What are your favorite non-programming books?

Comments

[Tariq Ali]

Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a sci-fi dystopian novel about automation and the existential angst associated with it, from the perspective of engineers. I like this book the most, because this is the novel that I wanted to write...a story about how people deal with increasing amounts of automation in their day-to-day life.

Galápagos, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a novel about humanity slowly recovering from a dystopian 1980s. While it is technically a happier story, the plot has humanity reach near-extinction levels and slowly mutate into an unrecognizable form.

Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. both deals with total warfare. Slaughterhouse-Five focuses on predestination issues while Cat's Cradle satirizes the arms race associated with the Cold War.

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad is a novel about imperialism, colonialism, and civilization (of the lack thereof), set in the Congo Free State.

There's probably other non-programming books out there that are useful, but I haven't read them yet. For example, somebody recommended The Sirens of Titan (by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.) as a better novel than Player Piano, but I haven't read The Sirens of Titan, so I can't say whether I like it or not.

[Wilson Campusano Jorge]

The Dip. learn when to quit

[Aymeric A]

Amin Maalouf
Le Dérèglement du monde

[Anton Frattaroli]

Alice in Quantumland.

Nausea.

[Srikanth A V]

I don't read many books, sadly (something I plan to change this year).

I really liked Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance.

[Rayy Benhin]

The Rosie Project
The Defining Decade - Why your twenty somethings matter
Sydney Sheldon novels (Nothing lasts forever, Memories of Midnight)
John Grisham novels (The Client, Pelican Brief, The Racketeer, The Testament are ones I really enjoyed)
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

[Baptiste Coulange]

"Audition" by Michael Shurtleff, "The famed broadway and hollywood casting director reveals everything an actor needs to know to get the part".

So right now you must be asking yourself "Why should I read a book about how to succeed in an audition for a play when I'm a programmer?"

This is a fanstastic book about theater and so about human relationships. At first level you'll be surprised how an audition is close to an interview and how Shurtleff advices can be useful for us all. Next you'll see relations, intentions and stories in a all new way.

Since I read this book, I can't stop recommending it...

[Ben Halpern]

Cool! Never would have thought to read Audition. I wish it was available on Audible.

[Baptiste Coulange]

At least it's available on Kindle. On Audible it would be such a hard work to do but for sure it can be awesome :)

[Anurag Mathur ]

My Gita - Devdutt Patnaik -- Allows me to interpret the book of Gita in the way I want to and correlate with it. Keeps me calm and grounded.

[#benaryorg]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams of course. From the first to the sixth and seventh book of the four parted trilogy of five. It's about life the universe and everything. You'll figure it all out while reading. I would suggest these books to everyone.

Then there is the trilogy consisting of Epic, Saga, and Edda, written by Conor Kostick. It's pretty much about people who crash landed on a foreign planet who've built a society forbidding violence in any way. They achieve this by handling any conflicts within Epic, a video game.

[Ricardo Funk]

One Hundred Years of Solitude, the story of seven generations of the Buendía Family in the town of Macondo. The founding patriarch of Macondo, José Arcadio Buendía, and Úrsula Iguarán, his wife (and first cousin), leave Riohacha, Colombia, to find a better life and a new home. One night of their emigration journey, while camping on a riverbank, José Arcadio Buendía dreams of "Macondo", a city of mirrors that reflected the world in and about it. Upon awakening, he decides to establish Macondo at the river side; after days of wandering the jungle, José Arcadio Buendía's founding of Macondo is utopic.[3]

[Isaac Diamond]

{Norwegian Wood, The Windup Bird Chronicle} - Haruki Murakami

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

Man's Search For Meaning - Viktor Frankel

[Ben Halpern]

I recently really enjoyed The Rosie Project.

Also, The Victorian Internet (not about the Internet we know today!) was fascinating.

All of Michael Lewis' books are captivating as well.

✌️

[Yechiel Kalmenson]

If I was stuck reading only one book for the rest of my life, I would like it to be Hofstadter's Godel Escher Bach.

First time I read it I was in a daze for the few weeks it took me (it's by no means an easy read).

I've since read it a few times and every time I discover something I didn't notice before.

[Massimo Artizzu]

Isaac Asimov's short stories and novels: pure genius.

[Jamie Phelps]

"Sleights of Mind". As an amateur magician with a fascination in psychology and perception, this book hit all my high notes. The authors talk about various phenomena of perception such as attention, depth perception, etc in the context of some classic magical effects, including, yes, telling the secrets of those effects. All this with a through narrative of the authors preparing to audition for membership in The Magic Castle.