
Ask HN: What are you reading right now? - rick_2047
At the end of my first (freshmen) year of engineering I realized I had totally trashed my reading habit (Maybe I because I had to study 8 subjects which were mostly irrelevant to my major i.e. ECE ). I used to read about 50-60 pages per day in my commute to high school (about half hour each way). Even though I commute more now (1&#38;half hour each way) and that too in a much more comfortable bus, I had started reading less. So at the start of this semester(its mostly ended now) I (re)started reading.<p>I completed the Foundation series and the last two novels of Paulo Coelho. Other than that I completed Makers and FTW. Both were fun. Right now I am reading two books simultaneously (they both require different kind of attention so its no biggie), they are Godel Escher Bach (funny story how I got it, but that would be a big tangent here) and The Elements of Computing systems.<p>What are you reading right now?
======
DanHulton
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

* A Guide to the Good Life: The Anicent Art of Stoic Joy

* Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

About the last, I typically abhor fanfic, and I admit, I started reading this
one in a fit of ironic pique. However, it's actually quite damned good.
Reimagine the world of Harry Potter if Harry grew up in a happy, rationalist
houehold and was an exceptionally bright young scientist. When inducted into
Hogwarts, he swears he will use his scientific training to learn the Rules Of
Magic in a fashion that no wizard before has ever done, because no wizard
before has HAD the scientific background he's had.

The author is well-versed on physics, math, psychology, philosophy, and many
other scientific pursuits, and manages to wrap them all up in an entertaining-
as-hell story that is on chapter 56 and still going strong.

Here, let me save you a Google search:

[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_M...](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality)

~~~
jonnathanson
Thank you, thank you, thank you for that Harry Potter fanfic. I am neither a
Harry Potter fan nor a fanfic fan, but the premise piqued my nerdy interests
just the same. Perhaps it's coincidental that I'm writing a story (not a
fanfic; original IP) that is sort of like Harry Potter but involves an
alternate future in which the combination of nanomachines and quantum physics
allows people to wield "magic"-like control over the physical world. It's
magic from a theoretically plausible standpoint, even if I'd still consider it
highly sci-fi and less spec-fi. Dorky? Ooooh, boy. Well, I'll put it this way:
not exactly the project I'd bring up on a date!

~~~
DanHulton
I have actually toyed with this idea quite a few times, most recently after
finishing The Alera Codex - a series of fantasy books by Jim Butcher that I
highly recommend.

~~~
jonnathanson
Thanks for the rec. I'm sure there's already a burgeoning microgenre for what
I guess I'd call PhysPunk (physics punk). I'm torn between wanting to delve
into it and wanting to keep it at arm's length, lest it influence me too much
in my own work.

------
olalonde
_Discrete Mathematics and its Applications_ by Rosen, Kenneth H.

The most interesting math book I've read as a computer programmer. It covers
graph theory, combinatorics, boolean algebra, trees, complexity theory, etc. I
already knew a good chunk of this, but this book let me connect many dots and
discover real life applications of mathematical concepts.

~~~
devonrt
This is a really great textbook. Probably one of the only textbooks I kept
around after school.

------
whatrocks
Rereading "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara - a novelization of Battle of
Gettysburg. This is the perfect book for people who love American history,
character-driven novels, and old maps (every dozen pages or so he includes
maps that mark the progress of the Union and Rebel forces as they gain or lose
ground in the Battle, which are, simply put, just awesome). Very interesting
portrayal of Robert E. Lee - the Old Man - who was essentially revered as a
god by both sides, but made some critical tactical errors here. Had also never
heard of Joshua Chamberlain - the college professor from Maine - who became
famous for his brave defense of the hill called Little Round Top. The Battle
of Gettysburg is another example of those historical events that everybody
thinks they know about, but really don't or have entirely forgotten- and
Shaara brings it back to life.

~~~
jsackmann
Yep, I love that one too.

In case you (or others) don't know, the movie Gettysburg is based on The
Killer Angels, with the same focus on Lee and Chamberlain. It's very long, but
good -- much was filmed on site, and Pickett's Charge is done in real-time.
Harrowing stuff.

Also, let me plug the battlefield itself -- I just visited a couple of
weekends ago for the first time as an adult. If you've read about it or seen
the movie, it's a fantastic place to see. Unlike some Civil War battlefields,
standing there really makes it clear -- you can look down from the top of
Little Round Top, and you can look across the field of Pickett's Charge from
both directions.

~~~
whatrocks
Definitely want to see the battlefield after reading this book, so it's good
to hear another positive review.

Did you see a re-enactment? If so, worth it? I've never seen one before. I'm
torn between wanting to wander around by myself with the book in hand and
actually seeing Pickett's Charge recreated by a bunch of nuts like myself.

------
pavlov
_Kafka on the Shore_ by Haruki Murakami

 _Histoire d'O_ by Pauline Réage

 _My Life in Art_ by Constantin Stanislavski (This one seems to be taking me
forever, even though it's entertaining. Biographies are not really my thing.)

~~~
modality
I am also reading _Kafka on the Shore_ by Murakami.

Before that I read _Norweigan Wood_ and _Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End Of
The World_ by Murakami, as well as _Godel, Escher, Bach_ which took forever (I
read on the subway).

~~~
ascuttlefish
Here's an interesting interview with Mr. Murakami:
[http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2/the-art-of-
fictio...](http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2/the-art-of-fiction-
no-182-haruki-murakami)

------
mbenjaminsmith
"Programming Collective Intelligence" by Toby Segaran. It presupposes no
knowledge of statistics or machine learning and focuses on 1) what machine
learning technique is probably best in a given situation and 2) how to
implement it in Python.

My only complaint is it does completely skip over theory. That makes it
accessible to a wider audience (I have a degree in literature) but he misses
the opportunity of helping out people who are trying to build a better
theoretical foundation or are learning higher math / mathematical notation.

~~~
sinamdar
Try looking up the corresponding topics in Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach by Russell and Norvig.

I found reading the two books in parallel very helpful. When I read the SVM
chapter in both books in parallel, the whole picture just came together for
me. The theory and the implementation side-by-side.

------
nhebb

      - *Built to Last* - Collins and Porras
      - *The Ruby Programming Language* - Flanagan and Matz
      - *_Whys Poignant Guide to Ruby* - _Why the Lucky Stiff

~~~
idoh
Regarding _Built to Last_ make sure to check out how visionary the companies
profiled later turned to be.

~~~
nhebb
Oh I know! The book has been sitting on my shelf for years and I finally
cracked it. I looked at the company list (compiled almost 20 years ago) and
thought, _huh?_

But I think there is still some good lessons to be learned - especially when
contrast with _Positioning_. Knowing that Sony's first product was a rice
cooker, and HP fumbled for ideas (a bowling gutter ball detector?!?) is oddly
comforting.

------
allanp8
Hi, this is my first contribution to HN.

I'm currently reading _Revelation Space_. It's a science fiction space opera
novel by Alastair Reynolds. Pretty immersive. A good read!

~~~
ctkrohn
Read this one a few months ago. Thought it was OK, but I hear the sequels, in
particular "Chasm City," are a little better. I'll probably check it out in
the next month or two.

~~~
Confusion
I think it depends on your taste. I thought Chasm City was a lesser novel in
the series, though it's an interesting mix of a hardboiled detective story
with space Opera and hard sf

------
ihodes

        Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid — Douglas Hofstadter
        Logic for Mathematicians – A. G. Hamilton
        The Black Prism — Brent Weeks
    

I like to be reading 2-3 books at a time, but one gets my full attention, and
the others switch up the pace for me otherwise. I like "serious" books (GEB,
Logic) interspersed with "easier" books; a classic, sci-fi/fantasy, etc.

Read when you'd instead be surfing HN or Reddit and when you're done
coding/working on homework. Reading takes the place of procrastination very
nicely—the same relaxation, but less guilt and more benefit.

------
mdwrigh2
Founders at Work

It's been on my 'to-read' list for awhile, finally got around to reading it.
Really enjoying seeing into the origins of a lot of the big companies these
days, and how that shaped what they do today.

~~~
plnewman
I just finished that one last night. Some of the interviews are better than
others; Woz was probably my favourite. I found the stories of the failures
most interesting, as they seemed to inspire the most reflection and have the
best lessons.

~~~
mdwrigh2
Interesting, I actually didn't like Woz's all that much. I know a lot of the
story so it wasn't all that new to me and I found his style of story telling
to be rather dry.

Out of curiosity, what makes you like it so much?

------
Calamitous
Just finished CryoBurn by Lois McMaster Bujold, probably the last in her Miles
Vorkosigan series. Any of her works are excellent, but she's (rightfully)
best-known for her Miles books.

~~~
Vivtek
I doubt it's the last. I thought that of Civil Campaign (Miles' ultimate
triumph ["Why, _yes_ , madam. Now?"]) and then Diplomatic Immunity. I think
once the little git got in her brain, it was all over. Clearly she loves him
dearly. So do I. Really, I believe the tricky part was figuring out new ways
to get him into crises, since he keeps _winning_.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can even say anything more about this without
it being a possible spoiler, but I can think of more ways to write Vorkosigan
books even after the final scene of Cryoburn.

At least, I certainly hope so.

~~~
Calamitous
I would very much like to be wrong, but reading the scene carefully sounds
very _final_ for Miles as we know him. I don't disagree that she could pull
something out of her sleeve, but...

At some point, all the best artists put down their favorite art, otherwise the
characters and situations we've come to love become farcical stereotypes, all
their charm and uniqueness gone.

Bill Watterson famously did this with Calvin & Hobbes, which is still fondly
remembered by many (as would Xanth be, if Piers Anthony had stopped twenty or
more novels ago).

If she picks Miles back up, there's no doubt I'll have a copy of her next book
as soon as Amazon can get it into my hands. If not, I'll be disappointed, but
not displeased.

And yes, it _is_ really hard to talk about Cryoburn without spoiling the final
scene...

------
ctkrohn
Now: "Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years" by Diarmaid MacCulloch. A
comprehensive history of Christianity, going back to its origins in Judaism
and Greek philosophy.

A few days ago: "Iron Sunrise" by Charles Stross. Solid space opera, buy not
my favorite Stross.

------
anatoly
Reading right now:

Charlie Stross, Halting State.

Jacques Barzun, An Essay On French Verse: For Readers of English Poetry.

Recently finished:

James Shapiro, Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? (nonfiction, highly
recommended; more about the history of the Shakespeare authorship controversy
than a salvo in it)

Ian Banks, Consider Phlebas (first book in the Culture series, well-written
but way way longer than it should be, which is annoying)

John le Carre, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (re-read this spy classic, for Le
Carre's style)

Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao (peppered with nerdy
references from the 80ies and 90ies, the style is annoying at first, but grows
on you, and the novel only gets better. A great novel)

I was where you are a few years ago: realized that I thought of myself as
still reading, but in reality I was reading very little. Then I decided to
adopt a very simple system: I try to read about 40 pages every day. If I read
more, great. If I read less, I don't punish myself or carry debt (this is
crucial), I just try to make 40 pages next day. The point here is simply to
have reading on my mind as a desirable activity. I found that if I don't
consciously remember that I want to read, it's very easy to spend all free
time in other activities (browsing the web, reading long HN/reddit threads,
etc.), which I don't actually prefer to reading; they're just there in the
foreground, in my browser. Just remembering the I want to read ~40 pages per
day makes reading occupy part of my conscious foreground, and helps me read
more without other important stuff really suffering.

~~~
drags
The BBC miniseries of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is wonderfully done; have you
seen it? Highly recommended if you like the book.

~~~
anatoly
Haven't seen it, will try - thanks!

------
rikthevik
Discworld! I just finished the second one, The Light Fantastic, and loved it.
Terry Pratchett is a brilliant and very funny author.

I find after long days of technical thinking I really enjoy a lighthearted
funny piece of fiction to help me unwind and get to sleep. At this point I
don't think I could handle much more math or computer science and stay sane.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
I'm a huge Pratchett fan. I especially like the Watch novels, but every one of
them has its merits. You might find this useful:

[http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-
discwor...](http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-
reading-order-guide-20.jpg)

~~~
rikthevik
I found that to be very useful! Thank you!

------
Vivtek
_Right_ now, Charlie Stross _Wireless_ , a short story collection. However,
what I'm going to read very shortly will be _Moby-Dick_ for the third time; my
daughter just read it in her high school English class and it became clear to
me that it's time to read it again. Good Lord, that man could turn a phrase.

~~~
ctkrohn
Awesome. I'm a huge fan of Stross. "Missile Gap" was my favorite story in that
collection.

"Accelerando" is his best novel by far, IMO. Check it out if you haven't
already.

~~~
bryanwb
I loved Accelerando but found his other novels to be not nearly as visionary
or entertaining

------
kd0amg
Gödel, Escher, Bach

Types and Programming Languages

6 dozen students' homework

Probably going to start Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said sometime soon (or
some other novel... I can't currently remember what I have waiting on my
shelf).

------
l0stman
Just finished ``On Lisp''. This is an advanced Lisp book and shouldn't be your
first one. It assumes some familiarity with the language so you're better of
reading ``Practical Common Lisp'' first if you're diving into Lisp for the
first time. The book focuses almost exclusively on advanced use of macros and
metaprogramming.

Interestingly, I've also read SICP in parallel -- currently reading the last
chapter -- and there's some overlap in the topics treated in the two books.
I'm also walking through CLRS and TAOCP at the moment, albeit reading the
latter with a slower pace compared to the former.

On the non-technical side, I'm reading ``Drawing with the right side of the
brain'' by Betty Edwards. I've picked up this book since I've decided to
resume drawing one year ago. I highly recommend it if you struggle to draw a
realistic rendering of a real life object or a landscape.

------
tdupree
I thoroughly enjoyed the Foundation Series about a year ago and since then
have been reading many of the books found in Asimov's Foundation Universe
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_series#List_of_books...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_series#List_of_books_within_the_Foundation_Universe)).
Right now I am reading "The Robots of Dawn", the third book in Asimov's Robot
Series. I have gone in a kind of a strange order, first reading The Complete
Robot, then the Foundation Series, the Empire Series, and now the Robot
Series. I have enjoyed them all, I like Asimov's style. I also enjoyed Ender's
Game by Orson Scott Card and will be reading the next book in the series
"Speaker for the Dead" soon.

~~~
suffynose
You should read Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card. Perfect companion piece to
Ender's Game (not sure if you know much about it, but it is focused on Bean).
I also recently finished the first book in the Foundation Series and need to
pick up the second one. Awesome book choices!

------
whimsy
_Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation_ (2nd edition) by Hopcroft,
Motwani, and Ullman.

 _Compilers, Principles, Techniques, and Tools_ , 2nd ed ("The Dragon Book")
by Aho, Lam, Sethi, and Ullman.

 _American Gods_ , by Neil Gaiman

 _Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality_ , by Eliezer Yudkowsky

------
healsdata
Just finished _The Paleo Solution_ by Robb Wolf and started _Starting Strength
(2nd Edition)_ by Mark Rippetoe & Lon Kilgore.

~~~
awolf
I highly recommend The Paleo Solution.

Without any doubt I can say it has radically changed my life for the better.

Robb Wolf's podcasts are also packed with great information if you haven't dug
into those yet.

------
jeebusroxors
Omnivore's Dilemma

I tried Godel Escher Bach but after a few pages of his pq system I couldn't
take it any more and walked away. Is this something I need to endure or am I
not "getting it"?

~~~
zasz
It's not _all_ like that. Skip it and keep going. The most important stuff is
in plain English.

~~~
jeebusroxors
That's great news. The chapters before that were great. I'm ignorant of
anything above HS math and figured I would be lost in the rest of the book if
I was having trouble in the first few pages.

------
makeramen
Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard -- Chip and Dan Heath
([http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-
Hard/dp/0385...](http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-
Hard/dp/0385528752)

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us -- Dan Pink
([http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-
Motivates...](http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-
Motivates/dp/1594488843/))

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? -- Seth Godin
([http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-
Godin/...](http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-
Godin/dp/1591843162))

The Laws of Simplicity -- John Maeda ([http://www.amazon.com/Laws-Simplicity-
Design-Technology-Busi...](http://www.amazon.com/Laws-Simplicity-Design-
Technology-Business/dp/0262134721))

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -- Robert M. Persig
([http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-
Inquiry...](http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-
Inquiry/dp/0061673730/))

Invisible Man -- Ralph Ellison ([http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Man-Ralph-
Ellison/dp/0679732...](http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Man-Ralph-
Ellison/dp/0679732764/))

How to Win Friends and Influence People -- Dale Carnegie
([http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-
People/dp/06...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-
People/dp/0671723650))

The Kindle app has really got me buying a lot of books that I now need to
finish...

~~~
bryanwb
Big -1 on How to Win Friends by Dale Carnegie

I think Franklin Covey's 7 Habits is much better in this regard

------
jbrennan
Just finished reading Carl Sagan's _Dragons of Eden_ , a fascinating tale of
evolution and intelligence.

Now I'm trying to tackle _Infinite Jest_ on my iPad. I've never been much of a
reader but I'm trying my damndest to break that non-habit. I have no idea
what's going on in this book but I feel I'd be totally screwed with out the
built-in dictionary function of iBooks. I'm certainly expanding my vocabulary
if nothing else!

~~~
ladyada
Before trying to read Infinite Jest, try to read all his other essays (and
short stories). This is really helpful.

Be OK with the fact that you really aren't going to understand what happens
the first time though, like at all. The book -must- be read twice, the first
time in a bit of a haze, since even basic acronyms aren't expanded till 200
pages after they are first used. Its enjoyable the second time because there
are hundreds of references you'll get from events that are expanded upon much
later.

It really is a fantastic book, and its not nearly as confusing as most people
think when read twice. :)

~~~
tptacek
Reading IJ on the iPad is the right move. My advice: make sure you look up
words that you don't get, instead of following your normal reading instinct to
pick up meanings from context. You have a dictionary a touch away.

I agree, read (at least some) of his essays first; not because the story will
make more sense to you, but because you'll appreciate the writing more after
seeing it deployed in a comprehensible linear narrative. Strongly, _strongly_
recommend _A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again_.

Once you've done that, even at its gnarliest, you can look at IJ like a
collection of essays that just happen to be unmoored from reality, and kind of
surf the text until it starts making sense again.

Someone reduced IJ to a diagram a few weeks ago, which I translated to
Graphviz and re-rendered; this has "spoilers", though:

<http://yfrog.com/juxo0p>

~~~
jbrennan
Thanks for the advice. I have indeed been making liberal use of the iPad's
dictionary while going through IJ. I'm even highlighting the words after I
define them as I love expanding my vocabulary and this novel is such a trove
of new words!

------
marknutter
Re-reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. Best
fantasy series of all time. Read it even if you're not a fantasy buff.

~~~
colbyolson
Love that series so much. Cant wait for the show to come out on HBO.

------
mprovo1
Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

I'm not even a fan of bios and seriously this is one of the best books I've
read this year (so far, I'm halfway through).

------
lylejohnson
My wife and I are reading _Mockingjay_ , by Suzanne Collins.

I am also reading _The Brothers Karamazov_ on my Kindle. I kept seeing so many
references to it in other things I was reading and I took that as a sign.

Also just started reading _Being Geek_ by Michael Lopp (of the "Rands in
Repose" blog). O'Reilly had the ebook on sale the other day and I couldn't
pass it up!

~~~
DanHulton
Oh man, Mockingjay? I loved that whole damn series. I bought the first two
books in physical form and the final shortly after I got my iPhone as a Kindle
book. I may just go re-buy the first two as Kindle books when I go to re-read
the series again.

(Partly because Kindle books are so much more convenient to me, and partly
because I'm not a huge Collins fan and don't mind pumping her sales figures
_at all_.)

------
codypo
Currently reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. So far,
it's a really charming history of science (and well, everything else),
starting from the Big Bang. Bryson has never let me down before.

I just finished Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson. That was an intense book! If
you like deep sea adventure or anything U-boat, it's a worthy read.

~~~
zoomzoom
Just want to second ASHNE by Bryson. This is one of those books that you see
in a lot of people's backpacks when you travel to hostels - meaning that when
you cannot carry tons of stuff, people choose this book...Thought-provoking
and interesting.

------
csomar
I just finished "How to Write Great Copy for the Web". It's a piece of crap.
The design and presentation of the ebook is amazing, but the content doesn't
make it. It's not 90 pages, it's only 40 or 35 (Extremely large fonts and lot
of white space). It does particularly add nothing to what can be found in a
blog post or two.

------
eneveu
I'm currently reading multiple books. Some are technical, some are small
enough to read in the subway, some are far too big, and are read before going
to sleep ;)

\- _La Zone du dehors_ by Alain Damasio, a french author. I must admit I liked
his more recent book, _La Horde du Contrevent_ , a lot more. Sadly, it is not
available in English. Read it if you understand French and like SF.

\- _Chronicles of Amber_ by Roger Zelazny (finishing the 9th book). It's a
good story, but not a must-read.

\- _The Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand. Liked the first 150 pages I read.

\- _Cryptography Engineering_ by Niels Ferguson, Bruce Schneier, and Tadayoshi
Kohno. I'm learning tons about cryptography.

\- _The Non-Designer's Design Book_ (3rd edition) by Robin Williams. Only read
a few chapters, but I'm learning a _lot_ about design. Very simple principles
that change everything.

\- _Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests_ by Steve Freeman & Nat
Pryce. I decided to go with this book instead of reading Beck's book on TDD.
I'm learning / revisiting a lot of best practices from TDD masters. I
recommend it to Java Developers (once they have read Effective Java, of
course).

I still have a lot to read ( <http://i.imgur.com/lgpjf.jpg> and
[http://www.google.com/buzz/neveue/Kc4GhaSSoLE/Un-weekend-
pro...](http://www.google.com/buzz/neveue/Kc4GhaSSoLE/Un-weekend-productif-
sil-en-est-dormi-14h-on) ), and am looking forward to it :)

I anyone is interested, I've spent some time researching (on HN,
StackOverflow, and other communities) about design & UX, Linux & System
administration, and programming. Here's the list I ended up with:
[http://www.google.com/buzz/neveue/NBBSEryBonS/Woot-
ordering-...](http://www.google.com/buzz/neveue/NBBSEryBonS/Woot-ordering-the-
same-books-from-amazon-fr-would)

------
auxbuss
_Liar's Poker_ (Michael Lewis) Rereading. Initially in preparation fro his
latest, but in reality, it's just a great, fun read. Laugh out loud funny in
places. It's like _Alice in Wonderland_ in that it gets better with age and
experience.

 _Accelerando_ (Charles Stross -- our HN buddy) Mainly to remind myself how
fucking awesome British sci-fi can be. It is.

 _The Consolations of Philosophy_ (Alain de Botton) I'm a mathematician who
should have studied philosophy. Alain writes superbly insightful,
unpretentious, and accessible books on philosophy.

 _Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur_ (Dermot Berkery) In
case my bootstrapping fails. It's as dry as you'd expect and USian, but good
background.

 _A Guide to the Good Life_ (William Irvine) An overview of Stoic philosophy
and how to apply it as a philosophy of life. William writes beautifully, which
makes this a very pleasant journey.

------
jasonlotito
Towers of Midnight, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.

Blood and bloody ashes.

~~~
jaaron
I would be reading it, if Jordan's estate hadn't requested delaying the ebook
release by _one year_. Luckily Sanderson has intervened and the delay is only
three months, but I'm still pissed. They could have at least communicated this
to people, rather than allowing Amazon to accept ebook pre-orders. I would
have paid the hardback price for the ebook to get it now, instead I'm waiting
and sorely tempted to look for torrents.

~~~
2mur
Per Sanderson's twitter/fb they are now going to release an ebook in February
as a compromise (Sanderson was pushing for same-day release, Harriet wanted
the year wait). As for myself, I have the hardcover to match the rest of the
series on the shelf, but I'll be reading the pirated copy that will
undoubtably hit IRC today or tomorrow.

------
kevinburke
Also check out Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality too.

~~~
tremendo
Yes, I have been following this too, and it feels like near the end in the
last few chapters. Still have trouble reconciling HP's intelligence with him
being 11 yrs old. Huge contrast with the "authentic" HP whom apparently had
learnt nothing by the time he was 17.

------
nathanielksmith
Just finished Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson). About 100 pages into the Wind-Up
Bird Chronicles (Haruki Murakami). Next is The Invention of Morel (Adolfo Bioy
Casares).

I find that reading recharges my creative thinking. I used to think it was
purely relaxation, but now consider it as essential as sleeping / eating well.

------
jonafato
Just finished _Little Brother_ , in the middle of _The War of the Worlds_
right now, and I plan to tackle _Cryptonomicon_ once the semester starts
winding down. I also read _You Are Not A Gadget_ by Jaron Lanier recently,
which is a great read.

~~~
rick_2047
I liked the description of _You are not a Gadget_ , maybe I will pick it up
after I complete one of my current books (its almost definitely going to be
TECS, GEB will take year to even be read once and understood superficially and
add another few years for my habit of googleing or wiki-ing ever word I don't
understand.)

------
Palomides
I just read all of Peter Watts' books (Blindsight and the Rifter triology),
very hard scifi, you can find them all free online at his website:
<http://www.rifters.com/>

~~~
CWuestefeld
I really loved _Blindsight_. It set me off reading reading a bunch of non-
fiction about the mind (e.g., Hofstader' _I Am A Strange Loop_ )

The first Rifter book was pretty good, but in the 2nd he really let loose with
anti-capitalist themes to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore.

------
notaddicted
I probably have bookmarks in 20+ books but these are at the top of the pile:

 _The Art Of Probability_ , Richard Hamming. I find prob/stat frustratingly
hard to master. This book is clearing up my confusion chapter by chapter. As
an engineer this book appears to be written for someone with exactly my level
of knowledge which helps a lot.

 _Conspiracy of Fools_ , Kurt Eichenwald. Very entertaining ... shining
examples of what not to do.

 _Security Analysis, 1934 Edition_ , Graham and Dodd. They authors are
exquisitely clear thinkers. I don't know how useful the financial information
is because it is 80 years old.

------
prateekdayal
Getting Things Done

[http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-
Produc...](http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-
Productivity/dp/0142000280)

So that I can read more and do other things :)

~~~
swcharl
I'm also reading Getting Things Done.

~~~
johnfelix
me too :)

~~~
olalonde
You guys should stop reading and get something done already!

------
shadchnev
Structure and interpretation of computer programs. We have a kind of a book
club at work: we're reading the same book, do the exercises and meet once a
week to discuss the progress and share ideas.

------
jackfoxy
QED, by Richard Feynman

Also watching the Messenger Lecture series Nima Arkani-Hamed gave recently
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1851016>

------
spacemanaki
Peter Seibel's _Practical Common Lisp_ which is a really nice albeit long
tutorial with interesting case studies.

Peter Norvig's _Paradigms of AI Programming_ which is quite dense (in a good
way) and extremely interesting.

I just bought and started the _Land of Lisp_ for something light to pair with
_PAIP_.

I'm also off-and-on reading _Structure and Interpretation of Computer
Programs_ (which needs no introduction), _GEB_ (the same), and _Coders At
Work_ (which is humbling).

And Erik Larson's _The Devil In The White City_ which is pretty entertaining.

------
dpritchett
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War

One-paragraph pitch:

 _In order to win, we should operate at a faster tempo or rhythm than our
adversaries--or, better yet, get inside the adversary's Observation-
Orientation-Decision-Action time cycle or loop. ... Such activity will make us
appear unpredictable thereby generate confusion and disorder among our
adversaries--since our adversaries will be unable to generate mental images or
pictures that agree with the menacing as well as faster transient rhythm or
patterns they are competing against._

------
silentbicycle
A bunch of research papers related to compiling Prolog / logic programming
idioms, pattern-matching hueristics, implementing constraint systems, etc. via
CiteSeerX (<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/>). Also, APL-related stuff.

Nisan and Schocken's _The Elements of Computing Systems_
(<http://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/>), which is about how the whole modern computing
stack works, from NAND gates on up.

Jon Bentley's _More Programming Pearls_. Again.

------
bdickason
Last few books:

Wind-Up Girl - Great postapocalyptic novel where the scarcity of 'calories'
drives innovation and economy. A cool take on cyberpunk... biopunk?

The Shallows (What the internet is doing to our brains) - Great book, though a
few chapters are kinda slow. Whether you believe the studies or not, it's full
of excellent anecdotes about the history of book publishing, tv, etc.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Great story of post-wwii
england written entirely via letters.

The Secret Lives of People in Love - Extremely beautiful prose. Each story is
5-6 pages.

~~~
bryanwb
Big +1 for Windup Girl, best SF book I have read in a long time

~~~
bdickason
Couldn't agree more, as I haven't been hooked by a fiction book in a long
time. Must admit that I've been hesitant to recommend it to friends because of
the one gratuitous sex scene that randomly pops up in the middle.

------
charlief
_Fooled by Randomness_ again

[http://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Chance-
Market...](http://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Chance-
Markets/dp/1587990717)

------
danielson
I just finished _House of Leaves_ by Mark Z. Danielewski.

A fictional story told, in part, from the perspective of a tattoo parlor
apprentice living in Los Angeles, who stumbles upon a monograph of a
documentary film, authored by the late, blind neighbor of a friend, about a
family who moves into a house in Virginia that is ≈ ¼" bigger on the inside
than it is on the outside. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves>

~~~
tricky
I just finished this, too. Interesting, but a little exhausting. I wonder if
it at all inspired paranormal activity.

~~~
danielson
Is my description pretty accurate?

------
edkennedy
The Foundation Series is my favourite sci-fi series, followed by Rendezvous at
Rama.

Currently reading the 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene (Author of the Art
of Seduction). I quite enjoy the way he writes, it's filled with historical
examples and the sidebars on each page are filled with quotes from all the
ages. Similar style to "Think and Grow Rich"

Summary here: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_33_Strategies_of_War>

------
kellishaver
_Unquiet Earth_ by Denise Giardenia. I think I may have liked _Storming
Heaven_ , which this book is a sequel to a little better, but both are
excellent.

They're both historical fiction centered around the coal mining industry in
West Virgina. _Storming Heaven_ covers the years during the WV mine
wars/Battle of Blair Mountain, and _Unquiet Earth_ spans years beyond that, up
into the 1980's.

Another good one along the same vein is _Strange as the Weather Has Been_ by
Ann Pancake.

------
alizaki
Bounce by Matthew Syed. Highly recommended read in the same vein as Outliers
without the need to find continuously interesting anecdotes every 5 pages and
with some science.

------
Dobbs
_Cuckoo's Egg_ it is the story of a man tracing a hacker.

------
lux
Dracula, and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.

I've been restricting myself to fiction these days, since I get way too
engrossed by non-fiction and want to keep it light and fun for a bit :)

------
devmonk
This post.

~~~
hfinney
I'm always surprised by the relative dearth of smart-ass comments on this
site.

------
crawshaw
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

Excellent science fiction.

~~~
rosser
I keep having to buy new copies of Forever War and Good Omens. I lend them to
friends, and never get them back.

------
yesbabyyes
I picked up _The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the
Universe_ by Roger Penrose, for the third time. It's really interesting and
well written, but I still feel it's a pretty heavy read. I figure that I'll
get through it with Sal Khan's help, when I hit math and physics that's above
my level.

I hope it will be a good way for me to improve my math, while learning about
our history and the universe all at the same time.

------
HeyLaughingBoy
Just finished Andrew Vachhs's _Haiku_ which I think is his weakest novel so
far, I liked Alina Rodriguez's _The Husband Habit_ and I could not put down
_Born To Run_ which gave me new insight into running, a sport I'm just getting
started with. Currently reading Cooper's _About Face_ (only technical book on
the list :-) and about to start Joshua Slocum's _Sailing Alone Around the
World_

------
arihelgason
Reading for half an hour before going to sleep really helps me clear my mind
after a long day's work. Try to do it every evening.

Currently reading:

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman - Yvon
Chouinard (founder of Patagonia) - traces his journey from lifestyle business
to super fast growth. Some excellent thoughts on leadership in there.

Also re-reading The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq. Highly
recommended.

~~~
alexwestholm
I've been wanting to sit down with Let My People Go Surfing for a while now.
How is it?

------
AngeloAnolin
The Orange Revolution

<http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1439182450>

Getting some interest in building teams that makes an organization be more
productive, efficient and at the same time, a nice and fun place to be in. I
wanted to start with our IT department and perhaps, when permitted, expand to
other sectors in the company I am working for.

------
Sindrome
World of Warcraft - The Shattering. Yeah, I said it.

------
nkassis
I'm reading "The Living Cosmos" by Chris Impey. Found it in a bargain bin at
the book store. It was worth much more than what I paid for it. The book is
about astrobiology which is an interesting topic. The author is very balanced
on the subject, it's a good 10,000 feet overview of the field and the author
does a pretty good job at vulgarizing the subject matter.

------
jules
I really enjoyed Solar, and really anything from Ian McEwan. Ammaniti is good
fun too. But currently I'm reading mostly books for classes; Combinatorial
Optimization by Papadimitriou and Spivak's Calculus on Manifolds, Solid State
Physics, Introduction to Linear Analysis, Measure and Integration Theory,
Lectures on the Coupling Method, Particles and Nuclei etc...

------
bryanwb
I have read about 1 500-600 page book ever two weeks for the last 4 years,
almost 100% audio books. I swear by audio books, having listened to even quite
difficult and dense tomes. The catch is you can't listen to math and comp sci
books.

I highly recommend the Teaching Company Lectures on any historical topic, but
esp. the Italian Renaissance. The lecturer is really awesome.

------
ghotli
_Fractals Everywhere_ by Michael Barnsley. It's a mathematics textbook, but
very approachable. It could stand to be more rigorous but I'm finding it needs
very little supplementary material. I've made it through metric spaces, affine
transformations, and dynamical systems. Looking forward to Julia sets and
Mandelbrot sets.

Fractals. They're pretty awesome.

------
ElliotH
I'm also reading Gödel, Escher, Bach

The first few chapters were invaluable to me with discrete maths - it was far
easier to think inside a fixed formal system when I had experienced it within
the book first.

The remaining chapters are all fascinating as well. Only bad point is I find
it very tiring to read, I can't manage more than a couple of chapters in one
sitting.

------
antidaily
"Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World
Has Never Seen"
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307279189?ie=UTF8&tag=...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307279189?ie=UTF8&tag=ad_1_11-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307279189)

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
I just finished this over the weekend and thought it was great. What did you
think?

------
steveklabnik
Very similar thread, three hours ago:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1864688>

EDIT: Not necessarily trying to say that this shouldn't be here, just that the
audience for these two threads is probably pretty close, so people here might
find the info there interesting/useful.

~~~
jcromartie
Yes, but this is on the front page.

------
JonathanFields
Where Good Ideas Come From by Stephen Johnson - interesting exploration of how
connectivity facilitates ideation.

Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky - great nuts & bolts conversation on
moving ideas into execution

Comfortable With Uncertainty (re-reading for the Nth time) - 108 short
meditations and stories on finding peace in the context of constant change

------
technomancy

      The Machine of Death - Anthology
      To Mock a Mockingbird - Raymond Smullyan
      Scott Pilgrim - Bryan Lee O'Malley
      Zero History - William Gibson
    

I've kept my reading history from mid-2003 on my web page; it's fun to have
around: <http://technomancy.us/books>

------
tremendo
Started on _A Game of Thrones_ (G. Martin), in at around 100 pages it hasn't
really captured me, and now _Towers of Midnight_ (Jordan & Sanderson) is here
so I think I'll postpone GoT.

Also started _The Land of Lisp_ as a total Lisp newby and got royally confused
at the end of 1st section with cons, car, cdr, cadr… what?

~~~
jpdbaugh
You really should give it a few hundred more pages. I guarantee it will grab
you at the end it is kind of a slow burn though.

------
lazyant
I was reading Paulo Coelho's "The Winner Stands Alone" and I just left it
midway, it's insufferable. I tried before "The Witch of Portobello" and I
couldn't get past a few pages so I guess I'm done with this author.

Before that I just finished Clavell's Shogun and I liked it, I just wished I
had read it when I was in my teens.

------
jcromartie
Mythical Man Month.

Some of Jakob Nielson's usability stuff.

------
gordonc
The Tao te Ching – Lao Tzu. Classic and calming.

Also Design Patterns in Ruby, which is rather entertaining for a programming
book.

------
ascuttlefish
_Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War_ by Karl Marlantes

I'm also:

1) slowly working through F. Copleston's _History of Philosophy Volume 1:
Greece and Rome_ while reading selections of the philosophers he discusses

2) reading daily an article or piece from Lapham's Quarterly, and

3) reading almost daily 0.5-1 law from Robert Greene's _48 Laws of Power_

------
dkarl
_Making Our Democracy Work_ , by Justice Stephen Breyer

 _The Koran_ (Just five minutes here and there. Honestly, I find it
excruciatingly boring.)

 _The Elements of Statistical Learning_ (Just started.)

Plus fun stuff. I have a Simenon on my bedside table plus _The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall_. Not sure which is next.

------
solost
I just finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and started Red Seas
Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. For those of you reading Ice and Fire or who
have finished all of the current work I recommend both of these series.

I also look at The Book of 5 Rings and The Art of War on a regular basis.

------
bkudria
I used to have your problem as well. Then I got a Kindle. Best thing I ever
did for my reading addiction.

~~~
tlack
same here. went from reading 0 to reading 500 pages per month+ due to k3

------
ghostDancer
Beginning The Land of Lisp, as a totally lisp newbie. And finishing the reread
of that wonderful trilogy in six parts The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
and waiting on the line "The Annotated Alice" by Lewis Carroll , Martin
Gardner and John Tenniel (a spanish edition).

------
msbarnett
Just started _Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs_. It's been
years since I last touched scheme.

Just finished _Refactoring in Ruby_ by Wake & Rutherford (a quick read, but
had some good tips), and _Perdido Street Station_ by China Miéville
(fantastic).

------
ramanujam
Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman

If you work in a UI/UX/Product/Front-end role do read this book some time.

------
jhaddon
I always have multiple books going at one time. Right now they are:

1) G.E.B 2) Mind Hunter - John Douglas 3) Whoever Fights Monsters - Robert
Ressler 4) End the Fed - Ron Paul

I leave each book in a different place that I know will be "downtime" for me.
i.e - bedroom, bathroom, office, and car.

------
ljf
Four Hour Work Week: <http://www.fourhourworkweek.com>

and re-reading

How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett:
<http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2274>

Loving them both - excellent books.

------
Anechoic
_The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back_ by J.W. Rinzler. Between
reading this and _The Making of Star Wars_ I now understand Lucas' attitude of
"fuck sets and live props, we'll film everything in front of a green screen
and fix it in post."

------
mindcrime
The books I'm in the middle of reading to one extent or another, that I can
think of right this moment:

 _Atlas Shrugged_ \- Ayn Rand

 _Swarm Intelligence_ \- James Kennedy & Russel C. Eberhart

 _How The Mind Works_ \- Steven Pinker

 _A History of Western Philosophy_ \- Bertrand Russell

 _Madame Bovary_ \- Gustave Flaubert

------
mparr4
Heart of Darkness... an amazing read (and short!) A book that should be on
everyone's list!

------
jjclarkson
A History of American Labor by Joseph G. Rayback
[http://books.google.com/books?id=i9Tk_WF9Hc4C&dq=America...](http://books.google.com/books?id=i9Tk_WF9Hc4C&dq=American+labor+history&source=gbs_navlinks_s)

------
evolvingstuff
* _Networks of the Brain_ by Olaf Sporns

* _Set Theory and the Continuum Problem_ by Smullyan and Fitting

* _The Calculus Lifesaver_ by Adrian Banner

* _Discrete Mathematics with Proof_ by Eric Gossett

* _Unix and Linux System Adminstration Handbook_ by Nemeth, Snyder, Hein, and Whaley

------
b_emery
Put this somewhere if you ever have a kid: The Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg.
I've just finished applying what I learned, and believe me, you never knew how
much you need sleep until you go without it for a few months. It's a great
book.

------
iuguy
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. This was after I finished Casino Royale
by Ian Fleming and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

As far as non-fiction goes I'm reading Backgammon by Paul Magriel and
Beginning iPhone Development.

------
davi
_‘Where’ and ‘what’ in the whisker sensorimotor system_

[http://www.weizmann.ac.il/neurobiology/labs/ahissar/new_page...](http://www.weizmann.ac.il/neurobiology/labs/ahissar/new_pages/pdf/NatRev0808.pdf)

------
tsycho
Metaprogramming Ruby, by Paolo Perrotta The Girl on the Boat, by PG Wodehouse

------
KClough
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche

[http://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Book-Living-Dying-
Internationa...](http://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Book-Living-Dying-
International/dp/0062508342)

~~~
petermin
thank you for sharing.

------
faz
Just started with "Pragmatic Thinking and Learning" by Andy Hunt.

Also reading "1453: The Holy War For Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and
the West" by Roger Crowley. More of an action book than a historical one.

------
mahmud
I read 2-3 dissertations per week, and just as many research papers daily.

------
paolomaffei
Pro tip: if you read a business book like you would with a novel (when in a
busy commuting, before going to sleep and generally when you attention is low)
it's still better than not reading it at all

------
skbohra123
The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran

~~~
squidsoup
Once you've finished that, you may enjoy The Profit, by Kehlog Albran
(<http://www.angelfire.com/on2/mikemcclellan/theprofit.html>)

------
YakiSauce
"In Defense of Food" - Just finished.

"Long Walk to Freedom" - Currently reading.

"Good to Great" - Up next.

------
o_nate
_The Man Who Loved Only Numbers_ by Paul Hoffman - a biography of
mathematician Paul Erdos that also functions as an introduction to some of the
more interesting puzzles of number theory.

------
xutopia
The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

It is essentially a guide on how to reduce complexity in your life so you can
have more success with the essential things. I like it so far but I'm only
half way through it.

------
Ganthor
I'm reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.

I was just wondering whether anyone else experiences the problem I do when I
read books: falling asleep after about 15 minutes. Any suggestions?

------
euroclydon
I'm reading the following:

#Recommend on HN:

\--Infinite Jest - DFW

\--A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again - DFW

\--The Web Application Hackers Handbook - Marcus Pinto

#Recommended Elsewhere:

\--On Intelligence - Jeff Hawkins

\--Refactoring - Martin Fowler

\--The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (re-reading/skimming)

------
guylhem
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

------
whackedspinach
I'm also currently reading Godel, Escher, Bach. Simultaneously, I'm reading
Coders at Work, which I am going to follow up with Founders at Work and
Hackers & Painters by pg.

------
mcculley
Zero History, William Gibson.

I am reading it very slowly and savoring it. I felt I read his last three
books too quickly and found myself wishing I could read them again for the
first time.

------
strick
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Great read so far.
Equal parts grim and funny.

A few others have mentioned fiction by Haruki Murakami. All of his work is
fantastic.

------
secret
Walden by Henry David Thoreau. It's public domain, so you can get it free. I
challenge anyone here to read the first page and not immediately want to read
the whole thing.

------
rlander
* The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (audiobook)

* Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (kindle)

* Erlang Programming by Francesco Cesarini (rereading mostly because of the excellent exercises)

------
cosmicray
_Drumming at the Edge of Magic_ , by Mickey Hart w/ Jay Stevens.

Random tales of the Grateful Dead, Shamans, percussion, and (most interesting
to me) a conversation with Joe Campbell.

------
udrr
I've been reading Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go" on and off over the course of
these last 5 months or so, even though the other book I am reading is "Getting
Things Done".

------
thisisnotmyname
Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb - Rhodes

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness - Thaler &
Sunstein

Factorization Methods for Discrete Sequential Estimation - Bierman

~~~
timr
If you really want a doorstop of a tome on nuclear weapons, checkout Rhodes'
other book:

[http://www.amazon.com/Making-Atomic-Bomb-Richard-
Rhodes/dp/0...](http://www.amazon.com/Making-Atomic-Bomb-Richard-
Rhodes/dp/0684813785/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1)

------
jasonz
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation

------
mohsen
The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. Long past due.

Edit: I'm also reading this book called "Hold Nothing Back" by Mike Jones, it
was gift from a good friend of mine.

btw kudos on an awesome question

------
PStamatiou
Richard Branson's early autobiography - Losing My Virginity

~~~
decadentcactus
Plan to get this next time I go to the library. Good?

~~~
PStamatiou
Yes I am thoroughly enjoying it. Takes you through all his early
entrepreneurship issues.

------
barmstrong
Don't Make Me Think - by Steve Krug

A classic in good UI design for webpages.

------
frou_dh
Trainspotting, the novel that 90s film about Edinburgh drug addicts was based
on.

Being written in Scottish slang for the large part enhances the humour and
character greatly.

------
ronnieCA
I'm currently reading Coders at Work by Peter Seibel and psyching myself up to
start working through Concrete Mathematics - Knuth, Graham, & Patashnik

------
sinamdar
Just finished with:

\- (AIMA) Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

\- Javascript : The Good Parts

Starting on:

\- Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript: Making App Store Apps
Without Objective-C or Cocoa

------
peter_severin
My latest reading list:

* Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

* Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl. This one was very good. Psychology can actually be logical and accessible.

------
byrneseyeview
_Vanity Fair_ by Thackeray. A bunch of David Grann essays from _The New
Yorker_ (on Instapaper; I'll buy copies of his book later).

------
motters
Identity and Control by Harrison C. White

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_White>

------
binarymax
I was hoping to be reading "Land of Lisp", but just got a note from Amazon
(UK) said they wont have stock to deliver until December 17th!

------
smharris65
Run With the Hunted by poet Charles Bukowski. This ain't your grandma's poetry
:)

<http://amzn.to/b24sCC>

------
mcdowall
Andrea Agassi - Open, if you love tennis and ever wondered whether Sampras was
in fact as tight as they say then this explains it all.

------
nysauhem
Nightfall and Other Stories, Isaac Asimov

My first foray into the world of sci-fi books, spurred on by my new Kindle. I
have to say I'm impressed so far

------
gmlk
The Princeton Companion to Mathematics (Timothy Gowers, ed) Jennifer
Government (by Max Barry) The Supernaturalist (by Eoin Colfer) …

------
bkudria
Surface Detail, by Iain M. Banks. This man can make you laugh and cry within
three pages, and it's damned good Sci-Fi, to boot.

------
markkat
_The Once and Future King_ , by T.H. White.

------
sibsibsib
I'm reading China Miéville's The City And The City. It's quite interesting so
far. I also have some Charles Stross on my list.

------
jinfiesto
Halfway through SICP, which of course is excellent, The Brothers Karamazov,
and The Structure of Magic: NLP Change Patterns.

------
kevinherron
County Zero by William Gibson

Working my way through the "Sprawl trilogy" :)

Also, Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C.
Martin.

------
lappet
I just finished reading the Millenium trilogy

------
gometro33
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson To Siberia by Per Petterson

The Millenium Series (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series) by Stieg Larrson

------
crasshopper
* _Riddley Walker_ by Russell Hoban

* _Et Tu Babe_ by Mark Leyner

* _The Road to Reality_ by Roger Penrose

* _Visual Complex Analysis_ by Tristan Needham

------
Goladus
_Programming Clojure_ \- Stuart Halloway

------
alexyoung
I'm enjoying The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. It's been hyped a little
bit, but even so it's surprisingly good.

------
absconditus
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1864688>

------
tiffani
_Ogilvy on Advertising_ by David Ogilvy. People hoot and holler over Don
Draper, but Ogilvy is the real deal.

------
thevinnie
Buyology - Martin Lindstrom The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit - Ralph
Kimball The Grand Design - Stephen Hawking

~~~
faz
Loved the book "Buyology". I enjoy shopping more now after knowing how my
brain works in buying stuff :)

------
davidwparker
Do More Faster by David Cohen and Brad Feld

Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK by David Mark and
Jeff LaMarche

------
tommizzle
The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz. Only about a third of the
way in, but it's awesome so far.

------
brianmckenzie
I Am a Strange Loop - Douglas Hofstadter

~~~
pfarrell
I Is A strange Loop ;)

------
grillmaster
Just finished Irvine Welsh's Crime (my trainspotting filters are level 6 now)
and starting Kipling's Kim.

------
sspencer
Don DeLillo - "Underworld"

Kind of slow to get going, but absolutely fascinating and real characters.

Next up: Murakami - "Norwegian Wood"

------
m0th87
Predictably Irrational. A really fun read and great educational material for
an aspiring entrepreneur.

~~~
gregpilling
Loved that book. Also loved that Arielly noticed his own irrational behavior
when he bought a sports car instead of a minivan.

------
robertk
_The Brothers Karamazov_ \- Fyodor Dostoevsky

 _The Sun Also Rises_ \- Ernest Hemingway

 _Chess Openings for Black, Explained_

------
scottyallen
\- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

\- Zodiac by Neal Stephenson (rereading for the nth time)

\- The E-Myth by Michael Gerber

------
bmurphy
I was reading Heart of Darkness but took a break from it to read PostgreSQL
9.0 High Performance.

------
zoomzoom
Lincoln At War - History of Lincoln's presidency from the perspective of
Lincoln as a general.

------
bretthopper
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro

~~~
yan
I only read about 20% of it before life got in the way, but man, what an
awesome biography. I think I'll return to it soon.

------
rcourtie
_Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate_ by Brian
McDonald

------
agazso
Coders at Work by Peter Seibel.

Very interesting interviews with hackers and/or computer language inventors.

------
ducanhng
I'm reading Java persistence with Hibernate. Just don't realize ORM is like
VietNam war.

------
Kevin_M_Miller
Drive By Dan Pink

<http://www.danpink.com/drive>

------
variety
Max Frisch, Homo Faber:

    
    
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_Faber_(novel)

------
azharcs
Programming in C by Stephen G Kochan & Getting Things Done by David Allen

~~~
jbrennan
I had no idea Kochan had a C book. I only know him for his Objective C book.
How is it?

~~~
kamechan
I wasn't even aware there was a C book besides K&R. Does it add anything?

------
tetsuo13
_1984_ by George Orwell

~~~
zoomzoom
There are very few books that redefine the way people view the world. This
book is one of them. It is one of those books we all get assigned in high
school and then think we have read due to its ubiquity, but never really read.
We should.

------
bemmu
Narcissus and Goldmund, because it was recommended before by someone on HN.

------
alina24
The Language Instinct - Steven Pinker

Interesting Times - Eric Hobsbawm

The Great Crash, 1929 - John Galbraith

------
bigmac
Practical Cryptography - Schneier/Ferguson

Algebra - Artin

Of Human Bondage - Maugham

Malware Analyst's Cookbook - Ligh et al.

------
jat850
The Stand - again. For probably the 10th or 11th time, I've lost track.

------
freshrap6
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

Practical Palm Pre WebOS Projects by Frank Zammetti

------
Mankhool
"The Evolutionary Void" - Peter F. Hamilton. Epic SF on a grand scale.

~~~
Robin_Message
Oh, does he solve the Void trilogy with a deus ex machina too, like his other
books? I've sworn off Peter F Hamilton for being too damm long for the quality
of story you get.

------
sganesh
Being Geek Managing Humans The Design of design Linchpin Switch Drive

------
eatsleepdev
Spook Country by William Gibson. Anything by him is pretty awesome.

------
util
"Pattern Recognition" by William Gibson

"The Algorithm Design Manual" by Steve Skiena

------
DrStrngeluv
Olympos by Dan Simmons The Players of Null-A by A.E. van Vogt

------
eswat
_Shogun_ by James Clavell

 _Cadence & Slang_ by Nick Disabato

------
pfarrell
Good to Great - Jim Collins

Consider The Lobster - David Foster Wallace

------
jaspalsawhney
Finishing My Experiments with Truth - Mahatma Gandhi

------
jscore
Just finished Shantaram (best book I've ever read)

------
sjs382
Chuck Klosterman's _Killing Yourself to Live_

------
brendanbell
Just started The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell.

------
blntechie
Franz Kafka short story collection

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy

------
kevinburke
I've been reading Godel Escher Bach too actually

------
markkanof
\- The Well-Grounded Rubyist

\- Security On Rails

\- Walt Disney: An American Original

------
dawkins
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Godel, Escher & Bach (round 2!)

------
brudgers
_Armageddon in Retrospect_ Kurt Vonnegut

------
awolf
Kavalier and Clay

~~~
smharris65
This is a great book. Definitely earned it's Pulitzer Prize.

------
mk
Don't Make Me Think - Steve Krug

Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith

------
pdelgallego
Beloved by Toni Morrison.

Lisp in Small Pieces by C. Queinnec

------
maxklein
The _Bild Zeitung_ by _Springer_

------
markng
Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge's View

------
peterstuifzand
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

------
motxilo
SICP and The Selfish Gene (R. Dawkins).

------
duck
The disappearing spoon - Sam Kean

------
Typhon
Language - By Leonard Bloomfield.

------
bhavin
The Fourth Way by P.D.Ouspensky

------
adw
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis.

------
elechi
The Big Short - Michael Lewis

------
sea6ear
Thinking Forth by Leo Brodie.

------
arihant
The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown.

------
starpilot
Lolita

------
xenophanes
St Leon by William Godwin

------
GiraffeNecktie
Peter Pan (in Mandarin)

------
sandipagr
started last night - The complete Sherlock Holmes Vol I :)

------
eru
I just read Watchmen.

------
ptn
Gateway - Frederik Pohl

Rails 3 guides

------
BrandonM
Hacker News

------
83457
Ringworld

------
adammichaelc
Spark

------
zackattack
_Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit_ (hardcover)

 _The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach_ (textbook, via kindle)

 _The Nicomachean Ethics_ (kindle)

 _Date Hotter Girls_ (PDF, kindle)

I went on a reading binge earlier this year, but I've since slowed down. This
thread may or may not inspire me to get back on it.

