You know, I generally agree with your sentiment, but the OP wrote the comment without casting aspersions and without blaming anyone.
It was a bit terse, I agree, but it is a legitimately noteworthy fact that so few female authors are on the list. Noteworthy if you think it's because YC is biased, noteworthy if you think it's because so few female authors wrote meaningful books this year, noteworthy if you think it's because female authors aren't publicized as much.
(It could also, of course, just be a random thing that happened this year, but I still think OP had a right to point this out).
It's definitely not that there are too few female authors. There are lots of female authors, and they're well publicized.
Rather, I think the issue is that with just a few exceptions, this is exactly the book list you'd expect from a cohort of 25-35 year old startup founders --- batteries, Elon Musk, data science, the energy industry, The Martian (really?), and business history. These are topics with, let's just say, a particular demographic concentration.
I physically winced when I saw the Wodehouse recommendation.
Some possible recommendations, if we're going to stick with "relevant to HN readers":
* Annie Jacobson's DARPA book, The Pentagon's Brain
* the Brene Brown book on mentally overcoming adversity, which might complement Nonviolent Communication (and might also be a more humane recommendation than David Brooks)
* Between You And Me (more writing books, please! Also maybe Mary Karr's book on memoirs, though I haven't read it and am not a Karr fan)
> There are lots of female authors, and they're well publicized [...] this is exactly the book list you'd expect from a cohort of 25-35 year old startup founders
If you look at any 'best books of the year' lists though, most of them are written by men, even though most people in the publishing industry are women.
I suspect it's partly because if you look at the gender gap in reading preferences, women tend to read and write more books in winner-take-all areas. E.g. if you want to learn something about foreign policy then you might need one specific book out of the thousands that get written each year, but if you want to read a novel about relationships then there's not much reason to go beyond the best couple dozen of the year.
It was a bit terse, I agree, but it is a legitimately noteworthy fact that so few female authors are on the list. Noteworthy if you think it's because YC is biased, noteworthy if you think it's because so few female authors wrote meaningful books this year, noteworthy if you think it's because female authors aren't publicized as much.
(It could also, of course, just be a random thing that happened this year, but I still think OP had a right to point this out).