

Ask HN: What was the latest book you read?  - rokhayakebe

Ask HN: What was the latest book you read?<p>The last book I "seriously" read was The world is Flat.
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ErrantX
Mind Magic (by Marc Lemezma) - Im trying to improve my mentalism skills (and
though that book is _really_ basic it is a good refresher on ideas).

Last serious book was a 620 page tome entitled "Writing Security Tools and
Exploits". A book with potentially the largest "great title" to "boring
content" ratio ever :( (stuck at it though in principle :P)

~~~
yan
Check out "The Art of Software Security Assessment" if you're into that.

~~~
ErrantX
cheers, added to my reading list :) (I might have read it - not sure)

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nopassrecover
This is a great source of stuff for:

function get_smarter():

    
    
       1. Am I smart enough yet?  (default answer:   of course not!)
       2. If yes, go make a grillion dollars, or go fishing, or something. (Note: this statement is unreachable).
       3. Otherwise:
             1. Do various important things, until I have some free time.
             2. Pick a book from my book list and read it.
             3. If I've read it already, check all the references at the end, and add the ones that look good to my book list.
             4. get_smarter()
    

"If your book list is empty, add Gödel, Escher, Bach to it before calling the
function for the first time. And with that, I'm off to go finish the book!"

<http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/godel-escher-blog>

------
yan
"A People's History of the United Sates" by Howard Zinn. A decent history
book, not exactly uplifting.

Reading currently: "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York"
by Robert Caro. Absolutely loving it.

That, and my usual climbing books.

------
Evgeny
Last fiction - The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross

Before that - The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (recommended to all
fantasy fans)

Last technical - AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and
Projects in Crisis

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keefe
Last serious book : [http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Cryptography-Practice-
Hewlett-P...](http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Cryptography-Practice-Hewlett-
Packard-
Professional/dp/0130669431/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248124290&sr=8-1)

Last fun book : [http://www.amazon.com/Woken-Furies-Takeshi-Kovacs-
Novels/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Woken-Furies-Takeshi-Kovacs-
Novels/dp/0345498356/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248124318&sr=1-2)

I can't resist the body swapping stuff ever since reading Lord of Light as a
kid

------
miditim
Musicophilia (too much psychiatry, not enuf music)

b4 that

Anathem (will read again after a few years)

b4 that

Halting State (cool)

------
jacquesm
The big switch

before that

Accelerando

~~~
spk
I've almost finished Accelerando. I can't remember which was the previous
one..

------
burke
Current: Zen and the Brain

Previous: Gödel, Escher, Bach (still working on that one, actually)

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mgrouchy
I am currently reading "beautiful code" by Greg Wilson, Andy Oram(and all the
contributors)

------
fiaz
King Warrior Magician Lover by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette

[http://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-
Rediscover...](http://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-
Rediscovering/dp/0062506064)

------
blazamos
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (excellent; recently saw Food, Inc. as
well)

The Next 100 Years by George Friedman (amusing; was given to me as a gag gift)

Currently reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

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HalcyonMuse
Cat's Cradle, by Vonnegut.

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silvio
I read Multireal, which is the follow up to Infoquake. They deal with a
startup producing software that runs inside people, executed by tiny nanobots.
The books explore startup culture.

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sharpn
'Create Your Own Economy' by Tyler Cowen - a good read.

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scott_s
Current: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Last: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.

The best recent: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamon.

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stepherm
Last: What is a Designer: Things, Places, Messages by Potter.

Current: Flow: The psychology of optimal experience by Csikszentmihalyi

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BrentRitterbeck
The last book I finished was _Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship_.

I am currently perusing numerous books for summer research.

------
michaelfairley
Last: I am a Strange Loop

Current: Neuromancer

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kes
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by David Eggers. Ironic title,
thoughtful and enjoyable book. Suggested.

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sgoraya
Current:

Ghandi and Churchill by Arthur Herman

Last:

The Odyssey by Homer

A bull in China by Jim Rogers

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lacker
Last: The C Programming Language - Kernighan & Ritchie

Current: The Effective Executive - Peter Drucker

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TallGuyShort
Last: Hacker's Handbook 3.0 by Dr. K (waste of time)

Current: Last Light by Andy McNab (awesome)

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TrevorJ
"The Screwtape Letters", by C.S. Lewis

In the middle of "Roughing It" by Mark Twain now.

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christofd
Last: Create your own Economy, by Tyler Cowen

Current: Real World Haskell

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balding_n_tired
Finished: _Germany 1866-1945_ by Gordon Craig. Various others in parallel.

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fogus
last book: The Dark Tower II

currently: The T Programming Language

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jake_morrison
Halting State, by Charles Stross, great for computer geeks

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secret
Just finished: Childhood's End and Rendezvous with Rama

------
domodomo
Last book: 1984 Current book: Master & Commander

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johng
Just got done reading 'the fountainhead' by ayn rand.

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nopassrecover
Last: Crossing the Chasm Current: Managing Humans

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warfangle
Previous: Anathem

Current: Programming in Scala

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phugoid
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, in one sitting.

------
oz
The Road To Gandolfo by Robert Ludlum

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deutronium
The Revenge of Gaia - James Lovelock

------
il
Robert Greene- 48 Laws of Power

------
fburnaby
Freedom Evolves - Dan Dennett

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dpnewman
'The Double' by José Saramago

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firefoxman1
Getting Real by 37 signals.

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safetytrick
In the middle of GEB,

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ddemchuk
Just finished "Anthem" by Ayn Rand (it's like 100 pages so it only took a few
hours)

Started "The American Political Tradition" by Richard Hofstadter, pretty
engaging history of our major politicians and founding fathers...

