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Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

341 points by chha ↗ HN
I'm coming up on my summer leave, and have absolutely no plans other than doing various things related to house maintenance or renovation. Evenings are mostly free. If you could recommend one book I should plan on reading this summer, what should it be and why. No limitations on genre, it doesn't have to be related to CS.

306 comments

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abstrct
In the wake of new attempts to "ban encryption", I'd recommend reading Crypto by Steven Levy (2001).

https://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/books/crypto

teekert
In the wake of China's expansion into Africa, I'd recommend "Confessions of an economic hitman" by John Perkins.
justaguyhere
I read this long time ago, it was unbelievable and crazy to my naive brain. I don't know how much of it is true and how much of it is made up, it is definitely worth a read. I remember reading it in one sitting, shaking my head along the way multiple times
teekert
Me too! The most memorable ones are the Iran CIA coup of 1953 which is pretty much considered the truth. Torrijos "murder" remains a mistery imho. I'm willing to believe the book...

I also love the way the book is written, like an adventure, very immersive.

EKemp
That has to be Factfulness from Hans Rosling :-)

Why: Where journalists continuosly provide the trees of human progress, this book provides the forest.

jonwinstanley
I found “Sapiens” absolutely fascinating and incredibly dense in information.
posedge
That was the first book that came to my mind. Highly recommend.
neilkakkar
and if you don't get time for the entire book: I did an almost lossless compression - https://neilkakkar.com/sapiens.html
jacknews
Thanks so much for this - I'm really a fan of condensed factual books. I think the book format necessitates undesirable verbosity (ahem), detail, anecdotes, side stories, padding etc.
[dead] dx7tnt
I didn't enjoy this at all. I thought the tone and the style were pretty awful.
ozim
I found it 50% of things I already knew. I got dissapointed with author lack of knowledge how farming works. He just keeps going on how those hunter gatherers had it all good and farming started to break people backs and stuff. When farming you work hard 2 times a year, rest of the year you just check out on stuff and myabe round up some animals. But it is not 365 days a year back breaking labor.

I was dissapointed with that book, maybe because everyone was saying it is great book, so I had high expectations.

lelima
The hype is ruining me some movies and books as well..
elwesties
Recommend "radical candor" it has totally changed my management style and it applicable to both managers and non managers
pmoriarty
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca.[1]

[1] - https://tripinsurancestore.com/4/on-the-shortness-of-life.pd...

manjana
On the genre of Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius has intrigued me for some time. I have yet to read any of Seneca's work though but imagine that it is any bit as much quality(!).

I would like to add a candidate for the recommendation on Stoic philosophy - "Meditations by Marcus Aurelius".

cannonedhamster
Meditations is great. Seneca's letters are better I think.
Scarblac
Meditations disappointed me, it was so obviously never meant as a coherent whole. Just long lists of notes in more or less random order, lots of repetition, not everything intelligible, few things applicable.

I think reading a randomly selected 1/6th of Meditations gives more or less the same experience as reading all of it.

andyjohnson0
I find it great to dip into. Open at random and read a page. Like you said, it's just not meant to be read as a whole.
kuu
I'd recommend The selfish gene , quite interesting book, it gave me a new perspective in how the evolution and life works.
w4tson
Plus one. I’m reading this now. I have little interest in biology/zoology but already I’m gripped by it. I can’t believe how old it is, yet still feels fresh
13of40
When I was a pre-teen/teen, I grew up in a pretty nerdy family with a scientist dad, a brother who eventually became a linguist, and stacks of Byte Magazine, Omni, Particle Physics Digest, etc. as far as the eye could see. I couldn't stomach the fantasy stuff my brother was into, and I was a bit on the technical side, so I decided my genre was Sci Fi. I followed this to the point that I felt deeply guilty for reading anything else, until one summer I found myself at a cabin somewhere with nothing to do but lay in a hammock and read Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen. Oh my God, it went down so easy compared to the Sci Fi. It really made me realize a joy in recreational reading that's stuck for 30 years. Now I'm not saying that Florida Humor Noir is right for you, but don't feel obligated to spend your summer reading something like Nudge or Crucial Conversations.
michelpp
The Book of Why, by Judea Pearl.

http://bayes.cs.ucla.edu/WHY/

beefield
I'm in the middle of it and I feel - maybe weird could be a right word, regading the book.

It is very verbose in explaining how stupid statistics and statisticians were before the causal revolution orchestrated mainly by the author were. And how magnificiently efficient and simple these new concepts with causation diagrams are for uncovering causal relationships.

But for some reason I have completely missed how you come up with these diagrams in the first place, and how you actually, practically use the data to validate if the diagram you have come up with is correct. In other words, the book has completely failed to help me build any kind of mental model how I should apply this magnificent new idea in practice.

Is that just me being dumb or would there be some other sources worth reading for yhe same concepts? (Yes, I am intrigued with the question how to evaluate causal statements)

merlinsbrain
I think you’ll enjoy this piece titled “Bayesian Networks without Tears”.

https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~murphyk/Bayes/Charniak_91.pdf

The author of this paper/article attempts to make Judea Pearl’s concepts digestible while keeping a good balance between using math (not much) but still referring to the relevant mathematical concepts.

I’m currently (re-)exploring these concepts (specifically Bayesian networks) and would be happy to chat (check profile) if you end up reading this paper or finding different sources which help you grok the field!

drej
Basically anything by Simon Singh, I mostly enjoyed the Code Book and the Big Bang, Fermat's Last Theorem was also solid.

Detailed yet extremely readable for a very wide audience.

jefim
My to-go favorite for relaxed summer evenings is "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov.

It is a literature masterpiece that magically adjusts to my current inner state. It can be both easy reading when I'm tired and just want to unwind, and thought provoking when I'm ready to be thoughtful.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117833.The_Master_and_Ma...

idlewords
This is a beautiful book. I recommend the Bergin/O'Connor translation.
chantelles
I am reading it now - and it is fantastic. And because I cannot read in Russian but am learning it I see how much I am missing: eg: the word for Turnstyle in Russian is the same in meaning as tourniquet - which figures prominently in the beginning of the book.
spectaclepiece
Laying at the side of the pool during my vacation in Turkey with a fresh smell of sunflower oil and the sound of an approaching tram.
Choque
Highly recommended! Especially the version OP linked (the Tiernan O'Connor/Burgin translation)
blue_devil
Great to see (classic) fiction suggested. Seems non-fiction usually gets the medal for "worthiness".
rdeboo
I started reading "The Master and Margarita" this year after seeing this title pop up on HN so often. I could not finish it, I found it rather boring. I'm curious, am I the only one? What does everyone find so great about this book?
deneb150
I read it earlier this year and also can't understand why it's so highly recommended. If I were living in the Soviet Union during the time it was written it would probably be the greatest book I had ever read, but as someone just looking for something to read nowadays, I mean, so, so many other better choices.
kirso
That is an incredibly limited view. How many amazing books written in "add country" during "add time" which are classics and amazing books. Sure, there is always an opportunity cost, but what does it have to do where you are living and the time it was written? Does it mean you can only read books written after the new millennia?
bemmu
I also found it hard to follow and the story not particularly interesting, at least not enough of a reward for struggling through it. I finished it a few pages a night over ~3 months, which was a good activity to help me sleep.

I read the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Could be that it simply whooshed me, maybe I'll try again older and wiser and find myself enjoying it.

kapep
I also read it because it was mentioned on HN and I think it is boring too. Everything that is happening seems quite random and not very interesting. I feel either something got lost in translation or I lack some knowledge about Russian culture and don't get most references, even though I enjoyed a few other Russian classics. Otherwise I'm couldn't explain why it seems so popular here. It really doesn't help that the German translation which I read seems really theatrical and has really contrived dialog.
stepvhen
i actually just finished reading it last night. probably one of the best bits of fiction ive read.
lunchladydoris
There are some excellent books on this list already. For something different, try Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight. It's a memoir from the founder of Nike. I just finished it and it was great.
honzzz
Neurosis and human growth by Karen Horney

Neverending story by Michael Ende

It is interesting to read these two together - they are basically the same book, just expressed differently.

d0ublespeak
The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells - super eye opening.
deboflo
Red Rising by Pierce Brown.
htamas
The Kon-Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl
pmlnr
Aldous Huxley - Breve New World
arien
I only started reading this one yesterday. I honestly know nothing of this book other than everybody always mentions it (along with 1984, Animal Farm and Farenheit 451). The first few pages made me raise a few eyebrows already, looking forward to finishing it.
gordon_freeman
I would recommend Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Hays Translation) along with On the Shortness of Life by Seneca. These 2 books together will introduce you to the Stoic philosophy which I just found a couple of years ago and it has made my life much better.
natmaka
On this vein one may benefit from the Enchiridion of Epictetus.
0kl
I have always been of the opinion that you ought to read the stoics in the order of:

1. Epictetus (foundational with the enchiridion) [trans Robert Dobbin] 2. Seneca’s letters (eloquent exhortations from one person to another) [trans Robin Campbell] 3. Aurelius’s meditations (powerful self-reflections not meant for publication) [trans Martin Hammond]

I found that, going back, both Seneca or Epictetus were lesser reads than Aurelius, but I’m still glad I read them.

[These are my preferred translations, but I did see this comment and just ordered the translation mentioned https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8717216]

sansnomme
On VCs, startups and philanthropy: Accelerando by Charles Stross
doomlaser
Patrick Collison, co-founder of Stripe, keeps a cool reading list with tons of books, color coded by the impact they had on him. He's clearly a voracious reader on a wide range of topics. I happened to find it yesterday and found tons of books and authors to add to my Amazon wishlists: https://patrickcollison.com/bookshelf

If you're interested in games / startup stories, I have to recommend Masters of Doom, about the early days of id. It's thrilling and exciting to read: https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-Cult... - It's also in the news that USA has ordered a pilot for a TV adaptation. Here's hoping it's good!

pimmen
Masters of Doom had a much bigger impact on me then I thought it would. Can really recommend it!
ElCapitanMarkla
I read that a year or two ago and find myself quite often thinking about it. It really is very good
anderspitman
One of very few books I've read twice and intend to read again in the future.
tossaway127
Keep in mind, he claims to have read about half the books on the list and it's not clear which half...
backslash_16
Masters of Doom is such a fun, good book. I ended up power reading a few summers ago.

If you grew up playing Doom, and all the other shareware games like Hexen, Heretic, etc... reading about Id Software's start and history is more interesting than I ever thought it would be.

Another book that drew me in was "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels". It's a collection of short-ish game creation stories packaged into a book. Really candid interviews and writing.

robodale
I've read Master's of Doom 4 times...and loved each time through it.
Quiza12
The World According to Garp by John Irving. To me, it's the perfect tragi-comedy. Gotta have a bit of both.
Fnoord
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, SF from 1992. Goodreads entry here [1]

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40651883-snow-crash

laputan_machine
Recently finished this, I enjoyed it a lot but I admit it's not... quite what I expected with the heavy religious aspect of the book. Deliberately irreverent, almost tongue-in-cheek (Hiro Protaganist...). Neal Stephenson had an incredible eye wrt the capabilities limitations of software, especially if you view it through the lens of 1992
leethargo
Or his most recent novel "Fall, or Dodge in Hell".