Hacker News Books

"The Multicultural Mystique," by H.E. Baber

"Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World," by Jack Weatherford

Both interesting, although in that "factual book designed for mass market consumption" bread-y kind of way.

A great book on the subject is "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World"[0], a revisionist history which emphasizes the institutions and liberalism of Genghis and Kublai Khan's reigns while not soft-pedaling the violence that made it possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan_and_the_Making_of_...

For an interesting historical perspective of the interaction, check "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khan-Making-Modern-World/dp/06...

Jack Weatherford, author of the controversial Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, wrote that "...more conservative scholars place the number of dead from Genghis Khan's invasion of central Asia at 15 million within five years." But he strongly disagrees with that estimate. https://books.google.it/books?id=A8Y9B5uHQcAC&pg=PA118&lpg=P...

As a Mongolian I highly recommend "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World". It remains strictly factual without adding neither positive nor negative biases to the stories.

Amazon link to Book
https://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khan-Making-Modern-World/dp/B...

AudioBook version that I enjoyed
https://www.audible.com/pd/Bios-Memoirs/Genghis-Khan-and-the...

Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson
A mathematician's apology by G.H Hardy
My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts
Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen
Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Thanks.

Pretty much all books gives you something or the other to learn. I started writing about the books I read, each year, since 2018. For this year, here are few, in no particular order that I feel happy and fulfilled reading them. I will be digging deeper and doing a retrospective, and write a blog post by early 2021.

- Cant't hurt me by David Goggins.

- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.

- Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. (Re-read)

- Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. A very un-assuming book that taught me lot about leadership.

- How to influence and win friends (re-read 3rd or 4th time).

- Humble Inquiry by Edgar Schein.

- I am Malala (daughter like it and so I read it)

- Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Issacson. (I'm taking this real slow, still reading after 6+ months.)

- Range (the one mentioned by Bill Gates)

- The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.

- The Future is Asian by Parag Khanna.

- Turn the Ship Around.

- Under Pressure by Lisa Damour (I have a daughter, turning teenager in another year.)

- Venture Deals (still valid in today's fund raising scenes)

- Why we Sleep by Matthew Walker. Still reading but learning a lot already.

> Civilized society? Not at all. Just organized tribal warfare.

The story may be a bit more nuanced that that:

From a review of "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World"

(http://www.diplomacy.edu/resources/books/reviews/genghis-kha...):

"Arguably, however, Genghis Khan and the Mongols were the dominant force that shaped Eurasia and consequently the modern world. Not for what they destroyed – though they wrought much destruction all over the continent – but for what they built. They came close to uniting Eurasia into a world empire, and in so doing they spread throughout it technologies like paper, gunpowder, paper money, or the compass – and trousers. They revolutionised warfare. More lastingly, in the word's of the author: ' ...they also created the nucleus of a universal culture and world system. (...) With the emphasis on free commerce, open communication, shared knowledge, secular politics, religious coexistence, international law, and diplomatic immunity.' ".

http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khan-Making-Modern-World/dp/06...

I think it also happens in subtle ways with changing knowledge. I recently got done with "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford. Looking at the Mongol entries in Wikipedia, I wonder how much is sourced from European sources using Mongols as a political statement against their own rulers and how much is taken from documents that came available in the last 15 years.