Ask HN: What are young technically minded people reading?

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?

11 points | by drdec 1 day ago

8 comments

  • chistev 1 day ago
  • coolfox 2 hours ago
    Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz
  • toomuchtodo 17 hours 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 1 day ago
    I'm pretty technically minded, but first I should probably ask: what's the age cut-off for "young"?
    • drdec 1 day ago
      My secret agenda is to get gift ideas for my college aged child
      • sloaken 2 hours ago
        Ah good plan, I like it.

        I will be following your lead.

  • operatorius 5 hours ago
    At the moment I'm reading:

    * Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential

    * Bessel van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the Score

  • chasenjohnson 1 day ago
    I just got through Abundance by Ezra Klein and thoroughly enjoyed it.
    • antinomicus 1 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 Ezra Klein’s ideas mostly feel tired, recycled, boring, outdated, and rudderless.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 20 hours ago
        Pretty rude response, right?
        • sloaken 2 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 1 hour 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.
  • bcx76 1 day ago
    Mostly the Kardashian book club recos. Learn video editing in 3 days etc.
  • Lapsa 8 hours ago
    your mind