Ask HN: What are young technically minded people reading?

12 points by drdec 2 days ago

When I was young we read books like Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman, Neuromancer by William Gibson and So You Want to be a Mathematician by Paul Halmos. What books are popular with young technically minded people today?

toomuchtodo a day ago

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel

The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World

andyjohnson0 a day ago

I'm pretty technically minded, but first I should probably ask: what's the age cut-off for "young"?

  • drdec a day ago

    My secret agenda is to get gift ideas for my college aged child

    • sloaken 12 hours ago

      Ah good plan, I like it.

      I will be following your lead.

coolfox 12 hours ago

Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz

chasenjohnson 2 days ago

I just got through Abundance by Ezra Klein and thoroughly enjoyed it.

  • antinomicus a day ago

    Do you believe in his ideas? I think the abundist philosophy is a fake moustache and a coat of paint on third way neoliberalism, which has proven time and again to have utterly failed as a political strategy in our current era. Ezra Klein’s ideas mostly feel tired, recycled, boring, outdated, and rudderless. We need true labor reform in this country, not less regulations and more trust in “altruistic developers”.

    • tptacek a day ago

      Pretty rude response, right?

      • sloaken 11 hours ago

        It is an opinion. Interestingly because of that opinion I am actually looking at the book. At least reading the Wiki summary.

        • tptacek 11 hours ago

          The original commenter answered the question of the thread: "here's a book I'm reading". They got in response a screed about "neoliberal" politics. That the response is wrong is besides the point: it was a really rude way to respond to someone recommending a book. The civil and productive way to write that response would have been to recommend in addition another, countervailing book.

operatorius 15 hours ago

At the moment I'm reading:

* Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential

* Bessel van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the Score

bcx76 2 days ago

Mostly the Kardashian book club recos. Learn video editing in 3 days etc.

Lapsa 18 hours ago

your mind