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Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

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Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#201

Post by olah_1 »

ljf wrote: post #184

Regardless of your religious beliefs (I'm a very happy aethist) I found Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth hugely interesting. As a tool to understand the people of the time, the stories that grew and the 'person' behind the dominant religion of the Western World - there is no book that comes close. Don't expect to have fun chats with religious (Christian) friends after reading this though, as much of wh…

I don't find Zealot any more damning than The DaVinci Code.

Jean Danielou wrote a book about the Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran, and the Essenes way back in the 80's that explains how it's all related and what it means for Christianity.

I personally had a "not fun" chat with an atheist friend about Zealot because I pointed out how much silly conjecture and assumptions are underlying the book.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#202

Post by Machado117 »

playing_colours wrote: post #192

I decided to try reading the classic literature this year. The books that stood the test of time. I started with Brothers Karamazov by F.Dostoyevsky Middlemarch by G.Eliot After that I plan to continue with East of Eden by J.Steinbeck Ulysses by J.Joyce They all have incredible characters, deep thoughts, delicious language. Sure, not an easy read after contemporary fiction, but I noticed that the more classic literat…

Good luck with Ulysses. I tried several times but I always find myself with no idea of what I just read after reading a few pages. Might try again one day. I read Brothers Karamazov some years ago and I find impressive how I still think about it regularly.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#203

Post by pimmen »

doomlaser wrote: post #28

Patrick Collison, co-founder of Stripe, keeps a cool reading list with tons of books, color coded by the impact they had on him. He's clearly a voracious reader on a wide range of topics. I happened to find it yesterday and found tons of books and authors to add to my Amazon wishlists: https://patrickcollison.com/bookshelf If you're interested in games / startup stories, I have to recommend Masters of Doom, about the…

Masters of Doom had a much bigger impact on me then I thought it would. Can really recommend it!

Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#204

Post by olah_1 »

mlevental wrote: post #198
playing_colours wrote: post #192

I decided to try reading the classic literature this year. The books that stood the test of time. I started with Brothers Karamazov by F.Dostoyevsky Middlemarch by G.Eliot After that I plan to continue with East of Eden by J.Steinbeck Ulysses by J.Joyce They all have incredible characters, deep thoughts, delicious language. Sure, not an easy read after contemporary fiction, but I noticed that the more classic literat…

>Ulysses by J.Joyce you will never be able to read that. i have a friend that did read it and it took him 10 years just to finish (not even understand!)

This neat little web page might help: http://m.joyceproject.com/info/sources.html

It allows you to click on things to understand their allusions/references.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#205

Post by holografix »

I can’t recommend “Into thin air” by John Krakauer enough.

A true story written with naked emotion by someone who experienced the life altering disaster on Everest.

It’s all too relevant right now with another recent calamity on Everest.

An excerpt from the opening words:

“The Everest climb had rocked my life to its core, and it became desperately important for me to record the events in complete detail, unconstrained by a limited number of column inches. This book is the fruit of that compulsion...

Several authors and editors I respect counseled me not to write the book as quickly as I did; they urged me to wait two or three years and put some distance between me and the expedition in order to gain some crucial perspective. Their advice was sound, but in the end I ignored it—mostly because what happened on the mountain was gnawing my guts out. I thought that writing the book might purge Everest from my life. It hasn’t, of course. Moreover, I agree that readers are often poorly served when an author writes as an act of catharsis, as I have done here. But I hoped something would be gained by spilling my soul in the calamity’s immediate aftermath, in the roil and torment of the moment. I wanted my account to have a raw, ruthless sort of honesty that seemed in danger of leaching away with the passage of time and the dissipation of anguish.“

Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#206

Post by playing_colours »

mlevental wrote: post #198
playing_colours wrote: post #192

I decided to try reading the classic literature this year. The books that stood the test of time. I started with Brothers Karamazov by F.Dostoyevsky Middlemarch by G.Eliot After that I plan to continue with East of Eden by J.Steinbeck Ulysses by J.Joyce They all have incredible characters, deep thoughts, delicious language. Sure, not an easy read after contemporary fiction, but I noticed that the more classic literat…

>Ulysses by J.Joyce you will never be able to read that. i have a friend that did read it and it took him 10 years just to finish (not even understand!)

Yeah, I thought about it as well : As many people suggest, I will start with his Dubliners and read Ulysses together with reading guides:

  http://www.ulyssesguide.com/
  The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses https://tinyurl.com/newbloomsday

Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#207

Post by credit_guy »

If you like SciFi, and you didn’t read The Martian yet, then now’s a good time. In my opinion this is by far the best SciFi book of all time. Hard SciFi, in the style of Arthur C Clarke, but packed with 10 times the “sci” of the Odyssey or Rama. If you already read this, go for Andy Weir’s second novel, Artemis. Not the level of The Martian, but still better than 99.9975% of all the SciFi books out there.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#208

Post by track_me_now »

Dowwie wrote: post #167
Improvotter wrote: post #161

Why everyone is recommending even more work for on your summer leave is beyond me. I'd personally recommend Ready Player One, perhaps use an audiobook (I love them). I personally listened to the one voiced by Wil Wheaton and it was fantastically done. Definitely recommended! It is a lot better than the movie in case you're wondering.

"Ready Player One" was a lot of fun and really fast-paced

with a sequel in the works!

Re: Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?

#209

Post by pimmen »

I have been spending a lot of time reading English language classics lately (I'm Swedish, so I only read two classics in my high school English class) so I will recommend one I recently read, Catch 22.

I read it so that I knew what it was about before watching the Hulu show. Still haven't watched the Hulu show, but absolutely loved the book. It's funny, very dark and even though most people think they know all about it without reading it because they understand the term "catch 22", they are missing out on a very good story that will leave you in want of discussing it with someone else.

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