Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023 • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#111

Post by Georgelemental » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

yawz wrote: post #31

My best nonfiction read was The 1619 Project. It's a heavy read, but I highly recommend it. The runner up would be Christian Livermore's We Are Not OK. Best fiction read was Tim Winton's Breath or (there's probably some recency bias at play here) Sebastian de Castel's Traitor's Blade. I also read a few comic books. I love the East of West series (at least the first three books).

"The 1619 project" purports to demonstrate that the primary motivation behind the American Revolution was to preserve slavery in the 13 colonies. But this conclusion is false, not supported by the evidece. And, interestingly, some of the best rebuttals of it were published by the World Socialist Web Site, a Trotskyist publication:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/06/1619-s06.html

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/14/mcph-n14.html

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/28/wood-n28.html

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#112

Post by rcarr » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 5:57 PM UTC

cableshaft wrote: post #105

rcarr wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might be wrong but I think I remember reading that the book is meant to be a love letter to the Italian city Venice and that all the “cities” are actually just describing Venice from different perspectives. Edit: Just had a quick look at the Wikipedia page. > In one key exchange in the middle of the book, Kublai prods Polo to tell him of the one city he has never mentioned directly—his hometown. Polo's response: "E…

Yeah, I was trying not to spoil that, but that's what I meant when I said "(or is it? one passage suggests maybe that's not the case)". That was interesting to think about when I got to that point, but wasn't enough for me.

Ah fair enough. I think I went into the book knowing that already so I enjoyed it. I think I’d either recently visited Venice or went shortly after reading the book so it resonated with me. I think if I was going into the book expecting a standard novel then I would be disappointed.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#113

Post by Georgelemental » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 6:04 PM UTC

sidmitra wrote: post #69

yawz wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow! Immediately downvoted, on the topic of books?!? I wonder which one triggered such a negative reaction.

I don't know why you were downvoted, but your comment made me google some of the books to see if there's something to the recommendations. I don't know what the 1619 project is; but the first few google links are all adverts like > What Is The 1619 Project? - The 1619 Project And Socialism > 1619 Project Debunked - What parents should know. So i assume there's a certain section that disagrees with the book so much th…

American conservatives (myself included) generally dislike the book, for its incorrect account of the motives behind the American Revolution. But interestingly, many old-school economic leftists also disagree with it, as by incorrectly chalking up every historical injustice to "white supremacy", it obscures the economic forces that were the real driving factors. Some of the best rebuttals were published by the World Socialist Web Site, which is Trotskyist.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#114

Post by omoikane » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 6:31 PM UTC

"What if? 2" by Randall Munroe is a great sequel to the first "What if?", especially the index.

Also, "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir as many others have mentioned. I enjoyed the scale and interleaved timeline in this book, the only bit it's slightly lacking is the humor found in "The Martian".

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#115

Post by burger_moon » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 6:37 PM UTC

This was a big reading year for myself, I got through 25 books. They are not technical books like most listed here. I focused on reading memoirs, literature, fiction stories, primarily women authors. I didn’t read any bad books in my opinion, I guess I picked well.

Standouts,

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata

Lakota Woman - Mary Crow Dog

Beautiful Country: A Memoir of An Undocumented Childhood - Qian Julie Wang

Gather Around in My Name - Maya Angelou

The entire autobiographical series by Maya is a must read imo, but this one is my favorite. Maybe also my favorite book I read this year.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#116

Post by martinlillebo » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 6:37 PM UTC

Some of my favourites this year:

On The Clock by Emily Guendelsberger - Gave me a glimpse into how it is to work at Amazon, McDonalds and Convergys. Though the subject is not the most positive. her style of writing is quite funny, and the combination worked well.

Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series. He drops you into the middle of his universe without explaining it all at once, and he's very eager about explaining all the new technology he's dreamed up. He also makes sure the books are written so that they could all have been a standalone title. Depending on what you've read before, things he mentions will often remain a "mystery" until you find the answer later in the series, or in one of the standalone short stories.

Maus av Art Spiegelman - Graphical novel about being a Jewish WW2 concentration camp prisoner. Highly recommended.

Flowers for Algernon by David Keyes. From 1959, I liked it a lot. About a mentally handicapped man who receives a surgery that gradually turns him into the smartest man alive. Lots of focus on how empathy, humility and respect has to go alongside pure knowledge. And also that mentally handicapped are people too.

Gateway by Frederik Pohl - Sci-fi from the 70s. Quite good. A comet is discovered, full of million-year old ships pre-programmed for roundtrip flights to unknown destinations.

Next year I'd like to look more into Haruki Murakami's books. The one I've read was slow to get started, but I liked it a lot in the end. It had some things in common with regular sci-fi, but he seems to lean more towards the dreamy/odd/artsy side of things than what I'm used to.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#117

Post by robsun » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 6:44 PM UTC

Out of 36 books I read this year, these 4 positions have the biggest impact on my life:

The gene: an intimate history by Siddhartha Mukherjee - fascinating book about genes and medicine. Author explains ~150 years of experiments and findings in genetic science without going into technical details.

The child in you by Stefanie Stahl - it is one of the most important books I ever read. This book helped me understand myself, discover and overcome some of my traumas.

Nonviolent communication: a language of life by Marshall Rosenberg - very good handbook for improving your communication skills.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - when I think of this book word "charming" comes to my mind.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#118

Post by goethes_kind » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 6:48 PM UTC

lapcat wrote: post #33

goethes_kind wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shame. I was drawn by the story after reading the summary, until the part where, she fell in love with a married man. I don't know what people find romantic about this nonsense and I hate this stupid trend. Why cannot romantic stories be nice and uncomplicated instead of always involving some stupid love triangle or people cheating on their partners?

> Why cannot romantic stories be nice and uncomplicated Maybe that doesn't make an interesting book?

I meant like past romantic novels, where the couple are in love and their love is "simple", but they both have to overcome some trouble together (poverty, family illness, migration, war, separation due to work, ...etc). That makes for a love story that I enjoy reading. I guess I'm too traditionally minded. I honestly think romance is dead, or at least so different from the past that it is unrecognizable to me. Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong century.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#119

Post by clydethefrog » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 6:51 PM UTC

joyeuse6701 wrote: post #94

1. Breathe - James Nestor I was a lifelong nighttime mouth breather due to a very dry winter climate growing up in Chicago, clogged up my sinuses. The book inspired me to look into solutions for this problem and now wake up with considerably less brain fog than I did before. 2. War and Peace / Anna Karenina - I wanted some sort of insight into Russian Imperialism and was surprised by how much my father was like some…

Interesting list.

What was your solution for nighttime mouth breathing?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#120

Post by goethes_kind » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 6:53 PM UTC

lapcat wrote: post #54

OJFord wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's certainly possible to have 'happier' complications though, I think GP has a point. As one might enjoy crime drama, but not gratuitous violence, say.

> I think GP has a point "I don't know what people find romantic about this nonsense" It's fine to have different literary preferences than some other people. As you say, "one might enjoy crime drama, but not gratuitous violence". But to question the literary preferences of other people is an entirely different matter. "I hate this stupid trend." It's not a trend. Writers have been writing about love triangles and ma…

I think romance as a genre has changed though. Today's romance is multiple people being involved in some weird interplay between each other and that is the main focus of the story. Whereas romance from a century ago is more about two people fighting against adversity to be together or to remain together.