Daemon - Daniel Suarez So little of the SciFi I read is memorable. This book explores SO many topics in memorable ways that I am blown away.
LOTR reads like a classical history book, sometimes literally. Everything is true, everything is tied together. The narrator disappears for omniscience.
Name of the Wind is an obvious post-modern slant with an unreliable narrator. The story Kvothe himself tells obviously makes him seem like a superhero and Rothfuss manages to (whether intentional or not) tell a story about a story that doesn't all add up. I can't say it's my favorite book. But, reading it against LOTR was fascinating.
I liked Name of the Wind for the most part but some of the characters were flatter than pancakes. That bad guy student (Ambrose?) has no motivation beyond just being a deliberate antagonist
Unlike a lot of scifi it doesn't shy away from getting deep into technical details. But unlike most writers he doesn't get tech concepts wrong or use jagon in awkward, non-standard ways. It's obvious that computer tech is is native to him.
Heck, I even got called to an EE professor's office after a circuit design exam - was told a couple of my answers clearly showed I had spent more time studying AoE than the curriculum. "So - we're going to have to give you a mediocre grade, but no worries, you'll do brilliantly in industry; I'd be happy to write you a recommendation to that effect."
He actually did; it is framed and proudly displayed on my office wall.
Occasionally you’ll need to dig deep into it and particularly if you do RF stuff but that’s about it.
I was disappointed for about six months when I landed my first position at a defence contractor when I found out their senior analogue design engineer had a circuit crib book and most of the designs were sourced or bodged from that and then adjusted on a breadboard. I was simply amazed at how informal it was. The stuff worked, was in budget and performed well. Surprisingly mathematical and theoretical knowledge was rarely discussed.
The signal processing and software guys did all the legwork really.
Me, I ended up writing engineer ERP systems to replace paper and then jumped into the software market.
Now I play around with things and I’ve built a lot of stuff without even firing up a calculator or thinking about the theoretical side of things. Everything has a computer in the middle with a little bit of analogue stuff around the edge which you can usually just pick out of the book.
Edit: to be clear I know Laplace, Nyquist, how to do FFT/DFT, network theorems etc but I just don’t need them most of the time.
-I loved this book for its humor, everyday practicality, how relatable it felt even without having a background in physics or knowledge about the pranks and experiments he conducted. As well as the book being well-written in the sense that it reads as if you're sitting on the couch with him as he's telling you stories about his life, all with a child-like sense of wonder and enthusiasm about the world.
THE $12 MILLION STUFFED SHARK BY DON THOMPSON
-I'm interested in the high-finance and fine-art worlds and this book discussed how they both go together - money and art - in an informative, quick-paced way.
THE BUY SIDE BY TURNEY DUFF
-For its humor, honesty, and how well written it was in terms of it being a page turner while also providing you with an insightful account about the high-finance industry.
MOLLY'S GAME BY MOLLY BLOOM
-It was an entertaining, quick-paced read about the private, high-stakes poker industry with an assortment of participants.
MONEYBALL, LIAR'S POKER & THE BIG SHORT BY MICHAEL LEWIS
-I thought they were all entertaining reads, while also being insightful about their respective subjects.
STEVE JOBS BY WALTER ISAACSON
-It was an illuminating read to me.
- - -
Separately, these books are on my list to read if anyone has opinions about them:
-Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick
-Principles by Ray Dalio
-A Man For All Markets by Edward Thorp
Such a beautiful execution of a great story set in a captivating world, packing a pageful of storyline, images and innuendos into every line of text. It feels like Gibson was on a strict word diet, but the result is a one of a kind masterpiece of story telling.
[0] http://www.bearcave.com/bookrev/neuromancer/neuromancer_audi...
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/language-thought-and-reality-...
This little collection of essays from the 20s by a chemical engineer is astounding. For anyone interested in cognition, engineering, language, there are mind-blowing insights packed throughout.
Which brings me to one of my favourite scifi epics - the Culture series, the titular people (and machines) of which consciously designed their language Marain to encode desirable aspects of reasonableness and peaceableness according to that very hypothesis. Nice connection!
Thank you for reminding me to read the Culture series. I've put it on my list for many other reasons, and now I have a new one :)
I also have a strong pull towards adventure so books like Wind, Sand and Stars by Exupery or Starlight and Storm by Rebuffat are constant companions.
Growing up I loved books by Emilio Salgari, for a man who traveled so little outside of Italy he had an uncanny ability to imagine worlds and adventures beyond his doorstep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Salgari
I second Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Rumor has it that Robert Kirkman of Walking Dead fame has optioned it for TV.
2. Godel, Escher and Bach - Hofstadter
3. On Intelligence - Jeff Hawkins
"Politeness is more reliable than the moist virtues of compassion, charity, and sincerity; just as fair play is more important than the abstraction of justice. The major virtues tend to disintegrate under the pressures of convenient rationalization. But good form is good form, and it stands immutable in the storm of circumstance.”
All Trevanian's books are great.
- The Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. Flawed badass with a quick wit, I love Bernie Gunther.
- Hypnotherapy by Dave Elman. Dated, but gives you a clear abstract (oxymoron) path on how to "bypass the critical filter of the conscious mind"
- Coaching the Mental Game by Harvey Dorfman. Erudite, deep, chocked full of lessons that are applicable to your personal, professional, and sports life.
Many, many others.
Shibumi
The Golden Bough, Frazer. Sublime, frustrating and intriguing. Changes your dreams, whether you immediately realise it or not.
How Things Work: The Universal Encyclopedia of Machines. My grandfather gave me this when I was 8, I still regularly leaf through the tea-coloured pages and detailed black-and-red drawings two decades later. It's a charming book, the kind of thing we have websites for nowadays.
This was a book I read in my early twenties that really helped me come to terms with a religious upbringing that no longer resonated with me, as well as a spiritual void in my life that needed to be filled. Seriously life changing stuff and so easy to read. Definitely the most accessible Hesse.
I’d be curious if this book has impacted anyone else similarly and if so what they took from it. Love this thread btw
The Road Less Traveled - M. Scott Peck - When I was struggling with depression and not feeling worth anything and generally a piece of shit someone pointed this book out to me. It talks about how no one can shoulder your psychology burdens for you and fix them. You have to take the work on full force and fix yourself. You may have suffered wounds in your childhood and be playing them out in your adulthood. It's all subconscious behavior.
The Game - Neil Strauss - I was struggling to understand women and relationships. This book fundamentally changed the way I understood myself and relationships with other people. Another great book for understanding that external forces can't bring you the happiness or fill the void you're hoping for.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke - beautifully inventive fantasy novel about two magicians bringing magic back to Britain during the Napoleonic wars. Fab read.
Gateway - Frederick Pohl - pulp sf at its best. Humans discover a hollowed out asteroid worth ftl ships preprogrammed with unknown destinations. Prospectors pack as much food as they can and hit 'launch' in the hopes that they'll discover something valuable and not land on a star or starve to death.
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman - more great pulp sci-fi about the first interstellar war. Old man's war by John Scalzi is very similar and almost as good.
Most things by Iain (m) banks. Crow Road, Wasp Factory, The Bridge, Consider Phlebas, Use of Weapons, Player of Games etc. Song of stone was awful though, they're not all winners
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Must read for a sci-fi fan.
1984 by George Orwell. I am told that we're increasingly moving towards a mix of 1984 and Brave New World (I haven't read the latter).
This Pulitzer prize winning book proves the adage "Truth is stranger than fiction". Surprisingly, you don't need to know any math or much of physics / chemistry to read this one.
It is the story of one of the most amazing achievements of human kind and its more engaging than all the Dan Brown novels put together. This is no exaggeration - the book will entertain, educate and enlighten you like no other book you have ever read.
About this book, David Eisenberg wrote thus on his blog...
> The Making of the Atomic Bomb is not only the best and most comprehensive treatment of the [Manhattan] project and its antecedents (and I’ve read a number of them), it is also possibly the single best history or non-fiction book that I have ever read, and that’s a lot of books.
> Of course, it is not for everyone. If you don’t like history or science (don’t panic, no math necessary), World War II stories, daring commando raids, hair raising escapes, behind the scene politics, mysterious conversations, intellectual battles between the world's greatest scientists, between scientists and soldiers, scientists and politicians, the interpersonal relationships of the great men of this century, incomparable drama, massive death, powerful explosions, personal sacrifice and “a ripping good yarn” as they used to say, then don’t read it. If you are interested, I promise you that there will be no disappointment.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Milk-Sulphate-Starvation-Martin-Mil...
This book was given to me by my first girlfriend. She died some time later, and I've found her death hard to deal with.
A few things bring back really strong memories of her - drinking tea and eating buttery pikelets and jam, listening to Ivor Cutler or Tallulah Gosh.
This book (and his others) do that.
The new Guide to Self Sufficiency by John Seymour. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1405345101/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?i...
We used to live in the country side, and I had to chop wood for our family, our neighbours, and my aunt who lived nearby. It's almost meditative. You start with a big pile of logs, and a sharp ax, and you end with more wood on the stack. It's surprising how quickly you can burn wood, especially if you're using it to cook food and heat your home.
The reason for those is just that I can't imagine ever being bored reading them.
Maybe also Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes) for being a really creative concept (the way the story is told) and for being a wonderful example on how interesting modest sci-fi can be without resorting to "LAZERZ!!!".
Edit: Another contestant: Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Physicists. Grim yet humorful. I generally really like Dürrenmatt's dark endings.
Edit 2: And another one: Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann, specifically for how well he got me to understand Gauss' weird reactions and motives without going into his work at all. Before I've read it, I would have sworn that a book that tries to present one of the greatest mathematicians would need loads of math in it.
Worth reading for the landscape descriptions alone, McCarthy transforms the American west into a hellscape of inhuman violence, savagery, and evil; and yet, it's a beautiful descent into madness.
His character of the Judge is as captivating as he is horrifying. Some choice quotes from him:
> "Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent."
> "War is the ultimate game because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god."
> "Moral law is an invention of mankind for the disenfranchisement of the powerful in favor of the weak. Historical law subverts it at every turn. A moral view can never be proven right or wrong by any ultimate test. A man falling dead in a duel is not thought thereby to be proven in error as to his views. His very involvement in such a trial gives evidence of a new and broader view."
> "The freedom of birds is an insult to me. I'd have them all in zoos."
> "All progressions from a higher to a lower order are marked by ruins and mystery and a residue of nameless rage."
The Dark Tower => a massive epic that starts out western and goes multiverse SciFi and links together many of kings works. I felt like i was on a grand quest
Various short story collections from Gaiman & Stephen King => most are like twilight zone episodes (short little mind benders I can digest in one sitting)
Ted Chiang's short stories=> each one of these was amazing...particularly the one that inspired Arrival movie and the one with the guy that gets super intelligence.
The Dresden files => this won't win any awards from literary critics, but is one of my favorite series that just keeps on getting better and more captivating. There are so many complex characters. They don't exist in isolation either, but interact. There are so many main and sub plots. Themes about good & evil, how many things are gray, love, redemption, faith, corruption , perseverance, tactics & strategy...it's all there. It's very unpredictable plot wise. So many books just blow me away.
The Glass Beads Game by Herman Hess.
Several books by Steinbeck - Travels with Charley, Log from the Sea of Cortez.
The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo. A recent penguin translation is superb. Among the saddest and most memorable love stories.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles
It's a wonderfully easy read about the early days of the Internet and hacking.
Catch-22 East of Eden Remains of the Day Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman
These threads where people suggest multiple books are good to run through. If you see one in a comment that someone else liked, probably try to read the others they listed.
* Johnny Got His Gun, by Dalton Trumbo. Powerful anti-war story.
* Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts. Shaped my views on hard work and travel.
* 1984, by George Orwell. Brilliant and terrifying.
* The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle. Overcoming mental pain through consciousness.
* Planetwalker, by John Francis. Inspired me to walk and put myself into things more.
* Pure enjoyment: Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson), Ready Player One (Ernest Cline), Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons), Red Rising trilogy (Pierce Brown).
Flight of the buffalo: An excellent book about leadership.
Moneyball: I'm not into novels, so this might be the closest thing to it. It's a fantastic book about thinking creatively and working with what you have. It's about baseball, but even if you don't like it, it's quite entertaining and insightful.
There are a couple of books that had a big impact on me whose titles I long ago forgot. Periodically searching has not uncovered them.
One was a history of the deep south. Another was a book about about raising money for non profits.
I grew up in the deep south. Reading a history of it helped me understand my life and my country better. The second book had some pithy passages. One of my takeaways was "Don't say no for them." In other words, don't fail to ask because you assume the answer is no.
There were some other pithy, wise bits in the book that boil down to "If you really care about this project and the people it impacts, you need to get over being a thin skinned crybaby and keep at it in spite of repeatedly dealing with rejection, etc." I think the story was repeatedly told that someone would come to her all upset about something and she would say something like "I will put on my best therapist hat and tell you to get over it."
It was a surprising attitude to run into. The author was very practical. She also talked about the fact that she kept doing what she did because when things went well, there was no better feeling. I have done a lot of volunteer work in my life and there is a whole lot of touchy feely stuff that goes along with such work. This book was a breath of fresh air.
Written by a collective of Italian anarchists, bizarrely, and named after a former AC Milan and England footballer. You couldn't make it up. Fabulous.
I'm interested to know the motivation behind this question. Two of my favorite books of all time: "Notes From Underground", "A House For Mr. Biswas". They are very specific to me, an immigrant coming to the US at a young age. I doubt they have universal appeal.
On the other hand, "Evicted" is a book I think everyone should read. It gives great examples of how hard it can be to climb out of poverty. I think we all see "poverty" talked about as generic label, and it can be really hard to find good specific examples to discuss -- "Evicted" has tons of them.
Ghost In The Wires by Kevin Mitnick is a very interesting book that i recommend too.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/series/43493-the-malazan-book-of-t...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Malazan_Book_of_the_Fa...
She writes in a beautiful language, writes gripping stories, sometimes includes erotic scenes which don't appear cheap, and the characters are well thought out. There's often some politics going on in the foreground or background, sometimes quite intricate.
Checkout the Kushiel series for classical fantasy, or "Santa Olivia" for young adult urban fantasy.
Other fantasy authors I'e read recently and enjoyed: Patrick Rothfuss, Peter v. Brett, Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks.
Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. Franklin led one of the most interesting lives in human history, and this book is a window into his mind. There's a lot of great advice sprinkled in with subtle, timely humor. Another book I return to often.
Iván Repila - "The Boy Who Stole Attila’s Horse": short intense novel about 2 boys who are trapped in a well
Margaret Atwood - "The handmaid's tale"
Khaled Hosseini - "The kite runner"
Agatha Christie - "The murder of Roger Ackroyd" (very surprising plot)
Andy Weir - "The Martian"
Charles Dickens - "David Copperfield"
Clare Mackintosh - "I let you go"
Carlos Ruiz Zafón - "The Shadow of the Wind"
M.R. Carey - "The girl with all the gifts"
Kind of the ethical codex for samurai warriors. Little stories about what to do and not to do which you can translate to a modern daily life.
Non Fiction - A Time of Gifts/Between the Woods and the Water/The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor. Recounting a trip from Holland to Constantinople by foot in the 1930's when he was a teenager. A trilogy of books written when he was in his 60's and 70's. An erudite raconteur.
* A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy: Taught me much about myself and reinforced a healthy pattern of practicing will power.
* The End of Your World: After discovering spirituality and meditation I had lingering questions. This is a frank book on the trappings of the spiritual journey. The break-down of abiding vs. un-abiding enlightenment helped me navigate through fascinating times.
This review claims it's the best book of 2017 and sums it well: https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R24LMIB16JWMLC?ref_=glimp_1...
Why?
All are so much fun to read over and over again.
It blew my mind from beginning to end. Loved every shred of concept and potential.
Glasshouse is close 2nd
Demon Haunted World is a solid 3rd
Humorous, comprehensive, and, sadly, still as needed today as it was 20 years ago.
{Geography of Nowhere, Streets are for People, Great Good Places}
They really opened my mind to understanding structure and place
I don't agree with everything in it, but it is one of those books that really makes you rethink your life when read at the right time.
Then have a look at the Tensorflow logo. :)
Helps me live in the present and not stress about the future.
Deep examination of the human meta-mind.
Franny and Zooey
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs for showing that you can think rigorously and compose beautiful programs out of simple pieces.
Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard Rorty for showing that it's possible to think and feel about politics while maintaining a profoundly ironic and groundless mind.
The Body in Pain by Elaine Scarry for its beautiful view of civilization as materialized caring and of the inflicting of pain as metaphysically destructive.
Being-in-the-world by Dreyfus for introducing me to Heidegger and showing how continental philosophy inspired by Heidegger was a major force in the evolution of AI and how AI researchers tended to be influenced by rationalist philosophy in the vein of Descartes which leads to huge misunderstandings of the nature of being.
Dhammapada translated by Gil Fronsdal because it's a beautiful exposition of early Buddhist poetry and clearly shows the worldview of south east Asian Buddhism.
Debt by David Graeber for making me interested in money and credit systems from an anthropological point of view.
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace for being hilarious and sad and buzzing with neurotic perceptive overeducated thought in a way that mirrored my own precocious self-consciousness and made me feel less "marooned in my own skull."
The Uses of Disorder by Richard Sennett for giving a defense of the anarchy of urban life that views conflict as necessary for growth.
After Virtue by Alisdair MacIntyre for showing the contemporary situation in thought and ethics as profoundly abnormal and difficult, being the aftermath of the Enlightenment project's failure to ground morality in objective reason, and pointing to virtue within traditions as the only way to live coherently.
The Teachings of Huang-bo for being a merciless and hilarious attack on sanctimonious and ritualistic Buddhism, displaying the role of sarcasm and wit in spirituality, and generally just shouting "wake up, lazy pretentious idiot" on every page.
Fanged Noumena by Nick Land for diving deeply into amphetaminic insanity thus accurately mirroring the schizophrenia of postmodern capitalism.
The letters of Van Gogh.
Phillip Lopate's personal essays.
Hyperobjects by Timothy Morton.
On the Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes.
Scifi: The Three Body problem (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-...) for its whole encompassing narrative about human future and some of it will be real (fusion instead of chemical fuel, pulse propulsion and other social consequences)
Ardor: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20931250-ardor if you ever wanted to understand ancient indian philosophy. Heavy read, not recommended for fun but more as quest
FoxTales: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/412167.Foxtales about how software was developed in the midwest free of all the fashion/hipsterism currently in vogue and building a community of users for your software
The elements of networking style: If you ever wanted to know the politics of how networking RFCs are made: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2298785.The_Elements_of_... and design choices made to build modern day internet
Unwritten Laws of Engineering: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13122143-unwritten-laws-... is an old and timeless way detailing what it means to engineer
High Performance Browser Networking: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17985198-high-performanc... if you ever wanted to know what happens inside a browser
The Computer and the Brain: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/358880.The_Computer_and_... where the master compares the machine with our brain
The Grammatical Man: If you ever wanted to know the importance of structure and constraint in everything: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722028.Grammatical_Man
Enders Shadow Series by Orson Scott Card - I loved the majority of the Ender's Game series was disappointed when it was over. Throughout those books, Bean was always my favorite character and it was a great day when I discovered the Ender's Shadow series which chronicles Bean's life over several books. The thing I loved most about Bean were his powers of analysis and he taught me to think more about scenario outcomes and think about multiple ways of achieving my goals.
Dune - A pattern is emerging here. I love the books where the hero CHOOSES to ascend and works to get there. Paul Atredies starts out a boy against harsh conditions and rises to the challenge.
The Stand by Stephen King - I read this book when I was 14 or 15 on summer break in a week. I fell in from the start and read for entire days until it was done and when it was over I was in awe at the size (1000+ pages) and scope of what King accomplished.
The Alpha Strategy by John Pugsley - Its an interesting book and look at economics and wealth preservation in layman's terms. Its funny because this book was written in the 80s and when I read it, it was immediately applicable. I grew up in a pretty liberal household and this book made me start to pay attention to what liberals and conservatives were saying and form my own opinions.
Atlas Shrugged - I read this right after the book above and the two in combination really caused a mindeset shift for me. It wasn't so much that everyone is out to get me or against me, but more I am responsible for my outcomes and I need to invest in myself.
E-Myth Revisited By Michael Gerber - Piqued my interest in systems and where I started to learn the value of systems and making success repeatable.
Working the System By Sam Carpenter - More of the "how-to" book E-Myth Revisited should have been.
Daemon Series - This one has been mentioned and while it didn't have the impact on my that the other books did, I did enjoy the world the author created.
Thieves Emporium by Max Hernandez - This was a quick read and appealed to my love of technical fiction. Similar to Daemon, its use of technology in the story is interesting and not that far off from the real world at this point. [WARNING: GRAPHIC SCENES]
I was unambitious and coasted through life until after college, and it wasn't until I was in my late 20s that I started really reading books like these. Over the past few years, I've become almost a completely different person. I read a tremendous amount and can say its had a huge impact on my "mental models" and how I approach life.
Books I'm interested in reading next include: - Meditations - Works on mental models - Elon Musk biography (the amount he's able to accomplish quickly is staggering)
I don't read as much fiction as I used to, instead choosing to focus on technical books, but fiction has definitely had an impact on my development as well.