Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?
It become somewhat a tradition for YC to publish a reading list for the vacations months. This hasn't happen for a while. I have discovered some very intersting books there apreciate suggestions from similarly minded people.
I recently stumbuled upon this list [1] and the selection seems quite good. I read _The Oracle Year_ which I liked a lot.
My question for the community here is: Have you read somthing interesting recently?
[1] https://geekdad.com/2018/06/5-reasons-to-read-5-great-books-june-2018-edition/
395 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 336 ms ] threadOther than recent technical papers, I am pretty much trying to eschew anything published in the last century until it passes the test of time. I get more out of a casual perusal of Aeschylus' Persians via Wikisource on my phone while sitting under a tree. Than I do from all the Ray Dalio Principles and Yuval Harari Homo Deus style tomes that are currently in vogue right now ;)
Skin in the game is the latest, it is on my reading list. Taleb is an arrogant *hole, but I love following him on Twitter and reading his books. A genuinely great opinions.
Robin Hobbs latest Fitz and the Fool trilogy are also great books i read this year. as are all her works really.
Travel books can be a good fit for the summer, and Keri Smith's Wander Society is a fun pick.
I also like to make a random pick or two that I'd never normally choose for myself. My next random pick may be off this thread...
Z
A friend gave me the book. I was skeptical of the premise. By the third chapter (the 70's, basically) I was like "I remember that!" "Yes, he was in all the newspapers!" "Yes, that was 'the greatest financial disaster since the Great Depression'!" (I've lived through three of those, btw.)
Interesting premise, good scholarship (he traces Citizen's United back to the college paper written to impress a college prof by a fellow who ended up clerking for SCOTUS judge who was the swing vote for Citizen's United (Kennedy?)).
Interesting read. I know it sounds like a grandiose conspiracy theory but he has actual facts (that I experienced growing up) to back him up.
Deep Work had the similar effects on my work habits as the former did on my finances.
If you're looking for a fun fantasy read, Elantris by Brandon Sanderson is one of my all-time favorite standalone novels.
That said, in hindsight a lot of Elantris feels pretty similar to Way of Kings.
I have not read The Millionaire Next Door, but that seems fraught. Does it avoid survivorship bias? E.g. Playing the lottery is a 'habit' common to all lottery winners, but it's also common to all lottery losers, of whom there are many more. If you only studied the winners though, the lottery might start to look like a wise investment. Maybe the habits common to millionaires are counterproductive for the average person and only helpful to the lucky few.
From the "Millionaire" or not game we're all "losers" by default.
On the other hand, a low risk strategy might give you a comfortable life with high probability, but almost certainly won't make you a millionaire.
You need to know the base rate to understand whether survivorship bias is a factor or not.
If you invest $5k per year and earn a 7% annual return with a mix of stock and bond index funds, you'll be a millionaire in 40 years. If you don't like my 7% number, then invest $16,500 at 2% (short term government bond type rates), and you'll still get there in about 40 years.
For a sufficiently frugal person on an engineer's salary, getting to a >$1 million net worth is easy, but it takes a while. It's worth noting, however, that $1 million isn't a particularly lavish retirement anymore (and will be much more modest in 40 years).
The easiest way to become a millionaire is to have boring financial habits.
They find that most millionaires are quite frugal, have stable families, and live modest lifestyles--they have accumulated wealth but don't flaunt it and don't waste it. These are essentially the lowest risk strategies in life, and survivorship bias favors the exact opposite, i.e. the "lottery ticket" decisions.
The exception to the low risk mantra is that many millionaires run their own businesses, and of course entrepreneurship is risky. The authors do note the effects of survivorship bias here.
I'd summarize the book by saying: "work hard, live well below your means, and invest the difference. Also, don't spoil your kids if you want them to build wealth."
So, it's been a while since I dipped into this book, but my recollection was that I read the summary and intro and thought "this sounds like an analysis which suffers significantly from survivorship bias." Did you find with a close read that was/wasn't a problem with the picture it presented?
(Not that I think that the advice I skimmed over was bad, certainly, I don't like to buy depreciating assets like cars on credit, and more people could likely benefit from budgeting investing conscientiously.)
1. Save at least 10% (or 25%) of your income
2. Live frugally. No flashy cars, etc.
3. Choose friends doing similar
I.e how to retire with a million.
I guess given enough income and decent rates on savings, it's not so revolutionary but perhaps hard work.
Basically the opposite of the SV mantra which is raise a ton of money for a shot at the lottery, live in the nicest apartment you can find/afford, eat out at fancy restaurants most nights, drive a nice audi or bmw, etc.
It has a lot of insight on how bubbles can grow -- and pop.
It's a fantasy series with an incredibly detailed, logical, well-thought-out magic system and world history.
Also just started another sci-fi trilogy with A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge which has some really fun and interesting (if hand-wavy) ideas about deep space physics.
I could not find a single thing to like about The Three Body Problem. I’ve heard it gets better after the first book, but I loathed the first book so thoroughly I wasn’t willing to try any more.
What did you like about it? It seemed like there was practically zero plot, and the science bits seemed unconvincing.
But I've really enjoyed them so far because the books have surprised me at least a dozen times.
I also didn't like the 1st part very much but I was blown apart after reading the 2nd. The third was not as good, so at least read the 2nd one
The characters ranged from caricatures to boringly malevolent, the plot dripped out like an icicle half a degree above freezing, and the aliens, which were at least interesting, got about 20 pages of attention.
I just don’t get the hype.
Vernor Vinge single handedly became one of my favourite writers (along side Clarke and Lem) with his short story True Names. I didn't find Rainbow's End as easy a read, I'll probably reapproach it after finishing The Star Diaries or Snow Crash, though.
The perspective given by the course shows to me that Chinese is one of the most sensible languages on earth. And the fact that we can trace the lineage of the language back to the Bronze age is one hell of a bonus!
Of course traditional learning methods (by rote, etc.) are not going to work for a pictographic language, but mnemonic learning is greatly aided by the story and history of the symbols therein.
Upvoted just for your last sentence.
I've found that this is true for correctly learning certain topics that appear to be impenetrable to me when using standard reading materials. So what I do now is try to read up on some historical materials to help me understand how the original ideas evolved to what they have become today, before re-attempting to read modern texts.
Familiarity with the topic's history prepares the foundation on which I can mentally hang together the topic's most important ideas, in a way that is coherent for me for future recall.
Indeed, most of the time the initial problem is caught up in the history and story of it, so not only does it give a mental context, but it helps you in applying the thing that you're learning!
For example, Mathematics became much more accessible to me when I learned the historical context for the maths first. Polynomials seemed not only completely useless, but also utterly mystical. Now I will never forget that once-upon a time, ability to solve Polynomials and other similar things were used not only as the measure of a person, but also became a type of challenge, and through that a form of gambling!
I have a few more recommendations in that vein here: http://compellingsciencefiction.com/blog/2016-12-18.html
Edit: Having said that, the concept of "focus" in Deepness is utterly terrifying - particularly as it seems very plausible and, as is noted in the book, some people might willingly submit to it (relevant to HN!).
[1] https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Handbook-Elad-Gil-ebook/d...
It has convinced me to improve my sleeping habits, and I've been feeling much better because of it.
Highly recommended!
Anyway, thanks for the link.
Medium is the Massage; Gutenberg Galaxy would be my top 2 recommendation given what you wrote.
I initially thought that was a typo. For others reading this: it's not, it was a collage-style collaboration between Mcluhan and graphic designer Quentin Fiore. That's really cool, I will have to check it out.
Take Today: the executive as drop out with Barry Nevitt
From Cliché to Archetype with Wilfred Watson
and finally,
Culture is Our Business, the last book he did solo [the one with WWIII being a 'guerrilla information war']
Also, if you're feeling philanthropic: I'm screening McLuhan's origin story at the Park in the place where he began University in Winnipeg.
At the very least watch the trailer and bask in the prescience of McLuhan yelling Fake News in 1969
http://gofundme.com/mcluhan-movie
I've only read 2 books and a half so far and it is brilliant!
I'm not a big fan of fantasy books (prefer hard sci-fi), but Malazan just blew my mind. One of the best things I've ever read.
Not an easy read though, be prepared!
I haven't read any of the off-shoot books yet, but they're on my list.
I've heard good things about it (along with that it won't be an easy read as you say) however I don't want to torture myself reading boring stuff for like 1000 pages until something interesting happens.
There are much better books to read and too little time.
Actually, that's more or less a rule I try to follow: If the book can't hook me after some pages and I keep feeling bored and not interesting I just put it away. Other books that I have started but found way too boring to keep reading them:
(* please don't downvote me for this. I know that some of these books are considered classics and many of you won't like this but remember that this is just my personal opinion; I tend to get border easily *)
- The orphan master's son - The man in the high castle - Metro 2033 - Neuromancer - Catch 22 - Digital Fortress (this wasn't so boring but I hated the smart-ass characters)
A real classic, each story is intriguing and some center on incredibly creative ideas.
2) The Pentagon’s Brain by Annie Jacobson
- The Language Instinct. How mind creates language.
- The Elephant in the Brain. I’ve posted notes here https://invertedpassion.com/notes-from-the-elephant-in-the-b...
- Existential Cafe. History of existential thought. Excellent book.
- 12 rules of life. Highly opiniated but well argued book on how to live life
- Skin in the game by Nasim Taleb.
- Daemon. The sci-fi book that anticipated what rouge blockchain like programs can do. Again, highly recommended
Black swan, the concept which brought him in the spotlight is somewhat valid but it's worth at most a chapter in a risk management book. But he milks the black swan cow to biblical proportions.
Antifragile is so longwinded it's an exercise in attention and patience. I think it's remarkable how he managed to fill so many pages.
In my view, Taleb resides close to Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin, the 'thought leaders' experts at rebranding/refactoring common concepts and milking the proverbial cow in publishing, speaking events, etc..
Nevertheless, it behooves us to try to remember that we are susceptible to the "Black Swan effect", the very real tendency to immediately forget that our sacred cows shit the bed.
Edit: grammar
It would have to be a fantasy book to truly go rogue - if it was sci-fi it would get bogged down in network congestion or high transaction fees, or consume all of the planet's energy production, before it could do much damage.
It gets a little bit over the top, but the concept is very entertaining.
Surfaces and Essences by Douglas Hofstadter & Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff
I does so by contrasting our behavior with that of the great apes so that we can determine the characteristics of our common ancestor and then build a scenario for how we could have gone from there to here.
I'm about half-way through right now and I highly recommend it
Everything from the tulip craze to the dotcom boom.
2) If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face? by Alan Alda
Alan Alda of MASH fame teaches you how to build more empathy and improve your communication skills.
3) Bad Blood by James Carreyou
Theranos. Enough said.
4) Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Steve Coll
I think of this as the last book in Coll's unofficial trilogy on Afghanistan. First up was Ghost Wars, a history of American involvement in Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion up to 2001. Second is his biography on the Bin Laden family. Last year he released Directorate S, a chronicle of American and Pakistani involvement post-9/11 primarily told through the lens of the Pakistani intelligence directorate tasked with influencing Afghanistan.
Coll has interviews with everyone from in-country CIA agents and foot soldiers who were on the ground all the way up to defense secretaries and military leaders, from both sides. An in-depth examination of what went wrong and why we're still stuck there.
5) Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads by Paul Theroux.
The greatest travel writer of the last half-century finally turns his attention homeward: the American Deep South. Four road trips over four seasons. He published an article in Smithsonian Magazine hitting the highlights: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/soul-south-180951861/
Aside from being a really enthralling and interesting story about one of SV's darling unicorns, it was also really eye opening into the absurdity of the amount of money that gets thrown around willy-nilly in SV, and how the bandwagon/FOMO effect just makes it worse. I won't say anything more because it's better to just read the book, but this is one of those stories that is almost endlessly fascinating.
Not sure what I learned other than people are carried away easily, but it was very entertaining.