
Ask HN: What are your favorite books? - hmate9
I&#x27;m looking for interesting books about new ideas and concepts. Share your favorite books here.<p>One of my favorites is How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenbreg (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;How-Not-Be-Wrong-Mathematical&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0143127535)
======
e19293001
From my favorite author Anthony J. Dos Reis[0]

If you want to learn assembly language, computer architecture and C++ all at
the same time: Assembly Language and Computer Architecture Using C++ and Java
, Course Technology, 2004 [1]

If you want to learn how to write compilers, context free grammars, regular
expressions and implement grep: Compiler Construction Using Java, JavaCC, and
Yacc, IEEE/Wiley, 2012 [2]

If you want to learn functional programming, lambda calculus and LISP: An
Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus by Greg
Michaelson [3]

My programming skills had grown dramatically with this books. I would
wholeheartedly recommend the books mentioned above for those who are
interested to learn.

[0] - [http://cs.newpaltz.edu/~dosreist/](http://cs.newpaltz.edu/~dosreist/)

[1] - [https://www.amazon.com/Assembly-Language-Computer-
Architectu...](https://www.amazon.com/Assembly-Language-Computer-Architecture-
Using/dp/0534405274)

[2] - [https://www.amazon.com/Compiler-Construction-Using-Java-
Java...](https://www.amazon.com/Compiler-Construction-Using-Java-
JavaCC/dp/0470949597)

[3] -
[https://www.cs.rochester.edu/~brown/173/readings/LCBook.pdf](https://www.cs.rochester.edu/~brown/173/readings/LCBook.pdf)
\- [https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Functional-
Programming-C...](https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Functional-Programming-
Calculus-Mathematics/dp/0486478831)

------
0xmohit
Here are a few:

 _Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order_ by Steven Strogatz

 _Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in
Mathematics_ by John Derbyshire

 _Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions_ by Dan
Ariely

 _The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong_ by Laurence J. Peter and
Raymond Hull

------
fatterego
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford -
[https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Project-DevOps-Helping-
Busine...](https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Project-DevOps-Helping-
Business/dp/0988262592)

------
nicostouch
Why Nations Fail - amazing book for understanding why some countries are dirt
poor while others are rich. Absolutely phenomenal read.

------
throwaway26960
The Inner Game of Tennis

Think And Grow Rich - I based my cover letter off of some of the concepts in
this book and it has worked remarkably well.

~~~
skylark
I came here to post The Inner Game of Tennis and was pleasantly surprised to
see it in the top comment.

The book is only tangentially related to tennis - the real meat of the book is
about how to adopt useful mentalities which will help you succeed at a variety
of things. It's an extremely easy read and can be finished casually in a few
days.

A great book which made me question some of my most deeply held beliefs about
learning.

------
mindfulgeek
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

NonViolent Communication: A Language of Life

------
benjyfeen
See also: What are some books about everything?
[http://qr.ae/8S14dl](http://qr.ae/8S14dl)

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Second Edition
[https://amzn.com/dp/B00OYUO4PY](https://amzn.com/dp/B00OYUO4PY)

I'm told the dead trees version is a must, but it's also massive, so pick your
preferred inconvenience.

This is like Eno's Oblique Strategies deck in encyclopedia form.

Useful in any circumstances where you'd like to gain fresh perspective on a
creation.

From Amazon :

The Art of Game Design presents 100+ sets of questions, or different lenses,
for viewing a game’s design, encompassing diverse fields such as psychology,
architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park
design, mathematics, puzzle design, and anthropology...

------
tartuffe78
Big science fiction fan

1\. Revelation Space

2\. Hyperion

3\. The Postman

4\. The Day of the Triffids

5\. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelation_Space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelation_Space)

[2] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos)

[3] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman)

[4] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids)

[5] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_th...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy)

------
mindcrime
_The Four Steps To The Epiphany_ \- Steve Blank

 _Code_ by Charles Petzold

 _Artificial Life_ \- Steven Levy

 _Time Reborn_ \- Lee Smolin

 _The Singularity is Near_ \- Ray Kurzweil

 _Surfaces and Essences_ \- Douglas Hofstadter

 _How to Measure Anything_ \- Douglas Hubbard

\-- _One of my favorites is How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenbreg_

I have that on my list of "to read real soon now". Sounds fascinating.

------
vram22
Some of Edward de Bono's books about lateral thinking. Read some years ago.
Concepts in it are not new, but may be unfamiliar to some/you, so mentioning.
Lateral thinking can be useful for problem solving when traditional thinking
methods don't work, or even if they do.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_de_Bono](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_de_Bono)

And speaking of "wrong", since you mention a book with that in the name, de
Bono has also written a book called "I am Right, You are Wrong", which is
about the tendency all of us have to think that we are right and the other
party is wrong.

Edit: Added his web site:

[http://www.edwdebono.com/](http://www.edwdebono.com/)

------
selmat
1\. [https://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Techniques-Models-
Computer-P...](https://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Techniques-Models-Computer-
Programming/dp/0262220695)

2\. [https://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Concepts-MIT-
Press/dp/026263...](https://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Concepts-MIT-
Press/dp/0262632993/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468535286&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Big+Book+of+Concepts)

3\. [https://www.amazon.com/Gödel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-
Golden/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/Gödel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-
Golden/dp/0465026567/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468535300&sr=8-1&keywords=escher+godel+bach)

~~~
solipsism
Is it a HN feature that cuts off long URLs unless you click Reply to isolate
the comment? Actually even after isolating the comment the URLs are cut off
(but not quite as short). Highly annoying.

You should edit and put the titles before the links.

~~~
selmat
Updated as new comment since two hours already elapsed

[1] Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming (MIT Press) -
URL: [https://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Techniques-Models-
Computer-P...](https://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Techniques-Models-Computer-
Programming/dp/0262220695)

[2] The Big Book of Concepts (MIT Press) - URL: [https://www.amazon.com/Big-
Book-Concepts-MIT-Press/dp/026263...](https://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-
Concepts-MIT-
Press/dp/0262632993/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468535286&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Big+Book+of+Concepts)

[3] Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - URL:
[https://www.amazon.com/Gödel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-
Golden/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/Gödel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-
Golden/dp/0465026567/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468535300&sr=8-1&keywords=escher+godel+bach)

------
tmaly
I just started reading the Art of Learning [https://www.amazon.com/Art-
Learning-Journey-Optimal-Performa...](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Learning-
Journey-Optimal-Performance/dp/0743277465)

I finished Linchpin a few weeks back and that was an amazing book
[https://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-
Godin...](https://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-
Godin/dp/1591844096)

Will It Fly is a great book I learning a lot of great marketing tricks from
[https://www.amazon.com/Will-Test-Business-Waste-
Money/dp/099...](https://www.amazon.com/Will-Test-Business-Waste-
Money/dp/0997082305)

~~~
samblr
Will it fly has a 5 star rating from 450 odd reviews!!

~~~
bbcbasic
450 fiverr gigs.

~~~
tmaly
I doubt that, he has a lot of fans.

I have to say, I learned a ton of cool tricks that one would have to spend
weeks reading through forums to learn.

The part on how to build a market map is worth its weight in gold.

I opted for the kindle book, and the audio add on was only $2 which is an
amazing price if you have bought other audio add ons.

------
discordance
Alan Kay's reading list:
[http://www.squeakland.org/resources/books/readingList.jsp](http://www.squeakland.org/resources/books/readingList.jsp)

------
jimmywanger
Try

 _The Forever War_ by Joe Haldeman. A great book about time dilation and
Vietnam.

 _The Water Knife_ by Paolo Bacigalupi. A book about water rights in the south
west that I can think of.

------
yma
Creativity, Inc. - Ed Catmull.

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big - Scott Adams

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed - Ben Rich

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey

------
homingbrain
_Thinking, Fast and Slow_ by Daniel Kahneman.

Also, strangely enough (not being a Harry Potter fan), I immensely enjoyed
_Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality_.

------
quoraquestions
A)The Annotated Turing - Petzold

B)Armchair Universe: An Exploration of Computer Worlds -- A.K. Dewdney

The latter had many great ideas which inspired me to do interesting
experiments on computers with minimal programming experience, it had a great
chapter on recursion which really helped me understand recursion when it had
no programming experience. I still go back and read sections of this book.
Quite a joy IMHO

------
beachstartup
_barbarians at the gate_ is a good read if you're into that sort of thing
(business, banking, law, money)

------
liveshops_
Just finished Grit by Angela Duckworth. Great insights for
entrepreneurs/start-upers

------
impendia
Here is Ellenberg's own list of books he has read in the last few years:

[https://quomodocumque.wordpress.com/the-
booklist/](https://quomodocumque.wordpress.com/the-booklist/)

------
gregimba
Are Your Lights On?: A Treatise on the Definition of Diverse Problems

------
vram22
Robin Sharma's "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" is a good one. So is his "Who
Will Cry When You Die?"

------
dome82
\- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

\- A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by Irvine

------
aliencat
How to Win Friends and Influence People - The tips in this book do work magic.

------
arnold_palmur
_Cosmos_ by Carl Sagan

------
personomas
The Holy Bible :)

------
galaktor
The field guide to understanding human error

by Sidney Dekker

------
ruler88
the hard thing about hard things - Ben is an amazing story teller, very
personable, and great lessons

~~~
samblr
This book was good - amazing story teller. Takes through highs and lows of his
journey - feels like you are watching him in a boxing ring. Message:
Persevere.

------
samblr
zero to one

~~~
hmate9
I've read that. It's worth reading just to get into the mind of Peter Thiel.
The "start small and monopolise" is what really stuck with me.

~~~
liveshops_
This is what he focuses on in his portion of "how to start a startup" on
YouTube. It's cool to watch him talk about it. Great concept.

------
pklausler
Infinite Jest

Ulysses

The Selfish Gene

The Histories of Herodotus

Moby-Dick

Gödel, Escher, Bach

~~~
rolancaster01
Melville "Bartlby the Scrivener" & Ramsey "When We Are No More: how Digital
Memory Is Shaping Our Future"

Down "Brilliant Beacons: a History of the American Lighthouse"

Koestler "Darkness Before Noon" & "The Invisible Writing" & "The Ghost in the
Machine"

John Gardner - anything really but October light and the sunlight dialogs in
particular.

------
chrisabrams
A Song of Fire and Ice

Zennis

Wheel of Time

Quiet

Lord of the Rings

Irrational Exuberance

