Always with Honor (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55807906)
Memoir from the leader of the White Army during the Bolshevik revolution. Sparked an interest in Russian history for me.
Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
101–110 of 264 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#102The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman
So simple and clear. I listen to it once or twice a year.
How to Fight a Hydra by Josh Kaufman A heroes story about doing hard things.
Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday I didn't actually finish this one. I just go back to it for about 20-30 minutes every time I need a boost. I save it for when I feel overwhelmed and it snaps me right out of it.
Clean Code, the Clean Coder, and Clean Architecture by Robert C Martin Amazing. I am better for reading these.
Venture Deals by Brad Feld Saved me a lot of time and heartache
The Metaverse by Matthew Ball The first real definition of the Metaverse I've ever heard. Loved it.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#103Meditations - Marcus Aurelius. This year and every year. It is kind of a stereotype though of tech dudes to be into stoicism, but whatever, this book really just puts me in such a good frame of mind any time I open it.
> kind of a stereotype though of tech dudes to be into stoicism
I like this book but completely disagree with your stereotype. In fact, I find the tech dude stereotype to lack perspective, resort easily to anger and personalization, stew in thought, and accuse others for their suffering.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#104I finally got around to reading The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, which was pretty great. Also the Richard Burton movie (read the book first).
Best paper, easily:
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#105The Rustonomicon (WIP) made Rust things click in a way that really benefitted me: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nomicon/ Definitely in the running! I'd also recommend "The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work": https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/papers/moral-en.pdf
Yeah 2022 was the year in which rust transitioned (to me) from "frustrating waste of time language" to "wait a minute, the standard library is really good, the tools are really good, I could probably make useful software with this".
Though curious why a book describing unsafe rust made rust click for you?
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#106The two recent books by Madeline Miller, "Circe" and "The Song of Achilles"
"Crossroads" Jonathan Franzen
"Agassi" Andre Agassi - I don't normally read sports memoirs, but this one came highly recommended by a woman author that I have read recently so I gave it a try. As a tennis fan who pretty much alway routed for the other player when he played (except when he played Pete Sampras), I found the book totally engaging. Highly recommended.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#107The Once and Future King, by T.H. White. The Sword in the Stone is probably my favorite Disney movie so I was delighted to discover the movie was based on a book which was even better.
It's a super book. Remember the first meeting of Arthur and Merlin, when Merlin says "how long since we met?" and then has a tear in his eye?
He also wrote The Goshawk which I can recommend.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#108Fiction: Gideon the Ninth - which was both funnier than expected, given it's about necromancers, and also a great view of how very technical discussions appear from the outside Non fiction: Probably "Becoming Trader Joe" really shows how business decisions are path very situational and path dependent. i.e. the whole store brand schtick of Trader Joe's started because of alcohol regulations
Gideon the Ninth was hilarious. Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy and Martha Wells' Murderbot series have a similar mix of great storytelling and snark.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#109For some reason "Who We Are and How We Got Here" (David Reich on early human history via DNA) was just a delight, to have so many open questions be slammed shut. "The Need to be Whole", from Wendell Berry, is deeply thought-provoking in a sort of spiritual-political way, though far too long for how much it has to say, and questionable at times.
I couldn't finish the Reich book. He knows so much but I thought it was very badly written - long sentences winding out of control.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#110quick shout-out to https://literal.club/ as a hopeful successor of GoodReads, which has been in a state of disrepair if not abandonware for several years now. Literal is a terrific product and I hope it gains traction. as for my own entries… - Lapvonia by Moshfegh and Hollow by Catling are both sort of magical-realism set in medieval European villages, which would normally be considered "fantasy" but I assure you are…
quick shout-out to https://literal.club/ as a hopeful successor of GoodReads
Before I sign up: does it do 'people who liked this book also liked...' ? And/or are the recommendations based on previous books I put in there myself ok?