And I for one am definitely very, very grateful for those nights spent in front of books, and not on someone's back porch getting wasted, when I was 14-21.

The only other point I'd like to clarify is that while I definitely do advocate becoming intimate with your local university library (and yes, spending more than the occasional Friday or Saturday night there), at one point or another -- the best time for that is probably when you're in high school, not college. During HS most parties suck anyway -- as do most of your so-called "friends" -- so you might as well be an outcast, and do something constructive with all of those precious hours (in front of a laptop, on a keyboard/drumkit -- or in the book stacks).

I wouldn't say plainly misreading. If you actually originally meant what you just clarified, it would be a misunderstanding, but not a misreading, certainly not a plain misreading. What you wrote was:

I have to say that the only reason I made through the system as far as I did was that, aside from a healthy amount of distraction... I really was studying, or thinking about the content of my studies, pretty much all the time.

That's literally all you said. Think about that: I really was studying, or thinking about the content of my studies, pretty much all the time.. I'm saying that's the wrong answer in my opinion. In my view, there is a kind of socialization you can only get in college, and only if you participate. If college was about learning, we would have geniuses coming out of their undergrad and you could never get a skilled labor job without a diploma.

I'm not saying you're flatly wrong. You're wrong in my opinion, but your approach is a valid one to take for some people. I just wanted to offer a dissenting opinion to yours.

I do agree with you 100% that being an outcast in high school will likely have no long-term negative repercussions. High school doesn't matter once you've hit college. I don't regret a single night spent studying rather than partying in high school because I don't remember anyone from high school. But all my college friends are still my best friends, and I've gotten jobs solely because of who I went to college with.

I'm not going to self-nominate myself as 'bright', but I liked these 3 books when I was 14ish: What do you care what other people think? by Richard Feynman. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Flatland, by Edwin Abbott.

I've added those - thanks. Rather a shame that this item has sunk without trace - I'd've been interested to see more comments from people making recommendations.

<fx: shrug /> Unclear as to whether people don't care, or didn't see it. Never mind, thanks for your contribution.

EDIT: Bizarre - briefly hit 20 on the front page, now get more votes, and the item has disappeared. I suspect it's been flagged, or triggered a voting ring. Very odd.

What do you care what other people think? is a great book, but I'd recommend starting with Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman first.

I'd vote against[1] ‘Surely you're joking’ - while Feynman was undoubtably a genius, he's not a great role model for a 14 year old

[1] “vote” in the context of the list of books, not in the context of this comment on HN

It may help him open his eyes more and appreciate ways of living that don't fall in line with the common American view. You can be a great genius and still a weirdo!

Feynman is one of the best role models for a 14 year old. Maybe you object to some of his life choices but as far as I'm concerned the world would be a much better place with 'more Feynman' in it. It's all relative, look at the various alternative role models available.

SICP? How to win friends amd influence people? Math textbooks? Either everyone here is an incredible savant, or it's been too long since you were 14 to remember what it was like.

Looking at my own path, I agree with many of the SF suggestions (intelligent fiction of any kind os the best way to start, IMO). For me, Micheal Crichton was a huge boost to my early interest in science, objectivity, problems with the media, etc. I suspect Neil DeGrasse Tyson is a similar figure for today's generation (The new Cosmos is a great and entertaining introduction to the most fascinating aspects of the natural world).

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

The story of a genius child training to battle an alien species. Not only very entertaining but also critically acclaimed. It won the Hugo and Nebula and has been on several military leadership reading lists. [0] I loved it as a teenager and recently reread it and still loved it.

[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game#Critical_respons...

He wrote himself into a corner within two sequels, so try not to read any of his other books afterward.

I still think Speaker for the Dead is worth reading, and there's no reason you can't stop after that.

Personally, I also loved Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide even though they are very different from Ender's Game. The ones that came later I also enjoyed but not nearly as much as the first three.

He didn't write himself into a corner; he was trying to shoehorn in his religion.

This is true and being downvoted. The shoehorning didn't really show up until Xenocide when he was softballing himself counterpoints and whiffing them mightily. It was sad seening as how Speaker for the Dead was so spectacular.

I would recommend " What is Zen" by Alan Watts,

Siddhartha.

"Ready Player One".

I would also suggest, "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, and would echo "Cyptonomicon".

Approaching Zero: The Extraordinary Underworld of Hackers, Phreakers, Virus Writers, and Keyboard Criminals by Paul Mungo and Bryan Clough is excellent.

The American Boy's Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It, Centennial Edition Daniel Carter Beard

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed Rich, Ben R.

and finally, which is hard to stomach sometimes.

Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code by Bruce Schneier

I've never read Ready Player One, and there's a reason for that: people compare it to Snow Crash and I found Snow Crash to be entirely insufferable. I cannot stand that book. The worst part is that the main character is named Hiro Protagonist. The book just tries to be too cool.

Maybe the problem is that it was written in 1992 and so much has been inspired by it that now the book seems tired and cliche. But if you're recommending it to a 14 year old, they're already going to be familiar with some of the works that have been inspired by Snow Crash, and they will likely find it as insufferable as well.

And isn't Ready Player One heavy into the 80's pop culture? A 14 year old was born in 2001... they don't know what the 80's means.

Books by women. Books by people of color, and as many different continents and nations as you can get your hands on. Come to terms with dictatorship through Bolano, discover what it means to be an outsider with Kelly Link and Karen Russell, cry your heart out with Baldwin, Junot Diaz is required reading for all young boys who are going to break hearts (and have their's broken) someday, subvert every expectation with Morrison.

The Cartoon History of the Universe I-III: http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-History-Universe-Volumes-1-7/d...

The history is only as good as was known at the time each book was published, of course, but it's better than you'll learn in school, where my classes seemed to go over the same parts of 1800s American history every year and gave no indication Asia existed.

Plus it's got sex and drugs.

Work really hard in high school and get into a great college (NB: this takes more than just grades - extracurriculars, etc). Study a subject that you like and will lead to a career that enables you to satisfies the base of Maslows pyramid (i.e. you can earn money. STEM is generally good for this). This is a unique opportunity to spend a short while investing in something that will pay huge dividends later - an opportunity that you only get once.

When in college, try to do at least a semester abroad. Travel. If you can, join a fraternity (especially if you go to a nerd / smart school. 60+% of guys at MIT are in fraternities and they are really fantastic). Think hard about what you want to do after college and try different internships.

Work out. In high school, get into a sport - preferably Soccer or basketball (one that you can keep playing throughout your life and that is inherently social). Do it until you love it, then you'll want to keep doing it.

Learn to lift. In high school, there are likely coaches or gym class instructors offering these lessons.

Read the Dale Carengie book people mention here and try to socialize as much as possible and make friends.

Reference: I'm a guy in his late twenties, so take my advice in that frame.

Here's a book that I had a random encounter with at a teenager, that gave me an excellent understanding of how computers work at the lowest levels: http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softwa...

It basically starts with a "code" of two friends talking to each other between houses at night via blinking flashlights, and gradually builds up from there to a full, if somewhat barebones, microprocessor, logic gate by logic gate. And it does so in a way that teenage me was able to follow.

Came here to post this. It's a great and approachable book about how information has been codified historically, why that matters, and how foundational it is to computing, and therefore the world at large.

"Gödel, Escher, Bach", "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter", "The Adapted Mind"

I've never read "The Adapted Mind" but the first two are exactly my recommendations. GEB in particular was life-altering for me. I read it twice in high school and several times since. Growing up in a small town, it really opened my eyes to a larger world somehow and initiated a real craving for knowledge. Oddly enough, learning 6502 assembly had the same effect at the same age.

What's so significant about GEB? I bought it on recommendation from a friend, but haven't gotten that far in my reading queue yet.

It's a profound and singular book that made a huge impression on my young mind as I'd never encountered anything like it - in fact, I had no idea something like it existed. It might not make such an impact on the modern reader, I don't really know.

Most explanations you hear about phenomena experienced in your life are packed in a kind of "made for popular consumption" language. People say things and pretend that the explanations are sufficient as understanding.

GEB is a book that _tries_ to explain things that we don't have words for. There is no facade of popular packaging. You won't understand it unless you're willing to think about things with an open mind -- things that you would be unable to explain to someone else concisely.

(By 'open mind' I mean _actual_ open mindedness, not the meaning it is normally employed to assert -- that is: "willingness to be manipulated.")

Hoftstadter struggles with deep metaphysical questions, which will never have satisfying answers. But there is a unique art to his exploration. The problem is that if you read it when you are young, you think there are answers in the book,when really there are only musings.

The Iain M Banks culture novels.

Fantastic and thought provoking while at the same time fundamentally human sci-fi.

MFK Fisher's The Art of Eating. It's currently my favorite book. :)

I would actively point teenagers away from Atlas Shrugged. While it might be enlightening, and they might enjoy the story, it has the potential to be quite destructive if they interpret her philosophy of objectivism & egoism in a way that leads them to apply it to their own lives. I just don't think this is a good idea. Her other novels, whether The Fountainhead or We The Living aren't nearly so overbearing.

Another one: How To Lie with Statistics

Atlas Shrugged is probably OK so long as a viewing of The Mosquito Coast is arranged first. Should temper any urge to take Rand too seriously.

Books are great, read everything you can. That said, my recommendations to a young person would be to make/build things. Make cheese or saurkraut to learn about fermentation. Weld something. Build a fence or a dog house or something to learn the process of taking a plan, measuring, cutting, fastening, etc. Plant a garden. Bake bread. Sew something. Distill something. Do something with electronics. All of these skills have practical applications plus many make scientific concepts more tangible.

"Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" by Eliezer Yudkowsky - the most brilliant book I've read this year. I wish I'd read it 10 years ago.

And Atlas Shrugged - controversial, I know, a lot of people here hate it for some reason, but it was incredibly influential on me, inspired my passion for entrepreneurship and science and philosophy. Still is one of the best books I am aware of.

If I could send 2 books back in time to the 14-year-old me - these would be it.

I read Atlas Shrugged as a 15 year old, and again as a 29 year old. I think it's better suited for my 15 year old self, as I found the historical context of the book more interesting than the philosophy this time around. It also just goes on and on and on -- you get the general premise early on and it feels overly verbose by a factor of 2-3x. The characters don't age well either, my older self has found them to be kind of flat and boring.

Still, it's a good read. Especially the economic mechanics of the universe -- it's fascinating to read about the technology, culture, sexism, and politics from the first half of the 20th century. That alone makes it worthwhile. For example, the characters are constantly smoking cigarettes, to the point where pivotal moments in the plot are revealed, more often than not, because of a smoke break.

I second Atlas Shrugged. It resonates best when you are in your teens. As you grow older, you see the fallacies in it. But these don't surface much when you are young and it acts as a good motivator for the entrepreneurial mind to go out there and work hard.

Definitely add this modern classic: Measurement by Paul Lockhart.

On a related note, I've been compiling a list myself for an even younger audience (basically all ages before 14)[1]. I bet there are a lot of influential materials for younger ages, but people don't realize how influential it was once they're grow up.

[1]: http://mcsforkids.herokuapp.com/

I'll be adding that shortly - thank you.

Edit: now added.

Second this. Hell, I'll third it and fourth it as well - it is one of the most simply captivating books I've ever read. Reading it feels exactly like having a conversation with Lockhart about how he views mathematics (I assume at least, I've never met him).

Surely you are joking Mr Feynman - for a glimpse into a great mind and their outlook towards life & nature.

Gun, Germs, and Steel - For the valuable history of our culture and society.

Atlas Shrugged - for showing the entrepreneurial way and the necessity for hard work

Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, particularly:

"Mort" and "Reaper Man"; "Guards! Guards!", "Men at Arms", and "The Night Watch"; "Wyrd Sisters", "Witches Abroad" and "Lords and Ladies"; and "Small Gods" and "Pyramids".

The first two are about Death, the second three about Samuel Vimes, the third group about Granny Weatherwax, and the last two are stand-alones. All the books are worth reading, but those are some of the most engaging and compelling, and they teach skepticism, humanity, kindness, courage and absurdity in equal measures.

Which one would you suggest starting with?

I loved the Colour of Magic when I was 14

I'd start with "Guards! Guards!"

Although "The Colour of Magic" came first, and was therefore published on its own merits, Terry really got into his stride after the first few books. The book "Guards! Guards!" is the first in the "Watch" series, and a great place to start.

Wyrd Sisters.

Granny Weatherwax along with DEATH, are my two favorites.

How to Solve It - George Polya. While the content is focused on solving math problems, and those math problems might be on the higher end of what a 14yo would learn in school, the lessons behind it are applicable to any form of problem solving. I discovered the book in my late 20's and wish I had read it in high school.

Diversify (intellectually).

It's great to have deep focus (especially if you're in science and tech), but all the other stuff -- especially any creative arts you can actually perform with your own lung, lips, muscles and tongue -- can bring great benefits also; not just intellectually, but in terms of building and sustaining a basic, intrinsic sense of self-worth and confidence in a world that seems hell-bent on tearing it down every turn.

That -- and of course: meditate.

Nothing, put them in the library, give them the resources they need and let them discover for themselves. why should we drive kids towards our own desires? what about what they want? show them the path but only after they tell you where they want to go.

So when a 14 year old, having heard you speak, and knowing what you do, comes to you and says:

"I love maths and programming - what do you recommend?"

... you'd just reply with ...

"Go look in the library."

Agreed. Feed their interests and watch where it takes them.

Be well versed in genetics / molecular biology! - If I had the time to finish school, I'd double in biology / math or CS. Man will that be a killer combo when that kid is 30.

It feels like biotech is where computing was in the 1930's... what's to come, and how it will change the world is both frightening and exciting.

On the "soft" side (whatever that means): ethics, the history of ethics, from every point of view.

Two lecture series I always recommend, and feel like everyone should watch with a gun to their head (as the instructor himself says):

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY -- Harvard course on justice / ethics.

- https://youtu.be/NNnIGh9g6fA -- Robert Saposky (and guests) on the biology of human behavior.

Literary theory. Gaining a deeper understanding of how masters of symbolism, language, and creativity think and put together their work; the history of literature; etc. will open you up to new ways of thinking just like studying pure maths or programming would.

Now to invent a time machine and give myself this advice! Boy I could've used it.

Anything in "The Cartoon Guide..." series:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/189-1683403-2668213?u...

When I homeschooled my sons, we used several of them. The Cartoon Guide to Statistics -- we did like the first chapter or two. I had had college statistics. Most of the book was over my head.

They are kid friendly, though not really intended for kids, so there is sometimes off-color humor. However, they are not watered down. They are very meaty approaches to the subject that also make the subjects approachable. They cover things like physics, genetics and other serious subjects.

Also:

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure

Reading this with my sons is the first time I had heard of Fibonacci numbers and I had a lot of math in high school.

Also also:

A Tour of the Calculus.

I think people have a tendency to recommend books relating to things that are currently important to them, like math, programming, technology. While I wouldn't shy away from these, my first inclination would be to recommend books that will influence positive personal growth. There is no guarantee that any particular topic will be crucial in 10 years.

I can't recommend a specific book in these categories (since I have learned mostly independently), but I would look for good books which cover: Music Appreciation and low-level Theory, Philosophy (especially Eastern), and Argumentation and Logic.

I'd recommned the No bullshit guide to math and physics (http://noBSgui.de) which is a book that introduce the reader to two poerful modelling tools: mechanics and calculus.

But then again, I might be biased since I'm the author ;)

Another thing that would be useful as an introduction to computing is this SymPy tutorial that covers many manth topics that highschoolers are familiar with: http://minireference.com/static/sympy_tutorial.pdf

I would recommend reading "Curse of the Gifted" [0]. Its a quick post, not a book, but during the teenage years where even children who are not gifted tend to think they know everything, it can help them make the most out of their formative years. I didn't read it until I was 20, but it had a profound impact on the way I approach knowledge and learning.

[0] http://www.vanadac.com/~dajhorn/novelties/ESR%20-%20Curse%20...

I was 15 when I read Issac Asimov's book Understanding Physics. That one book caused a radical change in me. Even though I had always found math and science enjoyable, I was struggling at the time with the Physics 1 class I was taking in high school. I read the book half way through the first semester, and went from a state of struggling to a state of effortless understanding. That experience taught me that for me, the best way to learn was to teach myself. First read a well-written layman's overview of a topic, and then dive deep with well-written academic books.

Extrapolating a bit from that lesson, and with ~40 more years of hindsight, I'd highly recommend that a bright 14 year old read some books that give a broad overview of science & philosophy, and establish a thorough understanding of the scientific method. One that I happen to be reading right now that I feel is remarkable is David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity. Deutsch is a theoretical physicist at Oxford working on Quantum Computation. The Beginning of Infinity (despite the new-agey sounding name) is an incredible work.

Another book I highly recommend is Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, not just for how it explains Neo-Darwinish, but because of the chapter on Memes. Deutsch also has a great treatment of Memes.

The first three books of "The Wrinkle in Time" series.

The first three books of the Earthsea cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin.

These both skew young but I valued re-reading them as I got older:

The Dot and the Line: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dot_and_the_Line

The Phantom Tollbooth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Tollbooth

The Earthsea trilogy had such a big influence on me as a child. They were my first true introduction to scifi and sparked a real love of reading fiction.

I can't wait to introduce my son to these books when he is old enough.

Same here. It's partially why I became a programmer – closest thing to being a wizard I could find.

I still have the original paperback versions that I read as a child sitting on my shelf waiting for my son. He's 2 1/2 right now, so I've got some waiting ahead of me.

>The first three books of "The Wrinkle in Time" series.

Why does everyone keep recommending books for teenagers that I read in elementary school?

I mean, hell, if we're going for epic high fantasy set in the (recognizably) modern world, try So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane.

And to those of you who tried taking the Oath when you were a child, yes, the rest of us did, too. Pity it didn't take.

The Phantom Tollbooth is one of my favorites, I loved it as a kid, and I think it gave me a great appreciation for puns and etymologies and logic.

You need to be careful recommending LeGuin.

Personally, LeGuin bores me to tears because I like more action/idea driven in my reading and LeGuin tends more toward character driven.

Hemingway, Dostoevsky, Virgil, Plato, Dante... I could carry on for a very long time.

This is an odd 5 - what's your thinking?

Everybody else was posting maths, science, or science fiction, so I wanted to balance it out a little!

I'd go for variety - breadth instead of depth in specific areas like math). At that age, exposure to as many different topics as you can possibly provide is the secret sauce - it a long term investment like no other. I'd find the best rated books in all ten categories of the Dewey Decimal system. Some of them will open up an entirely new ways of perceiving things.

I would recommend The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. Whether or not you agree with the rule in the book, I found all of the historical examples and anecdotes interesting to read on their own.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_48_Laws_of_Power

Professor E McSquared's Calculus Primer: http://www.math.sjsu.edu/~swann/mcsqrd.html -- I actually was poking around my mom's copy when I was about seven or so, but didn't start understanding it until later. The comics made me interested in the content, and I think was a key factor in my growing up enjoying math rather than despising it.

The Hacker's Dictionary: http://catb.org/jargon/ -- was similarly influential in my finding the joy and excitement in software development. I had come to enjoy it on my own already, but reading this (in printed form, at the time) helped me get a broader perspective. It's admittedly quite outdated now, but I'm not sure what a newer replacement might be.

> Professor E McSquared's Calculus Primer: http://www.math.sjsu.edu/~swann/mcsqrd.html -- I actually was poking around my mom's copy when I was about seven or so, but didn't start understanding it until later. The comics made me interested in the content, and I think was a key factor in my growing up enjoying math rather than despising it.

I had a similar experience with "Calculus the Easy Way", and its predecessors "Algebra the Easy Way" and "Trigonometry the Easy Way", all of which I'd highly recommend. They teach the topics as though being invented for the first time by a kingdom finding themselves in need of them.

Maths maths maths. Come on, it's a nice skill but not very practical by itself.

How about an intro to IOS/android programming?

I agree, the more math I learn the less useful I think it is for most people, but if you enjoy it it can be rewarding to study on its own.

I think some more practical stuff would be great, unfortunately I can't remember ever coming across a good introduction to programming. The way I learned was just by finding example programs and then modifying them to do something different. That's a hard skill to teach though.

I wonder what a clever 14-year-old would make of an advanced introduction to programming, such as SICP. It's written for students only four years older, although those are very important four years.

Has anyone tried pointing a highschool student at that book?

I read a little bit (only section 1.1, if I recall correctly) in high school (in grade 11, I think). I didn't get very far (mostly due to being busy with school work/forgetting about it), but I didn't find the parts I read too difficult. It doesn't assume much prerequiste knowledge.

I'd suggest Turtle Geometry by Abelson and diSessa -- yes, same Abelson as SICP's. I only wish I'd had it as a teenager; it was still interesting when I got it in my 20s.

Less advanced but also plausibly worthwhile: Brian Harvey's Computer Science Logo Style.

I think my 14yo self would have loved SICP. I know I would have been able to process "The Little Schemer".

I tried reading it in high-school. I think I made it about 2 chapters in. To be honest I'm not a big fan of SICP, though I seem to be in the minority.

> Come on, it's a nice skill but not very practical by itself.

Why focus on practical skills instead of more abstracted concepts? Teaching someone to think for themselves rather than dictating a set of "must have" skills for them to learn?

> Maths maths maths. Come on, it's a nice skill but not very practical by itself.

I don't know if it's equally true in all parts of the world, but where I live being good at maths opens the door to pretty much any job, including the most prestigious ones.

Well, I suppose I might want to try something like Coding the Matrix: Linear Algebra through Applications to Computer Science, or a book on games programming -- if I was trying to interest the kid in math and CS subjects.

For fiction, it's damned hard to say. My own personal top influences in fiction form were the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane and, weirdly, the anime/manga Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It's actually very, very hard to find good fiction for kids, since you're trying to inspire or teach rather than just entertain. Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching arc is good for younger kids, with the later books having the star character as a young teen.

For nonfiction that isn't just math/science/technology, how about the Communist Manifesto?

Love every opportunity you get. Because opportunities are not guaranteed. Love every opportunity you are given to learn, for they probably won't ever come again. Take pride in the opportunities you are given. Take pride in what those opportunities give you.

Don't hate things simply because of how you perform. Love it even when you suck at them.

Don't criticize more than you praise ... others. Don't praise more than you critique ... yourself.

Don't judge the ability of others in comparison to yourself. You were lucky to have the opportunity they probably were not. And they probably were lucky to have the opportunities that you were not.

Everyone is bright. Everyone is smart. Few have the opportunity to show it. Few have the opportunity to feel it.

The only true differentiator between people: how hard you work and how long you hope.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

hpmor.com

Reading the original helps and adds to the experience, but is not necessarily required.

Some fun books I remember were "A wrinkle in Time" and "stranger from the Depths" both aimed at teens but quite good. Around 16 "zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance" Dorris Lessing wrote some great books- I would start with:

"Mara and Dann An Adventure "

Everything by Asimov and Heinlein and the Dune series by Herbert. Also "Watership Down"

This. Asimov opened my mind up like nothing else when i was that age.

I would recommend academic articles on cognition, psychology, or neuroscience. The reason is not to push a young person into a technical career, nor into the brain sciences, and nor is the reason to stimulate further reading in academic literature.

I would recommend it because I believe people in those fields write with a very interesting perspective, and also because they write about things which may be more broadly interesting to varied people, and with a narrative form that is more accessible than other fields, and they still write with less censorship than what a young person might be used to.

Such writing also affords a level of respect to the reader that a young person might not be used to. This is the important part. Young people are often exposed to worldly, societal, behavioral, moral, or philosophical matters through authors who yank around the story in any way they please, such as with "Fahrenheit 451", "Brave New World", or "Lord of the Flies".

In my opinion, these young people are being intellectually disrespected without knowing it. Always exposed to a kitsch view through a highly obscured lens with a penchant for melodrama. It's a world of non-seriousness where everything is just opinion, and what's important is to express how you think anything works. Some people grow into adult versions of this.

But when you read what adults think about the phenomena of bullying and predictors of victimhood, it's a little bit different. Or when you read about childhood predictors to different adult styles of drug use, you start viewing things a little different. Or when you read of how a team of adults performed brain surgery on a songbird to investigate human behavior, you start viewing things a little different. You also start seeing the severity of prediction.

Maybe it's a bit cold in doing nothing to shield the reader from the perspective of the writer, but almost never tactless. And it's very respectful to the reader. It might be the first time a young person isn't spoon-fed a highly obscured and Hollywood-ish discussion about the world.

In first place, and it's not even close: Martin Gardner's Scientific American columns. I can't believe they haven't been mentioned yet. They're (slowly) being reprinted by Cambridge, or you can buy a CD with all of them.

Now the rest.

One lesser-known book that made a deep impression on me: A.K. Dewdney's "The Planiverse", a kind of Flatland-meets-the-MIT-hackers story. How would architecture, biology, and chemistry work in a 2-dimensional world?

Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World" was an important book for me, but I read it when I was a couple years older than 14.

SICP, if the 14-year-old knows basic programming and has written a few 1000-line programs. I wouldn't have understood it at 14 but enjoyed it tremendously at 18.

Not beats experiential education and building an early network if intellectual peers.

I'd recommend to a 14-year old an AI camp being offered by the Stanford AI Lab: http://ai.stanford.edu/sailors/

At 14 you are still finding yourself. Even if your current interests are technological, this may not be the case in a few years. Further, non technological issues are critical in making decisions about technology. Some different things to include in the mix

  - Common Sense
  - On Liberty, Mill
  - Connections. the book or the video, Burke
  - The Day the universe Changed, Burke, I think this is only video
  - If into history, The Federalist Papers. Amazing how often you hear someone say "the founding fathers..." then something that contradicts what they actually said and wrote.
  - The People Shall Judge, Collected historical writings, The University of Chicago Press

To be well balanced on what the "founding fathers" thought, you also need to read the writings of the anti-federalists.

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/anti-federalist-papers

Here is a math-focused submission from way back [0] where I made some suggestions that I stand by.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4273012

Especially as you are in the UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Progress-Poverty-Industrial-Depressi...

Abelson and Sussman's _Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs_. http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp

Permutation City by Greg Egan. Accelerando by Charles Stross. They'll guide you to shape your though processes in strange ways that are probably useful for logical thinking.

I read Permutation City in High School. It's my favorite book and arguably the best science fiction book about computer science. Greg Egan's books really go deep in a way that I enjoyed a lot. I really crave to read more books like that. Would you have other recommendations ?

Blindsight by Peter Watts. The Culture novels by Iain M. Banks. Ra, by Sam Hughes (http://qntm.org/ra). The Sequences of Less Wrong, and a good chunk of the related writing (HPMOR, Three Worlds Collide, https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5389450/2/The-Finale-of-the-Ult... which follows directly from Permutation City (seriously)). The postings on the SCP Foundation wiki. Watch Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

Thanks a lot for your list. I only knew about The Culture series. I will try to check out all of them ;-)

I like a lot of the books mentioned on the thread. Seems to me, though, that bright 14 year-olds will find their own favorite books, so here are some other ideas...

Make friends with someone who challenges you. Play some kind of sport, preferably a team sport. Learn to cook. Learn a musical instrument if you're so inclined. It wouldn't hurt you to work as, say, a dishwasher, for a year or two.

Source: I was a bright 14 year old decades ago, and I'm picking my favorite hits and misses.

"Gödel, Escher, Bach" was near the top of my reading list as a 14-year-old. "A Pattern Language" was another. Also: "The City and the Stars".

For skill building:

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

The Little Schemer by Friedman and Felleisen

Literature, for starters:

Heinlein's earlier works

Anything by Asimov

1984 and The Animal Farm by Orwell

Detective novels by Doyle or Christie

Hackers by Steven Levy

go outside and play

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Far and away, the best for a young person coming into adulthood. In an age appropriate manner and wording (vocab, tenses, allusions to other works, etc) Hatchet explore what it takes to mentally be an adult. Brian's near suicide and rebirth alone in the Canadian forests is a classic story in literature, and it is no where else better played for young adults than in Hatchet. Brian's personal choice to live and be self sufficient against the odds is a great lesson for that age. The epilogue is masterful as well, and I'm sure, took a lot of guts to publish as-is and not re-write.

Other great books (with amazon links) can be found here: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/06/02/the-essential-man%E...

The follow up from that blog's readers can be found here: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/05/21/fiction-for-men-as-...

Note: The linked blog focuses more on the 'classical style' in western literature and thought. By classics, I mean true classics from the Enlightenment and Greek and Roman works, not devoid of racism or sexism, sometimes in full acceptance and joy of those evils. Nonetheless, I feel most of those books are great reads, if the young person is given caution and some guidance on how to handle the differences between our forefathers' views and ours'.

EDIT: Additionally, look into language learning courses. Duolingo (https://www.duolingo.com/) is free and amazing (nothing beats having cousins in Italy or Mexico, though). At 14, the brain is still pretty plastic and able to learn languages a bit easier than us old'uns.

I have been amiss for not linking to the above blog's other non-fiction lists and movie lists: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/05/14/100-must-read-books... http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/07/13/100-must-see-movies...

I'll also act like a shill here and advocate for youth organizations like the BSA. Here is a nice tool to find a troop near you :http://www.scouting.org/LocalCouncilLocator.aspx . I know I may get some flak from HN here for BSA advocacy, but I had a great time on the road to Eagle and the Scouts are updating. Also, many councils are in open defiance of the policies (naming names is hard to do here, it is necessarily kept mum). Please, give them the time they need.

>Far and away, the best for a young person coming into adulthood. In an age appropriate manner and wording (vocab, tenses, allusions to other works, etc) Hatchet explore what it takes to mentally be an adult. Brian's near suicide and rebirth alone in the Canadian forests is a classic story in literature, and it is no where else better played for young adults than in Hatchet. Brian's personal choice to live and be self sufficient against the odds is a great lesson for that age. The epilogue is masterful as well, and I'm sure, took a lot of guts to publish as-is and not re-write.

Wait. You mean that book's not for 4th-graders? Not being sarcastic: I found it in our elementary-school library in 4th grade and read it. Other people did, too.

Reddit has a great selection from /r/booklists which I've added below.[0] It would be just as worthy having a list of books to avoid.

[0] 'Top Books Derived from 11 "Top 100" Lists', http://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1iw3jq/top_books_deri...

"I Want to be a Mathematician: An Automathography" -- http://www.amazon.com/Want-Mathematician-An-Automathography/...

This was a very influential book for me in just thinking about what it would be like to do math for a career. And I'm not a mathematician, so I think it worked. :-)

I'd say - go to https://news.ycombinator.com every 4 hours and find your way

Once a day is usually enough. And it's true - HN is, to me at least, Reddit minus the viral videos.

Resources to discover books they are interested in ... a good bookstore, library, amazon, etc. I was a "reader," and while I had the ability to read above my grade level, I didn't want to. I would have been bored to death by most of these recommendations. Enjoying and appreciating reading is important. Their interests will evolve and grow from there.

Fantasia Mathematica, The Mathematical Magpie, and The Space Child's Mother Goose are collections of short fiction, satire, and miscellania assembled in the same era as A Wrinkle In Time. I enjoyed them when I was about that age. Wikipedia lists the contents of the first two. I see Rudy Rucker's collection Mathenauts is similar, but a bit later.

    - Book of the Subgenius 
    - Meditations, Aurelius 
    - Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut 
    - Blue and Brown Books, Wittgenstein 
    - Stranger, Camus 
    - Dhammapada, Buddha
    - Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche 
    - Blue Cliff Record, Kequin
    - Trial, Kafka 
    - Labyrinths, Borges

I would recommend books on learning/creating mental models and design.

Mindstorms by Seymour Papert

Design of everyday things by Donald Norman

- Chaos: Making a New Science - Down with these mean streets - thinking in pictures: my life with autism - in code: a mathematical journey - Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem - The Ringworld Engineers - Dune - Pattern Recognition (Gibson)

A biography of Nikola Tesla. He clashed with his professors, became addicted to gambling, had a nervous breakdown, got exploited by Edison, became a prolific inventor, died alone in deep debt. There are a lot of lessons to be taken from Tesla's successes and even more from his failures.

2600 and its back catalog, Hacker's Manifesto, Anarchist's Cookbook, The old philosophers (Marx, Nietzsche, etc.), The Federalist Papers, History Books, The C Programming Language by K&R, Absolute FreeBSD.

Really, a blank slate and a promise to help them with whatever they want to learn.

Anarchist's Cookbook is a horrible suggestion, unless you want your 14 year old maimed or permanently jailed in a flawed pipe bomb building exercise. It is filled with dangerous and incorrect information.

Misteaks. . . and how to find them before the teacher does. . .: A Calculus Supplement, 3rd Edition

http://www.amazon.com/Misteaks-find-before-teacher-does/dp/1...

Carl Hiaasen's YA books are good. They cover topics like ecology, bullies, strange swamp dwellers, and abusive parents who may or may not be in jail.

http://www.carlhiaasen.com/young-readers.shtml

"The Looking Glass Book of Stories" and "The Comic Looking Glass" edited by Hart Day Leavitt.

Basically, anything that's good quality and fun to read.

Learning to enjoy reading is more important than any specific skill you can teach.

Modern school reading lists suck donkey balls.

Feynman's lectures on physics.

* bronowski's "the ascent of man"

* hofstadter's "metamagical themas"

* the entire discworld series

How about the classical dystopian novels? 1984, A Brave New World, Farenheit 451.

Really just about anything by Bradbury is a good read. We read that one in high school, Fahrenheit 451. I liked it so much that my mother also bought me The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, both of which are collections of related short stories and are very good.

Adventures of a Mathematician: http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Mathematician-S-M-Ulam/dp/0...

I would recommend a book on selling and marketing. Influence the pyschology of persuasion, for example.

And as practice, take a job as a door to door sales person. Build up resistance towards rejection and learn how to influence people.

A Brief History of Time http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Time-Stephen-Hawking/dp/...

The Fabric of Reality - David Deutsch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Deutsch#The_Fabric_of_Rea...

I haven't read this one yet. I'm reading his The Beginning of Infinity now, and so impressed by it that I intend to TFoR next.

If you want to know what books (British) children are actually reading: http://whatkidsarereading.co.uk/

Mindset by Carol Dweck. It teaches you how to continue being bright, namely by adopting an attitude of growth and self-improvement.

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

Essentially start with the classics of philosophy. Its my biggest regret I wasn't introduced to them as a child.

Let's do some logic.

1. For 2000 years people have read and thought about these books. Much new thinking has taken the ideas in them and developed these ideas out of all recognition.

2. The human condition is not as it was when these books were written. We do not have slaves, nor do we have a farm with olive groves and stuff all else. We have cars, tvs, computers and THE INTERNET.

3. The person we are talking to is 14.

If Socrates were to read this thread he would start looking for you so he could shout at you. Plato would dip his cup in the wine and shake his head and Aristotle would skip around waving his arms and hooting like an owl.

Do you quite honestly believe that because we have microwaves and Reddit that there's nothing we, or a 14 year old, could learn from ancient philosophy?

I don't really think you're reasoning pure logic more than personal opinion. So here are mine.

1.This quote, The unexamined life is not worth living.” ― Socrates along with many more reflect a part of the human condition that has not changed. Even modern advertising deals with ethos,pathos, and logos http://avenueright.com/entries/83/a-three-minute-guide-to-et.... Even more relevance in thoughts about is war ever just ?, freedom of speech, ethics,rhetoric and dialectic(what good lawyers abuse), and etc. There seems be a large amount of timeless truths about humanity and human nature.

2. It's true , somethings aren't the same., but somethings are. Also I think there is a good reason they are still taught in a typical PHIL 101 class. They still have value.

3. The average 14 year old would probably not care. However in reference to this 14 year old, maybe. Child prodigy's exist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_child_prodigies

4. Finally, I said I regret not learning it, and offered my opinion. It was nothing more than that.

People might be put off by the old thinkers if they know much modern analytic philosophy.

And this is why you should... http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/11/read-history-of-philoso...

I'd recommend that they enjoy their name!

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/

Warrior of the Light: A Manual by Paulo Coelho

Actually I am recommending this book to every human being regardless of your age.

Thomas Schelling - The Strategy of Conflict

Frans P.B. Osinga - Science, Strategy, and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd

SICP SICP SICP (Some Haskell would be good too, but there's just no SICP equivalent yet.)

"Zen Flesh Zen Bones" -Anonymous

Buddhist precursors and a pile of Koans.

History. It gives you context, which is half of everything.

The Cosmos series. Old and new. They're both great.

Travel

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