
Ask HN: Books That Gratify One's Intellectual Curiosity? - tokenadult
Books to Delight the Mind?<p>I searched Search YC and did a site-restricted search of HN on Google to look for previous threads on best books. New participants have joined since the last thread was active, so I'll ask here for suggestions of books that delight the mind, and I'll include some previous suggestions. I will intentionally omit books that don't purport to be nonfiction, just to emphasize the nonfiction titles that are so neglected by so many Web-based best book lists. All of your further suggestions are very welcome.<p>Mindset, by Carol Dweck. As one HN reader commented, "It'll change the way you think about the way you think." Highly recommended.<p>Language in Thought and Action by S. I. Hayakawa.<p>How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler.<p>Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte.<p>Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Taleb.<p>E. W. Bovill's English Country Life 1780-1830 was recommended by pg a while ago.<p>My favorite so far this year is What Intelligence Tests Miss by Keith Stanovich (2009).<p>http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300123852<p>http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psychology/dp/030012385X/<p>My favorite book I read in 2007 was What Is Intelligence by James R. Flynn, which is just about to come out in a new expanded edition (2009).<p>http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Expanded-PB-Beyond/dp/0521741475/<p>My favorite book I read in 2008 was The Nature of Paleolithic Art, by R. Dale Guthrie (published 2006).<p>http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Paleolithic-Art-Dale-Guthrie/dp/0226311260/<p>The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, by Roger Penrose.<p>The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Lots of HN readers suggest reading lots of Feynman, and I agree.<p>Godel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid has been recommended by multiple HN readers in most threads like this.<p>Robert Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.<p>How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand.<p>Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston.<p>Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell.<p>Freakonomics, by Levitt and Dubner.<p>Against the Gods by Peter Bernstein.<p>The art of war by Sun Tzu.<p>The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene.<p>The Design of Everyday Things (formerly The Psychology of Everyday Things) by Donald Norman.<p>Many HN readers recommend Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) and I heartily agree with that recommendation.<p>Code by Charles Petzold.<p>Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen/Leiserson/Rivest/Stein (CLRS).<p>Code Complete by Steve McConnnell.<p>The Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks is a very thoughtful book.<p>Statistics: A Guide to the Unknown by Roxy Peck, George Casella, George W. Cobb, and Roger Hoerl.<p>Introduction to the Practice of Statistics by David S. Moore and George P. McCabe.<p>Workshop Statistics: Discovery with Data by Allan J. Rossman and Beth Chance.
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lionhearted
Most people haven't read John Eliot's "Overachievement", which is a tragedy
for anyone who strives to get a hell of a lot out of themselves. The book is
loaded with counterintuitive thoughts on performance that go against
mainstream ideas right now:

[http://www.amazon.com/Overachievement-Science-Working-
Less-A...](http://www.amazon.com/Overachievement-Science-Working-Less-
Accomplish/dp/B000NJMMTK/)

It's only $5 at Amazon right now - very cool book to learn about your
physiology under pressure, fight or flight reactions, harnessing/channeling
pressure to achieve more, and so on. It reads fast, has interesting anecdotes
and good scientific references, and is a potential major overhaul for driven
people. I've seen references to quite a few books I like in this thread, but
this one is one I didn't see anyone mention.

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lionhearted
My favorite book on conflict management, and dealing with bad situations as
they're happening rapidly and getting to their root causes:

[http://www.amazon.com/Difficult-Conversations-Discuss-
what-M...](http://www.amazon.com/Difficult-Conversations-Discuss-what-
Matters/dp/014028852X)

My favorite book on small business and why things usually go wrong:

[http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-
Abou...](http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-
About/dp/0887307280/)

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rms
Three Worlds Collide: (~100 pages, freely available online under copyright.)
[http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/01/three-worlds-
collide.h...](http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/01/three-worlds-collide.html)

PG has a list on his personal website: <http://www.bugbear.com/bestbooks.html>

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tokenadult
Some favorites about mathematics:

Concepts of Modern Mathematics by Ian Stewart

[http://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Modern-Mathematics-Ian-
Stewar...](http://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Modern-Mathematics-Ian-
Stewart/dp/0486284247/)

Numbers and Geometry by John Stillwell.

[http://www.amazon.com/Numbers-Geometry-John-
Stillwell/dp/038...](http://www.amazon.com/Numbers-Geometry-John-
Stillwell/dp/0387982892/)

The Pleasures of Counting by T. W. Körner

[http://www.amazon.com/Pleasures-Counting-T-
W-K%C3%B6rner/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Pleasures-Counting-T-
W-K%C3%B6rner/dp/0521568234/)

Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction by Timothy Gowers

[http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Short-Introduction-
Timothy...](http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Short-Introduction-Timothy-
Gowers/dp/0192853619/)

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aristus
Everything and More, by David Foster Wallace (history of inifinity)

Lord of Light, by Zelazny (fiction, but transcendent)

The Trial of Socrates, by I.F. Stone (makes the case that Socrates was a
genuine threat to his society)

Any book by Ryszard Kapuscinski

The Histories, by Herodotus

To Engineer is Human, by Petroski

A History of Knowledge, by Charles Van Doren

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paulgb
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins

The Undercover Economist by Tim Hartford

~~~
mechanical_fish
+1 for Pinker, though I'd pick _The Language Instinct_ first, by a nose.

+1 for Dawkins. Also: Daniel Dennett, _Darwin's Dangerous Idea_.

~~~
paulgb
Thanks for the recommendations. I've been wary of other books on evolution,
even though the subject fascinates me, because I worry that they will be
either repeating the same information (even the evolution bits of HTMW seemed
repetitive since I read it immediately after TSG), or worse, dissecting
creationist arguments. Dennett's book looks like it might be a good complement
to TSG though, so I'll check it out.

The Language Instinct is on my list too now. Thanks.

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Tangurena
Beyond Fear - Schneier

Sources of Power - Klein. This guy did research on how experts made decisions
under stressful situations.

Normal Accidents - Perrow

Emergence - Johnson

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albertcardona
Try books by Jared Diamond about world history:

"Guns, Germs and Steel"

"Collapse"

They are not just informative: they change the way one looks at the world. And
their prose is excellent.

