I'd like to know which books HN read in 2017. Which of these would you recommend? Which of these surprised you, because they are not the usual suspects.
Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
1–10 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#2Fiction? I started contributing to https://standardebooks.org/ and discovered Gogol’s Dead Souls and Strindberg’s The Red Room in the process as new favourite classics.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#3Update: added a few lines about the books than just a name listing
From the ones I read in 2017, I would highly recommend (non-IT):
1. The hidden life of trees- Peter Wohlleben Why forest trees are different than the ones you plant, how the communicate, how they care for their friends when they are not well, how mother trees protect their young ones by not letting them grow too fast, the fungi network, etc. The book is very easy to read- there is no scientific terminology overload. Things are told very simply. Not restricted to students of the subject. Learned something interesting every couple of pages. Another aspect is that the love shows. It is very clear that the author is in love with the subject. The author manages a wild forest in Germany and talks mainly about trees in terms of beeches, firs, oaks, etc. The author is politely insistent that we should protect the natural wild forests and let them be.
2. Why the allies won- Richard Overy Probably the best book I read on WW2. So many more factors went into winning the war than actual fight. Probably appealed to my analytical mind.
3. India After Gandhi- Ramachandra Guha As the author says history ends for many Indians with freedom. Very good chronicles. Started appreciating Nehru more.
4. Re-read Gone With The Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, the Godfather and a few P.G Wodehouse- all of which I like.
Currently, halfway through Stephen Fry's Mythos which seems good enough to recommend. I am pretty new to the Greek Mythology and he is a good story teller. Don't have much to compare it with, though.
Also, by choice, I read quite a few books in rural Marathi(an Indian regional language) and was surprised how good the story telling was. Also noticed that I had gone quite far from my mother tongue but was happy to see how easy it was to go back.
Please answer my similar question https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15960188
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#4Fiction? I started contributing to https://standardebooks.org/ and discovered Gogol’s Dead Souls and Strindberg’s The Red Room in the process as new favourite classics.
Thanks for this link. Didn't even know something like this exist :).
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#5At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails
It's an amazing book on philosophy, history, and much more. It felt very relevant to current times. The philosophers in question lived around and through WWII and it examines how their ideas came about before and after as well.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25658482-at-the-existent...
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#61. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
It's a fun read, and got me inspired to run my first ultra marathon.
2. Alone on the Wall
Inspiring stories about this amazing rock climber Alex Honnold, as told by himself and one other experienced climber. You get a little insight into what makes him tick.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#7My daughter just had her first novels (a young adult trilogy) published a few weeks ago. Even though it is not really my genre I read it and enjoyed it. Of course I am biased....
Dysfunctional Series: Books 1-3 (Origins, Dark Imagination, A Mighty Long Fall)
By McKenzie Rae
https://www.amazon.com/Dysfunctional-Books-Origins-Imaginati...
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#81. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
2. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
3. The Loyal: The Story of Atwood and the Second Civil War (disclosure - my father wrote this book)
4. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
5. Grit
I thoroughly enjoyed all of these. It was interesting to see how Grit and The Power of Habit played off each other.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#91. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) 3. The Loyal: The Story of Atwood and the Second Civil War (disclosure - my father wrote this book) 4. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business 5. Grit I thoroughly enjoyed all of these. It was interesting to see how Grit and The Power of Habit played off each other.
Would you care to add a few lines about Sapiens? Plan to read it. But only tentatively.
Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?
#10A few of the best were:
What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly. A really profound and interesting look into what technology is. Technology evolves through the same sort of Darwinian process that life evolves. Technology is in some sense alive, and Kelly's perspective on it is wonderfully refreshing. I also read his book Out of Control, which is fantastic.
Sapiens by Yuval Harari. Enough people are talking about this one that I don't have to say much, suffice it to say it's a fascinating look into human history a la Guns, Germs, and Steel.
The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom. If you're a fan of Harari you'll love this one. It's an alternative scientific look at evil, and how evil appears to be encoded into our species.
Hyperspace by Michio Kaku. Kaku is an amazing popular science writer bar none and this is his exploration of modern physics and string theory. The most concise and understandable explanation of modern physics I've read, which is part for the course with Kaku.
Red Queen by Matt Ridley. A fascinating look at sex, and why the human sex drive, and therefore human nature, is the way it is.