Hacker News Books

It is an open secret that Stieg Larsson (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) was a mediocre writer with no discipline and his girlfriend shaped most of the Millennium books.

(I wish someone could compare his and her books using some fancy AI tool to investigate this).

Stephen King's Favorite:
This Book Will Save Your Life by A. M. Homes
Saturday by Ian McEwan
The Mad Cook of Pymatuning: A Novel by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Tenderness of Wolves: A Novel by Stef Penney
When Will There Be Good News?: A Novel by Kate Atkinson

J.K. Rowling's Favorite:
The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Skellig by David Almond
The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle

Jeffrey Eugenides, author, Pulitzer prize winner
"Herzog," by Saul Bellow
"Love in a Fallen City," by Eileen Chang
"The Lay of the Land," by Richard Ford

Oprah Winfrey's Favorite:
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

For complete list visit http://www.famouspal.com

Who writes this stuff? Sure, Lisbeth Salander is a hacker, but 'quirky'? 'irreverent'? FFS If you'd read the books you'd know that she was a poor woman who'd been hideously abused. Or is that what the AP means by 'quirky'?

Also, give that this is an article about 'open source' intelligence (open source as in public), how is Salander and her ability to find things people don't know exist even relevant? This is the modern equivalent of analysts getting copies of Pravda and reading them, only with a citizen-reporting element added in.

Those with a masters' degree in library science and multiple languages, especially those who grew up speaking another language, "make a powerful open source officer," Naquin said.

Yeah, just like Salander. (And, BTW, AP it's master's degree not masters' degree---you can check in the AP Manual if you like).

* 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...

As the married father of a four year old daughter, I do get the sense of comfort that is prevalent in ladies clubs. Watching my daughter play with boys and girls, just boys and then just girls I have observed a noticeable difference in the intersections between the children. I have also noticed the differences in my wife's book club (all women) when its her turn to host. It's not that they exclude me or the other guy's we are friends with but, the books they read are not to my taste so I would not be able to contribute anything meaningful to the discussion. Although I do still need read The Girl With THe Dragon Tattoo book on their recommendation.

So reading about an women's club where they go into the basics of coding is a good thing even if most of the members never become elite programmers - they will have learned a valuable skill in a comfortable setting. That is something they can take back to work and apply now: how to talk to the programmer in a meaningful way. For my daughters generation (not just girls) I am coming to suspect that a line will be drawn between those who can make use of the technology underneath the productivity tools their generation is raised on (web/office being the most prevalent today) and learning to code in anything is a step towards being successful in any field, not just web and software.

Coders at Work by Peter Siebel and Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston - I loved reading about the founder's stories and first-hand perspectives of notable programmers.

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton - really interesting perspective on "work" and various types of careers and people that find happiness in them/work itself.

Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner - even if you don't agree with their arguments or think that the authors are all fluff, I think that their writing style is exceptionally clear and easy to understand.

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb - some really interesting ideas and analysis, although the book could have been 1/2 as short

Fiction:

Anathem by Neal Stephenson - starts out slow but after the first 200 pages it became a really great story that I couldn't put down.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel - loved the main story of the book, the controversial ending didn't bother me too much because I don't feel like it takes away from the story at all.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson - cheap fun and suspenseful

The Road by Cormac McCarthy - I don't think much needs to be said about this book

White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - extremely interesting and gripping novel about a side of the world most of us Westerners never see

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - finally read this classic. I read the "Ultimate Edition" which contains all 5 of Adams' novel, loved the first one but the story felt like it started to putter out by the third.

2. One L by Scott Turow

3. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

4. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

5. Believer: My Forty Years in Politics by David Axelrod

6. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

7. Augustus: First Emperor of Rome by Adrian Goldsworthy

8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (re-read)

9. I, Claudius by Robert Graves

10. Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

11. The Fear Index by Robert Harris

12. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (re-read)

13. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (re-read)

14. Hannibal by Thomas Harris (re-read)

15. Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (re-read)

16. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (re-read)

17. Claudius the God by Robert Graves

Re-reads take hardly any time at all, so I'm not sure whether to count them. If you're not, then 11 books read so far.

I think you misunderstand what religious people really want. Most people with "puritanical" objections to media content are just wanting it to be less explicit (i.e. left to the imagination) - not completely whitewashed from the story. After all, most religious texts themselves are rife with sex and murder; the acts themselves are usually not explicitly described in great detail, however.

"Lysanderoth's sword tore into Archibald's neck, spraying blood and chunks of windpipe across the battlefield and leaving him loudly gurgling as he slumped to the ground"

vs.

"Lysanderoth slew Archibald with the sword"

You can easily retain the story while eliminating the explicit aspect of the prose.

For example, I edited the entirety of the "A Song of Fire and Ice" series, and you may be interested to learn that eliminating every instance of explicit violence, sex, and profanity altered slightly less than 1% of the total word count of each book.

I'm not sure how critical opinion shapes my evaluation of a film. (My decision of whether to go see it on the other hand, is so shaped; I generally won't go to see movies that have been universally shat on in the criticsphere.) Maybe I would have had less fun seeing TGWTDT had it not been so acclaimed?