HN Explorer

Ask HN: What are your favorite books?

57 points by hmate9 ↗ HN
I'm looking for interesting books about new ideas and concepts. Share your favorite books here.

One of my favorites is How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenbreg (https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-Mathematical/dp/0143127535)

47 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 108 ms ] thread
tmaly
I just started reading the Art of Learning https://www.amazon.com/Art-Learning-Journey-Optimal-Performa...

I finished Linchpin a few weeks back and that was an amazing book https://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin...

Will It Fly is a great book I learning a lot of great marketing tricks from https://www.amazon.com/Will-Test-Business-Waste-Money/dp/099...

hmate9
Thank you, I think I will read all 3 of them!
samblr
Will it fly has a 5 star rating from 450 odd reviews!!
bbcbasic
450 fiverr gigs.
tmaly
I doubt that, he has a lot of fans.

I have to say, I learned a ton of cool tricks that one would have to spend weeks reading through forums to learn.

The part on how to build a market map is worth its weight in gold.

I opted for the kindle book, and the audio add on was only $2 which is an amazing price if you have bought other audio add ons.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
samblr
zero to one
hmate9
I've read that. It's worth reading just to get into the mind of Peter Thiel. The "start small and monopolise" is what really stuck with me.
liveshops_
This is what he focuses on in his portion of "how to start a startup" on YouTube. It's cool to watch him talk about it. Great concept.
selmat
1. https://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Techniques-Models-Computer-P...

2. https://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Concepts-MIT-Press/dp/026263...

3. https://www.amazon.com/Gödel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0...

solipsism
Is it a HN feature that cuts off long URLs unless you click Reply to isolate the comment? Actually even after isolating the comment the URLs are cut off (but not quite as short). Highly annoying.

You should edit and put the titles before the links.

nicostouch
Why Nations Fail - amazing book for understanding why some countries are dirt poor while others are rich. Absolutely phenomenal read.
ruler88
the hard thing about hard things - Ben is an amazing story teller, very personable, and great lessons
liveshops_
This one has been on my list. I'm starting it next!
samblr
This book was good - amazing story teller. Takes through highs and lows of his journey - feels like you are watching him in a boxing ring. Message: Persevere.
quoraquestions
A)The Annotated Turing - Petzold

B)Armchair Universe: An Exploration of Computer Worlds -- A.K. Dewdney

The latter had many great ideas which inspired me to do interesting experiments on computers with minimal programming experience, it had a great chapter on recursion which really helped me understand recursion when it had no programming experience. I still go back and read sections of this book. Quite a joy IMHO

aliencat
How to Win Friends and Influence People - The tips in this book do work magic.
beachstartup
_barbarians at the gate_ is a good read if you're into that sort of thing (business, banking, law, money)
throwaway26960
The Inner Game of Tennis

Think And Grow Rich - I based my cover letter off of some of the concepts in this book and it has worked remarkably well.

skylark
I came here to post The Inner Game of Tennis and was pleasantly surprised to see it in the top comment.

The book is only tangentially related to tennis - the real meat of the book is about how to adopt useful mentalities which will help you succeed at a variety of things. It's an extremely easy read and can be finished casually in a few days.

A great book which made me question some of my most deeply held beliefs about learning.

gardano
Back when I was still a student (of music), I read The Inner Game of Tennis and found it to be incredibly useful!

I also recommend it.

liveshops_
Just finished Grit by Angela Duckworth. Great insights for entrepreneurs/start-upers
mindfulgeek
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

NonViolent Communication: A Language of Life

chrisabrams
A Song of Fire and Ice

Zennis

Wheel of Time

Quiet

Lord of the Rings

Irrational Exuberance

pklausler
Infinite Jest

Ulysses

The Selfish Gene

The Histories of Herodotus

Moby-Dick

Gödel, Escher, Bach

rolancaster01
Melville "Bartlby the Scrivener" & Ramsey "When We Are No More: how Digital Memory Is Shaping Our Future"

Down "Brilliant Beacons: a History of the American Lighthouse"

Koestler "Darkness Before Noon" & "The Invisible Writing" & "The Ghost in the Machine"

John Gardner - anything really but October light and the sunlight dialogs in particular.

gregimba
Are Your Lights On?: A Treatise on the Definition of Diverse Problems
mindcrime
The Four Steps To The Epiphany - Steve Blank

Code by Charles Petzold

Artificial Life - Steven Levy

Time Reborn - Lee Smolin

The Singularity is Near - Ray Kurzweil

Surfaces and Essences - Douglas Hofstadter

How to Measure Anything - Douglas Hubbard

-- One of my favorites is How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenbreg

I have that on my list of "to read real soon now". Sounds fascinating.

0xmohit
Here are a few:

Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz

Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics by John Derbyshire

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong by Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull

yma
Creativity, Inc. - Ed Catmull.

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big - Scott Adams

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed - Ben Rich

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
jimmywanger
Try

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. A great book about time dilation and Vietnam.

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi. A book about water rights in the south west that I can think of.

dome82
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

- A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by Irvine

homingbrain
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

Also, strangely enough (not being a Harry Potter fan), I immensely enjoyed Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

personomas
The Holy Bible :)
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
e19293001
From my favorite author Anthony J. Dos Reis[0]

If you want to learn assembly language, computer architecture and C++ all at the same time: Assembly Language and Computer Architecture Using C++ and Java , Course Technology, 2004 [1]

If you want to learn how to write compilers, context free grammars, regular expressions and implement grep: Compiler Construction Using Java, JavaCC, and Yacc, IEEE/Wiley, 2012 [2]

If you want to learn functional programming, lambda calculus and LISP: An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus by Greg Michaelson [3]

My programming skills had grown dramatically with this books. I would wholeheartedly recommend the books mentioned above for those who are interested to learn.

[0] - http://cs.newpaltz.edu/~dosreist/

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/Assembly-Language-Computer-Architectu...

[2] - https://www.amazon.com/Compiler-Construction-Using-Java-Java...

[3] - https://www.cs.rochester.edu/~brown/173/readings/LCBook.pdf - https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Functional-Programming-C...