Ask HN: What are the best long-form essays or articles you've ever read?

23 points by gsjbjt ↗ HN

6 comments

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You and Your Research by Richard Hamming: https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html

It's rare to have a researcher of that caliber give nitty gritty advice on having the greatest impact in your research.

It's great advice, but can be depressing. The question of "why bother doing anything if you're not advancing your field?" feels like a bucket of ice water on the head.

The world still needs a few workers doing non bleeding edge stuff, and they deserve to be content with life, too. People doing CRUD work aren't necessarily a waste of life.