The Game, by Neil Strauss.
Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
11–20 of 29 posts
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#12I don't tend to read biz books, but recently I've read a ton of great Russian texts. The Master & Margarita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita Goethe's Faust & the story of Pontius Pilate retold in 1930s Russia. Really, I mean really damn good. Very readable. Books 1 & 2 of The Gulag Archipelago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago An expansive history of the Soviet prison camp system…
Petersburg is exactly what I wanted to read once school ends. All this CS and math work makes me want to just discorporate myself into a ridiculous, subjective work.
Which translation would you recommend?
Also, if you enjoyed the darker parts of The Master and Margarita, I highly recommend Blaise Cendras' Moravagine (http://www.amazon.com/Moravagine-York-Review-Books-Classics/...).
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#13Old Man's War - John Scalzi
I'll put this in the recently read rather than great science fiction thread:
Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#14I just re-read the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Always makes me laugh and is a great read.
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#15Jonathan Haidt's "The Righteous Mind" was terrific.
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#16I don't tend to read biz books, but recently I've read a ton of great Russian texts. The Master & Margarita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita Goethe's Faust & the story of Pontius Pilate retold in 1930s Russia. Really, I mean really damn good. Very readable. Books 1 & 2 of The Gulag Archipelago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago An expansive history of the Soviet prison camp system…
Petersburg is exactly what I wanted to read once school ends. All this CS and math work makes me want to just discorporate myself into a ridiculous, subjective work. Which translation would you recommend? Also, if you enjoyed the darker parts of The Master and Margarita, I highly recommend Blaise Cendras' Moravagine ( http://www.amazon.com/Moravagine-York-Review-Books-Classics/... ).
This Maguire & Malmstad translation is what I read:
http://www.amazon.com/Petersburg-Andrei-Bely/dp/0253202191
And I found it pretty tolerable. The footnotes are in the back (I think?) which kind of stinks for your first read. Unless you're a serious student of Petersburg history, the footnotes are requisite for understanding half of the nuance. Bely is doing all these tricks shifting the geography of the city and playing off places and events, and that's lost to the modern reader without help. I'm eager to read it again without paying attention to the notes though.
I'll take a look at Moravagine, it looks great. It's in line after Volume 3 of Gulag A. and Orlando Figes's history of the Russian revolutions. I need more context for all this pre-WWI stuff!
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#17Short story collection:
This is not your city, by Caitlin Horrocks
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Is-Not-Your-City/dp/1932511911)
"The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson - he's really good journalist and writes well. This is an interesting read about the newish "psychopaths everywhere" meme.
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#18Old Man's War - John Scalzi
I'll put this in the recently read rather than great science fiction thread: Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson
I find Robopocalypse silly, and not just the title.
SPOILER
It seems to me that, despite how the turn of events are explained, we'd have no..none, zero, chance at winning that war.
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#19Practical Irrationality - Dan Ariely It changed the way I think about pricing, among other things, forever. He makes some wild conclusions then backs them up with scientific experiments. Its a fun read to boot.
I think you meant Predictably Irrational. I haven't heard of Practical Irrationality.
Re: Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?
#20I recently reread Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses.
I was prompted to do so by another book discussion. Not his best book - I think Blood Meridian and The Road are better - but McCarthy is a great writer.
For nerd non-fiction, I just read Jim Lovell's Lost Moon which though not a great book, is a good solid book about greatness.