Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

411–420 of 459 posts

Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

#411

Post by edanm »

weakfish wrote: post #146
sestep wrote: post #34

For fiction I read a lot of Brandon Sanderson: the second Mistborn series, plus a few of the Secret Projects. I quite liked Tress of the Emerald Sea . Also currently reading R. F. Kuang's Katabasis which I'm really enjoying so far. For nonfiction, I found Amanda Ripley's High Conflict to be excellent and insightful. I also finally got around to reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins; I expected it to be fine, bu…

Sanderson really writes incredible stuff. I read the entire cosmere last year and got a tattoo =)

Wow, that's a lot of reading! Cosmere is, what, 20-ish books at this point?

What was the tattoo if you don't mind sharing?

Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

#412

Post by edanm »

BhavdeepSethi wrote: post #115
eleventen wrote: post #49

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee stuck with me more than anything else I read this year. It is a work of simple beauty. It’s a story of several generations of poor Korean women who eventually immigrate to Japan. The front half of the book is wonderfully paced to spend time with the characters. The back half can feel a bit rushed, but it becomes more of a page turner. The Cold Millions by Jess Walter is another period novel ab…

Pachinko has been one of my favorite reads for a long time. If you enjoyed that, you'll also like Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee.

Really? I read both, though fairly far apart, and I never connected them before.

Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

#414

Post by spoiler »

sphars wrote: post #249
j_w wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the Stormlight Archive: You have to world build. The first book definitely felt like a slog for the first half-ish. Not much that feels like major plot events happen yet, but if you look at it with the understanding that it's intended to be 10 books, a lot of exposition is needed. The payoff is worth it, IMO.

I just finished book 4, some chapters of which I started skimming (mostly the Venli/Eshonai throwback ones). I want to finish the series but it's such a slow burn it's getting tough, especially when I have other books on my TBR. I'll get around to book 5 sometime next year. I did really enjoy the first book, kinda want to go read it again.

Ah. I know what you mean about Venli/Eshonai throwbacks. Those gave me a few "ugh here we go again" moments on my read through, but they do build up to give more context about the Parshendi and how/why the current conflicts starts and who they are as a people (trying to avoid spoilers as much as I can). I still think it's a bit of a slog, but I appreciate it a bit more now...

Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

#415

Post by spoiler »

tstrimple wrote: post #253
j_w wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the Stormlight Archive: You have to world build. The first book definitely felt like a slog for the first half-ish. Not much that feels like major plot events happen yet, but if you look at it with the understanding that it's intended to be 10 books, a lot of exposition is needed. The payoff is worth it, IMO.

I think it's Sanderson's attempt at "epic fantasy" and it falls a bit flat for me as well compared to his tighter shorter novels. Of course we have to focus on the world building because it's literally Sanderson's only talent outside of just being a prolific writer. His characters are all very flat and similar. Especially the women. His character arcs are nothing to speak of. His relationship building is cringe worth…

I honestly found the women interesting in the book, and not samey. I mean the Alethi have a masculine/feminine society shift, but Navani, Jasnah and Shallan all very different.

The characters aren't flat at all, there's a lot of nuance to all of them.

I guess this is one of those the beauty is in the eye of the beholder situations.

Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

#416

Post by yuchtman »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #396
yuchtman wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be interested in a recommendation about maintaining faith. Preferably specific-church-agnostic.

Mere Christianity - cs Lewis (timeless), “losing our religion” by Russel Moore, “the justice of Jesus” by Joash Thomas are the 3 that helped me out the most. I end up handing out every copy of mere Christianity I get!

Thank you very much, will look into those!

Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

#417

Post by beilabs »

FunnyLookinHat wrote: post #394
beilabs wrote: post #325

I really enjoyed Leaders Eat Last and Careless People. 2025 brought me to: The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick Leaders Eat Last - Simon Sinek A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms The Time Machine - H.G. Wells What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School - Mark McCormack The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change - Adam Braun Neuromancer - William Gibson Blood of Elves - Andrzej Sapko…

I really enjoyed Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood. It's fairly obscure though - I was surprised to see it mentioned here.!

Picked it up in a Nepalese book shop. Was a good read.

Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

#419

Post by port11 »

homeonthemtn wrote: post #397
port11 wrote: post #310

I'm not influential enough but I'll share the recommendations I think will help people like me: struggling parents. This year I've reread The Discontented Little Baby Book. If you're getting/have a newborn, this is the book I'd read. It's humane. No sleep training, no nonsense about babies. We went full ‘possum’ with our baby and I like how happy he became. I've also read Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's…

For what it's worth, we're a handful of days out from our first so, thank you for that recommendation.

Congratulations! It’s a very challenging and bumpy ride but it makes life differently meaningful.

Discontented Little Baby is terrific. I was parenting out of fear, the typical stuff of staying indoors, sleep schedules, etc. The book has a really chill approach: just go live your life and bring the baby along. That’s how we wanted to parent, but somehow everyone around us got us into a place of fear.

Don’t make the kid nap in the dark, that hinders their cortisol/melatonin cycle development. Go have fun together!

Good luck, internet stranger :)

Re: Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

#420

Post by ksherlock »

well, audio books:

- Salem's Lot

- the Moon is a harsh mistress

- Stranger in a Strange land

- The Stand (1990 edition, which initially confused me since I read the 1980 edition long ago)

- The best short stories of Mark Twain

- Nightmares and Dreamscapes

- Liar's Poker

- The Big Short

- The intelligent investor (2009 revised edition -- my ears perked up when he casually mentioned microsoft vs microstrategy during the .com bomb)

- Flash boys

- Next

- Bonfire of the vanities

- Barbarians at the gate

- The man who solved the market

- The Fund

- The world according to Cunk

- The house of Morgan (currently 5 hours in and currently tired of the phrase "house of")

Post reply on HN