[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Books Similar to Code by Charles Petzold?
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Ask HN: Books Similar to Code by Charles Petzold?
Code is an awesome book, especially for someone like me who never
went to college. I am looking for similar books not just in
Computer Science but in other fields as well. Please suggest.
Author : gautamsomani
Score : 93 points
Date : 2021-12-11 17:27 UTC (5 hours ago)
| showerst wrote:
| For cryptography, "the code book" by Simon Singh is an awesome
| similar intro/history.
| archielc wrote:
| There's another amazing instant classic book by Charles Petzold -
| "The Annotated Turing".
| actually_a_dog wrote:
| Here's a list of 10 good, popular mathematics books:
| https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/18/ian-stewart-to...
|
| Of the list, I've read _Goedel, Escher, Bach ", and _What is
| Mathematics Really* and can recommend them wholeheartedly. GEB is
| a bit of a project, but it will bend your mind in a good, math-y
| way. I first read it in high school, so the material should be
| pretty accessible.
| jlc wrote:
| I'll amplify nand2tetris.
|
| And I'll throw in The Little Schemer and Understanding
| Computation. They come from a different direction than
| Code/nand2tetris. When I got that they all sort of meet in the
| middle, I found it mind-blowing.
| arisbe__ wrote:
| The Pattern on the Stone by Danny Hillis
| (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pattern_on_the_Stone)
|
| Complexity a Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell
| (https://melaniemitchell.me/BooksContent/CAGTReviews.html)
| arisbe__ wrote:
| Also 3 more "easy overview" type books:
|
| The New Turing Omnibus by A K Dewdney
| (https://www.amazon.com/New-Turing-Omnibus-Sixty-Six-
| Excursio...)
|
| The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky
| (https://www.amazon.com/Society-Mind-Marvin-
| Minsky/dp/0671657...)
|
| Creating Mind: How the Brain Works by John E Dowling
| (https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Mind-How-Brain-
| Works/dp/0393...)
| arisbe__ wrote:
| Sorry I can't help myself, but here are some more "easy
| overview" books:
|
| The Manga Guide to ... (series) from No Starch Press
| (https://nostarch.com/catalog/manga)
|
| The Cartoon Guide to ... (series) from Larry Gonick
| (http://www.larrygonick.com/)
|
| Physics for Everyone (series) from Mir Publishers an old Soviet
| publisher (https://mirtitles.org/2011/06/03/physics-for-
| everyone/)
|
| Note that one of the Mir PDF scans is a little bad, but I think
| someone will probably republish these soon if possible.
| blondin wrote:
| Isaac Asimov series "Asimov on ..."
|
| one of my favorite science writers ever. some people like his
| science fiction better. but i prefer his non-fiction books. try
| Asimov on Physics or Asimov on Chemistry. these two are my
| favorites.
|
| don't bother getting new books, get used ones. or rent it from a
| local library (which is how i discovered Asimov). also keep in
| mind that the information in these books might be outdated but
| not necessarily wrong.
| wwwwewwww wrote:
| I was going to suggest "Understanding physics" by Asimov. I
| think "On physics" is a collection of essays where
| "Understanding physics" is more a complete bottom-up treatment
| like Petzold's "Code".
| [deleted]
| mindcrime wrote:
| https://www.nand2tetris.org/book
| captn3m0 wrote:
| I read them both together and nand2tetris is better because it
| forces you to do it on your own so you understand it better.
| kaladin_1 wrote:
| Oh! You might enjoy nand2tetris then... A classic, most probably
| worth your time.
| stakkur wrote:
| I could recommend a hundred, but I'll limit myself to four:
|
| 1. Computer Science: The Pattern on the Stone is a nearly
| perfect, foundational explanation of how computers work.
|
| 2. The Mind: Brain Rules (John Medina) is a fast, well-organized
| read on the fundamentals of how your brain works (and how to work
| it).
|
| 3. History: From Dawn to Decadence (Jacques Barzun) is a dense
| but brilliant read on the how the past 500 years made the modern
| world we live and think in.
|
| 4. How to Live: A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle). Don't reject it as
| 'new age-y'; this book may change how you see yourself. If it
| turns you off, substitute Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
| unwind wrote:
| Meta: typo in title, "Charlse" -> "Charles". Hopefully the ever-
| vigilant mods are watching. Thanks.
| endofreach wrote:
| Not saying that the op has dyslexia, but i wonder how dyslexia
| feels like for a programmer?
|
| And dyslexia in general, is it like the mind can't stop and
| ,,go back" to the word you just wrote? Or is it more that the
| eyes don't notice when reading what you wrote?
| codetrotter wrote:
| I don't have dyslexia either but the way that I've heard it
| described is that the letters appear to float around so it
| becomes hard to determine if the letters are in order or not.
|
| Curious to know if fonts like OpenDyslexic actually help, and
| if programmers with dyslexia use those sorts of fonts.
| https://opendyslexic.org/
|
| Furthermore, has anyone with dyslexia attempted to use a
| screen reader the same way that people with vision
| impairments do?
| endofreach wrote:
| Never heard of OpenDyslexic. Thanks for your input.
|
| Curious to hear from some dyslexic programmers on here
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(page generated 2021-12-11 23:01 UTC)