Ask HN: Best books read in 2022? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#141

Post by Tenoke » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:00 AM UTC

wraptile wrote: post #121

"How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question" by Michael Schur is my favorite read of the year. It's an introduction to the philosophy of ethics through real-life examples and anecdotes by the creator of The Good Place TV show (the audio book even features the shows actors). Unlike most of philosphy stuff you can actually finish it in couple of days and feel like you learned a whole lot! In particul…

While I liked the show, given the basic level of the explanations of ethics systems as well as the caricature portrayal the philosopher, I find it hard to believe their book is an exceptional option for learning more.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#142

Post by kqr » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:01 AM UTC

At first I was going to say "there are too many good ones and I can't pick out a favourite." But then I looked at the list and there is one clear favourite among many very good ones: Performance Modeling and Design of Computer Systems.

Queueing theory is probably one of the most useful subjects of all time, for just about any human. This book teaches it in a way that made it extremely easy for me to grok.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#143

Post by matthewfelgate » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:09 AM UTC

  Winter Is Coming by Garry Kasparov

Gave me knowledge about modern Russia.

  Prisoners of Geography

Because it explains how physical geography affects the economic success of countries.

  The Accidental Superpower by Peter Zeihan

Because it has good opinion on geopolitics.

  Carl Sagan’s Contact

Great book on theoretically communicating with aliens)

  The Art of the Long View by Peter Schwartz

Because it have me advice on how to predict the future.

  China Coup by Roger Garside

Because it is an interesting opinion on future problems China may have.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#144

Post by jnsaff2 » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:14 AM UTC

wraptile wrote: post #121

"How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question" by Michael Schur is my favorite read of the year. It's an introduction to the philosophy of ethics through real-life examples and anecdotes by the creator of The Good Place TV show (the audio book even features the shows actors). Unlike most of philosphy stuff you can actually finish it in couple of days and feel like you learned a whole lot! In particul…

Did the book manage to NOT spend most of it's volume on the trolley problem?

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#145

Post by mttpgn » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:14 AM UTC

Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Kundera uniquely combines fiction and philosophy, often switching back and forth from a world of suspended disbelief in the lives of his characters, and a world where his characters only serve as overt mythological illustrations of Nitzchean, Paramenidean, or other philosophical ideas.

I name it the best book I read in 2022 because of the ways the author prompts his readers to hunt for meaning. It's a book that reminds one to ask philosophical questions of meaning amid the pleasures, the ambiguities, and the tumult of ordinary life.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#146

Post by ssijak » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:14 AM UTC

Triangle9349 wrote: post #132

not released this year, but quite new: Bobiverse Series by Dennis Taylor https://www.goodreads.com/series/192752-bobiverse Project Hail Mary by Weir Andy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-ma...

The first bobiverse book was cool and unique, others were just juicing the same thing with no real plot twists and great ideas

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#147

Post by jnsaff2 » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:16 AM UTC

chadk wrote: post #122

sien wrote: post #96

How the World Really Works by Vaclac Smil is one of the best book I've read this year. It gives such a great perspective on how much energy and material we use. It's one of the most readable books by Smil and has gems like this : “Moreover, within a lifetime of people born just after the Second World War the rate had more than tripled, from about 10 to 34 GJ/capita between 1950 and 2020. Translating the last rate int…

+1 to How Asia Works!

From me as well. Tho the title can be quite misleading. It's more: how to build a prosperous economy and how not to.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#148

Post by mejutoco » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:20 AM UTC

Wolfenstein98k wrote: post #72

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?

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 would expect at least one specific example.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#149

Post by ssijak » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:24 AM UTC

theRealMe wrote: post #17

daVe23hu wrote: post #3

Quoted post unavailable.

I’ll preface this by saying that I have no problems with fauci and so I’m definitely not the target market for this book. I wonder, though, what would make a person want to read a book about someone that they hate? I can’t imagine a more useless use of my time than that. Even if the book was true (which I highly doubt given some of the other notable books by the same author “Profiles of the Vaccine injured”, “A lette…

"what would make a person want to read a book about someone that they hate"

I would/am reading history books about Hitler, Stalin, etc. You want to understand how something so atrocious can happen and how such people can rule over so many, not just rule, and how so many would follow them and love them. It is pretty valuable to try to understand that.

Re: Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?

#150

Post by Jach » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 10:25 AM UTC

Finally got around to The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson (https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Brain-Hidden-Motives-Everyda...), I think it's my favorite this year. It's a fun psychology/sociology book and gives a pretty convincing explanation for some seeming puzzles across several areas of human behavior and policy. It's also fun to explicitly introspect my own motives from the assumption that some things I've done or planning to do are a lot more for self-serving reasons than I like to admit.

On the fiction side from this year that I'd recommend, I reread Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion and read Unfinished Tales for the first time, all were great. I've read Tolkien as a kid, a teen, and now an adult, enjoyed him each time but I think I got even more out of some things this time around. I also liked Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, and in the last month or so I read two enjoyable tearjerkers: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, and Still Alice by Lisa Genova.