Off to Be the Wizard

I consolidated the comments for my reference later. Someone else might also find it useful: # Fiction Books Recommended for Programmers (HN Thread 46128404) ## Adrian Tchaikovsky - *Children of Time* — Science Fiction (Evolution, Space Opera) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-tim... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time) ## Rick Cook — Wizardry Series - *Wizard’s Bane* — Fantasy, Programming/Magic Mashup https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112616.Wizard_s_Bane - *Wizardry Series (overview)* https://www.goodreads.com/series/43084-wiz ## James P. Hogan - *Inherit the Stars* — Hard Science Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743568.Inherit_the_Stars - *Code of the Lifemaker* — Sci-Fi, Artificial Life https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/296722.Code_of_the_Lifem... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/296722.Code_of_the_Lifemaker) - *The Two Faces of Tomorrow* — AI, Hard Science Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218017.The_Two_Faces_of_... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218017.The_Two_Faces_of_Tomorrow) ## D. F. Jones — Colossus Trilogy - *Colossus* — AI, Classic Sci-Fi Thriller…

"Galatea 2.2" by (my all-time favorite author) Richard Powers "Off to Be the Wizard" by Scott Meyer "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez "The Adolescence of P1" (vintage) by Thomas Ryan "Snow Crash" by William Gibson "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline "We are Legion [We are Bob]" by Dennis Taylor

Non-Fiction: - Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman | book on human rationality and irrationality - An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield Fiction: - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality | Petunia married a professor, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction. http://www.hpmor.com/ - Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 Book 1) by Scott Meyer | Reality is defined in a text file, making the protagonist a wizard when he discovers it while hacking a company. - The Magicians (series) by Lev Grossman

I highly recommend Off to be the Wizard, https://audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Off-to-Be-the-Wizard-A... (https://audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Off-to-Be-the-Wizard-Audiobook/B00IIS32NI). It’s fun and lighthearted. Also the Bobiverse series. https://mobile.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/We-Are-Legion-W... (https://mobile.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/We-Are-Legion-We-Are-Bob-Audiobook/B01L082HJ2)

1. Off to Be the Wizard (Scott Meyer) - Very good. 2. Ready Player One (Ernest Cline) - I liked it although it's kinda ridiculous and one-sided. 3. The Bloodline Feud (Charles Stross) - Actually part 1&2 of a series. Really need to continue, very good. I'd say this was not "oh I know what will happen next" which is kinda rare. 4. The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman) - It's ok, but not as good as I had hoped. 5. Coraline (Neil Gaiman) - It's a children's book, and very short, but I liked it a lot. 6. Accelerated C++ (Koening/Moo) - Not finished, I was under the impression it's "C++ for programmers well-versed in other languages" and for that it's a bit slow-starting, but not bad I guess I really need to read more. :|

Last year I gave myself a Zuckerberg-style goal to read a book every two weeks. It started well, but some months were harder than others (usually when the book wasn't very good, so I would switch to podcasts for a few weeks, before getting back on track). Here's an unordered list of the best: [BUSINESS / SELF-IMPROVEMENT] - "Work Rules!" - about Google's culture and values - "Search Inside Yourself" - about mindfulness, meditation, and the impact on your life. - "What got you here won't get you there" - Liked a lot more than I expected. - "Re-read Innovator's Dilemma" - a great classic; never gets old. - "How will you measure your life" - from the same author. Also excellent. - "The Best Service is No Service" - good overview on why Amazon's customer service is so good - "Crucial Conversations" - half is common sense; half is good tips to practice everyday. [PROGRAMMING] - "Fluent Python" - was afraid it'd be too basic, but not really. Enjoyed it a lot. - "Think Complexity" - about algorithm complexity, data structures, etc. Great read. - "Python Data Science Handbook" - meh. - "Fundamentals of Deep Learning" - good intro. Helped me solidify some concepts from Andrew Ng's ML course…

Here's the best books I've read in the last year or so: >> Computer History & biographies: The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, Michael Lewis The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, by Alan Deutschman Machines of Loving Grace, by John Markoff The Innovators, by Walter Isaacson Ghost in the Wires, by Kevin Mitnick Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft, by Paul Allen Creativity, Inc, by Ed Catmull (reading) >> Startups: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz The Founder's Dilemmas, Noam Wasserman The Launch Pad, by Randall Stross >> Other books: Trilogy: Off to Be the Wizard (series), by Scott Meyer Search Inside Yourself, Chade-Meng Tan Joy on Demand, Chade-Meng Tan (reading)

"Off to be the wizard" is pretty light and fun. "John dies at the end" was fun, not really sci-fi, more buffy the vampire slayer esque. "Existence" by David Brin made me want to puke it had so many good ideas. A tiny bit dated, but very smart. "The Martian" I expect you've read it. Good romp, easy to read. Reminded me of a Michael Crichton. "World War Z" was good.