
Ask HN: Which books would you suggest to a college student? - vshan
Hello,<p>I&#x27;m a sophomore undergraduate. I find myself reading mostly CS books. I like to read, but I haven&#x27;t read much outside of non-fiction. I feel like I&#x27;m becoming too one-dimensional.<p>I want to be more open-minded, and am interested in Philosophy and History. I&#x27;d be grateful if someone could recommend me some books to read.
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efferifick
Go to those sections (Philosophy and History) in your university library and
read the titles of all the books. Take books which titles grab your attention,
and read the table of contents. If you see a Chapter that interests you, read
that chapter. If you think the book is worth reading whole, grab the book.

EDIT: Also consider subscribing to magazines. I love these: McSweeney's and
Lapham Quarterly. McSweeneys is great for fiction and Lapham Quarterly for non
fiction/historical perspectives on topics.

EDIT2: It is also important to remember that books are for you to enjoy and
you should never feel forced to read books you don't want to read (except if
it is required reading on a course) nor finish reading books just because you
have started them (sunk cost fallacy).

But, there are advantages to reading whole texts, especially non-fiction. In
today's day and age, we can search for terms and read precisely what we need
for a paper. However, if you read the whole text you might read some
unexpected gems that will enrich you. I find that reading the table of
contents and skimming through paragraphs is a great way to avoid missing these
gems. However, please note that "skimming" does not mean "move your eyes and
pretend you are reading". You still need to make an effort to understand what
the author is trying to convey. If you find yourself lost in thought after
"skimming" through a couple of paragraphs then you are not doing it correctly.
Ideally you want to summarize the paragraph to a single idea.

~~~
vshan
Thank you so much for the answer, efferifick! I feel very empowered :)

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JSeymourATL
In general, suggest an on-going reading program of biographies/autobiographies
of leaders in tech. Some obvious ones Jobs/Gates/Bezos.

Often overlooked these days, Andy Grove >
[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242433.Andy_Grove](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242433.Andy_Grove)

