The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900 by David Edgerton (2006)
Why read old books to understand technology? Because they come for a different world-view and make very different assumptions about the direction that things are going—because they have only the context of their past, and can’t fit it to the usual narratives about WWII and post-war economic and industrial history. “The books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them.”
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy From Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh
I haven’t re-read it in years, but this is the book that got me interested in computer science (and later reading The Art of Unix Programming on a hike got me into software engineering).
I’d also recommend Quantum Computing Since Democritus by Scott Aaronson as the single best introduction to quantum computing from someone who actually knows how it works and what it can’t do.
Disagree—it’s a good book, but you’re better off reading the linked review and then James C. Scott’s Two Cheers for Anarchism instead.
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A colorful author, but there’s plenty to learn from his books. If you can read more than one, I’d suggest Fooled by Randomness and then Antifragile instead (the preceeding and following books; between them they cover almost all of The Black Swan).
On the mathematical end it’s also worth skimming through his Statistical Consequences of Fat Tails. Pair with Gwern’s statistical notes, and if you’re going to do it properly Judea Pearl’s Causality and E.T. Jaynes’ Probability Theory: The Logic of Science.
Fiction
Arthur C. Clarke: Rendezvous with Rama
Greg Egan: everything; but to start with the short stories In the Ruins, Oceanic, and TAP are excellent.
The Art of Unix Programming helped me get into software engineering too—especially Chapter 2. Jason Crawford has written up his highlights from the Carnegie book. I replaced The Black Swan with your recommendations.
You are right about Seeing Like A State. I have removed Seeing Like A State from the list. The Secret of Our Success belongs with Seeing Like A State.
Why read old books to understand technology? Because they come for a different world-view and make very different assumptions about the direction that things are going—because they have only the context of their past, and can’t fit it to the usual narratives about WWII and post-war economic and industrial history.
Nonfiction
For tech history—it’s worth knowing how modern industrial civilisation arose! - I’d recommend
Lewis Mumford’s Technics and Civilisation (1934)
The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (1920)
My Life & Work—An Autobiography of Henry Ford (1922)
The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900 by David Edgerton (2006)
Why read old books to understand technology? Because they come for a different world-view and make very different assumptions about the direction that things are going—because they have only the context of their past, and can’t fit it to the usual narratives about WWII and post-war economic and industrial history. “The books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them.”
I haven’t re-read it in years, but this is the book that got me interested in computer science (and later reading The Art of Unix Programming on a hike got me into software engineering).
I’d also recommend Quantum Computing Since Democritus by Scott Aaronson as the single best introduction to quantum computing from someone who actually knows how it works and what it can’t do.
Disagree—it’s a good book, but you’re better off reading the linked review and then James C. Scott’s Two Cheers for Anarchism instead.
A colorful author, but there’s plenty to learn from his books. If you can read more than one, I’d suggest Fooled by Randomness and then Antifragile instead (the preceeding and following books; between them they cover almost all of The Black Swan).
On the mathematical end it’s also worth skimming through his Statistical Consequences of Fat Tails. Pair with Gwern’s statistical notes, and if you’re going to do it properly Judea Pearl’s Causality and E.T. Jaynes’ Probability Theory: The Logic of Science.
Fiction
Arthur C. Clarke: Rendezvous with Rama
Greg Egan: everything; but to start with the short stories In the Ruins, Oceanic, and TAP are excellent.
Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series (or everything). Easily my personal most-important fiction.
The Art of Unix Programming helped me get into software engineering too—especially Chapter 2. Jason Crawford has written up his highlights from the Carnegie book. I replaced The Black Swan with your recommendations.
You are right about Seeing Like A State. I have removed Seeing Like A State from the list. The Secret of Our Success belongs with Seeing Like A State.
Yep!