Weekend Reading: Easy Reading for Techies

In summer we published a selection of books, in which there were no reference books or manuals on algorithms. It consisted of literature to read in your free time - to broaden your horizons. As a continuation, we have selected science fiction, books about the technological future of mankind and other publications written by specialists for specialists.

Weekend Reading: Easy Reading for Techies
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Science and technology

"Quantum computing since Democritus"

The book tells how the deep ideas of mathematics, computer science and physics developed. It was written by a specialist in the theory of computers and systems Scott Aaronson (Scott Aaronson). He works as a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas (by the way, some of the author's lectures have been published on his blog). Scott begins his excursion from the time of Ancient Greece - from the works of Democritus, who spoke of the "atom" as an indivisible particle of matter that has true being. He then smoothly transitions the narrative to the development of set theory and computational complexity, as well as quantum computers and cryptography.

The book also touches on topics such as time travel and Newcomb's paradox. Therefore, it can be useful and interesting not only for physics lovers, but also for those who are fond of thought experiments and entertaining puzzles.

Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything

This is the best science book of 2017 according to the Wall Street Journal and Popular Science. Kelly Weinersmith, host of a podcast about science and related things "Science…sort of”, talks about technologies that will become part of our lives in the foreseeable future.

These are 3D food printers, autonomous robots and microchips embedded in the human body. Kelly's narrative is built around meetings with scientists and engineers. With a touch of humor, she explains why these projects are needed and what hinders their development.

Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto

On July 14, 2015, a significant event took place. Interplanetary station New Horizons successfully reached Pluto and made Some photos in high resolution. However, not everyone knows that the mission hung in the balance many times, and its success is almost a miracle. This book is the story of the flight of New Horizons, told and written by the participants in the events. NASA Science Program Manager Alan Stern and astrobiologist David Greenspoon describe the challenges engineers face in designing, building, and launching spacecraft — a job without error.

Soft skills and brain function

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World

Approximately 90% of people on the planet are sure that the situation in the world is only getting worse. They are wrong. Statistician Hans Rosling argues in his book that over the past 20 years people have improved their lives. The reason why the perception of the layman differs from the real state of affairs, Rosling sees in the inability to handle information and facts. In 2018, Bill Gates put Factfulness on his personal must-read list and even prepared a short summary of the book. in video format.

Moonshot: What Landing a Man on the Moon Teaches Us About Collaboration

Professor Richard Wiseman, Fellow Committee of Skeptical Inquiry, discusses the components of successful teamwork based on interviews with mission control staff who launched Apollo 11. In the book you can find not only reflections on “how to”, but also learn some details of the space mission.

The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter

This is the autobiography of the American theoretical physicist Paul Steinhardt. He describes the results of his 35-year hunt for quasicrystals. These are solids that consist of atoms that do not form a crystal lattice. Paul and his colleagues traveled the world trying to prove that such materials can be found in nature, and not just synthesized. The climax of the story comes on the Kamchatka Peninsula, where scientists still manage to find pieces of a meteorite with quasi-crystals. This year the book was nominated for the British Royal Society for his contribution to the development of popular science literature.

Weekend Reading: Easy Reading for Techies
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How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems

Any problem can be solved right or wrong. Randall Munroe is a NASA engineer and comic book series artist. xckd and books"What if?says there is a third way. It implies an incredibly complex and irrational approach that no one will ever use. Munro gives examples of just such approaches - for a variety of cases: from digging a hole to landing an airplane. But the author seeks not just to entertain the reader, with the help of hyperbole, he shows how popular technologies work.

Fiction

The Fifth Science

Speculative fiction from exurb1a - the founder of the educational YouTube channel with 1,5 million subscribers. The book is a collection of 12 stories about the founding, rise and fall of the Human Galactic Empire. The author talks about the sciences, technologies and human actions that inevitably lead to the death of civilization. The Fifth Science is recommended by many Reddit residents. The book should appeal to those who appreciated the cycle "Base» Isaac Asimov.

How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler

What to do if your time machine is broken and you are stuck in the distant past? How to survive? And is it possible to accelerate the development of mankind? The book provides answers to these questions. It was written by Ryan North - software developer and artist Dinosaur Comics.

Under the cover is a kind of manual for assembling devices that we use today - for example, computers, aircraft, agricultural machines. All this is provided with pictures, diagrams, scientific calculations and facts. IN National public radio named How to Invent Everything the best book of 2018. Randel Munro also spoke positively about her. He dubbed North's work a must-have "for those who wish to quickly build an industrial civilization."

Ours is on Habré:

Source: habr.com

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