
Ask HN: What are you reading? - calabin
What book, article, paper, etc. are you reading right now?<p>I just finished Ben Rhodes&#x27; book The World As It Is, about his eight years in the Obama administration as the U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications. I have always found the scale of a U.S. president&#x27;s duties pretty awe-inspiring so I found the book fascinating. If you share that interest, I would also recommend Days of Fire about the Bush administration.<p>I&#x27;ve also recently finished up Into the Black, the true story of Space Shuttle Columbia&#x27;s first mission, and the coming together of the shuttle program as a whole. It was filled with interesting details, though I did feel like it jumped around a bit.
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rjbwork
I'm a huge sci-fi geek. I've recently been listening to The Expanse series.
I'm on book 3. The narrator of all 3 thus far is fantastic - the subtle voice
changes and accent put-ons and various other verbal techniques makes the
experience far easier to follow and immerse yourself into. One of the best
narrators for any audiobook I've heard.

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lgl
Agreed. For another great sci-fi audiobook narrator, check out John Lee.

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sudofail
I'm reading a couple books at the moment.

Valley of Genius[1] is a history of silicon valley, but told via excerpts and
quotes from influential members of the SV community. It's quite a fascinating
book, and I highly recommend it. I'm in my early thirties, so this book really
helps to provide context for when people say we're just rebuilding things that
have been done before. Learning about what was going on at Xerox with Alan Kay
is just incredible.

The other book I'm reading is the Selfish Gene[1], by Richard Dawkins. I've
read this book 3-4 times already, so at this point I read it for almost
philosophical reasons. It's a wonderful explanation of evolution and micro-
biology. I'm sure there are more up-to-date texts, but Dawkins is a superb
writer.

[1] Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley (As Told by the
Hackers, Founders, and Freaks Who Made It Boom)

[2] The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins

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alankay
The best book about the ARPA/Parc research in the 60s and 70s is "The Dream
Machine" by Mitchell Waldrop.

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sudofail
Thank you very much for the recommendation. I'll definitely give this a read.

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xanthopan
Recently finished _The Visual Display of Quantitative Information_ by Edward
Tufte and _How to Change Your Mind_ by Michael Pollan. I would have been
embarrassed to have been caught reading the latter given the subject matter,
despite how influential he's been on how I think about food, but it was a real
insightful treat.

Currently reading _The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American
Culinary History in the Old South_ and _Safe Area Goražde_ , a comic book
about the Bosnian War.

Also reading Bertrand Russell's _The History of Western Philosophy_ in between
books, but that's a book I'll never really finish.

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vjsc
I just finished reading the death's end by Liu Cixin, the third part of the
three body problem Trilogy. It was a great read and the last novel was
absolutely riveting I am I was in awe of the author when I read the first one
but after having completed the Trilogy I am I don't know what to say this guy
as can you guys suggest me something like this I have read neal stephanson and
I am looking forward reading more space fantasies that I still grounded in the
present Times to a certain extent

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Finnucane
Harmony and Voice Leading, Aldwell and Schacter. Also, The Art of Saxophone
Playing by Larry Teal. I think the typical thing for a guy my age is that
they're supposed to go out and get like a sports car and/or a mistress, but I
can't afford those things, so I got a saxophone instead. And . . . a banjo.

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radicalriddler
Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

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ryanchants
I'm normally flipping between a few, due to trying to get better at technical
work, management/people work, and personal tinkering.

The Score Takes Care of Itself

Building Evolutionary Architectures

Design It!

Managing Humans

Big Nerd Ranch Kotlin

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jkmcf
After just finishing my dessert, Jeri Westerson's latest Crispin Guest
Mystery, I'm on to more serious matter in The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan
Holiday.

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mlevental
mathematics form and function by Mac Lane (sweeping coverage of all of math at
about the undergrad math major level by one of the best mathematicians of the
20th) and the power broker by Caro (no clue really - Robert Moses was the most
effective public works new York has ever had, brought down Tammany hall but
also quite racist - came highly recommended in an r/NYC thread about him)

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hopesthoughts
I'm currently making my way through the federalist papers. I'm about 40% done.

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drakonka
Right now I'm reading Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt and
Cryptonomicon.

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chris__butters
Current reading material

Dark Matt and Trojan Horses by Dan Hill

Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

Simplicity by Edward de Bono

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mand1575
Just finished - Only the Paranoid Survive & Measure What Matters

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calabin
How did you like Measure What Matters?

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mindcrime
At any given time I'm "reading" about 30 books, as in, I have read at least
some portion of it, put a bookmark in it, and added it to my "currently
reading" queue on Goodreads.

More pragmatically, at any given time there are usually 2-3 books that I'm
actively making meaningful progress on and expect to finish in the next 1-30
days or so. Right now that set includes:

 _A Canticle for Liebowitz_ \- Walter M. Miller Jr.

 _Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid_ \- Douglas Hofstadter

 _Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies_ \- Nick Bostrom

Beyond that, I'll just link to the aforementioned Goodreads profile. Feel free
to friend me on there, I always enjoy following what other HN'ers are reading.

[https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/33942804-phillip-
rhodes](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/33942804-phillip-rhodes)

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navyad
\-- Http Definitive Guide

\-- NoSQL Distilled

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segmondy
My life as a Quant

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phakding
Fire and Fury

