Ask HN: What do you read for general knowledge?
I used to browse around Medium when it was free. Now I find myself gravitating towards tech oriented sites like HackerNews. I miss reading broader content, like self improvement, professional development, history, culture, etc. Any suggestions for a place where I can casually read stuff like that?
118 comments
Textbooks.
Everyone hates them for some reason, but then again I don't know anyone who uses them the way they were designed to be used. From economics to biology or mathematics or political science, they're a great way to develop frameworks for thinking about entire bodies of knowledge. People spend years of their lives creating them, and I can consume this knowledge for only 50-200$? Sign me up any time.
Everyone hates them for some reason, but then again I don't know anyone who uses them the way they were designed to be used. From economics to biology or mathematics or political science, they're a great way to develop frameworks for thinking about entire bodies of knowledge. People spend years of their lives creating them, and I can consume this knowledge for only 50-200$? Sign me up any time.
Textbooks are great for quickly acquiring tree-level knowledge (i.e. the basics or the canon of the field).
There's one downside however -- college textbooks are incentivized to be comprehensive and hence they will often cover chapters on topics that don't matter or ought to be given less weight in the larger scheme of things. If you are uninitiated in a particular subject, you will be hard pressed to discern what's important and what's not. Many textbooks also tend to cover textbook theory which are useful for understanding the subject matter but not useful in the real world (e.g. the determinant method for solving linear systems of equations is almost never used in the real world)
Textbook authors are also incentivized to add chapters every couple of years so that new editions can be published. Sometimes those new chapters are important, sometimes they are not.
Textbooks are a starting point but they generally should not be read end-to-end. A better way to read them is the guidance of an instructor or a (online?) community of practitioners that can tell you what to pay attention to and what chapters to skip.
There's one downside however -- college textbooks are incentivized to be comprehensive and hence they will often cover chapters on topics that don't matter or ought to be given less weight in the larger scheme of things. If you are uninitiated in a particular subject, you will be hard pressed to discern what's important and what's not. Many textbooks also tend to cover textbook theory which are useful for understanding the subject matter but not useful in the real world (e.g. the determinant method for solving linear systems of equations is almost never used in the real world)
Textbook authors are also incentivized to add chapters every couple of years so that new editions can be published. Sometimes those new chapters are important, sometimes they are not.
Textbooks are a starting point but they generally should not be read end-to-end. A better way to read them is the guidance of an instructor or a (online?) community of practitioners that can tell you what to pay attention to and what chapters to skip.
My (rather strongly held) view is that most things in textbooks tend to be much more useful than people think, and I actually rather love reading textbooks cover to cover, in the order it's presented, preface and all.
If lacking assistance, you can get guidance on which parts
of your books are worth reading by googling for college course syllabi.
It's because most are very dry and poorly written. There are some real gems out there though. So maybe we can list some here?
Here's some of my favorites:
- Statistical Rethinking : Richard McElreath (also great Twitter and online lectures)
- Introduction to Quantum Mechanics: Griffiths (anything he writes is good)
- Classical Dynamics of Particles and System : Stephen Thornton
Here's some of my favorites:
- Statistical Rethinking : Richard McElreath (also great Twitter and online lectures)
- Introduction to Quantum Mechanics: Griffiths (anything he writes is good)
- Classical Dynamics of Particles and System : Stephen Thornton
One to add, which entirely shaped the trajectory of my career, would be The Art of Electronics by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill.
I was convinced that I wanted to go into aerospace, mechanical, or software engineering before I read this book. They all made logical sense, within their layer of abstraction, compared to electronics which seemed closer to a dark-art. Granted I still sometimes see it that way, but with much less fear. No-one I knew could concisely explain how electronics worked to me (outside of some very rudimentary explanations), so this book felt like I was reading occult material.
I devoured it cover-to-cover in the space of a few of months, completed every exercise, and either simulated or built all the circuits that I thought to be interesting or useful. I still have a shelf full of stripboard circuits from that time that I still reference for projects. The local dump workers knew me by name, as I was there every weekend to scavenge old toasters and microwaves and gut them for parts. To this day it's still some of the most fulfilling engineering work I think I've ever done, and my personal edition is now dog-eared like a good Christians' bible.
I was convinced that I wanted to go into aerospace, mechanical, or software engineering before I read this book. They all made logical sense, within their layer of abstraction, compared to electronics which seemed closer to a dark-art. Granted I still sometimes see it that way, but with much less fear. No-one I knew could concisely explain how electronics worked to me (outside of some very rudimentary explanations), so this book felt like I was reading occult material.
I devoured it cover-to-cover in the space of a few of months, completed every exercise, and either simulated or built all the circuits that I thought to be interesting or useful. I still have a shelf full of stripboard circuits from that time that I still reference for projects. The local dump workers knew me by name, as I was there every weekend to scavenge old toasters and microwaves and gut them for parts. To this day it's still some of the most fulfilling engineering work I think I've ever done, and my personal edition is now dog-eared like a good Christians' bible.
+1 to Horowitz & Hill. Get the lab manual thing too!
+1 for Griffiths.
His Electromagnetism book was also really good.
His Electromagnetism book was also really good.
What is this thing called Science? : Chalmers
The problem I have with this is that textbooks can be quite difficult to read in that they are often large A4-size pages with many images.
This makes them practically impossible to read on an e-reader and even reading on a tablet isn't ideal. Meanwhile the physical copies can often be large and unwieldy.
If there was an easy way to sit and read them in bed, on the bus etc. like there is with normal books and my Kindle then I'm sure I'd read a great many more.
This makes them practically impossible to read on an e-reader and even reading on a tablet isn't ideal. Meanwhile the physical copies can often be large and unwieldy.
If there was an easy way to sit and read them in bed, on the bus etc. like there is with normal books and my Kindle then I'm sure I'd read a great many more.
Textbooks are meant to be read sitting at a desk, with a notebook and pen on the side. You are supposed to summarize the information in written form and answer the end of chapter questions.
Reading on the bus gets you barely any mileage out of the textbook - you are better off reading a popular book on the subject.
Reading on the bus gets you barely any mileage out of the textbook - you are better off reading a popular book on the subject.
Though this is horrific to me, if it's convenience that you're after you could always take a box cutter to the textbooks, cut them into chapters, and maybe have them spiral-bound.
Alternatively, you could see if there exists a loose-leaf copy of your textbook.
Alternatively, you could see if there exists a loose-leaf copy of your textbook.
In the 90s/ 00s I'd xerox one chapter at a time (only pages with actual content) and put the pages in a binder or spiral bound format for easy luggability. The iPad is good enough for me now.
I find it hard to read some textbooks, especially older ones. If I'm missing a core concept or key piece of background, it's difficult or impossible to even know what the gaps are that need to be filled in my knowledge, and the book assumes prior knowledge.
They cost far less than that if you buy international editions off eBay. Same content for less money, even new.
(And if you want to know why they sell the same books for less money to different markets, pick up Principles of Economics by Mankiw)
(And if you want to know why they sell the same books for less money to different markets, pick up Principles of Economics by Mankiw)
What’s your favorite textbooks? How do you discover which ones to buy? Is there a space online where people are talking about this?
This list from LessWrong is ok: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xg3hXCYQPJkwHyik2/the-best-t...
Is this website/thread still watched and update? I have some thoughts and recommendations for that list.
Ask yourself, "what would batman want to learn," and learn that.
That's how I ended up with Practical Homicide Investigation Tactics, Procedures, and Forensic Techniques. It's amazing.
That's how I ended up with Practical Homicide Investigation Tactics, Procedures, and Forensic Techniques. It's amazing.
University requirements can be useful gor this (the book list for specific studies). Goodreads is another one.
Are some universities better than others for this? Do you have any favorite universities that you follow?
I think your best bet would be to compare the curricula and syllabi of different universities and see which books are the most commonly recommended.
You could just look at Ivy League universities, or maybe the top N universities for undergraduates in field X.
You could just look at Ivy League universities, or maybe the top N universities for undergraduates in field X.
I try to look at a mix of universities. The top couple in a field, some state schools (that aren't the top couple), and some schools that are more practically oriented. This way you'll get exposure from more theoretical to more applied. Even if the same textbooks are used across these institutions there may be a difference in emphasis and assignments.
One can start from the least rigorous and work up to the more rigorous courses. Even some of the top schools may have honors and non-honors versions of courses.
One can start from the least rigorous and work up to the more rigorous courses. Even some of the top schools may have honors and non-honors versions of courses.
I checked MIT‘s curriculum for Math books (logic in particular) and I got 2 or 3 that looked interesting.
I thought if it more like browsing things that look interesting (checking on goodreads) more than a systematic approach.
I spend a lot of time sniffing them out.
One thing I'll do once in a while is visit a university bookstore to get a sense of what's being used in classrooms. I ended up with a lot of my law textbooks like that. In law, I've really loved:
- Canadian Administrative Law (Guy Régimbald): https://store.lexisnexis.ca/en/categories/shop-by-jurisdicti...
- Tort Law (Horsey & Rackley): https://www.amazon.ca/Tort-Law-Kirsty-Horsey-dp-019886776X/d...
- Handbook of Canadian Higher Education Law (Shanahan, Nilso & Broshko): https://www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Canadian-Higher-Education-Law...
I've been on a maths, stats and ML/AI binge in the last year, and so far my top picks are:
- Calculus (Stewart): https://www.amazon.ca/Calculus-James-Stewart/dp/1337624187/
- Linear Algebra Done Right (Sheldon Axler): https://www.amazon.ca/Linear-Algebra-Right-Undergraduate-Mat...
- An Illustrative Guide to Multivariable and Vector Calculus (Miklavcic): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/3030334589/
- Probability: A Graduate Course (Allan Gut): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1461447070/
- Statistical Rethinking (McElreath): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/036713991X/
- An Introduction to Statistical Learning (James, Witten, Hastie & Tibshirani): https://www.amazon.ca/Introduction-Statistical-Learning-Appl...
- Regression and Other Stories (Gelman, Hill & Vehtari): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1107676517/
- Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models (Gelman & Hill): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/052168689X/
- Statistical and Data Analysis for Financial Engineering (Ruppert & Matteson): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1493926136/
- Reinforcement Learning (Sutton & Barto): https://www.amazon.ca/Reinforcement-Learning-Introduction-Ri...
- Deep Learning (Godfellow, Bengio & Courville): https://www.amazon.ca/Deep-Learning-Ian-Goodfellow/dp/026203...
- Networks (Mark Newman): https://www.amazon.ca/Networks-Mark-Newman/dp/0198805098/
I have a ton of textbooks in my wishlist that seem noteworthy and interesting, but that I haven't gotten the chance to read yet: no promises, but you might find something in there https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/1FWW046Q3RWWM
My area of expertise is biochemistry, life science, immunology, cell bio... So if anyone wants good recommendations in these topics I have plenty! :)
One thing I'll do once in a while is visit a university bookstore to get a sense of what's being used in classrooms. I ended up with a lot of my law textbooks like that. In law, I've really loved:
- Canadian Administrative Law (Guy Régimbald): https://store.lexisnexis.ca/en/categories/shop-by-jurisdicti...
- Tort Law (Horsey & Rackley): https://www.amazon.ca/Tort-Law-Kirsty-Horsey-dp-019886776X/d...
- Handbook of Canadian Higher Education Law (Shanahan, Nilso & Broshko): https://www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Canadian-Higher-Education-Law...
I've been on a maths, stats and ML/AI binge in the last year, and so far my top picks are:
- Calculus (Stewart): https://www.amazon.ca/Calculus-James-Stewart/dp/1337624187/
- Linear Algebra Done Right (Sheldon Axler): https://www.amazon.ca/Linear-Algebra-Right-Undergraduate-Mat...
- An Illustrative Guide to Multivariable and Vector Calculus (Miklavcic): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/3030334589/
- Probability: A Graduate Course (Allan Gut): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1461447070/
- Statistical Rethinking (McElreath): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/036713991X/
- An Introduction to Statistical Learning (James, Witten, Hastie & Tibshirani): https://www.amazon.ca/Introduction-Statistical-Learning-Appl...
- Regression and Other Stories (Gelman, Hill & Vehtari): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1107676517/
- Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models (Gelman & Hill): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/052168689X/
- Statistical and Data Analysis for Financial Engineering (Ruppert & Matteson): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1493926136/
- Reinforcement Learning (Sutton & Barto): https://www.amazon.ca/Reinforcement-Learning-Introduction-Ri...
- Deep Learning (Godfellow, Bengio & Courville): https://www.amazon.ca/Deep-Learning-Ian-Goodfellow/dp/026203...
- Networks (Mark Newman): https://www.amazon.ca/Networks-Mark-Newman/dp/0198805098/
I have a ton of textbooks in my wishlist that seem noteworthy and interesting, but that I haven't gotten the chance to read yet: no promises, but you might find something in there https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/1FWW046Q3RWWM
My area of expertise is biochemistry, life science, immunology, cell bio... So if anyone wants good recommendations in these topics I have plenty! :)
Do you have any recommendations on a good primer for biochem? It is a topic I’m interested in and I would like something that sets me up to dig into everything from viruses to cancer to life extension.
Absolutely, I have quite a few I'd recommend. If you tell me more about your background and what you're looking for, I can refine my recommendations further.
Either way, the first thing you have to know is that it's a huge huge field, and you won't find any single book that introduces you well to every subtopic (it's just impossible), and the amount of background/support knowledge you need in order to be able to fully and critically appreciate even basic research papers is pretty enormous.
General biochem and cell bio:
- https://www.amazon.com/Biochemistry-Reginald-H-Garrett/dp/13...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Molecular-Cell-Biology-Harvey-Lodish-d...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Lehninger-Principles-Biochemistry-Davi...
Biotech:
- https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biotechnology-Principles-Ap...
Cell signaling:
- https://www.amazon.com/Cell-Signaling-Wendell-Lim/dp/0815342...
Immunology:
- https://www.amazon.ca/Janeways-Immunobiology-Paperback-Versi...
- https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Inflammation-Charles-Ser...
Microbiology:
- https://www.amazon.com/Jawetz-Melnick-Adelbergs-Medical-Micr...
- https://www.amazon.com/Microbiology-Laboratory-Fundamentals-...
Embryology:
- https://www.amazon.com/Developmental-Biology-Michael-J-F-Bar...
Haematology:
- https://www.amazon.com/Hematology-Clinical-Practice-Fifth-Me...
Genetics and bioinformatics:
- I actually have never found a great textbook, please let me know if you know of any.
Anatomy & physiology (leaning more towards human & medical):
- https://www.amazon.ca/Human-Anatomy-Physiology-Elaine-Marieb...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Guyton-Hall-Textbook-Medical-Physiolog...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Medical-Physiology-Walter-Boron-PhD-dp...
Basic/general medicine (don't shoot me I'm trying to keep the list short and general):
- https://www.amazon.ca/Robbins-Cotran-Pathologic-Basis-Diseas...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Cecil-Essentials-Medicine-Edward-FIDSA...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Harrisons-Principles-Internal-Medicine...
Neuroanatomy (deserves a mention, one of my all time favs):
- https://www.amazon.ca/Neuroanatomy-through-Clinical-Cases-Bl...
USMLE step 1 prep materials are surprisingly good outlines, but not great for an introduction on their own:
- https://www.amazon.ca/First-USMLE-Step-Thirty-first/dp/12604...
Cancer:
- I don't know of any good textbooks on the subject, but once you have some of the fundamentals of biochem under your belt, start reading the papers referenced here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hallmarks_of_Cancer
Either way, the first thing you have to know is that it's a huge huge field, and you won't find any single book that introduces you well to every subtopic (it's just impossible), and the amount of background/support knowledge you need in order to be able to fully and critically appreciate even basic research papers is pretty enormous.
General biochem and cell bio:
- https://www.amazon.com/Biochemistry-Reginald-H-Garrett/dp/13...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Molecular-Cell-Biology-Harvey-Lodish-d...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Lehninger-Principles-Biochemistry-Davi...
Biotech:
- https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biotechnology-Principles-Ap...
Cell signaling:
- https://www.amazon.com/Cell-Signaling-Wendell-Lim/dp/0815342...
Immunology:
- https://www.amazon.ca/Janeways-Immunobiology-Paperback-Versi...
- https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Inflammation-Charles-Ser...
Microbiology:
- https://www.amazon.com/Jawetz-Melnick-Adelbergs-Medical-Micr...
- https://www.amazon.com/Microbiology-Laboratory-Fundamentals-...
Embryology:
- https://www.amazon.com/Developmental-Biology-Michael-J-F-Bar...
Haematology:
- https://www.amazon.com/Hematology-Clinical-Practice-Fifth-Me...
Genetics and bioinformatics:
- I actually have never found a great textbook, please let me know if you know of any.
Anatomy & physiology (leaning more towards human & medical):
- https://www.amazon.ca/Human-Anatomy-Physiology-Elaine-Marieb...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Guyton-Hall-Textbook-Medical-Physiolog...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Medical-Physiology-Walter-Boron-PhD-dp...
Basic/general medicine (don't shoot me I'm trying to keep the list short and general):
- https://www.amazon.ca/Robbins-Cotran-Pathologic-Basis-Diseas...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Cecil-Essentials-Medicine-Edward-FIDSA...
- https://www.amazon.ca/Harrisons-Principles-Internal-Medicine...
Neuroanatomy (deserves a mention, one of my all time favs):
- https://www.amazon.ca/Neuroanatomy-through-Clinical-Cases-Bl...
USMLE step 1 prep materials are surprisingly good outlines, but not great for an introduction on their own:
- https://www.amazon.ca/First-USMLE-Step-Thirty-first/dp/12604...
Cancer:
- I don't know of any good textbooks on the subject, but once you have some of the fundamentals of biochem under your belt, start reading the papers referenced here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hallmarks_of_Cancer
This is awesome, thank you!
+1 to Axler (linear algebra) and Newman (networks)
Oh, and for science news, I get mine from journals, eg:
- https://www.nature.com/
- https://www.science.org/
- https://www.nature.com/
- https://www.science.org/
Hate paying the typical exorbitant prices for them but I like reading them.
What has been your favorite recently?
You didn't ask me, but piggybacking anyway. Some of these I've been going back to for years starting back in my PhD, working through some ideas as I have time. Some I have recently been learning new things from.
Approximately in that order below:
Too many stat mech books, but honestly favorite is this old one. If you want a real challenge try to read to the OG Gibbs. Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics
Lectures On Phase Transitions And The Renormalization Group
Probability Theory: The Logic of Science
Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms
Information, Physics, and Computation
Elements of Information Theory
Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
The Nature of Computation
Principles of Cyber-Physical Systems
Introduction to Embedded Systems, Second Edition: A Cyber-Physical Systems Approach
Data-Driven Science and Engineering: Machine Learning, Dynamical Systems, and Control
An Invitation to Applied Category Theory: Seven Sketches in Compositionality
BTW, feel free to ask for recommendations in physics, especially stat mech, simulation/computation, condensed matter theory
Approximately in that order below:
Too many stat mech books, but honestly favorite is this old one. If you want a real challenge try to read to the OG Gibbs. Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics
Lectures On Phase Transitions And The Renormalization Group
Probability Theory: The Logic of Science
Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms
Information, Physics, and Computation
Elements of Information Theory
Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
The Nature of Computation
Principles of Cyber-Physical Systems
Introduction to Embedded Systems, Second Edition: A Cyber-Physical Systems Approach
Data-Driven Science and Engineering: Machine Learning, Dynamical Systems, and Control
An Invitation to Applied Category Theory: Seven Sketches in Compositionality
BTW, feel free to ask for recommendations in physics, especially stat mech, simulation/computation, condensed matter theory
I also liked slatestarcodex a lot, but I think he has a new website now after journalism drama. He was some sort of psych professor if I recall. Just overall good, honest open reading + discussion. Sometimes political, sometimes not. I always point people to this motte and bailey article as I find it's a litmus test to see they find him too much.
--https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/03/all-in-all-another-bri...
If you're into science, you might like Quanta Magazine. I don't think there's any science journalism that will ever not bother me, but this one tries really hard. I happen to know that Jennifer Oullete in particular puts a lot of hard work into her articles
If you're into science, you might like Quanta Magazine. I don't think there's any science journalism that will ever not bother me, but this one tries really hard. I happen to know that Jennifer Oullete in particular puts a lot of hard work into her articles
More recently, I've really enjoyed:
- Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives (John C. Hull): https://www.amazon.ca/Options-Futures-Other-Derivatives-10th...
- Financial Accounting Theory (Scott & O'Brien): https://www.amazon.ca/Financial-Accounting-Theory-8th-Editio...
- Networks (Mark Newman): https://www.amazon.ca/Networks-Mark-Newman/dp/0198805098/
- Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives (John C. Hull): https://www.amazon.ca/Options-Futures-Other-Derivatives-10th...
- Financial Accounting Theory (Scott & O'Brien): https://www.amazon.ca/Financial-Accounting-Theory-8th-Editio...
- Networks (Mark Newman): https://www.amazon.ca/Networks-Mark-Newman/dp/0198805098/
https://aldaily.com/ - Arts & Letters daily,
also some subreddits, like this one https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/ - especially the weekly digests.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html - 'astronomy picture of the day' this one has lots of links to wikipedia, fun to follow them.
http://wikiroulette.co/ - random wikipedia page, sometimes interesting to click on the links.
and of course the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page the featured articls, etc.
youtube channels like this one
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOrientalInstitute
also some subreddits, like this one https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/ - especially the weekly digests.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html - 'astronomy picture of the day' this one has lots of links to wikipedia, fun to follow them.
http://wikiroulette.co/ - random wikipedia page, sometimes interesting to click on the links.
and of course the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page the featured articls, etc.
youtube channels like this one
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOrientalInstitute
Cool list, but I'm wondering what is the point of WikiRoulette?
Wikipedia has this build in, it's in main menu since I remember. It's even visible when using wikiroulette...
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
For me Economist is great for a weekly review of world politics and general economy and New York Times has good perspective for daily news (I'm not from US so for me it's the 'international view on news').
Lots of 'casual' content there but I'm not sure if this was what you meant precisely.
Economist is a rare source in that each time they have an article about a topic I know I have fairly good grap of, they generally offer a fairly _correct_(!) popular summary of the issues. This is why I have a fairly high trust of those articles where the subject matter is less familiar.
Lots of 'casual' content there but I'm not sure if this was what you meant precisely.
Economist is a rare source in that each time they have an article about a topic I know I have fairly good grap of, they generally offer a fairly _correct_(!) popular summary of the issues. This is why I have a fairly high trust of those articles where the subject matter is less familiar.
I also read The Economist to get news from around the globe.
Some Overdrive libraries subscribe to the magazine, so you may be able to read it via Overdrive if your local library has it.
Some Overdrive libraries subscribe to the magazine, so you may be able to read it via Overdrive if your local library has it.
Just checked my overdrive library and they has it. Thanks for the tip
+great writing! I wish I could spend a few months writing for them, just as a learning experience.
They publish a English usage style guide which you might like.
https://shop.economist.com/products/the-economist-style-guid...
https://shop.economist.com/products/the-economist-style-guid...
+1. Also WSJ is good. The Guardian website, not the paper.
Yeah, it's a shame that Medium went the way it went. I know so many people who don't go there anymore. Wonder how it has affected their views.
Anyways, in addition to reading blogs that get promoted here HN.
I watch a lot instructional / educational videos on YouTube.
Been enjoying, for example, learning Excel from this person: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJtUOos_MwJa_Ewii-R3cJA
I've also been enjoying channels like number numberphile and/or computerphile as well.
Anyways, in addition to reading blogs that get promoted here HN.
I watch a lot instructional / educational videos on YouTube.
Been enjoying, for example, learning Excel from this person: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJtUOos_MwJa_Ewii-R3cJA
I've also been enjoying channels like number numberphile and/or computerphile as well.
I heard a great hack. To get a quick intro into a new subject that will stick with you and will not overwhelm you just start reading books that target teens. Those books are made to be easy to understand and easy to read. Once you grasp a basic understanding then you move on to more comprehensive books.
The biggest obstacle to acquiring new knowledge is getting past the "I have no clue what this means" on your own. This helps to get you through it and not to give up.
The biggest obstacle to acquiring new knowledge is getting past the "I have no clue what this means" on your own. This helps to get you through it and not to give up.
I like to browse through topics on Stack Exchange's sites. I don't think it's possible to run out of interesting topics and questions to explore
https://stackexchange.com/sites
https://stackexchange.com/sites
Wikipedia Current events page is great https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events for an overview of major global events.
For a lot of other topics around general knowledge it can be very interesting to browse the various levels of 'Vital articles' on Wikipedia (ie, there are 11 Level 1 Vital articles, around 45K Level 5 Vital articles and around 1K Level 3 Vital articles). I like browsing the Level 3 Vital articles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vital_articles when I'm looking for something to read.
For a lot of other topics around general knowledge it can be very interesting to browse the various levels of 'Vital articles' on Wikipedia (ie, there are 11 Level 1 Vital articles, around 45K Level 5 Vital articles and around 1K Level 3 Vital articles). I like browsing the Level 3 Vital articles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vital_articles when I'm looking for something to read.
My preferred resources:
- New York Times (in-depth news). - Financial Times (business news). - Library for new books about interesting topics. Currently, I am reading "The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance", which I borrowed from the local library. - Medium and bunch of newsletters about specific topics.
- New York Times (in-depth news). - Financial Times (business news). - Library for new books about interesting topics. Currently, I am reading "The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance", which I borrowed from the local library. - Medium and bunch of newsletters about specific topics.
I like https://readow.ai/
It’s not perfect but it gives me a decent idea of what I might like to read next.
It’s not perfect but it gives me a decent idea of what I might like to read next.
Try subscribing to your local newspaper!
I live in the Bay Area and subscribe to the Mercury News. I enjoy reading through the ‘e-edition’ on my iPad every morning (though you _could_ still get a physical copy if you’d appreciate the ability to disconnect for 1/2 an hour)
I know I’ll get the important national and international news (so less need for doomscrolling to satisfy my FOMO), learn what’s going on in city and state politics (which I see _very_ little of online), and get a bit of pop culture and local entertainment events.
I often learn things I value that I’d never ‘seek out’ online, and would likely never make it past my social media filter bubble.
I live in the Bay Area and subscribe to the Mercury News. I enjoy reading through the ‘e-edition’ on my iPad every morning (though you _could_ still get a physical copy if you’d appreciate the ability to disconnect for 1/2 an hour)
I know I’ll get the important national and international news (so less need for doomscrolling to satisfy my FOMO), learn what’s going on in city and state politics (which I see _very_ little of online), and get a bit of pop culture and local entertainment events.
I often learn things I value that I’d never ‘seek out’ online, and would likely never make it past my social media filter bubble.
Get an RSS reader. Collect sources over time. Will be your best bet.
This is very true.
To give an an example, in the front page of hacker news I only see what is boiling i.e what caught the attention of the masses. I hardly learn new stuff. I think this is true for any crowd-based news site rating system.
In contrast, when I open up my RSS reader and see posts of the blogs I subscribed to, I often learn new things that perhaps were simply not very interesting to the common HN in the same period of time, but are enriching to my general or technical knowledge.
The idea is to accumulate 300 or so low-frequency blogs, so that each day you would have a few posts to read from interesting people. Low frequency is good because the signal-to-noise ratio is often better.
To give an an example, in the front page of hacker news I only see what is boiling i.e what caught the attention of the masses. I hardly learn new stuff. I think this is true for any crowd-based news site rating system.
In contrast, when I open up my RSS reader and see posts of the blogs I subscribed to, I often learn new things that perhaps were simply not very interesting to the common HN in the same period of time, but are enriching to my general or technical knowledge.
The idea is to accumulate 300 or so low-frequency blogs, so that each day you would have a few posts to read from interesting people. Low frequency is good because the signal-to-noise ratio is often better.
Not specially fond of private solutions, but as an exiled from Google Reader and someone who's been using RSS this way for more than 10 years, the feature I like (and use) from Feedly the most is saving stuff for when I can spare some time reading.
Plus another tool for saving extra stuff (useful web apps, recipes and the like) I find there or in other places is really handy too, think like (now Mozilla's) Pocket or Raindrop, which allows you to sort your links in categories and access and sync them between your devices.
Plus another tool for saving extra stuff (useful web apps, recipes and the like) I find there or in other places is really handy too, think like (now Mozilla's) Pocket or Raindrop, which allows you to sort your links in categories and access and sync them between your devices.
Hi there! Would you be willing to share some of your feed sources? I'm always on the lookout for good content, but I have a hard time diminishing the noise. Thank you for your time.
>The idea is to accumulate 300 or so low-frequency blogs
What does your list look like?
What does your list look like?
It is composed of the relatively small number of the high profile developers that occasionally pop up on HN. Most are blogs I found of less known developers which I bumped into when searching other stuff or when casually browsing Github/Twitter/StackOverflow. I try to add new feeds wherever I find them.
Would have shared RSS subscription list if was easily possible, however I use the newsboat [1] program and read the aggregate in the terminal. It's stored locally.
[1] https://newsboat.org/
Would have shared RSS subscription list if was easily possible, however I use the newsboat [1] program and read the aggregate in the terminal. It's stored locally.
[1] https://newsboat.org/
I've got an RSS aggregator of sorts that I love adding good feeds to that I can get to online (more as a start page of its own)
If you have a way to share you list, I'd love to see it :)
I take it newsboat doesn't have a way to export its list of feeds?
If you have a way to share you list, I'd love to see it :)
I take it newsboat doesn't have a way to export its list of feeds?
Would anyone be willing to share an existing RSS feed list they have created? I have recently began creating a list using Akregator on Linux, but it is difficult to find the feeds of websites. Do you have any recommendations?
My list contains:
Lesswrong.com - thinking rationally
The Economist's World this week (and other content related to my liking) - news and current affairs
PG's essays
I also subscribe to a few newsletters like Farnam Streets, James Clear, Ness Labs
Lesswrong.com - thinking rationally
The Economist's World this week (and other content related to my liking) - news and current affairs
PG's essays
I also subscribe to a few newsletters like Farnam Streets, James Clear, Ness Labs
Thank you!
yeah this, Plus that LinkLonk.com that was presented recently. I check the newsletter daily and add sources as I see I need them.
Its growing faster than my RSS feed atm and that has over 1k feeds in it.
Its growing faster than my RSS feed atm and that has over 1k feeds in it.
Good to see that the newsletter works! Let me know if you have any improvement suggestions for the newsletter.
I do wish that clicking a YES or NO didn't open a new tab. but I'm unsure how you'd fix this.
It seems like this would not be possible: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37334942/how-to-avoid-la...
Maybe a piece of JavaScript on the opened page could close the page? In that case you would see the page open and then immediately close. Though it may seem to some users that their rating submission failed.
I should probably add more useful information to the opened page. Right now it says "You will see more content from 2 RSS feeds and 3 people that recommended this". But I could add links to the item details page that has related recommendations. Or I could add links to the RSS feeds so you could explore them more.
I should probably add more useful information to the opened page. Right now it says "You will see more content from 2 RSS feeds and 3 people that recommended this". But I could add links to the item details page that has related recommendations. Or I could add links to the RSS feeds so you could explore them more.
I'm not particularly worldly or knowlegable, but I occasionally read non-fiction books and Wikipedia to learn.
I find the news to be too event-oriented.
I use RSS to keep up to date with some tech fields.
I find the news to be too event-oriented.
I use RSS to keep up to date with some tech fields.
Apologies if this is obvious, but Wikipedia's home page seems to serve this purpose quite well :)
Children's non-fiction books from the library. I got this idea from watching James Holzhauer on Jeopardy. You can get a broad level understanding of all sorts of topics rather quickly. Adult books tend to be a very deep dive into a particular topic.
I seem to recall that Isaac Asimov wrote science books for children, like about Chemistry, maybe other things. I imagine those are enjoyable for anyone w/ general interest.
I subscribe to the London Review of Books. The writing is of the highest quality and the range of topics covered is wonderfully diverse.
My two cents while trying to avoid too well-known outlets:
>YouTube channels:
Forgotten Weapons (world-class firearms history)
The Tim Traveller (general European infrastructure et al history)
Project Farm (one-man Consumer Reports-esque testing)
MedCram (excellent in-depth scientific but accessible medical information)
Tasting History with Max Miller (culinary history)
Two Minute Papers (covers recent scientific papers; rather tech-related but I see no other coverage of most of the stuff he touches on)
U.S. Department of State (the press briefings are immensely insightful and not a circus like the White House equivalents)
>Other:
Standard Ebooks (if its in the public domain and somebody bothered to professionally process it, it's probably worth reading!)
Father Stephen de Young's The Whole Counsel of God Biblical lectures (In my opinion, easily the best English-language dissection of the Bible ever written or recorded. Presented from an Orthodox perspective but frankly immensely useful for anyone interested in the Bible generally.) (Also, not to be confused with his related but separate blog of the same name.)
Drudge Report (obviously a hard right bias, but nevertheless more insightful than most mainstream publications, plus the formatting is such that you can digest a day's news in 30 seconds from skimming around the page)
Middle East Eye (a rare seemingly independent middle east media outlet. Broadly left-wing bias.)
4chan (quite frankly, while there is a lot of noise, there's also signal buried in there that simply isn't possible with other mediums. For example, the photography board's current film thread: https://boards.4channel.org/p/thread/3971021 )
>YouTube channels:
Forgotten Weapons (world-class firearms history)
The Tim Traveller (general European infrastructure et al history)
Project Farm (one-man Consumer Reports-esque testing)
MedCram (excellent in-depth scientific but accessible medical information)
Tasting History with Max Miller (culinary history)
Two Minute Papers (covers recent scientific papers; rather tech-related but I see no other coverage of most of the stuff he touches on)
U.S. Department of State (the press briefings are immensely insightful and not a circus like the White House equivalents)
>Other:
Standard Ebooks (if its in the public domain and somebody bothered to professionally process it, it's probably worth reading!)
Father Stephen de Young's The Whole Counsel of God Biblical lectures (In my opinion, easily the best English-language dissection of the Bible ever written or recorded. Presented from an Orthodox perspective but frankly immensely useful for anyone interested in the Bible generally.) (Also, not to be confused with his related but separate blog of the same name.)
Drudge Report (obviously a hard right bias, but nevertheless more insightful than most mainstream publications, plus the formatting is such that you can digest a day's news in 30 seconds from skimming around the page)
Middle East Eye (a rare seemingly independent middle east media outlet. Broadly left-wing bias.)
4chan (quite frankly, while there is a lot of noise, there's also signal buried in there that simply isn't possible with other mediums. For example, the photography board's current film thread: https://boards.4channel.org/p/thread/3971021 )
I think this is a really good list, especially your point about finding the signal in the noise on 4chan; once you sift through a lot of degeneracy there really is a lot of good info there.
A whole lot of 'general' stuff. (Just read. Anything. Even labels on packages. Reading is the key to knowledge.)
Science, current affairs, history, films, literature that was written in the last 300 years or so, geography pertaining to the history, current affairs, news, etc.
Read lots of trivia, do trivia quizzes, etc. Lots of general knowledge looks like trivia, but the trivia part of it is what binds lots of those little bits of general knowledge together, making one one connected edifice.
For some insight, go to YouTube and look a James Burke's "Connections" series. He used to have a monthly 'Connections' column in the Scientific American magazine too.
Science, current affairs, history, films, literature that was written in the last 300 years or so, geography pertaining to the history, current affairs, news, etc.
Read lots of trivia, do trivia quizzes, etc. Lots of general knowledge looks like trivia, but the trivia part of it is what binds lots of those little bits of general knowledge together, making one one connected edifice.
For some insight, go to YouTube and look a James Burke's "Connections" series. He used to have a monthly 'Connections' column in the Scientific American magazine too.
For general knowledge I find Wikipedia's "Vital articles"[1] a good place to start.
They're organized in levels, with the 10 most general articles (e.g. Human, Language, Life, Mathematics, Philosophy) on level 1 and then sort of branching out, level 2 consisting of 100 articles (e.g. Civilization, Literature, Logic, Psychology, Arithmetic) and so on.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vital_articles/Level...
They're organized in levels, with the 10 most general articles (e.g. Human, Language, Life, Mathematics, Philosophy) on level 1 and then sort of branching out, level 2 consisting of 100 articles (e.g. Civilization, Literature, Logic, Psychology, Arithmetic) and so on.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vital_articles/Level...
HN is sufficient for keeping up with what is going on in tech. If I stumble upon interesting blog posts I add them to my RSS reader.
For local and world news I often glance at the homepage of a local media site hln.be. It is very clickbaity and low-quality but they usually are first when it comes to breaking stories. I use it as a news barometer to see if something is going on or not.
When some topic interests me I tend to go on DDG/Wikipedia rabbit holes and I often buy non-fiction books on topics of sustained interest.
For local and world news I often glance at the homepage of a local media site hln.be. It is very clickbaity and low-quality but they usually are first when it comes to breaking stories. I use it as a news barometer to see if something is going on or not.
When some topic interests me I tend to go on DDG/Wikipedia rabbit holes and I often buy non-fiction books on topics of sustained interest.
Hackernews.
> I miss reading broader content, like self improvement, professional development, history, culture, etc.
Plenty of that here, IMO. At least more than I have time to devote to reading it.
> I miss reading broader content, like self improvement, professional development, history, culture, etc.
Plenty of that here, IMO. At least more than I have time to devote to reading it.
Read Chomsky.
This stuff, at its heart, imo, is very meta -- as in, how the world actually works.
He often refers to what he considers to be good books -- there are lists online -- not sure if they are accurate or not -- but those books often drill down on various more specific topics, like "the investment theory of politics".
If you're American, you will probably end up super depressed for a couple weeks.
But I feel like understanding how the world works is a kind of foundation for everything else.
Science and biology and all that is important and even more fundamental, but Chomsky stuff attacks all of your core assumptions even about those things.
Like, I read his opinion on how he was shitting all over gpt-3 or something -- not for the reasons you might think. That happens to be a nerdy topic that might show up here on HN, but of course crosses over into ai, and language / thought / human nature stuff.
So if you've ever had an aha or whoa-type moment -- while reading or being in a new situation, like your first trip overseas, there tends to be a lot of that.
So it's not always new info, but new and more accurate ways to understand what you already knew -- or thought you already knew.
This stuff, at its heart, imo, is very meta -- as in, how the world actually works.
He often refers to what he considers to be good books -- there are lists online -- not sure if they are accurate or not -- but those books often drill down on various more specific topics, like "the investment theory of politics".
If you're American, you will probably end up super depressed for a couple weeks.
But I feel like understanding how the world works is a kind of foundation for everything else.
Science and biology and all that is important and even more fundamental, but Chomsky stuff attacks all of your core assumptions even about those things.
Like, I read his opinion on how he was shitting all over gpt-3 or something -- not for the reasons you might think. That happens to be a nerdy topic that might show up here on HN, but of course crosses over into ai, and language / thought / human nature stuff.
So if you've ever had an aha or whoa-type moment -- while reading or being in a new situation, like your first trip overseas, there tends to be a lot of that.
So it's not always new info, but new and more accurate ways to understand what you already knew -- or thought you already knew.
General news sources, although all taken with a pinch of salt: BBC, Guardian, Economist, Spectator, LRB, New Yorker from time to time.
I pay particular attention to books that are reviewed in these and other publications. If a book is well-reviewed and seems interesting, I'll buy it and read it.
Otherwise, I'll pick a topic of interest and buy a short introduction: OUP's Very Short Introductions to X [0] are quite good, although as with all summaries, it's worth keeping mind that it's the view of one academic. I'll read the introductory text and then use its bibiography to find my way to other books. Bibliographies are very useful.
[0]: https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/v/very-short-...
I pay particular attention to books that are reviewed in these and other publications. If a book is well-reviewed and seems interesting, I'll buy it and read it.
Otherwise, I'll pick a topic of interest and buy a short introduction: OUP's Very Short Introductions to X [0] are quite good, although as with all summaries, it's worth keeping mind that it's the view of one academic. I'll read the introductory text and then use its bibiography to find my way to other books. Bibliographies are very useful.
[0]: https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/v/very-short-...
1. Hackernews
2. Pocket : https://getpocket.com/explore
3. Reddit
4. Serious websites & books on specific matters i.e. I like to read on Philosophy, so I read websites & books on that (such as plato.stanford)
2. Pocket : https://getpocket.com/explore
3. Reddit
4. Serious websites & books on specific matters i.e. I like to read on Philosophy, so I read websites & books on that (such as plato.stanford)
Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok's "Marginal Revolution" [1]. It's not merely an economics blog like most people think. Tyler's professed interest is in cracking cultural codes [2], and much of the blog is oriented toward understanding how culture affects incentives, economics etc.
[1] https://marginalrevolution.com/
[2] https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/12/de...
[1] https://marginalrevolution.com/
[2] https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/12/de...
A [good] local library or bookstore
And I follow my own advice (https://antipaucity.com/2012/12/10/finding-your-niche/#.Ybit...): "grab the first book [or magazine] in the history section that starts with an “A” in the title – then go for “B”, “C”, etc. Then do it from some other section of the shelves – maybe relationships, scifi, teen, romance, home improvement, etc"
And I follow my own advice (https://antipaucity.com/2012/12/10/finding-your-niche/#.Ybit...): "grab the first book [or magazine] in the history section that starts with an “A” in the title – then go for “B”, “C”, etc. Then do it from some other section of the shelves – maybe relationships, scifi, teen, romance, home improvement, etc"
https://substack.com - You can find many non-tech content there, such as arts, culture, food and drink, faith, and politics.
https://project-syndicate.org is a good source for International Relations related op-eds.
A corner case, for computer security, but I subscribe via email to the Debian security advisories, because even though that is not my primary system any more, it is one of the convenient/low impact ways to know what I need to be aware of, wherever.
Also blogs of Bruce Schneier and Brian Krebs. I don't always read everything, but I do read some, and even just the titles are interesting.
And I echo what others have said about RSS feeds in general.
Also blogs of Bruce Schneier and Brian Krebs. I don't always read everything, but I do read some, and even just the titles are interesting.
And I echo what others have said about RSS feeds in general.
Currently reading Bertrand Russel's History of Western Philosophy, which is more like a general encyclopedia of some important history and ideas, recommend.
NY Times
Washington Post
Wikipedia
The Guardian
Talking Points Memo
The New Yorker
The Atlantic
Hacker News
NPR
BBC
History, biography, public intellectuals such as David Graeber or Chomsky
Library of America
whatever comes up when I google for stuff I don't know about
Washington Post
Wikipedia
The Guardian
Talking Points Memo
The New Yorker
The Atlantic
Hacker News
NPR
BBC
History, biography, public intellectuals such as David Graeber or Chomsky
Library of America
whatever comes up when I google for stuff I don't know about
Someone on HN recommended Financial Times to me a couple of months ago, and I've been really happy with it so far. Definitely worth the subscription.
I still read the Guardian regularly, and glance at headlines on the Washington Post, but I've cancelled my subscriptions to those for now.
I pay for Medium but mainly read tech-related content ... I keep looking for substantial articles on other subjects, but a lot of it reads like long form Twitter.
I still read the Guardian regularly, and glance at headlines on the Washington Post, but I've cancelled my subscriptions to those for now.
I pay for Medium but mainly read tech-related content ... I keep looking for substantial articles on other subjects, but a lot of it reads like long form Twitter.
Try pocket: https://getpocket.com/explore
American Affairs Journal: https://americanaffairsjournal.org/
National Affairs Journal: https://www.nationalaffairs.com/
The WSJ and the NYT for news.
Pick a subject you are interested in, research the top authors in that domain and start reading books.
I got a subscription to Harpers and it has been a nice addition to hacker news and industry books.
The Thinking About Things newsletter was a great way to discover intesting content, but they seem to be on haitus.
[0] https://www.thinking-about-things.com/
[0] https://www.thinking-about-things.com/
You’re right! I haven’t seen an email from them for a few weeks now. I love the stuff they find.
First if you are in the US get a library card. Find out if they have inter library loans.
If you really want broader content, you might as well just talk to people directly. Sure it's not as easy as browsing to begin with, but once you're good enough at it, it's bound to be more fulfilling.
Papers are a good source for more advanced or "internal" knowledge. For example Federeal Reserves papers are a good source for understanding how they assess and view the economy and monatery conditions.
Reddit in general is pretty good, if you find the right subs.
Books (your local library or book store)
Harper’s
Audible
Harper’s
Audible
I browse Quora and Reddit where I have curated my feed over time by following/unfollowing specific topics and people based on my interests
Reddit and I parted ways. It became an echo chamber with no original thinking, mostly intolerant of dissenting views.
Reddit tried to do a Spotify wrapped thing where they told you how much time you spend in your top subreddits. With that knowledge, I have deleted the app and blocked the website. Very dumb thing for them to do.
I'm just watching lexfridman's podcasts (video/day)
Finding upvoted Twitter threads from people you like is a good way to find content.
The Spectator is a good read.
Check out Metafilter. It’s pretty good for that kind of stuff.
http://metafilter.com/
http://metafilter.com/
wikipedia