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Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

#41

Post by khazhoux »

redmorphium wrote: post #6

I haven't read a single book in 2022. Somehow, over the years, I've lost the habit of reading.

No shame in that, I say.

I've completely lost any interest in reading fiction, because it's almost always a letdown. Good ideas with poor writing. Good writing with poor endings. The disappointments go on and on, and that's hours wasted. I've tried my friends' suggestions, best-of lists... the stories are consistently lame, except for the handful of masterpieces like Dune.

On the other hand, I'll gladly curl up with a nice comp sci or math book, and that'll be enriching, challenging, and time well spent.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

#43

Post by club_tropical »

jerpint wrote: post #20
kzrdude wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I brought back my habit of reading this year. New rule, no internet and youtube right before sleep, read instead. I fall asleep sooner and much better. And I finally read Dune, probably the best book of this year, surprisingly good, I like the writing style.

I’m trying hard to establish this habit as well. I got an e reader so I can read in the dark (lights bother my SO when she’s falling asleep). I confirm that reading technical books before bed puts me straight to sleep. And most e readers can sync with a smart phone so you can continue reading instead of browsing HN during a lunch break :)

So what’s the point of a “reading habit” in the abstract- what are you hoping to gain?

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

#44

Post by BatteryMountain »

Non-Fiction / Self-Help:

No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model

IFS for short.

Written for normal people, not psychologists/psychiatrists. It has a very valuable core philosophy/teaching about who we are underneath all the masks of our personality(s). It closely resembles something I experienced during an Ayahuasca retreat in 2018, about the soul / inner child/god entity.

For something a little more tangible that digs in closer to the mechanism/science, see Dr Tori Olds on youtube, she has 5 videos on the topic that is incredibly powerful in understanding your own behaviours. Will take less than 2 hours of your life but can change it permanently for the better!

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

#45

Post by siddbudd »

I Contain Multitudes. By Ed Yong. Everyone should know more about bacteria. Especially considering we are carrying trillions of them in our body and further gazillions surround us. And yes, we are related, more than you'd think.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27213168-i-contain-multi...

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

#46

Post by AlecSchueler »

I Choose Elena and My Body Keeps Your Secrets by Lucia Osbourne Crowley.

Can highly recommend these to any man who is wanting to better understand issues of sexual assault against women, in terms of how normalised it is, the challenges women face in being believed by other men and the long term health effects that manifest themselves after such attacks and after hiding the truth.

Wanted to mention it here because I become more aware each passing week of the blindspots in the HN community regarding the struggles and perspectives of women.

If you want to get a bit out of the male dominated tech bubble and learn about some drastically different experiences from your own these are highly recommend.

Edit to differentiate the two books: The first is basically a memoir of the author in terms of her own experiences with assault and chronic illness, where the latter is a sort of collaged memoir from multiple people.

The latter is definitely the more powerful book and the breath of experience juxtaposed with the commonality of those experiences is very effective. If you're only going to read one I go for My Body Keeps Your Secrets. However there is enough that builds upon the first book, I Chose Elena, that I think it's definitely worth checking them out. The vulnerability shown by the author when she reflects on ICE in MBKYS is breath taking

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

#48

Post by MonkeyClub »

hknmtt wrote: post #29

I have read almost all of Zecharia Sitchin works on Anunnaki, the ancient astronauts, this year. Still have couple of books to go. I read the 12th planet when in elementary school a long time ago and always wanted to read more on this. So I finally did and am very glad. Best things is that he is merely interpreting in his own way all the found sumerian, akkadian, babylonian... literature and jewish writings and bible…

Onwards to Jordan Maxwell, then? If so, also check Michael Tsarion.

Keep in mind, all this stuff is fiction, sort of magic realism in the garb of documentary exposition, and scholarly dubious research.

But much more enjoyable than hollow earth or flat earth stuff!

My favorite bit of it is the presaging of the Dyson sphere in the “energy grid” that surrounds the earth, limiting life form travel.

Even better than their theory of the moon as a manufactured satellite.

Goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: make sure you don’t treat fiction as fact too much :) This stuff can be mentally corrosive.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

#49

Post by cercatrova »

I finished the quadrilogy Terra Ignota, also known by its first book title, Too Like the Lightning. It is one of the most unique set of books I've read, taking place in the 2400s but referencing events 300 years in our past, so it is as if our current time is right in the middle of both ends. It is quite long and flowing in its writing, something that not everyone may like. It has a very high amount of allusion to other Western works, particularly ancient Greek works, so if you're not familiar with those, read them before reading these books.

I am also reading Fire and Blood, which is on the opposite spectrum, much terser but somehow still enjoyable as its blunt style makes imagining the scenarios that play out in the story much easier than the flowery prose of Terra Ignota.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

#50

Post by alecco »

Re-read Blindsight and Echopraxia by Watts, dark dystopia about the singularity.

Differently Morphous and Existentially Challenged by Yahtzee Croshow, a lot of magic comedy.

The Price of Time by Chancellor, about how the current financial everything bubble came to exist and how it's always the same story.

The World for Sale by Blas, about the history of commodities traders in the past century.

Chaos by O'Neill, 20 year investigation about Manson murders finds ties to government agencies.

I read about 10 other books but they were all terrible. It's becoming more and more a needle in a haystack.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18490708-echopraxia

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59056157-the-price-of-ti...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52199304-the-world-for-s...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43015073-chaos

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