Top Hacker News Book Recommendations in Science & Math (all time)

All Time Past 6 Months

Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist

Diana Walstad

4.7 on Amazon

4 HN comments

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

Malcolm Gladwell and Hachette Audio

4.5 on Amazon

4 HN comments

Reinventing Your Life: The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior and Feel Great Again

Jeffrey E. Young , Janet S. Klosko , et al.

4.6 on Amazon

4 HN comments

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

Merlin Sheldrake

4.8 on Amazon

4 HN comments

The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth About Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations

Robert Livingston

4.7 on Amazon

4 HN comments

The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It

Kelly McGonigal

4.6 on Amazon

4 HN comments

Python Data Science Handbook: Essential Tools for Working with Data

Jake VanderPlas

4.6 on Amazon

4 HN comments

The House of the Scorpion

Nancy Farmer

4.6 on Amazon

4 HN comments

Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America

Annie Jacobsen and Hachette Audio

4.7 on Amazon

4 HN comments

Proofs: A Long-Form Mathematics Textbook (The Long-Form Math Textbook Series)

Jay Cummings

4.7 on Amazon

4 HN comments

UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record

Leslie Kean and John Podesta

4.5 on Amazon

3 HN comments

False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet

Bjorn Lomborg

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

How To Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Great Beer Every Time

John J. Palmer

4.8 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Thinking Mathematically: Integrating Arithmetic & Algebra in Elementary School

Thomas P Carpenter , Megan Loef Franke, et al.

4.7 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Data Science for Business: What You Need to Know about Data Mining and Data-Analytic Thinking

Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett

4.4 on Amazon

3 HN comments

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mratzloffonJan 20, 2015

If you are genuinely curious about officially documented reports about UFOs (not aliens), then I highly recommend reading "UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record" by Leslie Kean.

http://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Generals-Pilots-Government-Offici...

In a field where many of the books are written by either true believers or debunkers, this is a fresh take on the phenomena, carefully researched and conservatively written by an investigative journalist.

gfodoronJuly 17, 2012

Since when are ad-hom's acceptable responses on HN? I never said I was sure such things were true, but like most true hackers, I'm curious and want to know more when things seem like they don't make sense. You're not very well read if you think UFOs are an open and shut case for all people who don't "need to see a psychologist."

gmisraonDec 19, 2017

For those interested in other "legitimate" UFO sightings, I'd recommend "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record" by Leslie Kean [1]. The author is an investigative journalist who sets out to interview observers of relatively well-documented UFO encounters, and ends up speaking mostly with military pilots from around the world. It's a good read, and is even-handed and well written, especially considering the genre.

In the book, two things stood out to me. First, there are a quite a few UFO sightings that are corroborated by non-human sensor data (mostly radar and video). Second, the narrative paints a picture where US government officials are much more secretive than any other nation, by far. Within that context, the releases of the last few weeks are even more surprising.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in a modern, not-too-X-files-like take on UFO phenomena.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8287034-ufos

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