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Ask HN: The book you always wanted to read but never had time or motivation for?

6 points by gghh ↗ HN
What is the book you always wanted to read but never had time or motivation for?

Three answers are allowed, one is to look smart (eg: "The Count of Monte Cristo"), one is for the title you are a little ashamed of (eg: "The Neuromancer"), one is for a tech book (eg: "Lions' Commentary on Unix").

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

14 comments

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gghh
to look smart: The Count of Monte Cristo, A. Dumas

ashamed of: The Neuromancer, W. Gibson

Tech: Lions' Commentary on Unix, J. Lions

mindcrime
one is for the title you are a little ashamed of

FWIW, I'm interpreting this as "ashamed to admit you haven't read this title yet" as opposed to "ashamed to admit you want to read this title".

To Look Smart: Wolfram's A New Kind of Science

Ashamed Of: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP)

Tech: Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming

gghh
correct interpretation of my shame. All my friends have read Neuromancer, when they talk about it only think I can do is to try drifting the topic on something else.
selimthegrim
Don't be so ashamed - it's a good book but even Sussman and Abelson teach their courses out of other books now.
lemma
to look smart Gravity's Rainbow

ashamed of: the Dark Tower series

tech: no interest in reading one from cover to cover, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise

edit: not sure which way I interpret "ashamed", take it how you will!

contextual
To look smart: The Tao of Physics

Ashamed of the title: Yoga, Inc

Tech book: CSS and HTML Web Design (because I've been faking it all along)

callmeed
To look smart (I think): Gödel, Escher, Bach or anything by Ayn Rand
ameister14
I don't mean to offend you, but for a large segment of the U.S. population reading Ayn Rand does not make you look smart.
callmeed
No offense taken ... I have no dog in the fight
mariuolo
In search of lost time, by Marcel Proust.

I've had it on my shelf for a while.

terrykohla
that book by Marx, just to know what all the fuzz is about.