Ask HN: Which book have you read, but do not recommend?
We have regular threads about the best books, but I'm interested in books that disappointed you, despite being famous/often talked about.
Zen and the art or motorcycle maintenance: That was just plain boring. I felt like falling asleep on 400 pages
I had my suspicions, but I was not sure. Thanks for saving my time :)
Its core concepts can be distilled to 5-10 bullet points, and some of the original edition didn't age well (do you still use a rolodex?). The edition I have was updated to be a bit more general regarding tooling.
I'll put it in the same camp as some books on lean/agile software development: If you haven't learned it yet, they're useful reads. If you have, it may give you a better vocabulary to discuss it with others or think about it for yourself. But if you've already learned it (or other approaches), the value of the time spent reading versus the gain may not be worth it.
Thanks for the advice :D
It reads like one of those late-nite TV ads they used to have for get rich quick scams.
For language he gives you like 6 sentences to learn about grammar to get familiar with sentence framing and frequency lists and that's that.
What i did find him good for was finding people, books and experts to use as a starting point for my own research. I did find Tools of Titan more interesting, but i still think it qualifies as productivity porn. I barely remember one single thing that i've imbibed into my daily life that i already didn't come across from trial and error.
Utopia Is Creepy by Nicholas Carr - this one I haven't read. Probably the only non-fiction book I couldn't bring myself to finish. Super chaotic, I don't know about the other 2/3, but it seemed to literally be random blog posts compiled into a book. And given the book's premise, it just felt too hypocritical.
Coelho's books are like pornography. It may give a glimpse to febrile teenagers into the world of sex, but easily mislead these teenagers into thinking: "So I guess this is what sex is like in real life". They may spend a lifetime stuck on that kind of content. Think of all the readers we have lost to that shitty style. It's fascinating, but you could say: "Where does the sun go when it sets and what does it owe to the wolves? No one knows, but the wolves howl in the dark and, my friend Karkadan, the moon notices." and stick a Paulo Coelho to it and nobody will be the wiser.
The guy ships product, though.
Ofcourse there's a target audience of liberal, atheists. Since i think his simple dismissing of God, the orthodox religious people might find objectionable.
It motivated me to get things done ... right in the middle of the book and I never finished it. That was years ago.
A better books is: "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy"