
Ask HN: What books got you curious and inspired about fields other than CS? - ahmedbaracat
For example, in my case I got interested in:
- Design when I read “The Design of Everyday Things” and “Design for the Real World”<p>- Cognitive psychology when I read “Thinking Fast and Slow”<p>- Computers &amp; Education when I read “Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas”<p>Would love to know about the books that got you inspired and curious about other fields :)
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oseityphelysiol
Probably known to most people, but "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond
turned me on to a lot of things. The work covers many topics, including
history, geography, evolution, giving a very wide view, which serves as a good
starting point to start exploring some of these topics deeper.

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routerl
Ages ago, "Gödel, Escher, and Bach" turned me from a kid who liked computers
into someone very into music, math, philosophy, and literature. It does a
great job of showing the reader the joy of playing with abstract concepts
across several fields, including writing.

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Phithagoras
\- Yakov Perelman's "Physics for entertainment" was fun, and repeating an
experiment at work once almost got me fired

\- "Made to stick" by Chip and Dan Heath

\- "The Dissapearing Spoon" got me curious about chemistry

-"Uncle Tungsten" by Oliver Sacks got me started on the rest of his books, taking my fascination in chemistry and nudging it towards medicine, neurology and psychology.

\- "The Social Animal" and "Influence" showed me more about psychology

\- Borrowing a copy of the classic textbook Gray's Anatomy while recuperating
from a serious accident showed me how fascinating the human body is

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phyalow
[https://www.amazon.com/More-Money-Than-God-
Relations/dp/0143...](https://www.amazon.com/More-Money-Than-God-
Relations/dp/0143119419)

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type0
\- Structural engineering -

"Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down"

J.E. Gordon

\- Rocket engineering and history -

"Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants"

John Drury Clark

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Gnarl
"The Body Electric" & "Cross Currents" by Dr. Robert O. Becker got me into
health effects of wireless radiation exposures.

"The undercover economist" by Tim Harford got me interested in economics.

"Rules for Radicals" by Saul Alinsky on community organizing.

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I_complete_me
The Wild Trees by Richard Preston about climbing Giant Redwood trees in
California. It started my own tree climbing which I learnt entirely from
YouTube and some falls. In the book the author describes making love in a
hammock high in the trees. Hell, what could be better than that?

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StrangeDoctor
innovator's dilemma Got me interested in the science of running technical
businesses.

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debt5000
Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad

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entha_saava
Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman

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ffggtgf
limitless mind rusell targ

