Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 256 posts

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#101

Post by senderista »

damontal wrote: post #98
tbonesteaks wrote: post #70

My favorites I read this year in order: - Prayer of Owen Meany, it’s the basis of the movie Simon Birch if you have seen that. The book has so much more going on though - My Antonia, wonderful characters - Jude the Obscure, the cover tells you the ending is shocking, and the cover is right! - How the Irish Saved Civilization, really fun and interesting

I read Jude the Obscure recently after seeing it on the bookshelf of a character in the HBO show Westworld. It was a very controversial book in its day because of its portrayal of marriage. I found it pretty bleak and yes shocking. It made me want to do a deep dive into Hardy’s other works though.

When I finished that book in college I literally couldn’t get out of bed for two days. I have never been so devastated by a work of fiction.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#103

Post by alibova »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #26

As parents we wanted to be one of the better ones. A while back, we started with Bringing up Bébé , and since then learnt How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk ; we were even Prepared while Reviving Ophelia . This year , we realized, we want to just settle on being A Good Enough Parent . 1. https://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Up-Bébé-Discovers-Parenting/... 2. https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Kids-W…

Loved How to talk so kids will listen

Also a fan of

Our babies ourselves - https://www.amazon.com/Our-Babies-Ourselves-Biology-Culture/...

Hunt, Gather, Parent - https://www.amazon.com/Our-Babies-Ourselves-Biology-Culture/...

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#104

Post by unmole »

jargnar wrote: post #80
Wolfenstein98k wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A non-economist makes economic claims that just so happen to reflect the political views of his political contemporaries, but it is the job of anyone who disagrees to cite an entire body of literature, reviewed to a high but unspecified standard?

I'd totally agree with you had Graeber not been an influential anthropologist (wherein one academically studies human activity, culture, trade, economics, social structures, institutions etc. from a rigorous historical lens)

Your demand would have made sense if Debt was a peer-reviewed scholarly work and not a political screed aimed at a lay readership.

But then again, there is enough nonsense in there than can be picked apart without being a domain expert. For example, Graeber claims Adam Smith's famous "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest" thesis is wrong because shopkeepers of the time mostly sold goods on credit and thus the customers were in fact depending on their benevolence. This blithe conflation of credit with benevolence should evoke laughter from anyone who is even remotely familiar with how businesses are run.

And dunking on Smith is how Graeber builds his grand neo-liberal economics conspiracy theory.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#105

Post by Brajeshwar »

throwawayosa wrote: post #53
Brajeshwar wrote: post #26

As parents we wanted to be one of the better ones. A while back, we started with Bringing up Bébé , and since then learnt How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk ; we were even Prepared while Reviving Ophelia . This year , we realized, we want to just settle on being A Good Enough Parent . 1. https://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Up-Bébé-Discovers-Parenting/... 2. https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Kids-W…

Which one of these did you like the most?

I have read many parenting books, and those listed above are the ones I believe others parents should read through. However, if you want to pick just one, you might want to settle on the Good Enough Parents. It is a fun read.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#106

Post by unmole »

specialist wrote: post #94
unmole wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber Graeber misinterprets the history and ideas of mainstream economics, calls the safest securities on the planet a debt that will never be paid and spins bizarre conspiracy theories about the Iraq invasion. You might learn about the quaint cultural practices of remote tribes but a lot of the ideas presented are complete nonsense. You might say it has good and original parts…

As suggested by its title, "Debt" is an anthropology book about the history of debt. And by extension the origins of money. Not economics. Adam Smith and his contemporaries hypothesized that barter proceeded money. Modern economics textbooks and pundits continue to repeat this misbelief. Academics even admit the tale is often repeated as form of short hand narrative. Charlemagne was quaint?

Too bad that the book about debt and how it became intertwined with our culture and morality relies on a spurious conflation of basic terms. Adam Smith wrote a whole book on The Theory of Moral Sentiments but the beliefs that Graeber choses to ascribe to him are invented whole cloth.

And for a book written by an anthropologist, the picture of China we get is a culture existentialist caricature.

> Charlemagne was quaint?

At least as quaint as Sher Shah Suri.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#107

Post by duped »

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue.

(in terms of genre, I guess you'd call it urban fantasy, kind of, but it's really more of a classic fable - in structure, not in story - told in an original way)

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#110

Post by culi »

sien wrote: post #91
jargnar wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Graeber misinterprets the history and ideas of mainstream economics Can you provide a well researched body of literature that counters Graeber’s thesis as opposed to just stating an opinion?

Brad De Long - a left leaning professor of economics has written extensive, quality take downs of Graeber. Search for him and Graeber. Here is one. https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2014/11/monday-smackdown-in-t... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Bradford_DeLong

Oof not someone else that fell for Brad de Long's bs.

Here's the ceremonial link for whenever this crap is linked:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17164707

Post reply on HN