Ask HN: What books got you curious and inspired about fields other than CS?

For example, in my case I got interested in: - Design when I read “The Design of Everyday Things” and “Design for the Real World”

- Cognitive psychology when I read “Thinking Fast and Slow”

- Computers & Education when I read “Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas”

Would love to know about the books that got you inspired and curious about other fields :)

15 points | by ahmedbaracat 1383 days ago

11 comments

  • oseityphelysiol 1383 days ago
    Probably known to most people, but "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond turned me on to a lot of things. The work covers many topics, including history, geography, evolution, giving a very wide view, which serves as a good starting point to start exploring some of these topics deeper.
  • routerl 1383 days ago
    Ages ago, "Gödel, Escher, and Bach" turned me from a kid who liked computers into someone very into music, math, philosophy, and literature. It does a great job of showing the reader the joy of playing with abstract concepts across several fields, including writing.
  • Phithagoras 1382 days ago
    - Yakov Perelman's "Physics for entertainment" was fun, and repeating an experiment at work once almost got me fired

    - "Made to stick" by Chip and Dan Heath

    - "The Dissapearing Spoon" got me curious about chemistry

    -"Uncle Tungsten" by Oliver Sacks got me started on the rest of his books, taking my fascination in chemistry and nudging it towards medicine, neurology and psychology.

    - "The Social Animal" and "Influence" showed me more about psychology

    - Borrowing a copy of the classic textbook Gray's Anatomy while recuperating from a serious accident showed me how fascinating the human body is

  • phyalow 1383 days ago
    https://www.amazon.com/More-Money-Than-God-Relations/dp/0143...
  • type0 1383 days ago
    - Structural engineering -

    "Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down"

    J.E. Gordon

    - Rocket engineering and history -

    "Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants"

    John Drury Clark

  • Gnarl 1382 days ago
    "The Body Electric" & "Cross Currents" by Dr. Robert O. Becker got me into health effects of wireless radiation exposures.

    "The undercover economist" by Tim Harford got me interested in economics.

    "Rules for Radicals" by Saul Alinsky on community organizing.

  • I_complete_me 1383 days ago
    The Wild Trees by Richard Preston about climbing Giant Redwood trees in California. It started my own tree climbing which I learnt entirely from YouTube and some falls. In the book the author describes making love in a hammock high in the trees. Hell, what could be better than that?
  • StrangeDoctor 1383 days ago
    innovator's dilemma Got me interested in the science of running technical businesses.
  • debt5000 1382 days ago
    Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad
  • entha_saava 1383 days ago
    Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman
  • ffggtgf 1383 days ago
    limitless mind rusell targ