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Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

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Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#201

Post by rcarr »

cableshaft wrote: post #182
rcarr wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah fair enough. I think I went into the book knowing that already so I enjoyed it. I think I’d either recently visited Venice or went shortly after reading the book so it resonated with me. I think if I was going into the book expecting a standard novel then I would be disappointed.

I've never been to Venice so perhaps I would appreciate it more after that. I did become a bit more interested in visiting Venice after watching this one video by DamiLee on Hurry Sickness and how the structure of Venice is like a labyrinth, designed to slow you down and encourage you to wander, as if it were somewhat of a soul-healing mechanism. She also mentions Invisible Cities in the video: https://youtu.be/iuIZu…

It’s absolutely incredible. It literally feels magical, like you’ve stepped through a portal into another realm. We walked around and deliberately got lost just to see where we ended up. One moment you’re on some bustling tourist street with throngs of people, the next you’re on some quiet passageway where all you can hear is the water, turn another corner and all of a sudden you’re in a courtyard and there are couples ballroom dancing in the moonlight. It really is an amazing place.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#202

Post by malshe »

gizmo wrote: post #183
malshe wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great list! Do you have any recommendations for books on inclusive design? Does any of these books touch upon the topic?

Thanks! I don't have a great recommendation. About Face by Cooper (same author as Inmates) is good, but only covers inclusive design indirectly. Good design makes products automatically more inclusive, but design specifically for people with impairments is something I know nothing about.

Got it. Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#203

Post by kinghtown »

rcarr wrote: post #200
noema wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “Importance” is subjective No, not really. "Importance" is a rough proxy for legacy and influence. This is why one can say without any trace of subjectivism that Shakespeare is the most important writer of the English language, or Kafka the most important writer in modern German, etc. Maybe this is slightly less rigorous in the case of '2666' which is still a relatively young work, but it is widely hailed as a land…

Disagree with your definition of importance. Go interview 1000 modern English speakers and ask them what the most important book is to them - I doubt if anything by Shakespeare would make it in to the top ten. Go ask 1000 literature professors and maybe something by Shakespeare will crop up. Was Shakespeare a great writer? In my opinion, yes. Is he still influential? To a lot of people yes, but to a growing amount of…

If you were to ask 1000 English speakers what their favourite food was, the average would be some kind of fast food slop. Shakespeare is going to be sitting very pretty near or at the absolute tippity top of importance in literature for a very long time.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#204

Post by rcarr »

kinghtown wrote: post #203
rcarr wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree with your definition of importance. Go interview 1000 modern English speakers and ask them what the most important book is to them - I doubt if anything by Shakespeare would make it in to the top ten. Go ask 1000 literature professors and maybe something by Shakespeare will crop up. Was Shakespeare a great writer? In my opinion, yes. Is he still influential? To a lot of people yes, but to a growing amount of…

If you were to ask 1000 English speakers what their favourite food was, the average would be some kind of fast food slop. Shakespeare is going to be sitting very pretty near or at the absolute tippity top of importance in literature for a very long time.

You are attempting to imply that consuming food and consuming Shakespeare are the same which they are not. Consuming fast food likely has a negative physical outcome in most people. Can you prove that consuming Shakespeare has a corresponding positive mental outcome for the majority of people? I suspect not.

The argument is also flawed because favourite is not important. If you asked someone what their favourite food was they may say Chinese takeout. If you asked them what their most important food was, they may say Sunday dinner because it reminds them of their deceased mother. There is a significant difference between the two, one is a personal preference but the other could compromise a bigger part of one’s identity.

Here’s a thought experiment:

Which book is more important? The book that the most influential man in the world considers the most important but which nobody else has read? Or the book dismissed by all elites but that is the most important book to the least influential billion people on the planet?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#205

Post by kinghtown »

rcarr wrote: post #204
kinghtown wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were to ask 1000 English speakers what their favourite food was, the average would be some kind of fast food slop. Shakespeare is going to be sitting very pretty near or at the absolute tippity top of importance in literature for a very long time.

You are attempting to imply that consuming food and consuming Shakespeare are the same which they are not. Consuming fast food likely has a negative physical outcome in most people. Can you prove that consuming Shakespeare has a corresponding positive mental outcome for the majority of people? I suspect not. The argument is also flawed because favourite is not important. If you asked someone what their favourite food…

Shakespeare is taught in high school, my dude. You are a little deluded if you believe Shakespeare to be little read.

I’m quite aware that you can’t eat Hamlet.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023

#206

Post by rcarr »

kinghtown wrote: post #205
rcarr wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are attempting to imply that consuming food and consuming Shakespeare are the same which they are not. Consuming fast food likely has a negative physical outcome in most people. Can you prove that consuming Shakespeare has a corresponding positive mental outcome for the majority of people? I suspect not. The argument is also flawed because favourite is not important. If you asked someone what their favourite food…

Shakespeare is taught in high school, my dude. You are a little deluded if you believe Shakespeare to be little read. I’m quite aware that you can’t eat Hamlet.

Yes it is taught in school. But have you ever thought to think why? Is it because he is the greatest writer that ever lived? Or is it because he was in favour with the British monarchy who use tradition as a way of maintaining power and the status quo and who then went on to conquer most of the planet, exporting their culture as they went? The upper class Oxford and Cambridge professors who determined the curriculum would have made studying his works mandatory and other universities would emulate. A couple of centuries of inertia and you end up where we are today.

Notice you said Shakespeare is taught in high school. In that sense it carries importance in that people are exposed to it whether they like it or not. But it doesn’t mean that once those people leave school it continues to be of importance to them and to most people I would argue it doesn’t. The majority of people run a mile when you start mentioning Shakespeare because they have less than fond memories of being sat and forced to read something written in archaic English that in the present day requires either a teacher or another book written in modern English to understand if you have never encountered it before.

The original comment talked about “most important novel of the century” which is a ludicrous claim. The assumption in that sentence is that there is a universally agreed upon consensus for evaluating literature in comparison with other literature that allows us to rank them like you would football teams in a table and that the commentator’s choice is the undisputed winner of this gladiatorial death match. If you can point me towards this criteria please do so. Otherwise what you actually have is ‘This is the most important thing to me so I’m going to assert grand unprovable statements as proof in order to propagate my personal tastes and beliefs”.

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