John Adams
In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, often irascible, always honest Yankee patriot who spared nothing in his zeal for the American Revolution; who rose to become the second President of the United States and saved the country from blundering into an unnecessary war; who was learned beyond all but a few and regarded by some as "out of his senses"; and whose marriage to the wise and valiant Abigail Adams is one of the moving love stories in American history. This is history on a grand scale -- a book about politics and war and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, John Adams is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.
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What Hacker News says
- I often synthesize this as: to write, is to think.
It derives from David McCullough's quote, "Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard."
In order to arrange the right words in the right sequence to convey the right message, you're required to organize your thinking, and also consider how it might be consumed.
To bring it back home, I suppose the same could be said of writing code.
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As an aside, McCullough wrote my favorite biography, John Adams.
- As an American, I highly recommend "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James Loewen.
And since you are reading 1776 then you might also like "John Adams" by David McCullough.
- Sociology: - The Coddling of the American Mind - The Tao of Pooh - Guns, Germs, and Steel - Weapons of the Weak
Religious:
- Guru Granth Sahib - Bible (King James Version) - Q’uran - The Book of Mormon - Tipitaka
Fantasy:
- Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw - The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - The Way of Kings series by Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn also by Brandon Sanderson - Red Rising by Pierce Brown - The Licanius trilogy by James Islington - Saga of the Forgotten Warrior series by Larry Correia
Biography - John Adams by David McCullough
- Anything by Bill Bryson, but especially “At Home” and “One Summer: America, 1927”. Both are brilliant.
“John Adams” by David McCullough. Possibly the best historical bio ever.
“The Making of the Atomic Bomb” by Richard Rhodes. The best recounting of the founding of Los Alamos.
“Hackers” by Steven Levy. The best book on the birth of creatine coding.
“The Soul of a New Machine” by Tracy Kidder. The best tale of hardware design I know.
“Masters of Doom” by David Kushner. The best book on the early days of gaming, esp. about Carmack and Romero.
Anything by Eric Raymond, esp. “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”.
- His Excellency, by Joseph J. Ellis, is very good. I strongly recommend it. Founding Brothers, by Ellis, is also very good (and short).
David McCullough has several tremendous US history books, including John Adams, 1776, The Wright Brothers, The Path Between the Seas.
- How can there be 71 comments and not one mention of G. K. Chesterton? Go out, right now, and check out The Everlasting Man and Orthodoxy from your local library.
I would also throw out there Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford, as something to inspire makers & engineers without being a technical book. If you like history, David McCullough's biography John Adams is a masterpiece (also see 1776 by the same author).
I can't think of anything else that hasn't already been mentioned.
