Ask HN: What article/book do you recommend for my next flight?

26 points by break_the_bank ↗ HN
I've been flying fairly often recently. I've a few books on my Kindle to read but I was wondering what HN suggests.

20 comments

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If you like thrillers with a geeky edge to them, you might like Zero Sum Game by S.L Huang. Some review I read described the protagonist of the story as "the geek's Jack Reacher". Pretty good analogy, IMO.

If you want non-fiction, maybe try Dreaming In Code. Or if you haven't read it before, how about *The Soul of a New Machine"?

Can't go wrong with Daniel Silva.
Fiction? Non-fiction?

If you have a Goodreads profile, you could link to that so we don't recommend things you've already read.

Something about the effect of flying on climate change?
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou. John is the WSJ reporter whose investigation of Theranos brought to light their behavior.

Every chapter you read there will be at least one "Holy shit. I can't believe someone did that" moment.

Bill Gates concurs https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Bad-Blood

Reading this right now. God this book is soo good, it's a must read for any startup founder.
Atomic Habits - James Clear

Banish Your Inner Critic - Denise Jacobs

American Kingpin was a really good read. It's the story of Ross Ulbricht, the guy that built the silk road.

It reads like fiction, but is a true story, and hits all the right buttons for me (technology, entrepreneurial spirit, understanding how to (or how not to) learn from your mistakes, etc.).

It's well written and hard to put down.

-----

The power of habit was also a really good read if you hadn't read it already.

I just finished the audiobook of American Kingpin and LOVED IT. Nonfiction that reads like a thriller. Very well done and the narration was also excellent (which also comes into play a lot for audiobooks!).

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou about the rise and fall of Theranos is very similar feel to American Kingpin, if you enjoyed one you will probably love the other; I thought both were equally fantastic, probably my best reads of 2018.

Some finance books I love (and reread frequently). These books are more about characters and stories, more than traditional non-fiction.

My Life as a Quant by Emanuel Derman

The Quants by Scott Patterson

A Man for All Markets by Edward O. Thorp

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre

Flash Boys by Michael Lewis

A word on words, a speech by Václav Havel, is one of the most interesting and increasingly pertinent things I've read. Havel was the last president of Czechoslovakia, and a lifelong dissident against the Communists. He talks about the way Communists revised thought through the words that were allowed to be spoken.

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1990/01/18/words-on-words/

If you want some pleasant fiction, I suggest the Lies of Locke Lamora
I just bought "The marijuana conviction: a history of marijuana prohibition in the United States," although I don't think you'll find it on Kindle. Pick up a copy at Amazon or AbeBooks.
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“This is water” the transcript of a commencement speech that David Foster Wallace gave. Probably the best thing he ever wrote (and shortest :) ).