Hacker News with Generative AI: Books

Discarded delights: The joy of ex-library books (2021) (abebooks.com)
Let's start with the definition. An ex-library book is a book that once belonged to a public library or institution and has been 'discarded' after being deemed no longer useful.
Books, Libraries, Secondhand Goods
94 points by MrVandemar 20 hours ago | 64 comments
New Book on Aphex Twin to Be Published This Autumn (thequietus.com)
A new book on Aphex Twin is to be published later this year.
Music, Books, Aphex Twin
30 points by mikhael 2 days ago | 4 comments
Distributed Systems 4th Edition (distributed-systems.net)
This is the fourth edition of “Distributed Systems. We have stayed close to the setup of the third edition, including examples of (part of) existing distributed systems close to where general principles are discussed. For example, we have included material on blockchain systems, and discuss their various components throughout the book. We have, again, used special boxed sections for material that can be skipped at first reading.
Distributed Systems, Computer Science, Books
54 points by saikatsg 4 days ago | 5 comments
SICP: The only computer science book worth reading twice? (2010) (simondobson.org)
I was talking to one of my students earlier, and lent him a book to read over summer. It was only after he’d left that I realised that — for me at any rate — the book I’d given him is probably the most seminal work in the whole of computer science, and certainly the book that’s most influenced my career and research interests.
Computer Science, Education, Books
460 points by pieterr 5 days ago | 177 comments
Ask HN: Greatest books about the history of computing (ycombinator.com)
The Dream Machine is giving me a great appreciation of the time-sharing revolution and ARPANET. What else should I read? Any timeframe or topic is OK, so long as it's strongly related to the history of computing.
Computer History, Books, Recommendations
11 points by kaycebasques 5 days ago | 17 comments
"Here I Gather All the Friends" Machiavelli and Emergence of the Private Study (publicdomainreview.org)
Reading is a form of necromancy, a way to summon and commune once again with the dead, but in what ersatz temple should such a ritual take place?
History, Books, Literature, Philosophy, Culture
23 points by Jhsto 6 days ago | 0 comments
Security Engineering by Ross Anderson 3rd Edition (Free PDF) (cam.ac.uk)
I've written a third edition of Security Engineering. The e-book version is available now for $44 from Wiley and Amazon; paper copies are available from Amazon here for delivery in the USA and here for the UK.
Security Engineering, Computer Security, Books, Free Resources
5 points by wanderingmind 8 days ago | 0 comments
The Laws of Thought by George Boole (1854) (gutenberg.org)
Logic, History, Mathematics, Books
8 points by sandwichsphinx 8 days ago | 0 comments
3rd edition of Ross Anderson's Security Engineering now free to download (lightbluetouchpaper.org)
Ross Anderson had agreed with his publisher, Wiley, that he would be able to make all chapters of the 3rd edition of his book Security Engineering available freely for download from his website. These PDFs are now available there.
Security, Books, Computer Science
11 points by fanf2 9 days ago | 2 comments
Windows 11 Security Book [pdf] (microsoft.com)
Windows, Security, Books, PDF
6 points by Harvesterify 10 days ago | 0 comments
The history of the epigraph from Appointment in Samarra (2022) (subsublibrarian.com)
The epigraph from John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra was much of what I remembered from an earlier reading of the novel, but I realized today that I’d never looked into its background – the cited W. Somerset Maugham seeming an unlikely true origin for a tale about death in Samarra. So below is my reconstruction of the tale’s journey to O’Hara.
Literature, History, Books, Writing, Research
31 points by dang 10 days ago | 11 comments
You too can write a book (parentheticallyspeaking.org)
Writing, Books, Self-Publishing
213 points by azhenley 11 days ago | 75 comments
Ask HN: Best Cyber Warfare Books? (ycombinator.com)
What are your favorite books on cyber warfare? These could be manuals or how-to, or stuff like real-world stories.
Cybersecurity, Books, Warfare, Technology
66 points by giantg2 12 days ago | 22 comments
The Cybergypsies (Indra Sinha, 1999) (eamonnmr.com)
If you were to list the great popular historical books of the computer world, you’d probably hear The Cuckoo’s Egg, Soul of a New Machine, and then a smattering of books by Wired Magazine regulars, like Cyberpunks and Where Wizards Stay Up Late. Fire In The Valley maybe, though I imagine Cromemco gets less relevant every day. What I rarely see recommended, however, and what I think belongs on the podium along with Kidder and Stoll, is Indra Sinha’s The Cybergypsies.
Books, History, Technology, Computer Science
43 points by speckx 13 days ago | 8 comments
I became an anarchist while working for the Nevada state democratic party (ghost.io)
There are three places in Las Vegas I truly liked: two of them were bars, and the third was Writer’s Block, a wonderful bookstore shaped like a literal block. It was here, a couple days into a job with the Nevada State Democratic Party, that I picked up Chomsky’s “On Anarchism” to get an introduction to the ideology.
Politics, Nevada, Anarchism, Books
41 points by panic 14 days ago | 34 comments
Read More Books (notboring.co)
Welcome to the 232 newly Not Boring people who have joined us since last week! If you haven’t subscribed, join 234,408 smart, curious folks by subscribing here:
Reading, Books, Newsletters, Personal Growth
7 points by alexzeitler 16 days ago | 0 comments
We Shall Fight in the Buttery – Oxford's War 1939–1945 (literaryreview.co.uk)
It’s said that Oxford was spared destruction on the scale of Coventry because Adolf Hitler wanted the place as his capital after he conquered England. Ashley Jackson’s engrossing new book describes how the city of dreaming spires woke up to the realities of the Second World War. His trawl through the archives has yielded a rich and glittering haul, containing much that will interest more people than mere Oxonians.
History, Oxford, England, Books
55 points by andrewl 16 days ago | 11 comments
Neal Stephenson's "Polostan" (pluralistic.net)
Science fiction isn't collection of tropes, nor is it a literary style, nor is it a marketing category. It can encompass all of these, but what sf really is, is an outlook.
Science Fiction, Books, Neal Stephenson
19 points by _whiteCaps_ 17 days ago | 7 comments
Down with Meritocracy (2001) (theguardian.com)
I have been sadly disappointed by my 1958 book, The Rise of the Meritocracy. I coined a word which has gone into general circulation, especially in the United States, and most recently found a prominent place in the speeches of Mr Blair.
Politics, Society, Criticism, Books
8 points by js2 22 days ago | 4 comments
Sabine Baring-Gould's Book of Were-Wolves (1865) (publicdomainreview.org)
Lycanthropes go by many names, writes Sabine Baring-Gould in his “account of a terrible superstition”, and “half the world believes, or believed, in were-wolves”.
History, Folklore, Books, Werewolves
24 points by Caiero 22 days ago | 7 comments
An indie studio created a game based on Stanislaw Lem's novel (invinciblethegame.com)
Indie Games, Science Fiction, Books, Video Games
134 points by mgl 23 days ago | 61 comments
Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read (shepherd.com)
The best science fiction books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read
Science Fiction, Books, Recommendations
315 points by bwb 24 days ago | 314 comments
Letters by Oliver Sacks review (theguardian.com)
The kaleidoscopic world and polymathic interests of a great neurologist brought to life in his correspondence
Neuroscience, Books, Biography, Oliver Sacks, The Guardian
63 points by tintinnabula 24 days ago | 12 comments
Grokking Algorithms: An illustrated guide for programmers and curious people [pdf] (anarcho-copy.org)
Algorithms, Programming, Computer Science, Books, Education
34 points by thunderbong 24 days ago | 7 comments
“The Assayer” by Galileo Galilei (1623) [pdf] (web.stanford.edu)
Science, History, Astronomy, Books
29 points by sandwichsphinx 24 days ago | 11 comments
Ask HN: What books have most influenced your coding style? (ycombinator.com)
Ask HN: What books have most influenced your coding style?
Programming, Books, Software Development, Coding Style
10 points by davikr 29 days ago | 10 comments
Reading Lord of the Rings aloud: Yes, I sang all the songs (arstechnica.com)
Like Frodo himself, I wasn't sure we were going to make it all the way to the end of our quest. But this week, my family crossed an important life threshold: every member has now heard J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (LotR) read aloud—and sung aloud—in its entirety.
Hobbies, Books, Family
14 points by BerislavLopac 29 days ago | 1 comments
Malcolm Gladwell Holds His Ideas Loosely. He Thinks You Should, Too (nytimes.com)
Twenty-five years after he wrote the best-selling “The Tipping Point,” Malcolm Gladwell has written a new book on negative virality, “Revenge of The Tipping Point.”
Ideas, Books, Malcolm Gladwell
32 points by _tk_ 30 days ago | 37 comments
A Controversial Rare-Book Dealer Tries to Rewrite His Own Ending (newyorker.com)
If Glenn Horowitz comes calling, should you be flattered or alarmed? It means that you have an exceptional literary reputation. It also means that your time on earth is nearly up.
Books, Literature, Controversies, Death
81 points by acabal 30 days ago | 34 comments
Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) v4.0 is out [pdf] (computer.org)
Software Engineering, Standards, Technology, Books, Computer Science
205 points by beryilma 30 days ago | 163 comments