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Ask HN: The Code Book by Simon Singh but for Other Fields?

14 points by rg111 ↗ HN
I just finished reading The Code Book by Simon Singh. I really liked it. It is slowly paced, goes into a lot of details yet easy enough to read while having lunch.

And this book is also rich in history and anecdotes.

What are some other books that are like this, but for other fields?

12 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 50.6 ms ] thread
tapeloop
it's an awesome book. He also did Fermat's Last Theorem which is equally well-paced and detailed.
rg111
I already added that to my list. Thanks.
webmaven
Godel, Escher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel

rg111
Already read the first two. Heard about the third one.

Will give the last two a try.

Thanks.

warrenm
Hit the nostalgia note on that one!

I read that just after it came out ... maybe 25[ish] years ago?

In the same field, you should read David Kahn's The Codebreakers

warrenm
I knew I read it my first semester in college .. didn't realize it came out the same year :)

So it's just under 24 years ago, not 25

warrenm
>What are some other books that are like this, but for other fields?

Simon Winchester's got several that are quite good, I'm currently working my way through The Perfectionists

rg111
Sounds really interesting. Will check it out.
warrenm
Eric Dolan's books have been good, in my experience: Leviathan is about the whaling industry; Black Flags, Blue Waters about America's pirates; Fur, Fortune, and Empire about, well, the fur trade
banjo_milkman
Siddhartha Mukherjee's books 'The Gene', 'Emperor of all Maladies', 'The Song of the Cell' all mix biology and history with lots of detail and are easy to read.
rg111
Thanks, will try them out.