"Honorable mention: The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke. This book, about our aging electrical grid, fits in one of my favorite genres: “Books About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating.” "
The author of this book was on NPR/Fresh Air in August. It was a great listen/read if you are interested in the subject.
I heard it a couple of days after a weather related power cut and ended up in the rabbit hole of the risk from cyber warfare/terrorism and solar flares. I'm not sure I would recommend that rabbit hole if you have any concerns about the reliance of society on technology and just in time shipping!
> I find this topic fascinating is because my first job, in high school, was writing software for the entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest
I wonder if somewhere in bowels of a northwest utility company there is a machine silently chugging away, running code written by a teenage Bill Gates, helping deliver electricity to the masses.
Whoever isn't fascinated by the modern power grid is slightly dead inside. The same applies to a ton of other "mundane" things, like road and rail networks, sewage systems, garbage disposal and recycling, and so on.
Here's one that may fit into your list of must read books.
Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger. This book is about the ingredients that go into a Twinkie and how they are created. Super informative on the ingredients of everyday foods.
Does anybody know a better book about the subject (covering the history of the development of the grid, but also being technically correct)?
According to the Amazon customers, the mentioned book was written by a non-technical person (actually, I've checked, a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology) and was apparently also without the careful editor. Alternatively, if somebody has read this book, maybe he can say that it's not that bad? I wouldn't like to buy it just to discover it's written like this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13103538
I really like the way he limits his list to 4 books. Most other thought leaders/influencers/CEOs do lists of 10, 20 "hot topic" books that you know they probably haven't read. I find the volume also diminishes the individual importance of each book on the list.
I'll have to pick up String Theory (I love that Bill Gates reads DFW) and The Grid per his recommendations.
A humorous observation: Ever look at an HTML page created by Microsoft Word? Quite a bit of code goes into what should have been a simple HTML document.
Now try viewing source of Mr. Gates' web page here: 6873 lines, the HTML <p> content starts at 5816 and goes for 9 lines to describe the 4 books plus the bonus, for a whopping total of 9 lines of content, 6864 lines of behavior and presentation... Wow.
I thought Shoe Dog was a great book, although my favorite book of the year was a Gates Notes recommendation for summer reading-- The Vital Question, by Nick Lane. If you're interested in biology and the origins of life, it makes some provocative claims, and backs them up. If this doesn't change how you think about life on earth (and elsewhere), I don't know what will...
I will put The Vital Question on my "to read" list. On a similar topic, I've just picked up Sapiens, which was also on Gates' 2016 Summer reading list. A few people in my circles had been talking about it so I decided to pick it up, before even noticing Gates had recommended it.
Econtalk. Russ Roberts is a fantastic interviewer, with only a few weak performances in his decade of weekly podcasts.
He probably skews a bit libertarian for the typical HN'er to agree with, but he gives voice to a lot of points of view, and he brings on good guests. At least half of the podcasts have sufficiently interesting titles that they could be easily voted to HN front page, and the depth of discussion is good for the hour each guests receives.
I had a second podcast occur to me, thought it stays on a narrower track. There's a five year old podcast called Strong Towns done by a guy who runs a non profit by the same name. The recent stuff isn't so good, but if you go back to the beginning and listen to stuff from 4-6 years ago, you get to listen to this pretty smart civil engineer/planner have his epiphany of why infrastructure is so screwed up in most towns in the US. He deconstructs the problems with our car dependency and living patterns primarily from the angle of how it's bankrupting towns and cities. I listened to it over the summer when I was doing a cross country road trip, which turned out to be a great backdrop for it.
Shoe Dog might have been my favorite read of the year, its a very inspiring and highly entertaining story. Regardless of what you think of Nike you can learn a lot about determination and grit from this book. I would recommend it to anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Awesome to see DFW on HN. Infinite Jest's tennis scenes helped shape the way I view the world. There's one particularly great one where a father is giving some life lessons to his son via tennis. And it is excellent Here's a link to (most of) the scene:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Nhe2yvx6hP8C&pg=PT200&lpg=...
I can confirm Shoe Dog is an incredible book. Bill's summation is right - a how-to on building a company this is not, but it's still very much worth reading.
- Endurance: The story about an expedition to Antartica... gone wrong (http://amzn.to/2g26L5i)
- Crucial conversations: Learn how to argue with people without starting fights. Allowed me to look at the situation more objectively (http://amzn.to/2h8w4yN)
- Relentless: the personal coach of Michael Jordan talks about how you can become a cleaner. Great if you want to understand how great athletes think (http://amzn.to/2gJCerW)
Huge recommendation for Endurance. I could hardly put that book down. It was a shame that the author died before it became popular finally. A cruel twist of fate due to when the book was released.
While these all do look like excellent books, none of them really seem to be of particular interest to me.
Except maybe "The Grid". Technical infrastructure is always fascinating and awe-inspiring.
...Which brings me to one of the two books that I reccomend on HN every time the subject comes up, because they're just that good.
Exploding the Phone, a fascinating dive into the world of phone phreaking that really needs more attention. It not only discusses the people and culture of the phreaking scene, but also the technology that drew them to the phone. It really manages to capture a bit of the magic that entranced people of the time: If you're not a little bit in awe of the A4 crossbar switch by the end of it... You should be.
I agree. I've been impressed by his selection in previous years. This year seems drab with the exception of The Grid. Also, doesn't he read fiction? My fav book of the year was Ready Player One :)
Shoe Dog is absolutely incredible. When you hear the back stories about the name Nike, the swoosh, Phil's original business plan... Fascinating.
I do recommend that people are generally careful with blindly taking everything as a straight truth, especially when an author seems "trustworthy". It is a known tactic to sneak in lies or exaggerations among the truths.
I wonder, did he read this much when he was founding Microsoft? I ask because, as someone who would love to read, I feel like I never have the time. And strangely, I feel morally guilty for prioritizing other things like career growth etc.
Not saying this is true but what if Gates's favorite books are the only books he may have read in 2016. It would be nice to see a full run down of his list including the ones he did not like.
It would be great if a similar list be curated from HN, if not every month, every quarter. The community here has a much diverse interests and we get to glimpse into different genres.
So many book recommendations. Really suggest people to create the list of books they read in 2016 over at http://shelfjoy.com so that others can bookmark them and this thread is kept alive.
can you elaborate on your first point? i've read fringe theories relating modern healthcare philanthropy with a sublimated form of eugenics, but they've all struck me as somewhat polarized and devoid of evidence
Seriously? You're going to have to cite sources on this. His foundation's progress on Malaria alone has saved countless lives around the world. However he earned it, the fortune he amassed is being spent helping those who need it most... in 100 years, he will probably be remembered as one of the greatest philanthropists of all time.
[+] [-] knz|9 years ago|reply
The author of this book was on NPR/Fresh Air in August. It was a great listen/read if you are interested in the subject.
http://www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/aging-and-unstable-t...
I heard it a couple of days after a weather related power cut and ended up in the rabbit hole of the risk from cyber warfare/terrorism and solar flares. I'm not sure I would recommend that rabbit hole if you have any concerns about the reliance of society on technology and just in time shipping!
[+] [-] imron|9 years ago|reply
> I find this topic fascinating is because my first job, in high school, was writing software for the entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest
I wonder if somewhere in bowels of a northwest utility company there is a machine silently chugging away, running code written by a teenage Bill Gates, helping deliver electricity to the masses.
[+] [-] Cyph0n|9 years ago|reply
Whoever isn't fascinated by the modern power grid is slightly dead inside. The same applies to a ton of other "mundane" things, like road and rail networks, sewage systems, garbage disposal and recycling, and so on.
I think a better term would be "rarely noticed".
[+] [-] WheelsAtLarge|9 years ago|reply
Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger. This book is about the ingredients that go into a Twinkie and how they are created. Super informative on the ingredients of everyday foods.
[+] [-] acqq|9 years ago|reply
According to the Amazon customers, the mentioned book was written by a non-technical person (actually, I've checked, a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology) and was apparently also without the careful editor. Alternatively, if somebody has read this book, maybe he can say that it's not that bad? I wouldn't like to buy it just to discover it's written like this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13103538
[+] [-] andrewtbham|9 years ago|reply
I strongly suspect the grid will be severely diminished by distributed renewable energy.
[+] [-] roymurdock|9 years ago|reply
I'll have to pick up String Theory (I love that Bill Gates reads DFW) and The Grid per his recommendations.
[+] [-] raintrees|9 years ago|reply
Now try viewing source of Mr. Gates' web page here: 6873 lines, the HTML <p> content starts at 5816 and goes for 9 lines to describe the 4 books plus the bonus, for a whopping total of 9 lines of content, 6864 lines of behavior and presentation... Wow.
[+] [-] reubenswartz|9 years ago|reply
https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Summer-Books-201...
https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Question-Evolution-Origins-Comp...
[+] [-] aorth|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bduerst|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] samsolomon|9 years ago|reply
http://99percentinvisible.org/episodes/
[+] [-] tbihl|9 years ago|reply
He probably skews a bit libertarian for the typical HN'er to agree with, but he gives voice to a lot of points of view, and he brings on good guests. At least half of the podcasts have sufficiently interesting titles that they could be easily voted to HN front page, and the depth of discussion is good for the hour each guests receives.
[+] [-] tbihl|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sheltron|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cujo|9 years ago|reply
"Lots of things in the world seem ordinary. But when you dig deeper, it turns out, they’re fascinating. Surprisingly Awesome tells those stories."
https://gimletmedia.com/show/surprisingly-awesome
[+] [-] donum|9 years ago|reply
It's german though.
[+] [-] Kazooie|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Rebelgecko|9 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] kirk211|9 years ago|reply
- Endurance: The story about an expedition to Antartica... gone wrong (http://amzn.to/2g26L5i)
- Crucial conversations: Learn how to argue with people without starting fights. Allowed me to look at the situation more objectively (http://amzn.to/2h8w4yN)
- Making of the atomic bomb (http://amzn.to/2gJF6VU)
- Relentless: the personal coach of Michael Jordan talks about how you can become a cleaner. Great if you want to understand how great athletes think (http://amzn.to/2gJCerW)
- Make: rockets. Some cool stuff to do with the kids (http://amzn.to/2gZyQaQ)
- How to make a spaceship: The history of the Ansari XPRIZE. Interesting read about how hard it was to build this spaceship. (http://amzn.to/2h8xMzY)
[+] [-] throwaway729|9 years ago|reply
Model rockets are great for kids. I wish there were an equivalently accessible set of programmable RC plane projects.
[+] [-] SystemOut|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qwertyuiop924|9 years ago|reply
Except maybe "The Grid". Technical infrastructure is always fascinating and awe-inspiring.
...Which brings me to one of the two books that I reccomend on HN every time the subject comes up, because they're just that good.
Exploding the Phone, a fascinating dive into the world of phone phreaking that really needs more attention. It not only discusses the people and culture of the phreaking scene, but also the technology that drew them to the phone. It really manages to capture a bit of the magic that entranced people of the time: If you're not a little bit in awe of the A4 crossbar switch by the end of it... You should be.
[+] [-] trapperkeeper79|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _nkl1|9 years ago|reply
I do recommend that people are generally careful with blindly taking everything as a straight truth, especially when an author seems "trustworthy". It is a known tactic to sneak in lies or exaggerations among the truths.
[+] [-] billconan|9 years ago|reply
Did he read this many books before retirement?
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That's how I interpret complaints by adblock users.
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