Ask HN: Good literature for a technical guy

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1441026

by m1k3r • 16 years ago

10 12 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

during the last year i've been reading complex and highly technical books, from programing to linear algebra and computational biology, i'm starting to miss some good literature, some recommendations?

c23gooey• 16 years ago

this was discussed not too long ago:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1226736

m1k3r2• 16 years ago

Thanks!

jackfoxy2• 16 years ago

Articles about Apple censoring the illustrated Ulysses have made it to HN lately. It took Joyce 7 years to write Ulysses. Ken Kesey wrote Sometimes a Great Notion, a favorite of mine, in about 3 months. It struck me that Kesey touches on some of the same themes as Joyce. I consider it an overlooked masterpiece.

m1k3r2• 16 years ago

Thanks for the advice, i'll try to look for a copy of Ulysses at the library to give it a shot!! thanks!,

jackfoxy2• 16 years ago

Actually I was recommending "Sometimes a Great Notion".

ghotli• 16 years ago

You're going to enjoy spending time with Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. It's mostly metaphor, his writing style is quite vivid. The interactions of people and things in his fictional cities touch on many facets of what it is to be alive. It's short. You can read it in one sitting.

shipstar• 16 years ago

Heavily second the Italo Calvino recommendation. Although I love Invisible Cities, I think "If on a winter's night a traveler" is probably even better for the technically minded. It's somewhat recursive in structure, as the book is actually about reading itself. Highly recommended.

mquander2• 16 years ago

I have a soft spot for The Castle of Crossed Destinies, whose imaginative structure I'm sure would appeal to any systematic kind of mind.

mquander2• 16 years ago

I just happened across Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game recently. For whatever reason, I had never read it before, and it's probably been my favorite book of the past six months. As a programmer, you may find yourself with a unique perspective on the Game.

adrianwaj• 16 years ago

http://www.sacred-texts.com (not literature, but still interesting)

arrogantrobot• 16 years ago

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. Apocalypse Now was based on this book. Fairly short and very good.

exline• 16 years ago

I'd highly recommend anything by Vernor Vinge. He is a science fiction writer who's other job was a computer science professor at San Diego State University. One of the best professors I had at school and one of my favorite authors. There are bits and pieces of programming sprinkled though out his books that only software developers can really appreciate.

Ask HN: Good literature for a technical guy

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