What’s the best thing about an old-fashioned British detective story? What does a book about Buddhist emptiness have in common with a book about computer science?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel could tell you. Based in Burma, he’s a computer programmer at Shortform. We interviewed him recently to learn a bit about his relationship with books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Daniel reads everything from computer code to detective stories, and from Reddit to Nietzsche. Let’s dive into what he loves about all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can probably give a favorite book in each genre or category. Finding a favorite book overall is really hard because it’s not comparing apples to apples. I mean, if there’s a really good book about beekeeping and another really good book about 14th-century Islamic philosophy, on what reasonable basis can we even compare them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, if I give my favorite book for each category, I’ll be here all day. So, trying my best and ignoring how many truly great books scream for the title, I narrow it down to two current favorites: Seeing That Frees<\/em> by Robert Burbea and Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs<\/em> by Gerald Jay Sussman and Hal Abelson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The topics of those two are pretty far apart\u2014Buddhist emptiness and computer science, respectively\u2014but they have two things in common:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have two in progress\u2014very slowly, I’m afraid:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Dead or alive”? I don’t want any dead authors coming over for dinner. There’d be no time for discussing the finer points of their work, as I’d be too preoccupied with driving the silver stake through their heart or whatever you’re supposed to do with zombies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More seriously, I really don’t need the dinner party, as I’m already sufficiently grateful for their existing bodies of work. Perhaps I’m just not a dinner party person. But, honestly, I don’t see a need for getting up close and personal with anyone’s eating habits. The point is the ideas, and authors by definition have already written the ideas they wanted to write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like a good old-fashioned British detective story. The plot has to at least try to make some sense, of course, but I think it’s more about the aesthetic than anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m also a sucker for the wise old man\/wizard\/genius trope, so anything that has a Dumbledore, Gandalf, Dr. Strange, Poirot, L, Laozi, or Buddha<\/a> in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anything found in an average airport bookstore tends to be dreadful. Lots of self-help. Terrible financial, business, and health advice. Celebrity bios. Shortform is actually really good because we tend to have summaries of the books in those genres that are actually decent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I’m not super into high literature either\u2014writers writing for the sake of impressing other writers. I feel like you really have to be part of the club in order to know how to appreciate it. It reminds me a bit of how architects sometimes seem to want to design buildings that look the silliest rather than ones that are nicest to live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, cloth hardcovers are the undisputed king. Though, in practice, a majority of my reading time is on my laptop these days, which I’m OK with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May everyone find the book that would best help them right now! I like to think that such a book exists! But, because we all come from different backgrounds and have different needs and viewpoints, it’s not liable to be the same book for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joy I found in Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs<\/em>, mentioned above as a favorite, is something I would love to share with everyone. But, realistically, if not everyone wants to be a computer scientist, then that’s just fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve already mentioned Burbea and Sussman for their pedagogy and sense of beauty. Let’s add Bill Bryson and Terry Pratchett for their humor and Nietzsche because the cocky bugger had a way with words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I want to add Ellis Peters, Charlotte Bront\u00eb, Georgette Heyer, Rodney Brooks, Chris Crawford, and Douglas Hofstadter, purely because these names bring back wonderful memories of things that I read when I was younger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have less time and patience for fiction now. I think I got started mostly on fiction when I was young\u2014though I always liked “science books,” too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m also reading more short\u2014if not outright disjointed\u2014things these days. Between documentation and memos for work\u2014and Reddit or Hacker News comments to satisfy the news craving\u2014it’s likely that I read more non-books than books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also spend more time reading code, which, while we rightly use the word “reading,” is a very different and less linear experience than reading prose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have memories from when I was very young of my mother reading novels before I knew how to, and she would occasionally let out the biggest laughs. This conditioned me to think of reading as a fun activity that I wanted to do even before I knew any words. So, in a way, we can say that whatever she was reading at that time was what sparked my love of reading!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Knowing her tastes, it must’ve been either a Regency romance or a British whodunnit. Those are genres that I also picked up later when I was able.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let there be no guilt over any kind of reading!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Girt<\/em>, which I’m reading now, is absolutely full of interesting tidbits that would answer this question well enough, but damned if I can remember anything right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m not sure whether or not I can actually recommend it as a book. It’s written a bit strangely, and reading it\u2014especially if you read it earnestly and don’t just think that the author is deluded or lying\u2014feels like having a fever dream. But Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha<\/em> kicked me into a meditation<\/a> habit, so I owe it for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s highly personal and difficult to explain, but reading The Gateless Gate<\/em> as a teenager helped solved a psychological problem and a case of chronic night terrors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thinking Forth<\/em> influenced my programming style quite a bit, away from heavy abstraction and towards simpler, tighter, more linear code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do any of those count?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe that everything we take in influences us to a certain extent, even if it’s just subconscious. So, for example, it’s better to avoid advertisements because they mess with your mind even if you know they mess with your mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, I’ve never had much luck in picking up things from self-help books, if that’s what you mean. “Use this six-point note-taking plan,” “sleep twice a day,” “take cold showers,” etc. No matter how good they make it sound, that kind of advice never sticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.\u201c (From the preface to the first edition of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a boring answer, but The Lord of the Rings<\/em> movies are just really pretty good\u2014the lack of Tom Bombadil notwithstanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hogfather<\/em>, The Colour of Magic,<\/em> and Going Postal<\/em> take a certain amount of liberty with the source material. But, in my opinion, they nonetheless do great justice to the overall voice, the sense of whimsy, and the author’s wit\u2014which makes sense, as Terry Pratchett was heavily involved in them, I think!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I see at least four possible reasons to read something:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Point 1 is almost self-evident; we want to know what’s true so that we can better act in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Point 2 is based on the idea that all models are wrong, but some are useful. For example, in electronic engineering, there’s the idea of an ideal op-amp. Such a thing is impossible to actually build. But, unlike with physically constructible op-amps, it’s easy to calculate their behavior. And, so long as we stay within certain limits, it gives reasonably close approximations. So, for that reason, we study them. Much how-to knowledge or methodology is also in this category. We actually don’t really need to find “the fundamentally best and ultimately true” Black Forest cake recipe; we just need a recipe book that kind of works so that we can get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Point 3 applies especially to political works. Unless you’re a hermit in a cave on the mountain, it’s useful to know what the opposition thinks and to be able to sensibly converse about popular topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Point 4 shouldn’t be dismissed as just money-grubbing. Information that just isn’t doing it for us right now might nonetheless be exactly and precisely what someone else needs to hear right now in order to improve their life or improve as a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost all books that we have to work with would surely fall under at least one of those four points. If we spent 100% of our time in an environment where we disagreed with everything, that would be very tiring. But that should fortunately not be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our summary of Tao Te Ching<\/a><\/em> is written in a way that clashes with my own interpretation, but that made it more interesting than if I just agreed with it because it gave me new viewpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask me again in 10 years when I’ve gone through it all!<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat are you reading these days?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
If you could have a dinner party with any three authors\u2014dead or alive\u2014who would they be and why?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
What’s your favorite genre? Why does it intrigue you?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Are there any book genres or tropes that you dislike or refuse to read?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
What’s your favorite way to read a book?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
What book do you think everyone should read in their lifetime?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Who are your favorite authors?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
How have your reading tastes changed over the years?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Was there a specific book that sparked your love of reading?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Do you have any guilty-pleasure books?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
What’s an interesting fact that you learned from a book recently?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Have any books you\u2019ve read caused you to make any life changes or to develop any habits?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s your favorite quote from a book or an author?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
What are your favorite book adaptations<\/strong> and why?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
How do you go about reading a book that contains viewpoints you don’t agree with?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Are there any books you had to read for Shortform that you thought you wouldn\u2019t like and ended up loving?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
What are your favorite books in the Shortform library and why?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Daniel’s Recommended Reading List<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Religion\/Spirituality\/Meditation<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Programming\/Computer Science<\/h5>\n\n\n\n