the ones that stood out were
- Nostalgia for the Absolute by George Steiner
- Digital Reversal by Andrew Mir
- Vita Contemplativa by Byung-chul Han
Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
341–350 of 459 posts
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#342My favorite book this year has to be The Divine Farce, I haven't been gripped by a story like that in years. A short stay in hell falls in the same category. I'm still reading a book by Barbara Kingsolver: Demon Copperhead. It's really good and I like the story, but I have not finished it yet since I can't seem to find the time for it. Some other short stories like an inhabitant of Carcossa...
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#343Sci-fi nerd recommendations follow. I binged the entirety of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. The cover, & the fact that it was on Kindle Unlimited, made me think it was probably cheap crap, but I was impressed with how well-written it was, and how much I empathized with the characters. (I probably should have read it slower; by the last two books, I was just flowing with the text, not paying as much attention to the…
If you enjoyed the DCC series, you should check out the live reading sessions from the audible narrator. He does such a fantastic job with the voices. I was legitimately surprised it was a single narrator. https://youtu.be/yQ54CpkUoaM
Jeff Hays is an incredible narrator. It appears he only narrates LitRPG. Of which, DCC seems to be basically the only readable series. Would love to see him branch out.
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#344I read escapist “junk.” Proud of it. I re-read Dave Duncan’s A Man of His Word [0], and A Handful of Men series[1]. I followed up by re-reading The Great Game [2], by the same author. I re-read the original 10 (+1) books of Chronicles of the Black Company [3], by Glen Cook, again, as he just released a couple of new books, after many years (and has 4 more, on the way). I also recently read Lies Weeping [4] (the lates…
You should always read only books you enjoy. Even if you think they're shallow you will realize the deeper stuff in that made you be interested in them you later. Your subconscious knows better.
I would say, there are exactly two reasons to read a book: because you enjoy it, and because you want to know what it says.
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#345I stick to HN for finding interesting technical articles (whenever you all aren't bikeshedding about LLMs lol) 2025 Online: Noahpinion, Zeihan on Geopolitics, Ezra's column NYTimes, Where's Your Ed At 2025 Books: Abundance, Human Nature - Thomas Bell, (Plus a handful of books on maintaining faith despite not being politically conservative) Looking forward to in 2026: Everything is Tuberculosis - John Green
I'd be interested in a recommendation about maintaining faith. Preferably specific-church-agnostic.
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#346I mostly read fiction but I made time for a couple of nonfiction books this year. On the fiction side I really enjoyed "Luminous" and "When We Where Real". - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_(novel) - https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/When-We-Were-Real/Dar... On the nonfiction side, I can recommend "Careless People" and "Apple in China". - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Careless_People - https://en.wikipedi…
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Careless People . The unexpected peek into the author's personal childhood and family ethos was really interesting. The look at Facebook from within was a cautionary tale. I also liked I Am Not Your Enemy by Reality Winner.
I also thought it was very good.
Did a very good job of answering the question: why do (did) bright, ethical, motivated people want to work for a company like this?
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#347After reading Primo Levi's "The Drowned and the Saved", I went on a binge of his earlier works: "If This Is a Man", "The Truce", "If not now, when?". All great, but I keep coming back to "The Drowned and the Saved"; it's hard to put my finger on it, but it's a book that provides more meaning about life than anything I've ever read.
The Periodic Table is also very special, and like the books you mentioned, the surprising part is that it says something additional about his experiences to each of the other books.
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#348My top book this year was Joe Abercrombie "The Devils". Also highlights were: - Brandon Sanderson "Wind and Truth" & "Yumi and the Nightmare Painter" - Indrek Hargla most of "Apothecary Melchior" series (didn't read all yet :) - Jim Butcher "Brief Cases" - James Islington "The Strength of the Few" Rest of the stuff: - I. Hargla "Süvahavva" series - John Gwynne "Ruin" & "Wrath" - nobody103 "Mother of Learning" I, II,…
You've got some great ones on here. I'm curious how you found some of them to be. Jim Butcher "Brief Cases": I'm a huge fan of the Dresden series. I find it to be very enlightening as we watch an author grow with his primary character. The early books were particularly weak, but they grow and get better and better. However, I'm unfairly biased against short stories, so I avoid all the X.5 releases. Are these worth ex…
I revisited Assassin's Apprentice recently, as an audiobook, having read the series 20 years ago. Personally, I will not be continuing. The best term I came across to describe it is "injustice porn" or "misery porn." Fitz and the other protagonists are stymied and beaten at every turn, through the entire series (I checked summaries to see if there would ever be any payoff in continuing). If you're in the mood for an extremely depressing read with no positive outcomes, this is the series for you. I have been in that place before, but I have no tolerance for that at this stage of my life.
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#349Sci-fi nerd recommendations follow. I binged the entirety of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. The cover, & the fact that it was on Kindle Unlimited, made me think it was probably cheap crap, but I was impressed with how well-written it was, and how much I empathized with the characters. (I probably should have read it slower; by the last two books, I was just flowing with the text, not paying as much attention to the…
If you enjoyed the DCC series, you should check out the live reading sessions from the audible narrator. He does such a fantastic job with the voices. I was legitimately surprised it was a single narrator. https://youtu.be/yQ54CpkUoaM
The first time I heard Donut speak I tried to find the name of the female narrator only to be surprised that the male narrator is just that good at female voices.
Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
#350Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you enjoyed the DCC series, you should check out the live reading sessions from the audible narrator. He does such a fantastic job with the voices. I was legitimately surprised it was a single narrator. https://youtu.be/yQ54CpkUoaM
Jeff Hays is an incredible narrator. It appears he only narrates LitRPG. Of which, DCC seems to be basically the only readable series. Would love to see him branch out.
That is odd. Most audiobook narrators narrate anything they are paid to.