
Books worth reading this summer - lazydon
https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Summer-Books-2018
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zwischenzug
I always find his book recommendations disappointing. I hope to see some
obscure gem in there, but it mostly looks like the non-fiction display section
being promoted right now at my local bookstore - pop science and history etc..
Nothing wrong with that, but I know Gates has a high intelligence, so I always
hope for more.

~~~
howard941
HNers seem to find the best stuff. I subscribe to the weekly email one of our
peers sends that gathers up links to books mentioned on HN. Every week there's
at least 2 or 3 worth picking up.

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tosh
do you have a link to that email list?

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kgthegreat
[https://hackernewsbooks.com/](https://hackernewsbooks.com/) ?

~~~
howard941
That's the one

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bob_theslob646
Book Titles

> Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson.

> Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, by Kate Bowler

> Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders.

> Origin Story: A Big History of Everything, by David Christian.

> Factfulness, by Hans Rosling, with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund.

He goes in depth on why he recommends them on the gatesnotes website.

~~~
_hao
Might be a little off-topic, but I dislike Walter Isaacson's style. His
biography of Steve Jobs was in my opinion underwhelming. I remember some time
ago I read Jeff Atwood's blog about this exact same thing. He mentioned how he
would've loved to read something more akin to David Kushner's "Masters of
Doom" about Jobs. And I wholeheartedly agree with him having read both. Can
someone who has read "Leonardo da Vinci" share some info on whether it's the
same style like in his Jobs biography?

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elymar
The TED talk by David Christian about big history is still my favorite TED
talk of all time:
[https://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history?utm_ca...](https://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare)

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mcfunk
+1000 for Kate Bowler, every interview she's done, and her podcast "Everything
Happens". [https://katebowler.com/everything-
happens/](https://katebowler.com/everything-happens/)

The profound intimacy (not without its joy or laughter, but full of brutal
honesty and shocking maturity) that comes from living with incurable cancer
and bringing other people into it is truly something apart from the everyday.
Though it probably shouldn't be.

She is really a scholar of the human condition (in addition to her profession
of religious scholarship-- see her work on the prosperity gospel, really) and
her insight is amazing. This is not a "typical" anything.

~~~
vitaminCPP
I just listen the two first episode of the podcast, and i just want to say
thanks you. Strangely, this is just what i needed. This podcast is truly
something.

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bernardino
I wonder how _Origin Story: A Big History of Everything_ by David Christian
compares to _A Short History of Nearly Everything_ by Bill Bryson.

Otherwise, if anyone is looking for other recommendations for summer reading:

\- _Sculpting in Time_ by Andrei Tarkovsky

\- _When Nietzsche Wept_ by Irvin D. Yalom

\- _The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge_ by Rainer Maria Rilke

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juskrey
After his Pinker affair...

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mcfunk
My jaw definitely unclenched seeing that Pinker was not on this list.

