We have collected books that Hacker News residents recommend to their colleagues in the shop. There are no reference books or programming guides here, but there are curious publications about cryptography and theoretical computer science, about the founders of IT companies, there is also science fiction written by developers and about developers - just what you can take on vacation.
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Science and technology
Science and technology
Scientists and philosophers have tried for many years to define what "reality" is. Astrophysicist and writer Adam Becker turns to quantum mechanics in an attempt to bring clarity to this issue and challenge popular "myths about reality."
He clearly explains the basic postulates of science and the philosophical conclusions that can be drawn from them. A significant part of the book is devoted to criticism of the so-called "and consideration of its alternatives. The book will equally interest both lovers of physics and those who simply like to conduct thought experiments.
A collection of fascinating essays written by Canadian mathematician Alexander Dewdney. The articles cover the basics of theoretical computer science - from algorithms to system architecture. Each of them is built around puzzles and tasks that clearly illustrate the theme. Despite the fact that the second and, at the moment, the last edition was published back in 1993, the information in the book is still relevant. Is Jeff Atwood, founder of StackExchange. He advises it to practical programmers who need a fresh look at the theoretical side of the profession.
In the book βCryptoβ, journalist Steven Levy, who has been covering information security issues in his materials since the 80s, tried to collect information about the most important events in the development of digital encryption. He will talk about how cryptography and related standards were formed, as well as about the Cypherpunk movement.
Technical detail, political intrigue, and philosophical speculation live side by side on the pages of this book. It will interest both people who are not familiar with cryptography, and professionals who want to understand why this area has formed the way it did.
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MIT professor Max Tegmark is one of the leading experts in the theory of artificial intelligence systems. In Life 3.0, he talks about how the advent of AI will affect how our society functions and how we will define humanity.
He considers a variety of scenarios of possible development of events - from the enslavement of the human race to a utopian future under the protection of AI, and makes scientific arguments. It will not do without a philosophical component with arguments about the essence of "consciousness" as such. This book is recommended, in particular, by Barack Obama and Elon Musk.
Startups and soft skills
Startups and soft skills
Negotiations are not a trivial process. Especially if the other side has an advantage over you. Former FBI officer Chris Voss knows this firsthand, as he personally negotiated the release of hostages from the hands of criminals and terrorists.
Chris has reduced his negotiation strategy to a set of rules that can be applied to get what you want in everyday situations, from negotiating a project to getting a well-deserved promotion. Each rule is illustrated with stories from the author's professional activities. This book is recommended by several Hacker News residents, and they all note its exceptional practical usefulness in work communications.
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The name id Software - the developers of Doom and Quake - is known to many. What can not be said about the history of this amazing company. Masters Of Doom tells the story of the rise of the project and its unusual founders - the quiet introvert Carmack and the impulsive extrovert Romero.
It was written by the skillful hand of David Kushner, editor of Rolling Stone magazine and winner of prestigious journalism awards. You will learn why the approach of Carmack, Romero and their colleagues to game development turned out to be so successful, and why Doom and Quake themselves have remained "buzz" for many years. We will also talk about the difficult decisions made during the development of the company, and the management approach that allowed id Software to achieve such success.
This is a collection of interviews with successful IT entrepreneurs. Among them are well-known personalities - Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Bill Gates, as well as less popular "giants" from the enterprise space - Silicon Graphics CEO Edward McCracken and DEC founder Ken Olsen (Ken Olsen). In total, the book contains 16 interviews about doing business in IT and future technologies, as well as short biographies of the people from whom these interviews were taken. It is worth noting that the book was published in 1997, when Jobs had just returned to the post of CEO of Apple, so the interview with him is especially interesting - already from a historical point of view.
Fiction
Fiction
In addition to The Wasp Factory and other postmodern novels, acclaimed Scottish writer Ian M. Banks also worked in the science fiction genre. His series of books, dedicated to the utopian society "Culture", has acquired a large community of fans, including, for example, Elon Musk and many residents of Hacker News.
The first book in the series, Think of Phleb, tells of the war between the Culture and the Idiran Empire. And also about the fundamental differences between the social-anarchist, hedonistic life in symbiosis with artificial intelligence, on the one hand, and the religious worldview of the opponents of such a life, on the other. By the way, last year Amazon for a film adaptation of the novel for his streaming service.
Italian chemist and writer Primo Levi's collection of 21 short stories, each named after a specific chemical element. They deal with the scientific activity of the author against the backdrop of the events of the Second World War. You will read about the beginning of his career as a chemist, the life of the Sephardic community in France, the author's imprisonment in Auschwitz, and the unusual experiments he performed in freedom. In 2006 the Royal Institution of Great Britain The Periodic Table is the best science book in history.
Speculative fiction by prominent American neuroscientist David Eagleman, now a professor at Stanford. David has dedicated his life to the study of neuroplasticity, time perception and other aspects of neuroscience. In this book, he offers 40 hypotheses about what happens to our consciousness when we die. The author considers various metaphysical systems and their potential impact on our death. The book contains both dark humor and serious questions, and the material is based on the knowledge that Eagleman has acquired in the course of his professional life. Among book lovers is the founder of Stripe and other figures from the IT world.
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β¨Another sci-fi novel, this time about the potential consequences of reaching the Singularity. David Ryan, the protagonist of the book, is engaged in a fairly simple task - he writes a program to optimize email correspondence within the company. When management questions the existence of the project, David integrates an artificial intelligence system into it to convince them. Additional resources are allocated to the project - human and computer, and, unnoticed by everyone, a simple letter-writing program begins to manipulate its own programmers. work many prominent Silicon Valley names. The author of the book, William Hertling, is a programmer and one of the founders of Tripwire, a cybersecurity solutions company. According to him, the events described in the book are becoming more and more likely every year.
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Source: habr.com