Ask HN: What should I read next? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#21

Post by grantc » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 6:47 PM UTC

cainxinth wrote: post #9

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. Recently got around to finally reading it. I know Snow Crash is considered his best sci-fi novel (and it’s amazing, too), but I think I liked this one even better. Snow Crash is funny and weird and action packed, but its light-hearted tone diffuses the tension. The Diamond Age, by contrast, had a lot of hair-raising moments and characters I was really invested in.

I like that Snow Crash doesn't take itself too seriously. Reamde was also a not too heavy Stephenson read.

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#22

Post by herculity275 » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 6:48 PM UTC

jvanderbot wrote: post #20

cainxinth wrote: post #9

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. Recently got around to finally reading it. I know Snow Crash is considered his best sci-fi novel (and it’s amazing, too), but I think I liked this one even better. Snow Crash is funny and weird and action packed, but its light-hearted tone diffuses the tension. The Diamond Age, by contrast, had a lot of hair-raising moments and characters I was really invested in.

I know I'm on the outside here, but I think Snow Crash is dumb, campy and cartoony. Diamond Age and Anathem are far better.

Its campiness and cartooniness are very much intentional - nobody names their main character Hiro Protagonist without some very deliberate stylistic choices.

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#23

Post by DylanSp » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 6:50 PM UTC

Shattered Sword, by Anthony P. Tully and Jonathan Parshall. An in-depth analysis of the battle of Midway, primarily from the Japanese perspective, covering everything from the organizational culture of the IJN and its impact on Japanese doctrine and planning to the minute-by-minute events of the battle.

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#24

Post by w0m » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 7:00 PM UTC

sandreas wrote: post #15

Fantasy: Patrick Rothfuss - Kingkiller Chronicles Naomi Novik - Scholomance Michael J. Sullivan - Riyria Ilona Andrews - many books Caution: Be aware that the last book of the Kingkiller Chronicles "the doors of stone" is not out yet and may never happen[1], so although it is one of the greatest fantasy books of all time (in my opinion), it's kind of unsatisfying after part 2 :-) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/c…

Re: Kingkiller Chronicles

I'll second it probably the best Fantasy I've read. The sequal is still solid.

<3 Pat but I wouldn't expect the series to be finished at this point.

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#25

Post by hot_gril » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 7:12 PM UTC

1. The Aeneid 2. Romans

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#26

Post by 0xJRS » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 7:16 PM UTC

billfruit wrote: post #19

The Count of Monte Cristo, it is over 1300+ pages in the English translation I read, and it is fun and interesting read, almost every single page of it.

I love TCMC, its my favorite story, but I enjoy reading the abridged version more. I find that every time I read the unabridged I end up feeling like it was slightly too long.

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#27

Post by throwawaysalome » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 7:27 PM UTC

0xJRS wrote: post #26

billfruit wrote: post #19

The Count of Monte Cristo, it is over 1300+ pages in the English translation I read, and it is fun and interesting read, almost every single page of it.

I love TCMC, its my favorite story, but I enjoy reading the abridged version more. I find that every time I read the unabridged I end up feeling like it was slightly too long.

Your love be real. I can't imagine reading TCMC more than once, and you've read the abridged at least once, and the unabridged at least twice.

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#28

Post by mindracer » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 7:46 PM UTC

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is excellent

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#29

Post by hot_gril » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 7:47 PM UTC

serjester wrote: post #18

Personally I’m a sucker for a beat-the-odds survival story and 438 days is in a tier of it’s own. It takes a special kind of human to survive in the open ocean for over a year. With no exaggeration, everyone I’ve recommended it to finished it the same day they started it.

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933) is one of those. Supposedly was passed around Jewish ghettos during WW2.

Re: Ask HN: What should I read next?

#30

Post by warrenm » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 8:26 PM UTC

Stealth of Nations

Nudge

Thinking Fast and Slow

Without Remorse

Cuckoo's Egg

The Intellectual Lives of Children

Why Johnny Still Can't Read or Write or Understand Math

Technopoly

Amusing Ourselves to Death

Leviathan (Dolin)