
Things to Read to Become a Better Human and Developer - donutking
https://dottedsquirrel.com/everything-else/2020-reading-list-for-developers/
======
playing_colours
You _should_ read... _better human and developer_...

We all are individuals with different backgrounds, views, ways of living. Do
you understand that your “better human” is different from my “better human”,
or your books did not teach it to you?

Maybe, “Self-reliance” by Emerson, Hesse’s “Siddhartha”, “Prometheus Rising”,
or something from Alan Watts can help you question your attitude, embrace the
differences, and do not push your “shoulds” on others?

And do not make me start on book recommendations to become a better
developer... :)

~~~
electron235
Maybe being less scornful and haughty in our answers would be a good start to
becoming a better human

------
NhanH
It seems like this is a list of popular books that most everyone has heard
about, and just incidentally includes good ones. My biased opinion is that
Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the Intelligent Investor won't be placed on the same
list by anyone who has read both of them.

Since the author mentioned Gates, I do recommend just taking a look at books
he actually read and reviewed as better recommendations:
[https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books](https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books)

~~~
okaleniuk
I second that. Gates' list is much better.

------
justforfunhere
Self help books more or less carry the same advice, just told in variety of
different ways and in form of different stories. They all seem to come to the
same conclusions.

If you really want to read a good self help book, then toss everything from
your shelf that has not been written before the year 1900.

Self improvement and ways to do it has been mastered by many people long long
time ago. For those who write about it now, are milking the age old cow.

And it gets boring and repetitive real soon.

Also, I would like to talk about what does the Author of this post means when
she says "Being a Better Human Being". What does it even mean? Isn't it just a
definition or a set of definitions, conjured by some human(s), to
force/condition other people to fall in line.

edit: typo/grammar

~~~
DyslexicAtheist
> toss everything from your shelf that has not been written before the year
> 1900

best advice ever!

N.N. Taleb aggressively makes this point in _Antifragile_ too. After sticking
to Taleb's advise for a year and reading only old things, not only did I stop
writing myself, but I no longer think I have what it takes to contribute.

Everything that is worth writing about has already been written[1]. And if I
contribute by writing myself I just dilute the pool of great prose by pissing
into it. Most authors today (and 100% of authors on this list) have never read
great books themselves and it's very obvious.

Reading new authors always leaves me with a feeling like I'm the rear end of
the human centipede.

[1] anyone thinking about writing a book (or even a blog post) please before
you start, proof to yourself that this sentence doesn't apply in your case
(this is aka research and it doesn't stop with authors before your age - in
fact it starts there).

EDIT: this list was created by Aphinya Dechalert
([https://nz.linkedin.com/in/aphinya-
dechalert-7b782480](https://nz.linkedin.com/in/aphinya-dechalert-7b782480))
who works in marketing and her job seems to be making spammy lists like this
one. Looking at the OP's other submission it seems all links go to either her
medium or her blog. On this tweet she is amazed by all the traffic her site
gets after posting this very link:

> _So...I relaunched[http://DottedSquirrel.com](http://DottedSquirrel.com) as
> a community space a few days back. Went to have a shower and came back to
> this. I checked and made sure it's not bots. It's not bots. #100DaysOfCode
> #tech #learnToCode_
> [https://twitter.com/dottedSquirrel/status/120432373958576537...](https://twitter.com/dottedSquirrel/status/1204323739585765376)

~~~
croo
Writing to contribute to the existing pool of knowledge is not the only reason
to write! You may write because of money, fame, to learn a new subject or make
a unique set of things already said or because you simply enjoy it.

------
EliRivers
"The Alchemist". That was recommended to me and seemed to be turning up on
people's lists of "must reads", so I read it. When I finished, I wondered; did
I get rickrolled? Was the book just a longform version of the sarcastic-meme-
popular, trite message that the real treasure was <something he already had /
where he already was / whatever, you get the point> all along?

~~~
iCarrot
Worth noting is that The Alchemist was written in 1988. Maybe the idea was
novel then? And many writers who had read it copied this idea and made it an
overused trope.

~~~
EliRivers
Not impossible, although it does seem to turn up on people's reading lists
from _this_ millenium and indeed, this decade.

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brosinante
Good to see gems like the 4 hour work week and investing advice will make me a
better human, I was starting to get worried.

~~~
dorkwood
I thought the same thing when I saw 4 hour work week. Apparently selling
phoney brain supplements to golfers will make me a better human?

~~~
taberiand
Well it might make you richer and as we all know - more money = better than.

------
mapcars
I wonder how bad people must be to always want to become a better and better?
:D

PS to be clear I am not against improvement, I think it should be put to use
as well, like 1 year to improve, next year you try to actually do something.
Only improving and improving I see as a ridiculous exercise based on a sick
idea that we are not "good enough".

~~~
juanuys
I'm on a treadmill of Tim Ferriss podcasts and self-help books yet never make
any products. It's debilitating.

~~~
schwurb
Improvement treadmill can be seen as a subtle form of procrastination.

------
olingern
The book on updating one's favicon missed the list. Tragedy, really.

------
cdevries
Read less. Do more

~~~
onion2k
This is terrible advice.

~~~
jffhn
Grothendieck (the mathematician) was at some point giving lessons at a place
which had no library. Someone pointed out that there were not many books to
read there, so he replied: "Here, we don't read books, we write them."

~~~
onion2k
I've not heard that quote before, but I'm going to guess it was more an
apology for the poor state of the library than a serious suggestion about how
to achieve what Grothendieck achieved.

~~~
jffhn
I never thought it could be an apology (it's kind of a material detail, they
could still find books elsewhere), but rather a mix of sincerity (at least
regarding his creativity), stimulation and joking.

------
alasdair_
Any book list that includes Rich Dad, Poor Dad needs a giant asterisk
emblazoned on it.

“Rich Dad” was made up. He does not exist. The author lied about that as well
as his own financial acumen - he makes his money from $45,000 seminars
promising riches and seldom, if ever, delivering.

Oh, and his company filed for bankruptcy last month.

~~~
WA
Yeah, read this for a more thourough criticism of everything that's wrong with
Rich Dad Poor Dad: [https://johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-
invest...](https://johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-investment-
blog/61651011-john-t-reeds-analysis-of-robert-t-kiyosakis-book-rich-dad-poor-
dad-part-1)

However, one thing that is actually valuable from the book: The cash flow for
rich people vs. everybody else. The idea is to own assets that generate cash.
This cash (and only this) should be used to buy luxury stuff.

But of course, you don't need a whole book for this idea.

 __*

I add another "red flag" for such a list: "The Richest Man in Babylon". This
is easily the most overrated book I have ever read. There is only one idea in
the entire book and stretched over 100 pages or so: Reinvest 10% of your
income.

That's it. There is literally nothing else in this book. There are like 5
stories or so set in a middle-age arabian setting or whatever about people who
do exactly this. Invest 10% of their income, favorably in stuff they
understand.

It doesn't go any deeper, nothing concrete, nothing helpful.

~~~
zabana
> That's it. There is literally nothing else in this book. There are like 5
> stories or so set in a middle-age arabian setting or whatever about people
> who do exactly this. Invest 10% of their income, favorably in stuff they
> understand.

Unfortunately, you'd be surprised at the sheer number of people for whom this
isn't common sense and __need __to read this.

~~~
philbarr
I think I must be one of those people. I wouldn't even know where to start to
"invest 10% of my income favourably in stuff I understand." What does that
mean? Examples?

~~~
Shaddox
I'm in an European Union country. Personally, I've given up on even trying to
invest when I saw all the strings attached.

The bank I use has a service allowing you to put money in their investment
funds, configured for different risk profiles.

You need to pay some fees to opt in. There seems to be an already paid
yearly(?) fee when you opt in, but you probably need to pay yearly to keep the
money in the system. When you decide to cash out, you have to pay income tax.

In conclusion, from my money, the bank needs to be paid, the state needs to be
paid, and I doubt their 6% (assuming this is true) yearly return rate is going
to net me anything than a loss unless I pump some 6 digit sum right off the
bat and leave it there for decades.

~~~
WA
I don't really understand your point. Yes, it is more complicated than simply
putting money in a bank account and gain a minimum interest rate.

However, it's relatively straight-forward. Not sure about your particular
bank, but many banks offer some automatic payments. You simply pay monthly to
acquire shares of an ETF. Of course, this costs money, because every
transaction on a stock exchange costs money. But generally, this share is
yours and the bank keeps it for you. Usually, you can cancel the saving plans
and get to keep the shares.

This already is so much easier than private retirement insurances and stuff
like that where cancelling a contract comes with hefty fees.

And yes, if you make money on financial assets, you have to pay tax on the
returns. This is even the case for the little interest on your bank account.
Fortunately, the first 801€ (in Germany) are tax-free and also, the bank
handles all of this for you.

I'd argue: If you read about this stuff for 1-2 hours, you know enough about
the system and nowadays, it is way easier to do any of this than at any other
point in the past.

> and I doubt their 6% (assuming this is true) yearly return rate is going to
> net me anything than a loss unless I pump some 6 digit sum right off the bat
> and leave it there for decades.

Well, 6% is the past performance and yes, this doesn't mean that it'll give
you the same returns in the future. But generally speaking, it doesn't matter
if you put in a 6 digit sum all at once now or acquire shares over the next 20
years.

The only general rule of thumb is: You shouldn't treat this money as a saving
account. Don't expect to have access to this money whenever you want, because
if you need the money RIGHT NOW, you might be forced to sell your shares at a
loss.

------
keithnz
I'd just advocate read non fiction, a lot of it, across many different
subjects, there's almost no non fiction book that hasn't influenced my
perception of the world around me and introduced me to new ideas

------
schindlabua
Huh, I was hoping for more maths/CS theory/software architecture. What are
some books that you feel really catapulted your understanding of a particular
facet of programming to the next level?

~~~
nosianu
Well, it very much depends on ones goals and ones context, doesn't it? Which
impacts what ones brain pays wants and what it focuses its attention on, and
what it filters out no matter how much you attempt to cram it in.

What I found a revelation and a bug eye opener - yes as a (CS degree)
programmer - was: _medicine, chemistry (and org. chem and bio.chem), biology_.
From Coursera and edx.org. When I did this it was all completely free, now
they put some restrictions on some courses (Coursera more so than edX), for
example that as a non-payer you cannot do all the exercises.

 _Even when /if the linked courses are over, accessing there content should
still be possible. The courses are free, a certificate is not necessary. Some
homework or exams may not be available for non-payers._

Best (university level introductory) course for biology:
[https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-biology-the-
secre...](https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-biology-the-secret-of-
life-3)

Bio-chemistry: [https://www.edx.org/course/principles-of-
biochemistry](https://www.edx.org/course/principles-of-biochemistry)

Physiology: I actually found a lot of lectures on Google better than any of
the online courses, start from
[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=physiology+](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=physiology+)

Fundamentals of neuro-science:
[https://www.mcb80x.org/](https://www.mcb80x.org/) followed by "Medical
Neuroscience" on Coursera: [https://www.coursera.org/learn/medical-
neuroscience](https://www.coursera.org/learn/medical-neuroscience) \-- easily
one of the best courses out there

A very simple course combining (very simple, beginner level) programming and
(basic) biology: [https://www.edx.org/course/nature-in-code-biology-in-
javascr...](https://www.edx.org/course/nature-in-code-biology-in-javascript)
\-- what's interesting here for a programmer definitely isn't the Javascript
code, but asking biology questions that can be answered with (even simple)
code.

 _Staticstics_ is a huge part of medicine and biology - plenty of good courses
on probability, statistics (all levels) and courses using R or Python, here a
random example course: [https://www.edx.org/course/statistical-analysis-in-
bioinform...](https://www.edx.org/course/statistical-analysis-in-
bioinformatics)

On so many more levels than I can briefly write down here this "field trip"
into bio-sciences felt soooo much better than learning yet another programming
language. Let's keep in mind, regardless of C++, Haskell, Javascript, and/or
whatever framework, the hardware underneath all of it is all the exact same
architecture. Looking at differences between the programming languages now
seems to me like looking at a surface that to a naked eye looks completely
smooth, but if you zoom in far enough with an electron microscope it looks
like a messy mountain area. But when you do that you lose sight of the
big(ger) picture. The excourse into (organic and bio-) chemistry and biology
helped me get a better sense of where we are, at least it feels that way. The
neuroscience helps remaining grounded (and getting more cynical) when reading
popular headlines about "neural network" and "AI" and the like.

------
PhattMelps
Russell Brand was a wtf moment for me

~~~
dyadic
I found his book Recovery to tell a very powerful story of his trouble with
addiction, and how he has worked through it. He goes quite deeply into self
introspection and analysis of himself and his character, and how he needs to
remain constantly vigilant of the instincts and urges that took him down those
paths to addiction many times before.

I found this book to be one of the most raw and honest things that I have ever
read. I'd really recommend against discarding it because of not liking the man
or his character.

------
einpoklum
The post lost me at: "The idea is not to _just_ move to a remote country and
use the exchange rate as leverage..."

~~~
eithed
I love reading reactions to things posted on HN

------
NxNc
I would add "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim
Nicholas Taleb which is also mentioned and referred in "Think fast & slow". It
also helps understanding the world by showing examples of human error and
misconception.

~~~
psv1
Can I anti-recommend Taleb? Maybe it's his delivery that puts me off but I
just find him absolutely insufferable.

~~~
circlefavshape
+1

Taleb comes across as a smug asshole. I don't see any reason to spend time in
his company

------
LatteLazy
ITT people saying some of the books are great and others are not despite the
fact the whole idea is to read them, keep what works for you personally, and
dump the rest...

------
laurentnotsaint
All this self improvement craze is just a neurotic outgrowth originating from
the decline of religion/community and growing individualism, change my mind.

------
retrobox
It’s always great to have book recommendations. Does anyone have other “must
read” book suggestions that have had a big impact on them?

~~~
DyslexicAtheist
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10924741](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10924741)

[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=books&sort=byPopularity&type=story)

------
TrackerFF
Tip: If you can't find the time to read books, see if there are audio books
available.

------
ReptileMan
>Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Doesn't speak too good for the author's ability to judge quality books.

------
purplezooey
Russel Brand, eh? Sounds like a contribution from Sponsoring Brand ;)

------
jasonmp85
Not a single woman author… this doesn’t seem wildly statistically improbable
to anyone?

What a crock.

~~~
knolax
The author of TFA is a woman.

