Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?

"When We Cease to Understand the World" was fascinating historical fiction, which felt more like fiction because the stories were so out there and well-written. Many times I looked up the wikipedia entry on some character or event, only to discover that some of the more bizarre and out-there parts of the story that I had assumed were fiction were actually fact.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4462913650

The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe.

Absolutely astounding, the best book I've read in my life. Gene Wolfe has become my favorite author ever. Each time I reread the book I discover a million things I didn't notice before.

Another drop in this bucket.

I read it once and took some notes. Haven't looked back on either the source nor my notes (until now!), but the book came to me at a time when I was dealing with a lot of inner-organizational bureaucracy on a small-scale, but was utterly frustrating.

The book gave me new frameworks, and was reco'd to me from someone within the org who I was confiding in on the top-level. But ultimately, the frameworks weren't enough to change necessary structures – because those in power and with influence didn't want to change their attitudes, goals, and approaches.

As "negative" as that sounds, the book helped in part for me to understand the four major buckets for how decisions get made:

• command, from on high to everyone below you who must carry out the orders

• consult, to invite input but still one leadership board/ leader makes the final call

• vote, where majority decides what'll happen after being presented with options

• consensus, where a decision is made only after everyone agrees

These frameworks helped me to understand that whatever was causing obstructions/ friction, was because people in power were presenting things as if they were based on consultations leading to majority votes, but ultimately, there was a lot of game-playing from the top leaders who wanted to use those tactics as cover to ultimately have their own way.

Helped me to accept that things were the way they were, and there was no need to exert unnecessary energy. And from then on, to discern first and foremost what the decision-making dynamics are in any group endeavor, be it small-teams or entire orgs, and to go from there.

Very cool stuff, for me at least.

There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm [1]:

An antimeme is an idea with self-censoring properties; an idea which, by its intrinsic nature, discourages or prevents people from spreading it. Antimemes are real. Think of any piece of information which you wouldn't share with anybody, like passwords, taboos and dirty secrets. Or any piece of information which would be difficult to share even if you tried: complex equations, very boring passages of text, large blocks of random numbers, and dreams...

But anomalous antimemes are another matter entirely. How do you contain something you can't record or remember? How do you fight a war against an enemy with effortless, perfect camouflage, when you can never even know that you're at war? Welcome to the Antimemetics Division. No, this is not your first day

[1] https://a.co/d/hqdu0We

"So good they can't ignore you" - the book has a contrarian viewpoint on how you don't look seek out the field that you are most passionate about, but rather you work at getting good at something and the passion finds you. Makes so much sense!

"Do hard things" - title is self- explanatory, real growth happens under pressure.

"The Snowball" - this is such an important book - not just great financial advice, but also filled with life advice from the sage of Omaha. It's over 1000 pages long, but it's so honest.