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Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

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Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#121

Post by nopassrecover »

mdemare wrote: post #69
fogus wrote: post #44

Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut. I've read a ton of books in my life, but for some reason never took the plunge into Vonnegut. I was utterly awe struck by this book. I think every person has a small list of things that they wish that they had created (well, the ability to create them that is). Breakfast of Champions immediately found its way onto my list. The only problem is that such a book makes me embarrassed t…

http://www.amazon.com/Breakfast-Champions-Novel-Kurt-Vonnegu...

OT: Why was the Amazon link downvoted? Isn't it generally accepted practice to include an Amazon link, or post one if the OP forgot?

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#122

Post by snth »

makmanalp wrote: post #53

It's a tie between Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. Naked Economics was a brilliant overview of economics in that it explains all the concepts behind economics without being utterly boring (like all the other texts I've attempted to read) and has real life examples for each and every thing. Lots of revelations of how incentives work together and / or clash at times to creat…

Predictably Irrational was okay; the experiments were the best part. I was annoyed that the author made many conclusions beyond the support of his evidence though.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#123

Post by mkramlich »

Benjo wrote: post #90
daeken wrote: post #76

"A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin: http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-Song-Fire-Book/dp/0553381... GRRM manages to create an alternate world that feels real, where characters have flaws, nothing is black and white, and the good guys don't always (or even frequently) win. By far the best book (and series) I've ever read.

Be forewarned. If you don't deal with cliffhangers well, it may be better for your mental health to wait for the series to be finished. The author is thoroughly committed to the quality of the series, no matter how long it takes. At the current rate it will probably be a decade before the final three books are finished. On the other hand there is an HBO series in the works that looks to be very high quality.

I came to a similar realization but unfortunately not until 5 or so books into the Wheel of Time series. I think I found myself reading a 10+ page section in which several women were doing their hair and gossiping about the men in their lives and realized (based on that scene plus some other trends I started seeing in previous books) that the series had jumped the shark and the author was now just trying to pump up the page count and make the series run as long as possible, to milk it. Thankfully I got out well before he blew past what was originally intended to be the "final" book in the series, which of course was not.

I read the first one or two Game of Thrones books, thought they were awesome, and much much higher quality level than what Wheel of Tome became, but, alas, by then I had too much fantasy/medieval/magic fatigue and put them down. I will likely pick them up again.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#124

Post by aik »

edw519 wrote: post #77

_Do More Faster_ by Techstars founders Brad Feld and David Cohen (Apologies to OP's request for brevity; there's just a lot of good stuff that I'd like to share.) A must read for anyone here who is serious about their startup. I read it on the flight to Startup School to "get in the mood". I couldn't put it down. It's easy to read for 2 reasons: every chapter is a short essay by a different person (including many Tec…

I wonder how many of these books you just caused to sell. I'm sold myself! Thanks for the quotes and review. Very motivating. Let me quote you.

>Sometimes someone says the same thing a little differently, and that's the one that actually reaches you.

Beautiful! and true.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#125

Post by mg74 »

Cosmos by John North.

This book is just threatening to be a masterpiece. An overview of mans scientific ideas about the stars and the planets and the cosmos in general from before Ptolemy to Einstein and modern times. Absolutely epic in scope. This book is to the history of astronomy like "The Prize" is to the history of oil, only bigger.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#126

Post by aik »

elptacek wrote: post #45

"Switch" by Chip and Dan Heath. Website here: http://heathbrothers.com/switch/ . I don't tend to go out of my way for self-help type books, which this may or may not be. The authors leverage a lot of research and rhetoric that was already familiar, plus some that was not. It was pleasing to learn some new vocabulary, such as "Fundamental Attribution Error" and "Ego Depletion." Since my kids were born, it has been ver…

Very interesting. I haven't read the book, but is the only reason you see some of the manipulations as "positive" because you are an authority figure to your children and you know "what is best for them"? At what stage is the manipulating a detriment to their development? Would you call it brainwashing? Building structures within their mind without them realizing (at the current time anyway)?

Am I misunderstanding here? I am seriously wondering and hoping that I am. I am still struggling with realizing what I believe in certain circumstances and I wonder if it's partly due to manipulation.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#127

Post by cstuder »

aaronblohowiak wrote: post #75
GeneralMaximus wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must say I'm not enjoying Foundation and Empire as much as the original Foundation . Foundation had me pausing every few pages to think, but I found the second book lacking in those viewpoint-altering ideas. Anyway, I'm only halfway through the second one. I hope it gets better towards the end.

Frankly, the second was the weakest of the three.

Frankly, after the first three, it starts going downhill very fast. I stopped reading after Foundation's Edge.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#128

Post by arethuza »

huhtenberg wrote: post #116
smutticus wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read all of his novels and must say I am an Ian M Banks addict. I've read some of his fiction as well which he publishes under Ian Banks. My favorite is The Use of Weapons. I liked Surface Detail but I do think you should read the Culture novels in the order they were written. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series

Have you read Peter Hamilton? Specifically, the Commonwealth Saga. Banks is good, but I find his universes are to be sketchy and sometimes fairly shallow and not well-thought through (e.g. the one in the Algebraist). Hamilton is as creative as Banks, when it comes to the concepts, but he really delivers on the depth and complexity of the story lines and the actual execution. If you haven't read him, do it. If you hav…

I've read Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy and the Commonwealth Saga - the latter is much better but still suffers a lot, in my view, from poor characterization - something that Banks can be very good at (his bad guys can occasionally come from central casting though).

Banks is in a different class from Hamilton - in general I think the quality of his work has dropped off a bit but some of his earlier writing is exceptional: Use of Weapons is particularly strong.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#129

Post by aik »

Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin.

Fascinating book about the mental activity/game at peak performance, and transferring skills from old disciplines to new ones. This book helped me realize the value of interdisciplinary studies in my own personal studies and work.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why

#130

Post by relic17 »

brown9-2 wrote: post #57
ramidarigaz wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my top five books. I've read it so many times that the binding broke and the book is now in three pieces. I'm amazed that James Clavell managed to capture the culture so well.

Would you recommend any of his followup books? I'm worried that stories with different characters, time periods etc won't have the same feel.

Clavell's whole Asian Saga (Shogun, Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, King Rat, Noble House, and Whirlwind) is amazing. My favorite is Tai-Pan - the book had a tremendous impact on me, and I'd imagine it would appeal to every real entrepreneur. The underlying themes are freedom, individualism, honor, risk-taking, and ultimately, building something and defending it.
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