Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective by Ken Stanley and Joel Lehman. This book was a fascinating read for anyone with ambitious objectives (or an interest in optimization algorithms). Ken is such a deep thinker, I love when he's on podcasts or gets interviewed, and reading his book was a real treat.
Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
191–200 of 264 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#192Reading it right now, but I already think it's the test thing: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals I was (and still am) obsessed with productivity. But I more and more my tasks had felt like something I needed to get done, to afterwards finally be able to relax and profit from them. But this time never came and I just got busier. The book does a great job at explaining how much of our daily grind is base…
I also recommend his mailing list, "The Imperfectionist". He only sends out an essay maybe once a month but they aren't posted anywhere so you have to subscribe.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#193Sex Versus Survival: The Life and Ideas of Sabina Spielrein by John Launer.
What Is a Minor Literature? by Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
Project Hail Mary was such a fun read. I burned through it in 2 days, and was sad when I finished it. 10/10 would recommend
If you enjoyed PHM, you might also like: - For a more horror take, "There's no Antimemetic Division" https://qntm.org/scp . Without spoiling, it's about people trying to fight against a threat that's impossible to remember about. - Ted Chiang's "Understand". Again without spoiling too much, it's about a man whose intelligence rapidly increased. - Harry Potter and Methods of Rationality. Yeah, I'm serious, if you like…
Everything by Qntm that I've read has been great. Incredibly imaginative. I recommend Ra and Fine Structure in addition to the Antimemetics stuff.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#195Meditations - 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.
Which means we need it that much more.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#196Rabbit Test by Samantha Mills [0] is the heavily researched, hard sci-fi that retains its close intimacy on the impact on regular people that I think science fiction should be going towards. It's realistic, heavy-hitting, and doesn't bullshit on the politics involved. https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/rabbit-test/
Ok, that story alone is a reason to get back into short stories. Great stuff.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#197Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.
Might be worthwhile to read this after Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel. While not a formal trilogy, there are a lot of connections and quite honestly they are each totally amazing. Last Night in Montreal, by the same author, is also great, and totally different from the above three.
I read Station Eleven after Sea of Tranquility, and I really liked the connection in that direction. So I don't think the ordering is so important.
Really looking forward to reading The Glass Hotel as well! Emily St. John Mandel may be my new favorite author.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#198Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#199I realize this isn't really the intent of the question, but I read "The Count of Monte Cristo" this year for the first time and it's now my favorite book. It's a classic that I just had never bothered with and the story sucked me in. The redemption, revenge, scheming, secrecy. It was phenomenal.
It's been so many years than my memory of it is pretty vague, but I remember loving this book.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?
#200Injustice by Brad Nelsen
Fascinating execution on a fun sci fi idea: intergalactic prison from the inside. Delightful and creative character development and a cathartic conclusion!