Books that Changed Your Life? 311
Pubb asks: "I'm a Computer Science teacher at a school with an interesting tradition. Every year, the graduating student who has performed best in a particular subject area is given a book prize. Rather than give this particular student the usual book on Java or Linux, I would like to get something more impactful. I ask you, fellow Slashdot readers, to name the books that helped unleash your geek within. All I ask is that the book be reasonably available, even if it is no longer in print."
Godel, Escher, Bach (Score:5, Informative)
A must book for anyone serious about CS.
It might be english class fodder... (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, it's one of the best lessons you could give a kid in today's world. A nice hardcover would be the perfect addition to a book collection or a great novel to start a love of reading.
My one other recommendation, though esoteric and perhaps more suited to my interests, would be "Descartes Error", by Damasio. It's a book about the tie between logic and emotion in the human brain, and reads like a novel (a non-neurologist could easily read it). I highly recommend it.
What Should I Do with My Life? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What Should I Do with My Life? (Score:4, Informative)
Or something to help them our financially in their life, like Rich Dad, Poor Dad [amazon.com] or one of those kind of books.
A Short History of Nearly Everything (Score:3, Informative)
- Ben
Goedel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (Score:3, Informative)
If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, words fail me -- just go buy it.
"Mathematics for the Nonmathematician" (Score:3, Informative)
This 1960s text is one of the drue diamonds in the rough for me.
I had advanced math, and science all thruogh high school, like many fellow slashdotters, but this book REALLY put all the pieves together.
It is a fantastic read of the history of math, and HOW we got to where were are. It begins with the concept of zero, axioms of truth, and how these truths are built upon... all the way through calculus.
It is an absloutly fascinating text, that really awakened me to the world of abstract mathematics, their buildings from basic truths, the realization that we STILL have a long way to go, and there is still a bleeding edge of mathematics.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0
Know your geek history (Score:5, Informative)
In The Beginning Was The Command Line [cryptonomicon.com] by Neal Stephenson is a good overview of the culture of Linux, Macintosh, Be, and Microsoft in essay form. I've given it to non-computer geeks to teach them about Linux, and why it's different from windows. He talks about how modern society tries to impose a false image over everything to make things easier to deal with(like Disney) and compares that to the GUI vs. CLI differences. I don't agree with everything he says, but Stephenson is definitely a great writer, and he has the book available free at the link I put in.
Hackers by Steven Levy covers important epochs of the hacker culture, from its beginning at MIT to game developers in the 80s. It even has a chapter on Stallman starting GNU! A must-read for any geek.
The Art Of War by Sun-tzu (Score:4, Informative)
Hackers and Feynmann, and here's why... (Score:4, Informative)
and What Do You Care What Other People Think? both by Richard P. Feynman et al.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy
All three of these books I happened to have read between my sophomore and junior year of high school.
These books changed my life because they provided accounts of people (geeks) pursuing their love of science/technology in a fiercely dedicated and independent way, all at a young age (you get early accounts of folks like Stallman, Gates, Jobs, Woz, etc. as 20-somethings in "Hackers") , and ended up making huge contributions to research/industry. You also get to hear about the enormous sacrifices, regrets, and risks taken (some succeeding, some failing), and ultimately an important perspective on the lives of some very smart and important characters in a way that I think is still relevant to graduating high school kids today.
Best,
Andrew
Re:Rand (Score:3, Informative)
First, I have met people from all walks of life that have read the book, and were able to take something positive away from it. Yes, there are a ton of mindless, directionless fools that latched on to the legacy of the Ayn Rand foundation (Leonard Peikoff for one) and have made it into an organization that it is best to ignore. The fact that some people have read a nearly 50 year old text and adamantly insist that its lessons must be applied without any thoughts of updating them to current times is absolute lunacy. The BASIC IDEALS are still true though: 1) You are responsible for your own actions, and for your own success. 2) No one has the right to demand that another person provide their livelihood for them without proper payment - this is why slavery was abolished. Take this basic knowledge and apply it as you see fit to current political climate.
Second, the portrayal of Ayn Rand as someone that was "trying to justify the silver spoon it appeared that she was born with, in her mouth" is just plain ill-informed. She immigrated to America from Russia and started with nothing, and if I remember correctly this was during the depression.
Finally, the folks that are praised by the "Ayn Rand Institute" are immaterial. As I mentioned before, this institute is better left ignored.
My list of good books (Score:3, Informative)