My choice: Delivering Happiness because Ton Shieh outlines a phase he went through after selling his first company. It really made you think about startups, goals and life.
My choice: Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace
I was actually very surprised on how insightful this book was. It is a great look into the inner mind of a prolific writer and the anguish he felt by in genius.
Man, I couldn't possibly disagree more. I really enjoyed Wallace's voice in this book, but felt like David Lipsky injected way, way too much of himself into it.
I'm quoted on that site so it is kind of redundant, but there is some great advice in there. I particularly like the chapters on VAs and email marketing. For early stage companies, there is a basic primer to SEO and whatnot which covers some of the things I learned the hard and expensive way.
I haven't finished it, but the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs was by far my favorite book that I've been reading this year. It really opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas, as it apparently has for so many other people.
I loved Black Swan for the same reasons. I also read "Hollywood Economics: How extreme uncertainty shapes the film industry," which reads like an applied version of the Black Swan in relation to the film industry.
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure by Jerry Kaplan
Jerry started "GO," the company that was the first to bring to market "pen computing." His company raised over 75M and spent it all on a product that the market did not want. It is a great read. A time before the concept of "product/market" fit had entered main-stream vocabulary
Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos by Seth Lloyd.
It made me think about reality in a very novel way, and the nature of what a tautology really is, and it was extremely readable considering how cerebral it is.
The Joy of Clojure - Michael Fogus and Chris Houser (http://www.manning.com/fogus/) Riveting look at the language and functional programming - covers edge cases, gives lots of idiomatic examples, and goes deep into the really interesting parts.
It taught me (reminded me mostly) what kinds of attitudes I have when I am happiest and kicking ass with my projects. Over time I had somehow lost myself. This book helped me get back to the person I liked the most. I think it's also helping me do a lot better on my current startup, so it's not just a touch-feely book, it is having a lot of real, immediate, positive impact, at least to me.
I second this book too although I read several years ago. AND it's relevant in our startup life in a surprising way.
I often found myself make much better decision when I'm a bit detached, which is one of 'the' lessons people learned from that accident. So now in our startup, my business partner does all the client/customer/user communication works and I had the precious opportunity to sit back and observe.
Kitchen Confidential seconded. The account is surprisingly honest and also funny. Lots of tips on how to manage a business, how not to start a venture, now to keep on trying after failure, team interactions etc.
Polemic, passionate in a one-note way, pleading, to an extent that sacrifices the narrative. Two great examples from Krakauer: _Under The Banner Of Heaven_, which veers into a straight-up litigation against the Mormon faith†, and _Where Men Win Glory_, whose latter third is practically tear-stained.
Note: I'm not saying either of those books are bad; I liked them. I loved _Into The Wild_.
I'm not even finished with it, but it has still introduced me to Lisp, functional programming, artificial life, and web servers as well completely changed the way I program.
Gokhale's 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, via http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1739607 (thanks, HN). It's not the best presentation or the best science, but it has ended my back pain and given me awareness of my body. Anyone who sits with a curved back or occasionally lifts heavy objects should read it.
"The Player of Games" by Iain M. Banks. I love serious literature, I love non-fiction, and I love business & tech books, but I decided to give sci-fi a shot again and a friend leant me this book: wow. Fascinating, rip-roaring, mind-bending read! If you want to read something but don't want to fall asleep, I highly recommend this book.
The entire Culture series is of like caliber. I just finished Surface Detail in a little over a day, wall clock time. Having just finished The Player of Games, I think you might really like Surface Detail.
Have you read Peter Hamilton? Specifically, the Commonwealth Saga.
Banks is good, but I find his universes are to be sketchy and sometimes fairly shallow and not well-thought through (e.g. the one in the Algebraist). Hamilton is as creative as Banks, when it comes to the concepts, but he really delivers on the depth and complexity of the story lines and the actual execution. If you haven't read him, do it. If you have, I'd be curious to hear how you compare him to Banks.
I've read Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy and the Commonwealth Saga - the latter is much better but still suffers a lot, in my view, from poor characterization - something that Banks can be very good at (his bad guys can occasionally come from central casting though).
Banks is in a different class from Hamilton - in general I think the quality of his work has dropped off a bit but some of his earlier writing is exceptional: Use of Weapons is particularly strong.
I read several Culture books in addition to the Algebraist and the Use of Weapons was the only one that I genuinely liked. I was constantly under an impression that I am reading a screenplay - good bones, but lacking the works and details that would actually turn reading into a wow experience... which is what I got from Commonwealth Saga. To each his own though of course :)
"Daemon" and "Freedom" by Daniel Saurez. Very enjoyable reads, and chock full of not-too-distant futurism. They display an enormous amount of thinking about how social networks and the massively increased availability of data about our lives are changing the ways we interact with each other. Sprinkle in mysteries that play out in both reality and MMORPGs, lots of interesting devices, and a terrifying peek at what a technology-driven global economic meltdown could look like, and you have the basis for these books.
Daemon and Freedom are very good. The only problem I had (at it is pretty minor) is that for an AI that keeps asserting that it is just a canned set of production rules (i.e. wait until <something> happens then do <stuff>) it seems to possess a remarkable degree of general intelligence.
I finished this recently and could not agree more. I've just started the 1980's miniseries via Netflix (no streaming, unfortunately) - I'm only two hours in, but so far it is a great retelling.
I read that about 10 years ago. I need to revisit it again since I don't think I have ever managed to finish it without long periods of rest inbetween parts.
One of my top five books. I've read it so many times that the binding broke and the book is now in three pieces. I'm amazed that James Clavell managed to capture the culture so well.
I've read only Noble House. It's quite rich on the culture--maybe not so much as Shogun--and captures the setting quite well, but I didn't find it nearly as entrancing as Shogun.
Clavell's whole Asian Saga (Shogun, Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, King Rat, Noble House, and Whirlwind) is amazing. My favorite is Tai-Pan - the book had a tremendous impact on me, and I'd imagine it would appeal to every real entrepreneur. The underlying themes are freedom, individualism, honor, risk-taking, and ultimately, building something and defending it.
I'm fairly stubborn, so it takes a lot for me to change my ways. This book has changed my daily work routine. Johnson outlines 7 environments that have historically produced the most innovative ideas. It's easy to apply the lessons to your typical working day. Best book I've read in probably 5 years.
Yes, "Creativity" is very good, although for some reason it didn't 'wow' me as much as when I first read "Flow".
Two quick and easy changes from WGICF:
1. The power of bad/wrong ideas. I used to approach a problem space by first eliminating all of the obviously bad ideas. Johnson makes a compelling case that invalid facts and invalid ideas juice our creativity. Since reading the book, I've made an effort to at least consider the bad ideas and implementations. More than once there has been a nugget of creativity that I would have otherwise glossed over.
2. Liquid networks. I get banged up A LOT (2x - 5x per week) by people who have an idea and want to bounce it off of someone. I used to view these as a fun distraction and would reward myself with a 1-hour coffee only if I had met my goals for the previous week. If I was behind, these meetings were the first to go. Now, I always make it to these, even if I'm hopelessly behind. The idea is that the more you lift your head out of the sand and participate in a larger network of thought, the more creative you'll be.
Neal Stephenson's "Anathem". Seriously one of the best novels I've ever read. He's an excellent writer, and after about the first fifty pages I couldn't put it down.
"That left unclear whether a more serious threat would be carried out. In recent days, Mr. Assange has asserted that “over 100,000 people” had downloaded the entire archive of 251,287 cables in encrypted form. Only around 1,000 of the cables have so far been released; in many, names of sources who might be compromised or endangered were redacted.
“If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,” Mr. Assange wrote in a question-and-answer session on the Web site of the British newspaper The Guardian. Mr. Stephens, the lawyer, reiterated that warning on Tuesday saying a “a virtual network” of “thousands of journalists” around the world would ensure that the rest of the documents would be published."
It's a mystery, with things left for the reader to figure out. These things include where and when it's set, and what genre it's written in. A brilliantly apt form for a novel about science, which makes it hard to describe without spoiling it.
The author has his usual fun. Historical inspriation: monasteries in the dark ages. Martial artists: far too cool for their own good. Tensor calculations performed as interpretive dance: it had to be done. The plight of hackers and scientists in a violent, greedy world strikes as true as ever.
Stephenson's neologisms are a bonus. The principle "'X would be nice' does not imply X" needs a name, though I don't expect "Diax's rake" to stick. Also useful is "Lorite", for a scholar who specialises in refuting claims of novelty.
I must say I'm not enjoying Foundation and Empire as much as the original Foundation. Foundation had me pausing every few pages to think, but I found the second book lacking in those viewpoint-altering ideas. Anyway, I'm only halfway through the second one. I hope it gets better towards the end.
A toss between 'The Big Short' by Michael Lewis and 'Too Big To Fail' by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Both books are about the financial crisis on Wall Street. They provide excellent insight into how smart people made very bad decisions that had repercussions around the entire world. The last time I remember getting such an insight into this important industry was Lewis' own 'Liars Poker'.
I think it is important for people to understand what went wrong with the most recent financial crisis, and these two books do an excellent job of informing us from an insiders perspective.
I liked both of these books --- "The Big Short" maybe a little more than "Too Big To Fail", because Lewis is just crazy!good about pacing and character development --- but had serious concerns about how accurate/unbiased they were. Particularly Sorkin's book, which I've heard negative things about.
I'm about 2/3 of the way through _All The Devils Are Here_ by Joe Nocera and feel like it's doing a brilliant job of addressing the shortcomings for Sorkin's book, which I felt maybe sacrificed some accuracy for the sake of building an enjoyable narrative. _Devils_ also has an interesting structure, different than the others; it's a catalog of sketches of the different people/forces/companies that went into the mess, so you get a chapter on the guy who started Ameriquest, and a chapter on Fannie's struggles against the Bush administration, and a chapter on how Goldman's IPO and Merrill's cultural mismatch to trading culture caused them to screw up the market. It's great reading.
I've found Nocera's commentaries on NPR to be unusually frank. Perhaps I'll check out his book.
Speaking of documents of the financial crisis (though it's not a book), I went to see Inside Job last night, partly because I'm interested in the subject and partly because a weird sort of hey-he's-a-startup-guy-too loyalty inclines me to patronize Charles Ferguson's movies. It's an overview that falls a little short as a movie, i.e. it doesn't quite structurally hold up to the level of outrage it's going for. The most interesting thing, though, is how Ferguson devotes the last quarter of the movie to ripping academic economists a new one for their shoddy work and gaping conflicts of interest. Given that he started out as a policy wonk on the Ivy League/DC circuit, it seems clear that this is where his heart is. I felt very uncomfortable watching those segments (Ali G makes me squirm too) but it seemed like it needed to be done.
Edit: Also, Nouriel Roubini, on whom the film relies heavily, turns out to be surprisingly good onscreen.
210 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 299 ms ] threadVery easy read, explains a lot of functional programming concepts. This book made me a fan of Scala and functional programming.
I was actually very surprised on how insightful this book was. It is a great look into the inner mind of a prolific writer and the anguish he felt by in genius.
http://www.startupbook.net/
Informative, in a space I am interested in, and im already applying the techniques. Probably something everyone on this site should read.
I haven't finished it, but the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs was by far my favorite book that I've been reading this year. It really opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas, as it apparently has for so many other people.
A great look behind some of the pseudo-science and psychological principles behind decision-making, rationality, and markets.
Jerry started "GO," the company that was the first to bring to market "pen computing." His company raised over 75M and spent it all on a product that the market did not want. It is a great read. A time before the concept of "product/market" fit had entered main-stream vocabulary
It made me think about reality in a very novel way, and the nature of what a tautology really is, and it was extremely readable considering how cerebral it is.
It taught me (reminded me mostly) what kinds of attitudes I have when I am happiest and kicking ass with my projects. Over time I had somehow lost myself. This book helped me get back to the person I liked the most. I think it's also helping me do a lot better on my current startup, so it's not just a touch-feely book, it is having a lot of real, immediate, positive impact, at least to me.
Superb meta-literature.
Amazing story, super inspirational, and lots of great history. My wife and I both loved this book and could not set it down.
I often found myself make much better decision when I'm a bit detached, which is one of 'the' lessons people learned from that accident. So now in our startup, my business partner does all the client/customer/user communication works and I had the precious opportunity to sit back and observe.
(Medium Raw, a 2010 book, was also pretty good --- although probably only if you're into the high-end restaurant scene).
Note: I'm not saying either of those books are bad; I liked them. I loved _Into The Wild_.
† I'm not one.
The best book of 2010 for me "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen" by Christopher McDougall: http://www.amazon.ca/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greatest/...
There are so many great things about this book. It has an amazing story and also delivers a message why humans were born to run.
I'm not even finished with it, but it has still introduced me to Lisp, functional programming, artificial life, and web servers as well completely changed the way I program.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0979303605/
My favorite is The Use of Weapons. I liked Surface Detail but I do think you should read the Culture novels in the order they were written.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series
Banks is good, but I find his universes are to be sketchy and sometimes fairly shallow and not well-thought through (e.g. the one in the Algebraist). Hamilton is as creative as Banks, when it comes to the concepts, but he really delivers on the depth and complexity of the story lines and the actual execution. If you haven't read him, do it. If you have, I'd be curious to hear how you compare him to Banks.
Banks is in a different class from Hamilton - in general I think the quality of his work has dropped off a bit but some of his earlier writing is exceptional: Use of Weapons is particularly strong.
This talk by him was interesting (which was how I found out about the book): http://fora.tv/2008/08/08/Daniel_Suarez_Daemon_Bot-Mediated_...
- I hated the politics/game-playing that seem to be a huge component of getting on in academic research
- It was clear to me that we are unlikely to see any fundamental breakthroughs in general AI during my career
- I had been doing work on the Web since '92 and it was clear to me by '95 that this had a much brighter future than "classical" AI
- I co-founded a Web/Java startup in '95
Really great historical fiction about 16th century Japan. Quickest 1100 pages I've ever read.
That said I totally agree. Excellent book.
Worth a read, still.
It didn't stand out enough for you to get the title right though ;)
None of Clavell's other endeavors even comes close (though Tai-Pan was, relatively speaking, a fun modern romp).
An awesome look back at the space program in the 1960s.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC0O7M
I'm fairly stubborn, so it takes a lot for me to change my ways. This book has changed my daily work routine. Johnson outlines 7 environments that have historically produced the most innovative ideas. It's easy to apply the lessons to your typical working day. Best book I've read in probably 5 years.
4-minute Teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU
TED Talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0af00UcTO-c
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594487715
Also, have you read Csikszentmihalyi's Creativity?
Two quick and easy changes from WGICF:
1. The power of bad/wrong ideas. I used to approach a problem space by first eliminating all of the obviously bad ideas. Johnson makes a compelling case that invalid facts and invalid ideas juice our creativity. Since reading the book, I've made an effort to at least consider the bad ideas and implementations. More than once there has been a nugget of creativity that I would have otherwise glossed over.
2. Liquid networks. I get banged up A LOT (2x - 5x per week) by people who have an idea and want to bounce it off of someone. I used to view these as a fun distraction and would reward myself with a 1-hour coffee only if I had met my goals for the previous week. If I was behind, these meetings were the first to go. Now, I always make it to these, even if I'm hopelessly behind. The idea is that the more you lift your head out of the sand and participate in a larger network of thought, the more creative you'll be.
Also on the TED site: http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_com...
Also the "Daemon" series by Daniel Suarez is great along the same lines as snow crash.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/world/europe/08assange.htm...
"That left unclear whether a more serious threat would be carried out. In recent days, Mr. Assange has asserted that “over 100,000 people” had downloaded the entire archive of 251,287 cables in encrypted form. Only around 1,000 of the cables have so far been released; in many, names of sources who might be compromised or endangered were redacted. “If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,” Mr. Assange wrote in a question-and-answer session on the Web site of the British newspaper The Guardian. Mr. Stephens, the lawyer, reiterated that warning on Tuesday saying a “a virtual network” of “thousands of journalists” around the world would ensure that the rest of the documents would be published."
It's a mystery, with things left for the reader to figure out. These things include where and when it's set, and what genre it's written in. A brilliantly apt form for a novel about science, which makes it hard to describe without spoiling it.
The author has his usual fun. Historical inspriation: monasteries in the dark ages. Martial artists: far too cool for their own good. Tensor calculations performed as interpretive dance: it had to be done. The plight of hackers and scientists in a violent, greedy world strikes as true as ever.
Stephenson's neologisms are a bonus. The principle "'X would be nice' does not imply X" needs a name, though I don't expect "Diax's rake" to stick. Also useful is "Lorite", for a scholar who specialises in refuting claims of novelty.
I've even bought some of the music tracks by David Stutz:
http://synthesist.net/music/anathem/
Profits from this go to the Long Now Foundation - which is very appropriate given then themes in the book.
It made me think of what makes me happy and how I can help make the people around me happy, while still being entrepreneurial (which makes me happy).
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh.
Both books are about the financial crisis on Wall Street. They provide excellent insight into how smart people made very bad decisions that had repercussions around the entire world. The last time I remember getting such an insight into this important industry was Lewis' own 'Liars Poker'.
I think it is important for people to understand what went wrong with the most recent financial crisis, and these two books do an excellent job of informing us from an insiders perspective.
I'm about 2/3 of the way through _All The Devils Are Here_ by Joe Nocera and feel like it's doing a brilliant job of addressing the shortcomings for Sorkin's book, which I felt maybe sacrificed some accuracy for the sake of building an enjoyable narrative. _Devils_ also has an interesting structure, different than the others; it's a catalog of sketches of the different people/forces/companies that went into the mess, so you get a chapter on the guy who started Ameriquest, and a chapter on Fannie's struggles against the Bush administration, and a chapter on how Goldman's IPO and Merrill's cultural mismatch to trading culture caused them to screw up the market. It's great reading.
Speaking of documents of the financial crisis (though it's not a book), I went to see Inside Job last night, partly because I'm interested in the subject and partly because a weird sort of hey-he's-a-startup-guy-too loyalty inclines me to patronize Charles Ferguson's movies. It's an overview that falls a little short as a movie, i.e. it doesn't quite structurally hold up to the level of outrage it's going for. The most interesting thing, though, is how Ferguson devotes the last quarter of the movie to ripping academic economists a new one for their shoddy work and gaping conflicts of interest. Given that he started out as a policy wonk on the Ivy League/DC circuit, it seems clear that this is where his heart is. I felt very uncomfortable watching those segments (Ali G makes me squirm too) but it seemed like it needed to be done.
Edit: Also, Nouriel Roubini, on whom the film relies heavily, turns out to be surprisingly good onscreen.