The Tao of Pooh
I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski
A Brief History of Time
[quote]Antares wrote:
Marx is good stuff. You should read Engels ‘The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State’.
[/quote]
Yeah I’ve spotted the The Origin of Family but it’s one of those I’ve put on my reading list. I only ever read on my daily commute which isn’t that long when you subtract napping time.
The Tao of Pooh
I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski
A Brief History of Time
Could you guys post a brief description of these titles when you list? Even 1 sentence would be great.
[quote]i work out wrote:
Could you guys post a brief description of these titles when you list? Even 1 sentence would be great. [/quote]
God damn. If you can’t do a quick search on the net, (you have access to the internet right?), figuring out why Gene Wolfe titled the stories what he did could kill you.
“Lone Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell was one of the best books I’ve read in a long while.
Also recommend “Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife.”
Programming Massively Parallel Processors: A Hands-On Approach
by David B. Kirk and Wen-mei W Hwu
I am writing my thesis on the use of Graphics Processing Units and implementation of computer security and anti-security. Sorry if it sounds boring to others.
[quote]Alpha wrote:
So I’m looking for some new books to buy…
I know this has been done to death, but what books have you read RECENTLY that you think no one should go their lives without reading?
Thanks[/quote]
Freedom from the Known by J. Krishnamurti (110 pages, so read it, pussy)
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, by Ori & Rom Brafman
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
Starfish and the Spider, by Ori Brafman
Happier, by Tal Ben Shahar
In the Pursuit of Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins
All of these are non-fiction with the exception of the first; it’s more philosophical but I’ve recommended it to 9 people and all have read it then recommended it to someone else. I read it once a year to keep my mind fresh. I want you to read it and then report back.
The last book is more historical but really fascinating. All the others are more educational in nature.
If you want books to guide you in building a business (in particular, a tech/web startup):
Free, by Chris Anderson
Founders at Work, by Jessica Livingston
Hackers and Painters, by Paul Graham
The Four Steps to the Epiphany (available as a free eBook in PDF)
Getting Real by 37Signals
To stimulate your mind on a daily basis, checkout videos on TED.com
Confessions of an economic hitman - thats a good one
wild at heart
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
2nd for “the things they carried”.
You Shall KNow Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers. He’s the finest living writer.
Two books I think everyone should read are The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer and Death in The Afternoon by Hemingway. I re-read each one every few years. The White Spider is a history of the attempts to climb the north face of the Eiger. In the 1930s the north face was one of the great unclimbed faces in the alps and everyone thought it was suicidal to try and climb it. Harrer was part of the first party to climb the route after almost everyone who had tried before had died. Its a fantastic story and he has a very matter-of-fact way of describing how and why people approach dangerous and difficult tasks.
Death in the Afternoon is a book about bullfighting, but it’s really an excuse for Hemingway to get drunk and ramble on about being tough and facing death.
Both books are extremely high quality motivational material.
AJ Jacobs’ books, “A year of living biblically” and “The Know it All,” are good, humorous reads.
“The Wisdom of Crowds” by James Surowiecki is about situations in which crowds can make incredibly accurate and valuable decisions. A bit dry, but relatively cool material.
If you’re into art (classical music), “The Rest is Noise” by Alex Ross is a pretty good overview of 20C music.
I’m currently reading “Musicophilia” by Oliver Sacks, which is, so far, great. What I’ve read thus far has been about disorders involving music. Everything from earworms to musical imagery and hallucinations to folks becoming suddenly interested in music.
I’ve spend the last while reading a ton about mass collaboration and peer production/social media. Interesting stuff, but there’s not a lot of dissenting views. “The Cult of the Amateur” by Andrew Keen is one of a few books that comes out and says, “this is why the internet is ruining our lives.” Unfortunately a lot of his points are amateurish themselves, in my opinion. He sounds like a ranting, bitter old man most of the book, and many of his points are addressed in other literature on the subject. That said, it’s still an interesting read that makes you think.
[quote]bluethunder90 wrote:
If you like fantasy I have a couple suggestion in that direction as well:
The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan,
[/quote]
I’ve enjoyed fantasy since I was in middle school, but I’m just started to read this series now. Very good.
I’d also add, if you like fantasy, the “Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R.R. Martin. “A Game of Thrones,” is the first book.
A serious thanks you to everyone who has thrown out suggestions so far!
I just spent and hour reading and buying books on amazon…I will be poor soon.
Keep them coming if you think of more.
The Prize - Daniel Yergin
The Monk and the Philosopher - Revel & Ricard
The Hero With A Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
Fire In The Belly - Sam Keen
The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
[quote]Alpha wrote:
A serious thanks you to everyone who has thrown out suggestions so far!
I just spent and hour reading and buying books on amazon…I will be poor soon.
Keep them coming if you think of more.[/quote]
Some recent books I have read…that were good
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant, Yu Hua
No-No Boy, John Okada
Graceland, Chris Abani
Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi
Shame, Salman Rushdie
Things by david McCullough
Particularly “The Great Bridge”
and
“Truman” for insight into the president that that dropped the bomb.
[quote]smithers584 wrote:
If you are into aviation, I just finished “Skunk Works”. It was first person narrative by Ben Rich, former head of Lockheed Martin’s top secret Skunk Works facility. Awesome book, explains in great detail the needs of planes such as U-2, SR-71, and F-117 and the development of stealth technology. The stories this guy tells about all the used to be classified info is just exciting.[/quote]
agreed