
Top Books on Amazon Based on Number of HN Users Linking Them in Comments - q-_-p
http://ramiro.org/vis/hn-most-linked-books-unique-users/
======
olalonde
Surprised SICP isn't in there. Also surprised to see the Code book is ranked
so high, I personally didn't get much out of it though it's probably a great
introductory book to people who are new to the field.

On a related note, my favorite book this year was "Designing Data-Intensive
Applications" by Martin Kleppmann. It's a great overview of modern database
systems with a good balance between theory and practice.

~~~
nothrabannosir
Sicp isn't in there because it's almost a common noun on this forum by now.
People don't link to the amazon page for it, just like they don't link to the
bible :)

Example: your comment.

~~~
hga
Hmmm, and I cite books a _lot_ , but I often link to their Wikipedia page,
since good ones can give the reader a better idea if one is worth reading, and
they include ISBNs so it's really easy to find the exact book on Amazon (just
search using the ISBN excluding the dashes).

------
viach
Similar: [http://hackernewsbooks.com/](http://hackernewsbooks.com/)

~~~
k__
RSI books ranking top 10, lol

~~~
melling
RSI is a common problem among programmers, etc, so you would expect it to be
discussed. You'll find someone blogging about their RSI every few months.

[https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes](https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes)

This story always gets the point across:

[http://www.looknohands.me](http://www.looknohands.me)

------
eruditely
Obviously this is biased towards older books, because simply books that have
been around for a long time can be mentioned.

Let me get across a book with unusual conclusions that deserves to be known
more.

"The Ghosts Of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other
Ecological Anachronisms"

[https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Evolution-Nonsensical-
Ecologic...](https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Evolution-Nonsensical-Ecological-
Anachronisms/dp/0465005527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480148739&sr=8-1&keywords=ghosts+of+evolution)

"A new vision is sweeping through ecological science: The dense web of
dependencies that makes up an ecosystem has gained an added dimension-the
dimension of time. Every field, forest, and park is full of living organisms
adapted for relationships with creatures that are now extinct. In a vivid
narrative, Connie Barlow shows how the idea of "missing partners" in nature
evolved from isolated, curious examples into an idea that is transforming how
ecologists understand the entire flora and fauna of the Americas. This
fascinating book will enrich the experience of any amateur naturalist, as well
as teach us that the ripples of biodiversity loss around us are just the
leading edge of what may well become perilous cascades of extinction."

~~~
kazagistar
I'm not sure how that book is particularly related to Hacker News, so I am not
seeing it getting that much traction.

~~~
eruditely
We can write about anything that would be interesting to hackers, preserving
the environment is generally a topic we respond well to.

------
icebraining
The second book ("The Four Steps to the Epiphany") has a score of 31 links,
yet the HN search can only find 21 comments. Why the discrepancy?

~~~
filleokus
> Results may differ because of links posted after Oct 2015 and additional
> fields being searched.

~~~
icebraining
"Links posted after Oct 2015" could justify more links on search vs the static
dataset, not less.

The additional fields may be the answer, but my question stands: is that the
reason in this particular case? Which fields besides comment text could
produce this result?

------
dorianm
Pretty surprised to not see Hackers and Painters:
[https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Painters-Big-Ideas-
Computer/d...](https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Painters-Big-Ideas-
Computer/dp/1449389554)

------
josteink
I've read a few of these books and can definitely recommend the following:

\- Working effectively with legacy code

\- The design of everyday things

\- Don't make me think

In the mean time, it seems it's time to put in a new amazon order :)

------
bondia
It's quite out of date as well: from Oct 2006 to Oct 2015

------
acangiano
This made me a little sad. Before our house burned down due to arson, I used
to have the majority of them.

~~~
mixedCase
I guess that's one grim argument for e-books.

------
majc2
Surprised Code Complete isn't there, nor mentioned here in the comments as
being missing!

~~~
diego_moita
I am not. I think CC is a dated book and should become obsolete.

It propagated a couple of myths without solid evidence that should be
discarded from the software culture (e.g.: 10x productivity of good
programmers, the cone of uncertainty).

Also it advocates an approach that, although valid for some areas (NASA labs,
embedded systems), is not valid for a lot of the software culture (web
development, startups).

"Pragmatic Programmer" and "Clean Code" are much better readings, IMHO.

------
coldcode
"Three Felonies a Day" is an interesting choice.

------
imranq
Strange that Feynman lectures on physics aren't on here - thought I saw them
referenced a bit. At least surely you're joking is up!

~~~
AimHere
Like SICP, the text of the book is online
([http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/](http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/)
if you didn't already know), so people more likely link to that than to
Amazon.

------
rcdmd
Is The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win
as useful for B2B as this ranking suggests?

------
sputknick
Surprised "mythical man month" didn't make the list. I feel like that book
gets quoted around here frequently.

~~~
combatentropy
Well, you didn't actually link to it ;) Seriously though, that is a
shortcoming of the study. If a member mentions it without the link, it does
not count.

~~~
SeanDav
It is a shortcoming, but not one that can be addressed any time soon

~~~
markovbling
You can create a candidate list of titles for those books that do get linked
then check for those titles in the body of each comment - not too
computationally expensive and embarrassingly parallel.

------
mvid
This is one of those sites that won't let me command-click to open a new tab.
Why do people do that?

------
barking
My score is 6 (4). I have 6 and read most of 4 of those.

~~~
Drdrdrq
Interesting - I don't think I ever bought a book that I didn't read later. Did
you receive them as a gift? Genuinly curious.

~~~
olalonde
It's extremely[0] common[1], there's even a Japanese word for it: tsundoku[2].
My guess is you are in a tiny minority.

[0]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/36omj9/what_percenta...](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/36omj9/what_percentage_of_your_personal_library_have_you/)

[1] [http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015/if-you-sell-the-book-
wi...](http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015/if-you-sell-the-book-will-they-
read-it/)

[2] [http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/tsundoku-should-enter-
the...](http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/tsundoku-should-enter-the-english-
language.html)

~~~
barking
Apart from novels it's pretty unusual for me to read all of a book. It's
laziness a lot of the time I'd have to admit.

