
YC's Winter Reading List - yurisagalov
http://blog.ycombinator.com/ycs-winter-reading-list/?re=true
======
Uhhrrr
This is my favorite passage from Titan:

With a talent for seeing things anew, Rockefeller could study an operation,
break it down into component parts, and devise ways to improve it. In many
ways, he anticipated the efficiency studies of engineer Frederick Winslow
Taylor. Regarding each plant as infinitely perfectible, he created an
atmosphere of ceaseless improvement. Paradoxically, the mammoth scale of
operations encouraged close attention to minute detail, for a penny saved in
one place might then be multiplied a thousandfold throughout the empire. In
the early 1870s, Rockefeller inspected a Standard plant in New York City that
filled and sealed five-gallon tin cans of kerosene for export. After watching
a machine solder caps to the cans, he asked the resident expert: “How many
drops of solder do you use on each can?” “Forty,” the man replied. “Have you
ever tried thirty-eight?” Rockefeller asked. “No? Would you mind having some
sealed with thirty-eight and let me know?”34 When thirty-eight drops were
applied, a small percentage of cans leaked—but none at thirty-nine. Hence,
thirty-nine drops of solder became the new standard instituted at all Standard
Oil refineries. “That one drop of solder,” said Rockefeller, still smiling in
retirement, “saved $2,500 the first year; but the export business kept on
increasing after that and doubled, quadrupled—became immensely greater than it
was then; and the saving has gone steadily along, one drop on each can, and
has amounted since to many hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Rockefeller performed many similar feats, fractionally reducing the length of
staves or the width of iron hoops without weakening a barrel’s strength[...]

~~~
hackuser
Interesting story; thanks. I have a few reactions to it:

First, it seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO. In your opinion, is the
author trying to make Rockefeller relatable? You can see how it works with HN
readers.

These days his success is attributed to business acumen and notorious
practices, not engineering, but I haven't read much about him. What impression
does the book give?

Also, I would argue that the time he spent on solder drops was a waste of
company resources much more valuable than solder: his time. What would he say
if he saw the machine operator similarly wasting company time or resources?
Rockefeller would have helped his company much more by improving his own
efficiency.

Finally, in most companies when Rockefeller asks if you can reduce the number
solder drops and you are the lowly solder machine operator, you reduce the
solder drops no matter what. There is no way that story could have ended
differently, and nobody would reveal that the boss's idea had bad
consequences: The barrels had to be handled more carefully, they leaked at a
higher rate, they had to increase some other sealing process to compensate,
etc.

All my cynicism may be unfair, however.

EDIT: A bunch of edits

~~~
dyim
I would argue that you can combine two parts of your cynicism to create
something very wholesome!

1) "It seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO."

2) "Rockefeller would have helped his company much more by improving his own
efficiency."

Surely the photo-op helped create a culture of efficiency and optimization
throughout Standard Oil?

~~~
hackuser
Agreed, and very well put. Who knew you could combine cynicisms like that? The
mind boggles at the possibilities ...

------
ericdykstra
Comments on a couple of the selections:

\- _Grit_ \- I can see why it's caught on, it's pretty well-written and
informative, but it's not one of the stronger books in the genre and I don't
think it will stand the test of time. I recommend _The Willpower Instinct_ \-
by Kelly McGonigal and _Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise_ \- by
Anders Ericsson in its place.

\- _The Rent Is Too Damn High_ \- Matt Yglesias is an intellectually dishonest
pundit and I recommend staying away from anything he publishes. He's a leading
representative of what Nassim Taleb calls the Intellectual Yet Idiot[1]. He
deleted 3000 tweets praising Obamacare that look bad in retrospect[2][3]. He's
also mentioned directly in the Podesta emails as a pundit to be
"cultivated."[4] This article from 2011 [5] points out numerous examples of
his sloppy reporting and intellectual dishonesty where he doesn't own his
mistakes, deletes critical comments, etc.

1\. [https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-
idiot-13211...](https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-
idiot-13211e2d0577#.yl36fsi5i)

2\.
[https://twitter.com/BuffaloBlueBear/status/79120869059868262...](https://twitter.com/BuffaloBlueBear/status/791208690598682624)

3\.
[https://twitter.com/JimmyPrinceton/status/791127776388583424](https://twitter.com/JimmyPrinceton/status/791127776388583424)
(check the whole thread)

4\. [https://wikileaks.org/podesta-
emails/emailid/31954](https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/31954)

5\. [http://www.chequerboard.org/2011/02/matt-yglesias-the-one-
ma...](http://www.chequerboard.org/2011/02/matt-yglesias-the-one-man-mistake-
factory-or-i-laugh-at-the-inferior-intellect/)

~~~
ohwello
Can you provide a more clear link to evidence of your claim that Yglesias
deleted 3000 tweets about Obamacare? I see images of a few tweets deleted.
Perhaps Twitter is showing us different messages below the message you
directly linked.

~~~
rycars
I don't have a link, but he deleted his whole tweet history a couple months
ago. I never saw an explanation, but I doubt it had to do with his attitude
towards Obamacare, which is well documented elsewhere, and which hasn't
changed that much.

------
habosa
I imagine many people here saw Don Quixote on the list and kept scrolling.
Sounds like YC is trying to make you go back to a book you probably gave up on
in high school.

The edition pictured, translated by Edith Grossman, is extremely approachable.
It uses mostly modern language which makes the original humor of the book
really stand out. It's incredible that a book written over 500 years ago can
still be funny and engaging. I'd recommend it to everyone, after reading this
translation it moved from 'boring book I couldn't finish' to 'one of my
favorite novels ever'.

~~~
midgetjones
They didn't help matters by giving it such a glib description.

------
ThomPete
Creativity INC is one of the best books I have ever read on creativity and I
have read a lot to know how much most of them really suck.

It has the added bonus of providing an alternative biography of Steve Jobs
which in itself is interesting.

It's much more than a story about Pixar. It's a great insight into some of the
very problems you deal with as you build and try to maintain a culture.

I can't recommend it enough.

If you want a peek into the books content Ed Catmul did a great talk at
Standford.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhzXNJumqpo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhzXNJumqpo)

~~~
heymijo
Creativity, Inc. is also one of the best books on management.

I say this with reverence for the work of Peter Drucker and W. Edwards Deming.

~~~
d0m
How does it compare to "pixar and beyond"?

~~~
heymijo
I haven't read that one yet. Have you?

~~~
d0m
Yes, it's an amazing book. But it looks very similar, hence my question ;-)

------
kashyapc
Pleasantly surprised to see Lee Child mentioned there.

The Enemy (mentioned in the list) is a prequel, though. But it is special in
the sense that it is narrated in first person. Special because (no, not a
spoiler): Reacher, the protagonist, doesn't say much, but the internal
thinking is described in a very attractive way through out (so readers
naturally long to hear in first person). The most common thing you read in the
books is: "Reacher said nothing". Heck, it's so common that there's even a
_book_ written with that phrase as the title; it shadows the author, Lee
Child, to investigate what it takes to make the popular character --
[http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/529959/reacher-
said-...](http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/529959/reacher-said-nothing-
by-andy-martin/9781101965450/)

FWIW, other books from the author I enjoyed and recommend: Echo Burning, Die
Trying, Tripwire, Persuader. (/me fondly recalls reading 17+ books (even
saving money as a student 10 years ago to pre-order) until a few years of
years ago; will resist making a comment on the Reacher movies; but makes a
sincere please to read the books first, and ignore, as best as you can, the
movies).

\---

Related author: Robert Crais (characters: Elvis Cole and Joe Pike).

~~~
gadders
I'd also recommend the Sniper series of books by Stephen Hunter.

------
siavosh
My personal picks as I continue to try to understand global economic trends
since the 1980's through the prism of the 2008-crash:

The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy by
Yanis Varoufakis [1]

The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future By
Stiglitz, Joseph E. [2]

The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the
Civil War by Robert J. Gordon [3]

1\. [https://www.amazon.com/Global-Minotaur-America-Economic-
Cont...](https://www.amazon.com/Global-Minotaur-America-Economic-
Controversies/dp/178360610X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481577856&sr=8-1&keywords=yanis+minotaur)

2\. [https://www.amazon.com/Price-Inequality-Divided-Society-
Enda...](https://www.amazon.com/Price-Inequality-Divided-Society-
Endangers/dp/0393345068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481578034&sr=8-1&keywords=price+of+inequality)

3\. [https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-American-Growth-
Princeton/d...](https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-American-Growth-
Princeton/dp/0691147728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481577993&sr=8-1&keywords=rise+and+fall+growth)

~~~
clumsysmurf
Yanis gave a good endorsement of "How Will Capitalism End?: Essays on a
Failing System" [https://www.amazon.com/How-Will-Capitalism-End-
Failing/dp/17...](https://www.amazon.com/How-Will-Capitalism-End-
Failing/dp/178478401X)

Also you might like Dean Baker's latest book. You can get it free from his
website in all formats, or via Amazon

"Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured
to Make the Rich Richer"

[http://deanbaker.net/books/rigged.htm](http://deanbaker.net/books/rigged.htm)

~~~
siavosh
Thanks, yeah, already in the middle of Streeck's essay collection. Jarring.

------
yarper
For those interested, C. S. Forester's Hornblower book(s) became a pretty good
TV series[0] starring Battlestar Galactica's own Jamie Bamber!

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_(TV_series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_\(TV_series\))

~~~
tgb
The author has some really clever ideas for set-pieces in that book. I've only
read the first (chronologically) one, but it caught my attention. At one
point, he is captaining a captured merchant ship back to England and is
checking it for damage from the skirmish. There's no water in the hold, so the
ship must be undamaged, though it's a little strange because every ship has
_some_ water in it. Later we find it's actually severely damaged but the ship
is transporting rice, which has absorbed all the water.

~~~
yarper
This also features in the show!

------
peller
Both _The Idea Factory_ and _Titan_ were excellent. Haven't read any of the
others yet. I'd recommend reading _The First Tycoon_ [0] before _Titan_ , as
chronologically it sets the stage very well for the world Rockefeller rose to
power in.

[0] [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4839382-the-first-
tycoon](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4839382-the-first-tycoon)

------
protomyth
My disagreement with the placement of "Strangers in Their Own Land" is
basically that it really is well loved by Mother Jones[1], NYT[2], etc. but
not at all liked by the people it claims to report on[3]. I guess if you hold
liberal beliefs and want some reinforcement, then its a good book, but I would
think you probably want to read books by people who actually are the people
being talked about.

1) [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/trump-white-
blue...](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/trump-white-blue-collar-
supporters)

2) [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/books/review/strangers-
in-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/books/review/strangers-in-their-own-
land-arlie-russell-hochschild.html)

3) [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-
party/wp/2016/09/01...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-
party/wp/2016/09/01/a-berkeley-sociologist-made-some-tea-party-friends-and-
wrote-a-condescending-book-about-them/)

~~~
crucini
Can you recommend an alternative?

~~~
redthrowaway
Hillbilly Elegy is excellent and touches on some of the points, but really
just read conservatives. We're not exactly shy about what we don't like about
modern liberalism. Go peruse the pages of National Review or Commentary
Magazine.

~~~
TillE
Didn't both of those publications vigorously oppose Trump?

The "conservative intellectual" niche may be the most politically irrelevant
group in the country.

~~~
redthrowaway
>Didn't both of those publications vigorously oppose Trump?

Yes.

>The "conservative intellectual" niche may be the most politically irrelevant
group in the country.

Trump won the Presidency, not the Movement. The rest of the GOP, though shell-
shocked, has not suddenly ditched conservatism and embraced Trumpism. The vast
majority of the GOP members of the House and Senate, and those in state
governments, are conservative, not Trumpist.

Conservatives, not just Republicans, have far more power in the US right now
than at any point in recent memory.

And thankfully, the Founding Fathers, sharp blokes that they were, crafted a
system of checks and balances. I suspect we'll hear fewer cries of
"obstruction!" when Congress blocks President Trump's policies than we did for
Obama's.

~~~
aggie
The problem I have with the GOP's obstructionism was not that it was checking
power, but that it was purely political. They obstructed policies that had
been supporting by conservatives in the past, just because they didn't want
Obama to be seen as having succeeded with anything. That is not what the
checks and balances were designed for.

~~~
redthrowaway
A lot of conservatives saw it as their duty to stand athwart Obama's agenda
and yell, "Stop!"

And quite frankly, they succeeded. I think you're unfairly discounting how
much of that was ideologically driven, rather than the result of simple
partisanship.

~~~
aggie
You can say that a strategy to regain power is an ideological action in the
long run, but then what is the difference between ideology and partisanship?

~~~
redthrowaway
It wasn't a strategy to regain power, it was a mission to prevent the
President from inflicting further harm upon the country (according to
conservative thought). There were plenty of Republicans who thought it would
cost them in the elections. But they saw it as worthwhile to prevent the
expansion of the welfare state and the enshrinement of Obama's progressive
agenda in law.

The notion that they wanted to make government work worse in order to bolster
their claim that government doesn't work is what progressives tell each other,
not what motivates conservatives. Ditto working class voters "voting against
their interests", etc.

------
tomp
I cannot recommend Manna enough (I assume it's similar to the online version
[1]). It portrays a version of the future that I believe is achievable by
continuing open-source software development and extending it to (more and more
powerful) AI.

[1]
[http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm](http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm)

~~~
laxatives
Manna is an interesting story, but its incredibly poorly written. It starts
out great, but the last few chapters feel like they were written by a high
school student realizing their deadline is approaching and is still 5 pages
short of the minimum requirement.

~~~
eli_gottlieb
Classic idea-driven scifi, in that aspect.

------
cocktailpeanuts
This is interesting, I just went to one of the book's Amazon page and this is
what I see: [http://i.imgur.com/O6x8eNQ.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/O6x8eNQ.jpg)

It's almost like a horizontal scroll version of this blog post. I guess it's
the small sample size.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Actually it is the large sample size. Book lists tend to do this when read by
a lot of people, especially if they pull their cover art from Amazon. There
was a hack whereby a person used AWS resources to generate this sort of effect
on demand. The result was, as expected of such a prank, books on conservative
theology having "also viewed" lists which were primarily erotica. Amazon
"fixed" this by ignoring item views from addresses within it's own IP space
but apparently it still works for lookups from a bunch of IPs.

------
wainstead
Cannot recommend "City of Gold" enough. Great writing and a page-turner. Full
disclosure: I knew Jim Krane in the 80s when he played guitar in hardcore punk
bands like Starvartion Army.

------
siavosh
Regarding Hillbilly Elegy: I read it after another post-election book list
recommended it, and found it to be a very mixed bag and generally a
disappointment. The valuable part was the depiction of his home life and the
disintegration of the social fabric of his community over a few generations
driven by unseen but acutely felt economic trends. Very touching and powerful
accounts.

The latter half of the book, however, was by far the weakest. There he
attempts to recommend fixes for the issue from a libertarian perspective. His
beliefs are not surprising given his current employment in a Thiel hedge fund.
This part of the book had little insight and seemed to be an ideologically
driven argument by, ironically, a newly minted financial elite that his own
community distrusts.

------
rl3
_> Creativity, Inc.

“Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter, on how
they built a culture of openness, honesty, self-reflection, and risk-taking
that protects new ideas and creativity instead of squashing them.” –Aaron
Epstein_

I wonder if it comes with any helpful pointers on how to execute long-term,
systematic wage-fixing[0] schemes.

The top one-star review[1] on Amazon sums it up nicely.

[0] [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/ed-catmull-on-
wage-...](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/ed-catmull-on-wage-fixing-
i-dont-apologize-for-this-105855.html)

[1]
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/0812993012/R1CW8GBYEH3UQ...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/0812993012/R1CW8GBYEH3UQW)

------
chadcmulligan
One i'd recommend is The illusion of life - the history of animation in
disney, it covers some of the business, the people and the techniques and of
course the movies, and it's one of the most beautiful books I own.
[https://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Life-Disney-
Animation/dp/078...](https://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Life-Disney-
Animation/dp/0786860707/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481582720&sr=1-1&keywords=the+illusion+of+life)

------
soheil
I spot checked several of these books on Pirate Bay and they were all well
seeded and many uploaded today, touche Hackernews! Not that I would be
interested in downloading them or anything.

------
CalChris
The Grossman translation of DQ is a fine read. I read it in a seminar which is
the academic equivalent of a book club. That was awesome. If you get into it,
it's a great discussion book.

I'd recommend Marryat's _Mister Midshipman Easy_ over Forester's _Mister
Midshipman Hornblower_. Marryat speaks from authority when he speaks of the
sea and of naval warfare. Neither Forester nor Patrick O'Brian sailed.

~~~
stinkytaco
Perhaps Marryat is more authentic than O'Brian or Forester, but he is not as
good a writer. Easy lacks the coherent storytelling, character building and --
at least compared to Aubrey/Maturin -- the excellent sense of humor.

Worth a read? Absolutely. Better? I enjoy both better than Marryat, but
especially O'Brian.

------
lintiness
thanks for including some fiction! so many "data" people miss out on so much
because they mistakenly assume something that "didn't happen" can't help or
enrich their understanding of what is.

------
acl2149
I've read shoe dog. Entertaining fast read but I don't think you should
prioritize it unless you're really into sneakers or Nike.

~~~
40acres
While Shoe Dog has a lot of content about Nike, sneakers and running I would
definitely recommend it if you aren't in to that stuff. It's a great story of
perseverance and grit, and the characters who helped shaped Nike are quite
entertaining. I would recommend it to any entrepreneur.

------
jaseemabid
Someone added all this into a goodreads list, so that you can mark them 'read
later'.

[https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/106375.YC_s_Winter_Readi...](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/106375.YC_s_Winter_Reading_List)

------
mch82
Also consider Robert Harris' historical fiction trilogy "Imperium," "Lustrum,"
and "Dictator" about the life of Cicero and the fall of the Roman Republic
under Julius Caesar (assuming it's okay to recommend additions).

The ideas explored in these books are fascinating and could not be more
timely. The historical notes are interesting. The reading is fun! "Dictator"
is the third book in the trilogy & its Wikipedia page links to the rest:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator_(Harris_novel)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator_\(Harris_novel\))
The narration on the Audible editions is fantastic.

------
clumsysmurf
A few new books the YC crowd might like:

"Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future"
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455544590](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455544590)

"What the Luck?: The Surprising Role of Chance in Our Everyday Lives"
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1468313754](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1468313754)

"Shrinking the Earth: The Rise and Decline of American Abundance"
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019984495X](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019984495X)

------
wdages
Glad to see Shoe Dog on this list, that was one of the most memorable books I
listened to this year (the audiobook narration was awesome). It's always
interesting hearing the origin story and struggles of a company that was the
underdog in the industry for so long, and ended up on top. I thought Phil
Knight's account of his journey with Nike was really honest and thoughtful, I
had no idea how long it took them to get momentum, or how many times they were
on the brink of bankruptcy. Can't recommend this enough, I'm looking forward
to reading it a second time next year.

------
kriro
Of course tastes differ but I didn't see much that immediately grabbed my
attention (a bit of a letdown because it was the first thing I clicked on this
morning). I guess ultimately that's a good thing because my backlog is still
fairly long. Titan and the Nike book look interesting but I'm currently not in
the mood for a "this amazing person/company" type of book.

I might pick up "City of Gold". "Make it so" could also be interesting those
are the only two that immediately grabbed my interest.

------
IndianAstronaut
Not a book, but definitely check out The Economist's Christmas edition. A lot
of in depth articles on a wide array of subjects ranging from historical
artifacts to road journeys to contemporary life.

------
evtothedev
I just finished The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu and I cannot recommend it
enough.

It traces the history of advertising and attention capture from billboards
through Facebook.

------
karmicthreat
Highly recommend Manna. Its short but still worth it.

~~~
ajmurmann
I've really come to value sorry non fiction books. Too many non fiction books
seem to repeat the same point over and over. Less danger of that on a short
book. My favorite non fiction author is Ian Buruma. All his books that I've
read are short but loaded with information and are highly diligent about
giving references.

------
dmourati
I picked up Red Notice from the "library" at a resort in Chile last September
for the flight home. What an awesome story. I learned a ton reading it and the
book reads like fiction even though it is factual. Highly recommended.

------
adamnemecek
There should be a list like this but more technical

------
blakes
I actually pre-ordered Grit based on the excerpt I had read with Pete Carroll.
It sounds fascinating but I have yet to read it.

------
miraj
think this book is a particularly interesting read, especially considering the
U.S. election opera of 2016:

"Infomocracy" -by Malka Order.

+++ some other favorites:

When Breath Becomes Air. -by Paul Kalanithi.

Arkwright. -by Allen Steele.

The God's Eye View. -by Barry Eisler.

Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley. -by
Antonio Garcia Martinez.

Ego Is the Enemy. -by Ryan Holiday.

------
datavirtue
I ordered the first book on the list about a week ago form my son and I over
winter. Great minds think alike.

------
cylinder
This list took a credibility plunge when Thomas Friedman was spotted on it.

~~~
GavinMcG
It's a list made up of individuals' recommendations. This is like saying "The
credibility of the United States took a plunge when your nutty aunt went on
another one of her rants."

~~~
metaphorm
ok, but I think it's a valid opinion to express extreme aversion for Thomas
Friedman.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
Arguing that the whole list is less credible because Friedman's on it? I mean,
it's fine if you want to maintain your own epistemic closure, but expecting
everyone else to agree?

And even you should read him, if for no other reason to be sure you understand
what you're disagreeing with. Then, once you can actually state his position
in a way that he would recognize as accurate, then disagree as much as you
please.

~~~
CalChris
Saying the list took a dive when it came to Friedman is colorful writing and
not _epistemic closure_. It did take a dive. This is 2016 and Friedman has
been around for ever. He's been insistently wrong over and over again. The
Iraq War. He was so wrong about that he even has a measurement unit named
after him:

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

He's on TV, he's in the NYTimes, he's on NPR, he has a book. Am I being closed
minded if I say enough already? What has he ever been right about? What
continued claim does he have on the national discourse?

~~~
AnimalMuppet
I could just as easily say the same about stoicism or Carl Rogers being on the
list.

I mean, no, I'm not going to read Friedman's book. No, I'm not a fan. No, I'm
not defending his positions. It's fine that you don't agree with Friedman. I
don't agree with stoicism, either. But deciding that the list "took a dive"
just because he has a book on it? Yes, you're being closed minded.

~~~
CalChris
It's really not so much that I don't agree with him and to be sure, I don't
agree with him. It's more like, really, do I have to listen/read/hear about
Friedman one more time? Aren't there any new voices? Dunno where you live but
they still play Car Talk on KQED on Saturday mornings and one of the guys is
dead. MoDo has been awesome but she should move on as well. David Brooks same.

------
listentojohan
Nice to see Weapons of Math Destruction included.

------
ArlenBales
One genre that is always missing from HNer's and YC's recommendations is
Fantasy.

It feels like most people here read books to acquire knowledge and philosophy
to apply to real life.

Most fantasy books are read for entertainment and imagination. There's no
hidden message to parse and put toward your next start-up project. That
doesn't mean Fantasy books are a waste of time though if they're engrossing
and entertaining. That's why I read them.

Some fantasy recommendations:

The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch

The First Law series, by Joe Abercrombie (especially the standalone books #4,
#5 and #6)

The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

~~~
maxerickson
A lot of people get their fantasy fix from science fiction.

(this is my favorite place to apply the Arthur C. Clarke quote "Any
sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.", whether he
meant it that way or not)

~~~
icebraining
And not just the technology; I mean, what's Arrakis if not a fantasy world?

------
minimaxir
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521)

~~~
pugio
The majority of discussion on the previous post was about how many/most of the
books conflicted with the 1-week ban on highly charged topics.

Since that's over (right?) - perhaps people can now share their opinions on
the book list itself...

~~~
bigethan
It was "politics" not "highly charged topics" \- eg a post about javascript
frameworks was fine. And I have no idea how to tell if it's over or not.

~~~
grzm
The week-long experiment was terminated early. See
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13131251](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13131251)

It would have been over by now regardless.

~~~
protomyth
I wish they had put that on the front page since I was still flagging
political articles per the request in the original message.

~~~
grzm
Yeah, I think that would have been a good idea, too, especially as they kicked
it off with a "Tell HN". I think they chose to address it as it came up in the
comments. That said, this is getting off-topic :)

------
rcavezza
Rescinded comment

Link to original post:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521)

~~~
grzm
Read further down in the comments. This is already being discussed:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13161516](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13161516)

------
overcast
I guess no book list can ever escape the mediocrity of Neal Stephenson. At
least it wasn't Snow Crash this time.

~~~
crucini
Do you think he's eternally mediocre, or is his recent stuff worse? Is all
scifi mediocre? Is the problem that Stephenson "crossed over" and got more
mainstream credibility?

Is Gibson also mediocre?

~~~
metaphorm
My opinion on Stephenson:

Cryptonomicon is fun, Baroque Cycle is great, Anathem is his best work (from a
literary perspective), and Seveneves is 2/3rds awesome 1/3rd bad scifi pulp.

Snow Crash is how most people first encounter him. It's a warmed over
cyberpunk book that repeats a lot of what Gibson did, but is also good.

The Diamond Age is one of the best pieces of speculative fiction written in
the last 20 years except that it fails badly to have a coherent story with an
ending that makes sense. Which is a shame considering the ideas in the book
are so good.

REamde is shit and should never have been published. Dude was playing too much
World of Warcraft at the time and decided to write a novel about playing too
much World of Warcraft. Bad book. Avoid.

~~~
simonbarker87
Weird, I loved part 1 and 2 but part 3 stands out as the best bit to me - I
really enjoyed the envisioning of rebuilding a world from scratch and getting
lost in that new world. I think the third part could make a nice series of
books but I think I am in the minority about part 3

------
bbcbasic
It's 36 degree C here today so guess I'll have to wait a bit to read these.

------
wowsig
Excellent list! I've added all the books for people to save books to their
reading list here on ShelfJoy [http://shelfjoy.com/shelfjoy/wrap-up-
your-2016-with-ycs-wint...](http://shelfjoy.com/shelfjoy/wrap-up-
your-2016-with-ycs-winter-reading-list)

The summer reading list is also available here:
[http://shelfjoy.com/shelfjoy/ycombinators-summer-list-
of-201...](http://shelfjoy.com/shelfjoy/ycombinators-summer-list-of-2016)

Thanks for the wonderful recommendations to everyone at YC!

