Comment by cbdevidal
18 hours ago
Beats my worst interview. For some reason I mentioned that I like reading. The guy then demanded to list the last ten books I read. I just named ten random books that I had read at some point in my life, even in childhood. Pretty bizarre. Glad I didn’t get that job.
Asking you to name a book or two to continue the conversation is fine, but 10 is ridiculous. That interviewer literally pulled the "oh you like _____ band?! name 5 of their albums" meme on you.
Asking for a list of 10 is a pretty specific version of a natural conversational follow up "what have you read lately?" Sounds like a coder with bad social skills. Like a bad sitcom where I could totally see a Sheldon asking that as a response
The little bit I knew about the guy, coder with bad social skills does seem to be a fit.
I can imagine getting myself into a similar fix. I'd like to think I'd calmly clarify that while I enjoy it I don't get through as many as quickly as I'd like; I'm currently reading blah, and previously blah and blah, but I can't recall the last ten.
Because they're presumably just trying to call bullshit, since it can sound like such an easy probably oft-recomended 'hobby' to say you have, so it's 'oh yeah well what have you actually read recently then', not actually 'I now therefore expect you to have perfect recall over your read catalogue'.
I got "tell me what you're passionate about" last time, and I'm curious what a bad reply would be, because I showed them a silly comic I drew on my phone. Apparently that was fine.
A pattern I’ve noticed on high performing teams is that individuals were or are excellent at something, anything. I suppose that could be an interview question, but people may not want to share their competitive barbershop quartet videos with a stranger.
“Passionate? Jethro Tull should be in the rock and roll hall of fame.”
I mean, what's the cutoff for something like that. The last book you read seems innocent enough. The last 3? No red flag yet... 10 though is kind of a lot.
I couldn’t even tell you the last ten I’d read recently, and I thoroughly enjoy reading.
I'm not sure I could name ten books, period.
Honestly asking for any specific number is a deeply weird and off-putting question to ask.
"Actually, I just pulled up your goodreads profile, and it looks like your eighth-most recent book was 50 shades of grey. In addition to having a faulty memory, you're reading work-inappropriate material. Finally, you read that in 2021, so clearly you don't care about reading /that/ much. Dismissed!"
I just said I enjoy it, not that I do it often.
"Mein Kampf, ten times."
I would go by something like:
"The industrial society and its future" - Theodor Kaczinski.
"The communist manifesto" - Karl Marx.
"Rules for Radicals" - Saul Alinsky
"Hitler's War" - David Irving
"The Souls of Black Folk" - W.E.B. Du Bois
"Capital in the Twenty-First Century" - Tom Pickety
"Las venas abiertas da America Latina" - Eduardo Galeano
"The question of Palestine" - Edward Said.
"Grapes of Wrath" - John Steinbeck.
"The conquest of Bread" - Kropotkin
"Problems of Leninism" - Josef Stalin
If adventurous, I'd cite another one I've read that should not be mentioned amongst educated XXI century folks, as they think reading a book means you agree with the author.
Not the last 10 books I've read, but books I've read along my life and that would maybe make the guy think twice before considering making me an offer.
Non zero chance you make a friend by citing the list! Or you get the boot. Especially when the Atlas Shrugged reading startup founder is deciding.
Oh, read this one too.
The funny thing is that I consider myself pretty much a conservative. But I am a small c Conservative, I distrust big corporations, big military, imperialism, and as a catholic, I abhor social darwinism. Of course I want my moral values to be the values of the society where I live in, but I prefer a world where this happens by evangelization, persuasion instead of cohercion.
I believe in private property, but I also believe that ultimatelly we are all children of God, so all us should partake in the world God has given to us, and everyone of us should have a job that give us dignity and purpose, access health care, health foods, a roof over our heads, a warm and inclusive community and a lot of second chances.
People who are excited about these ideas are prone to be communist enjoyers. Which in practice is a braindead path, as demonstrated by countless examples.