If I have to pick just one, it would be "How to survive without a salary" by Charles Long. In short, it helped me escape the American Rat Race. Most of my life, I was middle class, but I side stepped the typical thing of running faster to stay in place. The poverty I have suffered in recent years would have been worse without the mental models it provides me.
Reading "Art of worldly wisdom" as a kid. Still read it often. I find it incredibly useful in interactions with people in almost every facet and I strongly suggest reading it.
For programming, "Game Coding Complete" by Mike McShaffry and David Graham. The book gave a very nice intro to a number of design considerations and given that McShaffry did a decent amount of game programming in the early days of programming, there are discussions of how they dealt with incredible design constraints. The book served as a good introduction to thinking about performance and size of the software that I build today. The book introduced me to concepts like how hardware could introduce unexpected performance changes. I honestly don't do much game programming at all, but it was a very nice introduction to some otherwise difficult topics. I think that even some experienced developers could get something out of that book.
I was just about to take that to a book reseller today because I haven't read more than a few snippets in ten years....maybe I should hold off on that.
The first few chapters have some really good lessons in them. It isn't really, in my opinion, a great book to read all the way through, but the little stories in the margins are well worth reading.
Since you've mentioned it, I've looked at the free sample. I'm kinda impressed how good it is. I wasn't expecting it to be very well made. In fact I'm buying it now
I've never thought of Meditations as religious or non-religious. It's all about really appreciating what you have and understanding the way you feel is derived from your perception of the world. I think that's pretty universal.
Convinced me that I absolutely wanted to do backbone ISP network engineering on a grand scale. It's taken a while to get to the level of knowledge where one is trusted and confident working on circuits that can take whole countries off the internet if you fuck up, but very much worth it.
That story was awesome! Thank you for sharing it. I read the whole thing over cups of Vietnamese coffee in between bouts of zipping round HCMC on a motorcycle, which felt strangely appropriate.
I kind of love the idea of hacker tourism, and I wish I could find more journalism of this type. A character somewhere between enthusiast/gonzo/reporter on a seemingly obscure quest that leads to unexpectedly deep reflections on the world we inhabit.
A series of essays and books impacted my life the most. It all started on a sunny day, when I was a structural engineering intern full of hope and a beautiful girlfriend, waiting for my code to run(blah blah iteratively determine deflections of structures with non-linear stress-strain responses blah blah), when I read: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD10xx/EWD103...
I quit my job the next day.
This was the beginning of the end. Like with all drugs, there is a slippery slope. You start with marijuana, and you move onto heroin. In my case, I graduated to:
* I am very judgemental and look down upon most HN posts, especially the ones that praise Alan Kay, natural language programming, or view programming as a "craft" rather than a "science"; my favourite HN feature is the "hide" button
* I am disappointed with my math education, and tired of all the rabbits being pulled out of hats in my textbooks
* I wish I had enough will power and discipline to write a programming language that is nothing more than predicate calculus, but I don't
I foresee that as a result of these readings, I will die alone, sad, and depressed...oh AND penniless.
Nope. Switching fields from something that had a stable pay (civil engineering) to something where I am likely to be homeless (math, especially since I am not a genius), was one of the many nails in the coffin our relationship.
"Shreemad Bhagvad Geeta" -
A book that believed to be narrated by God Krishna on lessons of life living in spiritual way.Though it is considered as most religious book in Hinduism, yet proved good for motivation and being a confident in life
On a personal level the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins because it explained that "evil" is not evil but "mathematically" inevitable, thus allowing me to find (relative) peace of mind.
On a professional level The Mobile MBA by Jo Owen, because it explained to me - the programmer - valuable management skills in no bullshit way (I can not stress this enough), thus allowed me to grow in my career.
This may be because I have always admired John Carmack, and because I love video games - although I am drawn to all kind of different book genres, but "Masters of Doom" had a profound effect on me.
I read it every few months, and I have gifted it to family and friends, and most of them loved it as well.
It’s not the writing, nor the story per se that stand out, it’s not just about how it beautiful highlights and highs and the lows of the Johns’s symbiotic relationship and their accomplishments, it’s not even about how their skills, strengths and weaknesses play into their success and failures (which I am sure is typical of most co-founders stories).
It’s about empowering the reader to believe that everything’s possible, and how smart, hard-working people can build technologies that affect the lives of many.
This book works wonders for when I am going through burn-outs, or I am not motivated enough to pursue a problem or a project.
When I am done reading the book, I am excited and eager to get back into the game. I can’t recommend it enough.
"How To Win Friends And Influence People" helped me a lot with social skills that are obvious to most people but not to me. It's still something I work on regularly, it doesn't come naturally.
I double this. Listened to the audiobook recently. I've always considered myself quite a communicative person, but only after the book I realized how much improvements can be done here.
Still, I find it a bit manipulative, so I would only use the techniques in working environment and stay "myself" and direct with friends.
I have had the same experience. It has always been difficult for me to handle social relationships with others when growing up (I cannot understand how others feel/think about me). "How to win friends" offers an (behaviourism?) insight into what you do can make others feels what. It's like a handbook really!
For me it would have to be the Michael gerber's Emyth books. It will forever change how you think about business and maybe the world around you.
Followed by sam carpenter's work the system. I think if you're a programmer trying to make it as a business person those two books are the most invaluable.
Edit: about the how part.. Before reading and understanding these books I was always in a kind of firefighting mode. It was like a constant pain in the neck that something was somewhere needed me. Sure i was making money but I was not enjoying it and felt stressed all the time. Plus I wasn't scaling my business because of the constant need of attention from everything. Then I learned the systems thinking and it all started to change.. It was like I felt I had wasted 10 years of my life being stupid before. I'm telling you these two books can forever change your life both professionally and personally if you aren't already doing it.
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. As a scientist, it helped me to realise that the quest for truth is only a tool: I have to choose my own goal.
Edit: I also want to mention "Language in Action" by S.I. Hayakawa. I read it too recently to say that it has had the most impact on my life of any book, but it opened my eyes to orders of magnitude more cases of imprecision in our language than I had ever noticed before.
Abundance by Peter Diamandis totally changed the way I look at businesses and future technology and helped me clearly see the difference between exponential growth and linear growth changing the world.
"The Illuminatus! Triology" by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
I did my first reading in high school and it was absolutely brilliant. I never expected so many twists and turns where characters melt into one another and plots jump from world domination conspiracy theories to self discovery and awakening.
Decades later, I am now looking more into Robert Anton Wilson's other work (in particular Maybe Logic) and am seeing some very interesting applications, especially in software quality and artificial intelligence.
Still one of my favorites. I've reread this book more often than any other and still catch new references in it each time.
If you've never checked out RAW'S audiobook "Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything", I highly recommend it. Lots of meandering talk about most of the concepts that occur again and again in his books.
I haven't checked out Maybe Logic yet, but now I'm curious.
75 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 145 ms ] threadIf anyone is interested in a more modern introduction to stoicism A Guide to the Good Life is a worthwhile read: https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/0195...
http://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/
Convinced me that I absolutely wanted to do backbone ISP network engineering on a grand scale. It's taken a while to get to the level of knowledge where one is trusted and confident working on circuits that can take whole countries off the internet if you fuck up, but very much worth it.
I kind of love the idea of hacker tourism, and I wish I could find more journalism of this type. A character somewhere between enthusiast/gonzo/reporter on a seemingly obscure quest that leads to unexpectedly deep reflections on the world we inhabit.
I quit my job the next day.
This was the beginning of the end. Like with all drugs, there is a slippery slope. You start with marijuana, and you move onto heroin. In my case, I graduated to:
"Formal Methods of Software Design": http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~hehner/FMSD/
After that I read: https://www.amazon.com/Predicate-Calculus-Program-Semantics-...
Now in general I am quite depressed:
* I am very judgemental and look down upon most HN posts, especially the ones that praise Alan Kay, natural language programming, or view programming as a "craft" rather than a "science"; my favourite HN feature is the "hide" button
* I am disappointed with my math education, and tired of all the rabbits being pulled out of hats in my textbooks
* I wish I had enough will power and discipline to write a programming language that is nothing more than predicate calculus, but I don't
I foresee that as a result of these readings, I will die alone, sad, and depressed...oh AND penniless.
I wish I was joking.
That's a pretty huge impact.
Get out of the house.
The post surely sounds like a joke, the way it's exaggerated.
My 3rd grade class had a set, and I devoured each one. They turned me into a nerd thanks to a teacher who told me to never stop reading.
Defined "Outlaw", a philosophy for dope folk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita
On a professional level The Mobile MBA by Jo Owen, because it explained to me - the programmer - valuable management skills in no bullshit way (I can not stress this enough), thus allowed me to grow in my career.
I read it every few months, and I have gifted it to family and friends, and most of them loved it as well.
It’s not the writing, nor the story per se that stand out, it’s not just about how it beautiful highlights and highs and the lows of the Johns’s symbiotic relationship and their accomplishments, it’s not even about how their skills, strengths and weaknesses play into their success and failures (which I am sure is typical of most co-founders stories).
It’s about empowering the reader to believe that everything’s possible, and how smart, hard-working people can build technologies that affect the lives of many.
This book works wonders for when I am going through burn-outs, or I am not motivated enough to pursue a problem or a project. When I am done reading the book, I am excited and eager to get back into the game. I can’t recommend it enough.
Edward DeBono
https://www.amazon.com/Sur-petition-Creating-Monopolies-Comp...
This is the book that inspired me to start in the world of business.
It showed me that the questions I'd always had were real, and finally let me break free :)
Followed by sam carpenter's work the system. I think if you're a programmer trying to make it as a business person those two books are the most invaluable.
Edit: about the how part.. Before reading and understanding these books I was always in a kind of firefighting mode. It was like a constant pain in the neck that something was somewhere needed me. Sure i was making money but I was not enjoying it and felt stressed all the time. Plus I wasn't scaling my business because of the constant need of attention from everything. Then I learned the systems thinking and it all started to change.. It was like I felt I had wasted 10 years of my life being stupid before. I'm telling you these two books can forever change your life both professionally and personally if you aren't already doing it.
Edit: I also want to mention "Language in Action" by S.I. Hayakawa. I read it too recently to say that it has had the most impact on my life of any book, but it opened my eyes to orders of magnitude more cases of imprecision in our language than I had ever noticed before.
I did my first reading in high school and it was absolutely brilliant. I never expected so many twists and turns where characters melt into one another and plots jump from world domination conspiracy theories to self discovery and awakening.
Decades later, I am now looking more into Robert Anton Wilson's other work (in particular Maybe Logic) and am seeing some very interesting applications, especially in software quality and artificial intelligence.
If you've never checked out RAW'S audiobook "Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything", I highly recommend it. Lots of meandering talk about most of the concepts that occur again and again in his books.
I haven't checked out Maybe Logic yet, but now I'm curious.