"Why is Red Bull so popular, though everyone—everyone!—hates the taste? Humans are, in a word, irrational, basing decisions as much on subtle external signals (that little blue can) as on objective qualities (flavor, price, quality). The surrounding world, meanwhile, is irreducibly complex and random. This means future success can’t be projected on any accounting spreadsheet. To strike gold, you must master the dark art and curious science of conjuring irresistible ideas: alchemy."
Just finished Higginbotham's Midnight in Chernobyl on the accident, the cleanup and its consequences. At times it read almost like a thriller, while still being extremely informative.
I tried reading catch-22 twice before successfully getting through it. I felt the same as you did. I think my problem the first 2 times was that I was looking for the 'hook' or whatever it was that people were so fanatical about. As a consequence, I think I was glossing over the dialogue and not really ingesting what was going on. The third time I decided to just take it at face value, try and enjoy the dialogue and if no bigger picture emerges, so be it. This approach turned out to be the key. It's an incredibly funny and poignant book and what happens is that while you get through all these seemingly (initally) trivial scenes, a point does in fact start to emerge. The triviality is actually central to the main point. People keep dying off for arbitrary reasons and the being part of the war is so detached from the apparent reasons for the war is actually taking place. It's one of my favorite books. I truly recommended trying to read it again.
"JCIP - Java Concurreny in Practice", finally was able to complete this monster and now I see the world differently. I had a aha moment, just like Neo in the Matrix.
"The Sandman: Kindly Ones" and "The Sandman: Wake", masterpieces from the master writer Neil Gaimann.
Reading "Never Split the Difference" which is about the art of negotiation and has been an enlightening read as of now. It argues negotiation isn't rational but is an affective exercise and I couldn't agree more.
I'll confess that I haven't read "The problem with threads", my aha moment was the existence of 'happens-before' relationships and the Java Memory Model which for a good part of my life, I didn't know about.
No, it's good. It stands alone as a piece of literature. Atlas Shrugged doesn't - it's skippable. The Fountainhead is about work, art and passion. It's also just a much better story.
I’ve been reading Release It - design deploy production ready software.
This is a fantastic book with several lessons my teams learned either by failing. The parts on how so many issues tend to be blocked threads, how you accidentally DDOS yourself, or how scaling/capacity management has failures even when you follow all the textbook, sound patterns... it takes many of my personal experiences and some failures I haven’t had (but will) and provides such a fresh perspective.
This is an amazing book, though I jokingly like to describe it as the best beginning and ending prose ever written with 100 chapters of whalefacts.tumblr.com sandwiched in between.
I was surprised nobody told me about (spoiler) the quite sincere same-sex interracial marriage early in the book, in which the one groom gives half of his worldly wealth to the other, and then they sleep together. Even if it isn't about sex, I'd think that scene would be better known if more than a few nerds like me read the book. It's in one of the greatest American novels, we've just gone through a great debate around marriage freedom, but actually reading it was the first time I came across it.
I can really recommend The Kingkiller Chronicle.
It is an outstanding piece of fantasy. The way of magic is developed / presented in a way you really can feel how it could be possible. A great piece of art by Patrick Rothfuss.
The last book (of three) is currently in the making. I am really looking forward to read the first two books again once the last part is published. I want to know more about The Doors of Stone - now! :-)
I second this. It is very well written and among the top fantasy books I have read. The only frustrating part is the release of third book is no where near in the horizon.
Just finished the second book of this series. I agree with the parent comment - strongly recommend.
I also finished book 10 of the Malazan series.
Imagine Dan Carlin (Hardcore History podcast) and Quentin Tarantino took both the red pill and the blue pill that Morpheus offered Neo and ground both the pills together, snorted it, shook hands and agreed to create something better than Game of Thrones. I imagine they would have come up with something almost as good as the Malazan series.
You’ll have to power through the first book (Gardens of the Moon). It is notoriously difficult - I recommend following up each chapter with commentary on Tor’s Gardens of the Moon reread. I will also guarantee that the way book 1 ends will not make sense. But keep reading - the payoff is waiting as early as the end of book 2. And again at the end of book 3. And again all through books 4 and 5. And it’ll stay that good till the end.
I found the Malazan books quite frustrating, every book he introduced a new character and storyline and left so many previous ones unfinished. Too many balls. And the end was just a bit silly for me.
I thought they were pretty good, but I'm enjoying GoT more.
I read the whole book man. The questions are just tools. You should read any stoic you like, preferably the one who you relate the most with (Zeno of citium even to Taleb doesn't matter)
Well I remember reading in one or two sittings "Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier" by John Markov and Katie Hafner just before I discovered The Cuckoo's Egg and both gripped me in the same way.
I am reading An Anonymous Girl by Greer and Sarah and it's a hell of a ride. I try to answer the questions asked by the doctor and makes me wonder about myself.
The Count of Monti Cristo is a really fun book. It was published as a serial and was kind of like the Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones of 1850s Paris that everyone was talking about at the time. It's fun to read for both the revenge story itself and for the implicit look into the history of the French Revolution and what the life of a (dramatized) high roller was like back then.
Oh yes, the unabridged version is huge - and quite daunting at first - but once you let the thing just flow over you, it's a real great slow burner of a revenge story. Very highly recommended if you like a long read.
Read it as a serial. The last time I read it, a couple of years ago, I read a chapter each night. The hardest part was not reading a second or third chapter each night.
Another approach would be to read it as published. That's something like 18 parts in as many months.
It is one the best sci-fi books out there. You will love the way it ends. It brings us to realise what we know and what we presently dont understand in the field of physics.
I made it through all three books and really enjoyed them (especially book 2). But I have to admit that I don't know how to feel about the ending. Definitely not the ending I anticipated.
"Nobody's boy" (Orig title "Sans famille") by Hector Malot. A huge classic in Vietnam, I have been said, but a little bit forgotten in France. Bar a couple of unlikely events, pretty enjoyable. Absolutely very much superior to the anim. Emphasize on education throughout the book.
I just finished Shogun and The Terror one after the other.
The reason I liked these is that I found the dogged determination of the respective captains in the face of adversity (especially in The Terror) inspirational.
David Eddings The Belgariad series ( 5 books) and then the Mallorean series (5 more books) which follows on from the Belgariad. An amazing piece of fantasy writing.
85 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 129 ms ] thread"Why is Red Bull so popular, though everyone—everyone!—hates the taste? Humans are, in a word, irrational, basing decisions as much on subtle external signals (that little blue can) as on objective qualities (flavor, price, quality). The surrounding world, meanwhile, is irreducibly complex and random. This means future success can’t be projected on any accounting spreadsheet. To strike gold, you must master the dark art and curious science of conjuring irresistible ideas: alchemy."
I got the book, tried the audio-book and even tried watching the movie, I couldn't get myself past the first half of the book or the movie.
It just seems (to me) so childish and incoherent, am I missing somthing?
Different type of people like different things :) no need to feel bad about it.
p.s I would use word playful instead of childish.
It’s cool to read children’s literature as an adult. Less cool if you think it’s literature’s final form.
"The Sandman: Kindly Ones" and "The Sandman: Wake", masterpieces from the master writer Neil Gaimann.
Reading "Never Split the Difference" which is about the art of negotiation and has been an enlightening read as of now. It argues negotiation isn't rational but is an affective exercise and I couldn't agree more.
This is a fantastic book with several lessons my teams learned either by failing. The parts on how so many issues tend to be blocked threads, how you accidentally DDOS yourself, or how scaling/capacity management has failures even when you follow all the textbook, sound patterns... it takes many of my personal experiences and some failures I haven’t had (but will) and provides such a fresh perspective.
https://www.amazon.com/Release-Design-Deploy-Production-Read...
Finally got around to reading it, I was amazed at how modern it felt for a book written in 1850.
It's one of my favourite books too. I dip into it a few times a year reading specific chapters, I find it incredibly evocative.
I also finished book 10 of the Malazan series.
Imagine Dan Carlin (Hardcore History podcast) and Quentin Tarantino took both the red pill and the blue pill that Morpheus offered Neo and ground both the pills together, snorted it, shook hands and agreed to create something better than Game of Thrones. I imagine they would have come up with something almost as good as the Malazan series.
You’ll have to power through the first book (Gardens of the Moon). It is notoriously difficult - I recommend following up each chapter with commentary on Tor’s Gardens of the Moon reread. I will also guarantee that the way book 1 ends will not make sense. But keep reading - the payoff is waiting as early as the end of book 2. And again at the end of book 3. And again all through books 4 and 5. And it’ll stay that good till the end.
I thought they were pretty good, but I'm enjoying GoT more.
1 https://www.playtak.com/
Haven't completed it yet, so far I am finding it good.
Does anyone have other hacking related books with story telling like in this book?
Another approach would be to read it as published. That's something like 18 parts in as many months.
It held my attention all the way through and I am now starting the sequel.
Currently reading Northern Lights, the first of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. My first time reading it, great so far.
The reason I liked these is that I found the dogged determination of the respective captains in the face of adversity (especially in The Terror) inspirational.