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Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?

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Re: Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?

#101

Post by alexpotato »

Ender's Game and the "side-quel" Ender's Shadow.

Every single time I've reread either I've found some part of the book that resonates precisely with a situation I'm going through in my life. Even parts I thought didn't apply to me at the time, upon rereading struck a chord.

For example, when I was younger, I identified with Ender but as I've gotten older, I identify more with the adults in the book. Especially now that I have children.

On a side note, the 25th anniversary edition has an introduction that has some gems all of it's own. Notably, there is a line where Card mentions something along the lines of: when I was a child, I never thought of myself as being less of a person than an adult. I just thought of myself as a smaller adult person.

That has always stayed with me since I read it and have always tried to apply that mental model of childhood to any interaction I have with children. It has been particularly impactful now that I have my own children.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?

#105

Post by hackermailman »

alexpotato wrote: post #100
phaus wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extreme ownership is a great book with lots of sound advice. However, I don't find the approach flawless at all. These guys had the benefit of being leaders in an organization that is set up to rapidly show you the door if you under-perform. Furthermore, everyone that's on a SEAL team desperately wants to be there. To some extent, extreme ownership falls apart in a regular, non-combat focused military unit and also i…

Disclaimer: I have no military experience. Your points on the lessons he mention are very valid. The particular part of the book that matched your description of "this might not work for non SEALs" was when Jocko described how he took full responsibility for a near friendly fire incident. He goes on to say that he earned a lot of respect for being the type of leader that would take accountability. He points out, IIRC…

The most frustrating thing about reading that book is when you encounter management that break all the advice in there, like manufacturing nonstop excuses whenever you bring a work problem to them 'well nobody told me about it...everybody had consensus this was what we were going to do so collectively we all share blame'. After reading you can no longer tolerate this leadership style whereas before I just accepted their answers assuming that's how it worked.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?

#107

Post by raztogt21 »

xamuel wrote: post #11

The Bible (technically working on my 2nd cover-to-cover readthrough, but have read individual books in it many times, especially the Gospel of Matthew). All of Kafka's novels, but especially "The Castle". Several of PKD's novels: "The Man in the High Castle", "Through a Scanner Darkly", "Ubiq" "The Silmarillion" (when I was a young adult) Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency" (when I was a teenage…

Don't you feel The Man in the High Castle could be so much better? The premise was great and the context was great, but I could never relate to the main story.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?

#108

Post by raztogt21 »

humanistbot wrote: post #31

Dune by Frank Herbert. This is a book I first read as a young teenager, but every time I re-read it every few years at a somewhat different point in my life, I get a different sense of it, maybe more based on where I am in my life and what is going on in the world. That for me is what makes a book endlessly re-readable: you always find something new in it. It is packed with all kinds of references and allegories to s…

Just finished Dune last month, that book was on another level. Ahead of its time.

Re: Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?

#110

Post by xamuel »

raztogt21 wrote: post #107
xamuel wrote: post #11

The Bible (technically working on my 2nd cover-to-cover readthrough, but have read individual books in it many times, especially the Gospel of Matthew). All of Kafka's novels, but especially "The Castle". Several of PKD's novels: "The Man in the High Castle", "Through a Scanner Darkly", "Ubiq" "The Silmarillion" (when I was a young adult) Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency" (when I was a teenage…

Don't you feel The Man in the High Castle could be so much better? The premise was great and the context was great, but I could never relate to the main story.

How would you improve Man in the High Castle? Like many PKD books it presents a premise which seems, naively, like a veritable paper mill that you could churn out endless books from--and then barely goes anywhere with it. That's part of PKD's style. Yes, the High Castle universe could be made to churn out whole series of formulaic literature, but it would be just that, formulaic. Go write it yourself--you don't need PKD to write it for you, once he's given you the premise.

It's like Kafka said. If you try to make a river too large, it will overflow and you'll end up with mud. There's a certain size at which a river is just right, and any more just detracts from it.

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