
Some Favorite Non-Technical Books (2018) - mpiedrav
http://www.stroustrup.com/literature.html
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urs2102
One of my favorite classes with Bjarne from college was Bjarne telling us the
story of a ten year-old who wrote him asking if it was too late to start
programming and what he should learn so he can work as a programmer (to get
started so he could be one of the best in the world at something in the
field).

Bjarne says he responded by telling the kid to stop worrying about work or
what he wanted to work as, and to spend time playing (both on the computer and
just outside) because it was just as good as good for the mind as sitting in
front of the computer and that ten year-olds could often be the best in the
world at playing.

Similar to his penchant for fiction here, this is something I’ve always loved
about Bjarne... despite being so good at one thing: finding the beauty in
balance.

~~~
newsbinator
I'd bet that the nervous 10-year-old promptly ignored Bjarne's advice and went
on to ask others what to cram.

~~~
watwut
And maybe 10-years old would be right. Not because of becoming best in the
world, but because there would be zero harm to his development, really.

~~~
Aperocky
Unless he burns out.

Usually 10 years old (speaking from experience) don’t worry about job or
employment prospect, they just want to do the cool thing. And if it’s the
former that’s pushing I suspect a strong possibility of burning out.

Heck, even as an adult I can barely tolerate working on things I’m not
interested in but pressured so.

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mpiedrav
«I (Bjarne Stroustrup) have also been asked where I find the time to read non-
technical books. Actually, it is not a question of finding the time. Reading
non-technical stuff is essential. Without it, I'd go nuts and lose my sense of
proportion. As a practical matter, I read for about an hour almost every
evening before going to bed -- trying to go straight from technical work to
sleep is usually not a good idea.»

~~~
ImaCake
> trying to go straight from technical work to sleep is usually not a good
> idea

I did this with an assignment last night and ended up dreaming about linear
algebra. I did not sleep well!

~~~
raincom
There is a Fields medal winner, who does math in his sleep. John von Neumann
loved to work in noisy environments, did not like quiet places.

~~~
mpiedrav
It's rather common to dream about math or computing when you are solving some
hard problem or digesting some topics with a time limit (next exam, project
deadline, etc.)

As for Fields medalists, they are extremely creative folks who can find new
and effective ways to tackle seriously deep problems, even when doing things
unrelated to math (swimming, hiking, etc.)

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euske
Can I just list my favorite non-technical books here?

Richard Feynman, What Do You Care What Other People Think? - Probably no
additional description needed. It's a kind of sequel of Surely You're Joking,
Mr. Feynman! but has a more personal touch.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - Night Flight. A somewhat romanticized tale about
the early era of air mail delivery. The story about the personal sacrifice for
public good.

Tove Jansson - Moominvalley in November. It's disguised as a kid's story, but
from what I read the book is about loss and absence of loved ones. Funny,
soothing and surprisingly profound.

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nihonde
Hands down, the most useful non-technical book I’ve read is The True Believer
by Eric Hoffer. Written in 1951, but utterly timeless, it unlocks a new way to
view your fellow man by revealing the impulses that lead someone toward
fanatical mass movements. In a funny way, it frees you from participating in
the pointless debates about ideologies and allows you to be more empathetic to
those who have fallen into the trap of mass movements. Beautifully written,
too, without even a hint of academic pretensions.

~~~
d_burfoot
Thanks for the recommendation. I liked the author's biography:

> Eric Hoffer (1902 -- 1983) was self-educated. He worked in restaurants, as a
> migrant fieldworker, and as a gold prospector. After Pearl Harbor, he worked
> as a longshoreman in San Francisco for twenty-five years. The author of more
> than ten books, including The Passionate State of Mind, The Ordeal of
> Change, and The Temper of Our Time, Eric Hoffer was awarded the Presidential
> Medal of Freedom in 1983.

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AdieuToLogic
For me, my favourite non-technical book I can remember reading is:

    
    
      The Tao of Physics[0]
    

In retrospect, this may explain my comfort with C++ over the years. ;-)

0 -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Physics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Physics)

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kmlx
wow, what a walk down memory lane.

this is a very, very good list. read most of these books in high school.
Destoievski is still one of my favourite authors, and i still have dreams of
Eco's 1300s abbey.

i would also mention Kafka, and any of the SciFi greats (Asimov, Clarke, P.K.
Dick etc). Re-read a lot of these this past year.

and i would also mention Marcus Aurelius "Meditations", a book written 2000
years ago by one of the greatest thinkers of his time.

there are so many good book written throughout history it's absolutely crazy.
the only problem i see is the monumental amount of crappy books that have been
launching recently and becoming instant hits. combined with a "does this take
longer than a 10 minute youtube video" attitude.

otherwise, if you have a modicum amount of patience, any of those books will
prove to be an unforgettable experience.

~~~
Joeri
Wrt. the sci-fi greats, I once worked my way through the list of joint winners
of nebula and hugo awards, and it was awesome. Those books are all excellent.

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lonesword
>This "use" of literature and history is reflected in my choice of reading:
There is very little "heavy" reading listed here.

And then he lists Dostoevsky and Homer. Those doesn't count as heavy reading?
What counts as heavy reading? Ulysses/Paradise lost?

My "oh hell yeah!" moment was when i saw Lord of the Rings in the list :p

~~~
watwut
> And then he lists Dostoevsky and Homer. Those doesn't count as heavy
> reading? What counts as heavy reading? Ulysses/Paradise lost?

Dostoevsky is not difficult to read. If you like depressive psychological
drama, it is quite enjoyable. Homer difficulty depends heavily on translation.
It can be stiff and boring or basically just fun (but again, you gotta like
the relationships non-actiony aspect of it).

Yeah, Ulysses is definitely hard to read.

~~~
rbavocadotree
If Dostoevsky is not difficult to read, then there exist only a handful of
authors who are. Maybe it isn't difficult to find enjoyment in his works, but
there is a hell of a lot more going on than just depressive psychological
drama.

~~~
watwut
I really dont think it is so difficult to read. I was no regular reader of
classic and was definitely not seeking anything difficult when I found it
first time and I enjoyed it.

I used to abandon books quickly when they were hard to read or boring or
anything like that.

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Keltullis
Who else is adding this to an already huge list of "To Read" items in their
"To Do" list?

~~~
simonebrunozzi
Damn. Me too. Although, I am cherrypicking, instead of adding it all.

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sjustns
I have a long list of non-technical (and non-fiction) books, available here:
[https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/8ogy66cGzqVxape4Th648eLV](https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/8ogy66cGzqVxape4Th648eLV)

If you're interested in reading and talking about these types of books with
people who have a similar bookish intuitions, shameless plug:
[https://strangers-club.com](https://strangers-club.com)

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signa11
there is only one kierkegaard book there, i was hoping for more :) (given a
bunch of epigraphs (from kierkegaard) in various books that he has authored)

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WilTimSon
He has some excellent books in there with classics and cult favorites but I
have to specifically give the highest recommendation to John Steinbeck's
dilogy of Cannery Row/Sweet Thursday.

It's a very humanistic book that covers stories of poor characters in a
humorous way without mocking them or acting as if they're beneath others
somehow. The atmosphere of the books is inviting and warm and they're both
good stories to read in the cold of the upcoming winter. They're often
overlooked in favor of Steinbeck's popular titles like Grapes of Wrath and
East of Eden but I'd say these two are essentials as well.

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richardjdare
I read "Seven Gothic Tales" by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen's pen name) after
seeing it quoted in Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language". Lovely
dreamlike prose. Stroustrup's book is one of my all-time favourite technical
works, I hope we get a new edition for the latest versions of the language.

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Merrill
No Nordic Noir? e.g. Henning Mankell.

Lots of history, but only Barbara Tuchman on WW 1. I recommend G. J. Meyer "A
World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914-1918" and "The World Remade:
America in World War I".

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scabarott
These are just his favorites not everything he's read, and kudos to him for
putting this out there. But I'm a little disappointed as the list is kind of
heavily Euro-centric. Probably even just a couple decades ago this would be
the norm but I think in 2019 a person of his calibre and intelligence could
benefit a lot by broadening his reading tastes, and there are increasingly
many excellent (non-european) authors to choose from to broaden one's
perspectives. Not a criticism, just my observation.

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RachelF
I love the good ol' fashioned web page look.

~~~
ycosynot
We lost something. At the beginning of internet, I remember, there were this
kind of lists, with many links to interesting webpages, or quirky stuff.
Surely you know what I mean, it was usual to see along smart blogs, this kind
of list of gorgeous references, and it was amazing.

Maybe I'm missing something, but nowadays the internet seems "diluted", there
is more noise than information, and it's full of common sense, low-value
content (like Wikihow, I'm sorry to say). Google Search is a bit responsible,
they rank at the top superficial stuff, and we lost trace of this kind of
juicy content.

If someone has more links like this one, I'd be happy to read about it.

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frequentnapper
are dirk gently books even better than the show?

~~~
JackDrury
Most definitely

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C1sc0cat
I Would take Thucydides over Herodotus any day

~~~
billfruit
I would rather take Plutarch than either of them, the very tricks and
manipulations described in his Lives are still what politicians still use day
to day to get what they want done.

