Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software is a wonderful book explaining how computers work. I’ve read the section on Computer Architecture in Gödel Escher Bach, but that did not stay in my mind. This book, however, explains how computers work from the most basic level; it starts with circuits and builds up! I have not finished it, but I’m over halfway and Petzold has built up a machine with memory and a calculator function, which can load items from memory and perform operations upon them.
At times it is a bit difficult to follow, but I think it has been written, overall, very well. I really have found it a fascinating book. Highly recommended.
I’ve been reading lately The dictator’s handbook, which despite the name, is an analysis of politics in terms of game theory. Although the tone is a bit sarcastic, it’s very interesting and quite eye-opening to see how absurd situations arise in the context of politics when you mix rationality and self-interest.
Read Tyler Cowen’s The Great Stagnation last week. It’s not massively insightful if you’re already familiar with the thesis, but it is a very short read, and fruitfully referenced.
Working my way through Torture and the Law of Proof. It’s an account of the role of torture in European justice systems going back to medieval times. It starts at the end of the older system of trial by battle/ordeal where God would (presumably) decide the case and looks at the start of evidence-based trials.
It’s interesting to see how torture “naturally” arose because the standards of evidence were so high—you couldn’t be convicted except on the testimony of two witnesses or your own confession (note that a similar proviso is found in the US Constitution regarding treason). They came up with the idea of a half-proof, where a single witness or circumstantial evidence could be used to gain judicial permission to apply torture. The author notes that legal scholars of the day were very well aware of the possibility of false confessions and looks at the various methods used to attempt to minimize this and why they failed.
The main drawback for me is that the writing can be rather dry and academic.
Nonfiction Books Thread
Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software is a wonderful book explaining how computers work. I’ve read the section on Computer Architecture in Gödel Escher Bach, but that did not stay in my mind. This book, however, explains how computers work from the most basic level; it starts with circuits and builds up! I have not finished it, but I’m over halfway and Petzold has built up a machine with memory and a calculator function, which can load items from memory and perform operations upon them.
At times it is a bit difficult to follow, but I think it has been written, overall, very well. I really have found it a fascinating book. Highly recommended.
Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll have to check it out.
I’ve been reading lately The dictator’s handbook, which despite the name, is an analysis of politics in terms of game theory.
Although the tone is a bit sarcastic, it’s very interesting and quite eye-opening to see how absurd situations arise in the context of politics when you mix rationality and self-interest.
Read Tyler Cowen’s The Great Stagnation last week. It’s not massively insightful if you’re already familiar with the thesis, but it is a very short read, and fruitfully referenced.
Working my way through Torture and the Law of Proof. It’s an account of the role of torture in European justice systems going back to medieval times. It starts at the end of the older system of trial by battle/ordeal where God would (presumably) decide the case and looks at the start of evidence-based trials.
It’s interesting to see how torture “naturally” arose because the standards of evidence were so high—you couldn’t be convicted except on the testimony of two witnesses or your own confession (note that a similar proviso is found in the US Constitution regarding treason). They came up with the idea of a half-proof, where a single witness or circumstantial evidence could be used to gain judicial permission to apply torture. The author notes that legal scholars of the day were very well aware of the possibility of false confessions and looks at the various methods used to attempt to minimize this and why they failed.
The main drawback for me is that the writing can be rather dry and academic.
Sorel’s Reflections on Violence (review)