

Ask HN: What books are you reading right now? - sun123

I'm reading two small books in parallel.<p>1. The old man and the Sea , by Hemmingway
2. The Last lecture by Randy
======
urish
"The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic
Story of the Map That Gave America Its Name".

A really interesting history book. I'm now in a great part, about how
knowledge of geography (and map projections) was disseminated in Europe
through a network of scholars and humanists during the 15th century. There was
this huge collaborative effort to reconstruct ancient texts and to bring them
in line with (then) current knowledge.

------
orrenkt
I just read 'The Innovator's Dilemma' by Clayton Christensen and it's awesome.

There's all this talk of "disrupting" everything in the tech world right now
and a lot of it is really bullshit. This guy is the one who coined the term
disruptive technology, and when you dig into it it's a really interesting
concept that he actually backs up with great research on the disk drive
industry.

The core of the idea is that 'disruptive' technologies are underdog
technologies that actually have worse performance than the leading
technologies of their time, but also some other attributes (smaller, lighter,
etc) that make them valuable to customers in niche, less profitable markets
the big guys aren't interested in. Since technology progresses much faster
than our demand for it, those cheaper, crappier technologies improve over time
and end up killing the big, expensive players who originally dominated the
market.

Really great read

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runjake
Can anyone recommend some good cypherpunk books, aside from Stephenson?
Preferably fiction that communicates ideas revolving around anonymity, crypto,
privacy?

I've been trying to read Cryptonomicon, but get turned off by the "hipstery"
(for lack of a better word) informal writing style and can't get into it.

~~~
rubberbandage
I would say “self-congratulatory” rather than “hipstery” — I’m reading this
right now too, and although I find it fascinating (like I find reading about
any cryptography fascinating), it often feels impenetrable without a cause to
be, other than “aren’t these characters all such geniuses, I bet you can
barely keep up.” Also, I get
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Shaftos_Gone_to_Sea> stuck in my head for
hours afterwords each time.

~~~
runjake
Nothing's been above my head, it's more like it takes him too many words to
make a point or get the jist across. He gets too creative/clever. I would like
it to be more straightforward. Then again, I mainly read non-fiction from
journalists or government types.

------
bgrohman
1\. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got
Wrong, by James W. Loewen

[http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-
Everything/dp/074...](http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-
Everything/dp/0743296281)

2\. Clojure Programming, by Chas Emerick

[http://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Programming-Chas-
Emerick/dp/14...](http://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Programming-Chas-
Emerick/dp/1449394701/)

3\. Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis

[http://www.amazon.com/Zorba-Greek-Nikos-
Kazantzakis/dp/06848...](http://www.amazon.com/Zorba-Greek-Nikos-
Kazantzakis/dp/0684825546)

------
rfergie
1\. Causation ([http://www.amazon.co.uk/Causality-Reasoning-Inference-
Judea-...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Causality-Reasoning-Inference-Judea-
Pearl/dp/052189560X))

2\. The Boardman Tasker Omnibus ([http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boardman-Tasker-
Omnibus-Peter/dp/189...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boardman-Tasker-Omnibus-
Peter/dp/1898573859))

------
dwj
Very good book about the tech industry: "rework" by the 37 signals guys.

Other very good non-tech book I've read recently: Walk the Amazon.

------
johnrgrace
I'm actually reading academic papers from ssrn.com about platforms, shorter
than most books and usually just as much information/learning and often times
more.

For fiction I'm reading stuff my friends write; currently The Girl Who Fell
Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There and David Drake's Hammers Slammers
omnibus volumes.

------
waterlesscloud
1\. Red Mars. Read a chapter and digest it. Packed top to bottom with all
kinds of ideas.

2\. Cyberspace: First Steps. From the early 90s, a collection of academic
essays on the concept of cyberspace. Reading it as a kind of retrospective on
where we were and where we thought we were going.

3\. Rule 34. For fun.

------
yamsal
"Another Day of Life" by Riszard Kapuscinski and "Moonwalking with Einstein"
by Joshua Foer.

~~~
eduardordm
+1 It's a shame that Moonwalking with Einstein didn't get to the top. Great
book.

------
rwl
For work: Quine's _Word and Object_ ; Dummett's _Frege: Philosophy of
Language_ ; Plato's _Republic_ ; and paper after paper. (I am a philosophy
graduate student.)

For pleasure: just started Virginia Woolf's _To the Lighthouse_.

------
joelhooks
Molly Fyde series from Hugh Howey. Loved his WOOL books, so giving this series
a go. Like it a lot.

Mindstorms: Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas - just started this, and
enjoying it so far.

------
fourmii
The Viral Storm: [http://www.amazon.com/The-Viral-Storm-Pandemic-
ebook/dp/B004...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Viral-Storm-Pandemic-
ebook/dp/B004V9O58E)

------
ascuttlefish
Essays and aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer

John A. MacDonald: The young politician by Donald Creighton

Comedy of errors by Wm. Shakespeare

Paradise Lost by John Milton

------
vasudhapande
1\. 'Classical Mechanics' by Herbert Goldstein 2\. 'Operational Amplifiers
with Linear Integrated Circuits' by William Stanley 3\. 'Chronicle of a Corpse
Bearer' by Cyrus Mistry

------
redrory
1.) Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?: Seth Godin

2.)Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of
Your Growing Firm - Verne Harnish

~~~
eduardordm
I finished Linchpin just for the sake of doing it. That book would be great if
it wasn't the zillionth book telling the same story.

------
thejteam
"The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict" for myself and "The Voyage
of the Dawn Treader"(Chronicles of Narnia Series) for my children.

------
saurabh
Zen & The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

------
maguay
Frank Chimero's _The Shape of Design_ in PDF. Great, thought-provoking book on
design in everything in life.

------
arunabh
1\. Ulysses 2\. The Dilbert Principle

------
rodrigo
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

~~~
rodrigo
Im finding it very enligthening, have anyone read it? care to share your
opinions?

------
turbojerry
A Beautiful Anarchy: How to Create Your Own Civilization in the Digital Age by
Jeffrey Tucker

------
kral
1\. A Lovecraft anthology 2\. Programming Clojure (Stuart Halloway)

Both books make me dream.

------
noashx
I'm trying to expand my horizons a bit, so I'm reading "The Omnivore's
Dilemma". Amazing!

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headstorm
Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad

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khakimov
Where wizards stay up late. The origins of the INTERNET.

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serencial
Just started "The Connected Company" by Dave Gray.

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orangethirty
The Lean Startup for the third time in a row. :)

~~~
thatusertwo
Not very lean of you :P JK

~~~
orangethirty
:D Good one!

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notum
I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas (Lewis Black)

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dccoolgai
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius. Recommend it.

------
RollAHardSix
Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card.

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krisneuharth
James Bond books by Ian Fleming

------
valdiorn
Neuromancer by William Gibson.

------
rjim86
Coding Horror: The Book

