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Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

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

#451

Post by rhubarbtree »

tstrimple wrote: post #256
mrexroad wrote: post #179

Been a year of re-reads and some classics I never started b/c of thickness. Standouts for me were “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Norwegian Wood.” “Kafka on The Shore”, “Norwegian Wood” - Haruki Murakami “A Tale of Two Cities” - Dickens “Count of Monte Cristo” - Alexandre Dumas LotR, “Hobbit” - Tolkien “World Atlas of Coffee” - James Hoffmann “Anathem”, “Diamond Age”, “Termination Shock” - Neal Stephenson “A Timeless Way…

Curious about your view on The Count of Monte Cristo. It's one of my more disappointing reads of the year. I'm familiar with the story line from various film adaptations, but I wasn't prepared for the sheer amount of repetition and drawn out bullshit. That's when I learned it was originally published in a journal where Dumas was paid by the word over 18 parts. Then all the meandering bullshit and repetition made so m…

Like many major novels it needs a lot of editing, and that’s often for the reason you’ve pointed out - or similarly, serialisation.

Don Quixote is a long novel that just keeps giving, by contrast.

Still would encourage everyone to read TCOMC at least once.

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

#452

Post by rhubarbtree »

czhu12 wrote: post #184
mrexroad wrote: post #179

Been a year of re-reads and some classics I never started b/c of thickness. Standouts for me were “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Norwegian Wood.” “Kafka on The Shore”, “Norwegian Wood” - Haruki Murakami “A Tale of Two Cities” - Dickens “Count of Monte Cristo” - Alexandre Dumas LotR, “Hobbit” - Tolkien “World Atlas of Coffee” - James Hoffmann “Anathem”, “Diamond Age”, “Termination Shock” - Neal Stephenson “A Timeless Way…

I envy your reading abilities

Here’s the trick about reading, folks.

Firstly, reading is actually a bit boring and unpleasurable at first. Only once you’ve gotten up to speed does it start rewarding you. A bit like working out at the gym.

The other surprise is that once you start reading, you get really quick. Like, surprisingly fast. After a while you notice the words are going by faster. So the effort compounds.

When you start you think “my god that took 5 hours of boring reading time to get though” and by book 10 you think “that was 2.5 hours and I learnt a lot and my brain is happy.”

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

#453

Post by sillyfluke »

kashyapc wrote: post #440
sillyfluke wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>it is less famous than the "happier" nocturne that follows it Funny, despite the youtube numbers to me it always seemed to me like Op.1 b-flat minor was the one that would be overplayed left and right (movies and whatnot), maybe because people thought they fit be a moody scene or piece of art better. >give them an attentive listen and play them on a high-quality audio system I have no music background and I would li…

> seemed to me like Op.1 b-flat minor was the one that would be overplayed I don't watch much movies, but haven't seen Op. 9 No. 1 often in many places. I hope it remains that way! No 2 is wildly popular for its lovely long opening melody. > preludes (raindrop etc) for example and they have softer key and louder key parts and I want to blast the softer side without overblasting and distortion Yes, the preludes are lo…

>But please -- you don't need to "blast" this music. This is not rock :-)

:) I guess I should have been more specific. My scenario is listening to the music on the balcony when the speakers are inside. I turn it up to hear the soft notes in the beginning to my liking, only to have go back inside to turn it down when the louder sections begin as it gets too loud. The only thing that comes to mind is doing some sort of normalization.

>I often paused reading and put on the track on a given page

I wonder if this is done in the audiobook version of these types of books by default. It would seem like a missed opportunity not to.

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

#454

Post by jppope »

Igrom wrote: post #433
jppope wrote: post #80

Ted Chang, Bunch Books on Roman Architecture, "You, me, and Ulysses S. Grant", Raving Fans (for work), 3 body Problem, Not the end of the world, Anti-fragile (3rd time), Transformed (for work, it was trash), Harry Potter (in Spanish), and some other things I can't think of off the top of my head.

Can you expand upon the Roman architecture books?

sure, we went to Rome and I was surprised to find that much of the architecture didn't present as I was expecting. I took a bunch of photos. When I came home I checked out "The Romans: builders of an empire" and then the wife bought me "Roman architecture in 50 monuments" which was really cool. I've subsequently read up on the aqueducts... which are really really cool

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

#455

Post by Quinzel »

I read:

- The Courage to be Disliked. - Moral Tribes - Crazy like us - Careless People - Madness Made Me - The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion.

And a few that were on my 2025 list that I didn’t make it through, and are on my list for 2026 include: - Team of Rivals - Behave - Why Greatness cannot be planned.

Hopefully I’ll get through those three books before the end of Feb when I go back to Uni, and won’t have time to read for leisure for about 7 months.

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

#456

Post by rasulkireev »

FINISHED:

- Traction by Gabriel Weinberg (it's ok)

- A Skill Called Luck by Jakob Greenfeld (very good)

- Unf*ck Your Sales by Jakob Greenfeld (very good)

- Books by Alex West (very good)

- How to Live by Derek Sivers (very very good)

- Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (really enjoyed it)

- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (it's okay)

- The Narrow Road by Felix Dennis (it's okay)

- Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki (success)

- Вишнёвый Сад Чехов Антон Павлович (did not like it at all)

- Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift (liked it)

- Hunt, Gather, Parent Michaeleen Doucleff (this book is a game changer, strong recommend for every parent)

- MAKE by Pieter Levels

- Main Street Millionaire by Codie Sanchez

- Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling

- The Sweaty Startup by Nick Huber

- The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury (did not like it at all)

- Чем Люди Живы Лев Николаевич Толстой (nice)

- 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall (pretty good)

- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (eye opening)

- Growth Levers and How to Find Them by Matt Lerner (meh)

- Alexander Pushking Stories (very nice. crazy how he makes rhymes yet the whole thing makes sense)

IN_PROGRESS:

- War and Piece (I'm shocked at how much I'm liking it)

- Scaling Fast by Swizec Teller (really good, about to finish)

- Unreasonable Hospitality (it alright)

- Mom Test (it's good, but for some reason I keep failing to finish it)

- Marcus Aurelius Meditations (reading it slowly as inspiration strikes)

- Seneca Dialogues

- Ultimate Guide to Link Building by Garrett French

STARTED, BUT DID NOT FINISH (That's a big add list):

- Michel de Montaigne "Essays"

- Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (feels to hard to tackle right now)

- Seeking Wisdom

- Product Led Growth

- Demand Side Sales

- Odyssey by Homer

- Full Stack Tao by Alex Kondov

- Logic for Programmers

- The Story of Philosophy

- The Story of Civilization Vol 1

- The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx

- Economic Facts and Fallacies Thomas Sowell

- The Beginning of Infinity David Deutsch

- Obviously Awesome by April Dunford

- SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Mary Beard

- American Kingpin by Nick Bilton (it's good, just felt irrelevant, will revisit)

- Indexing Beyond the Basics by Tobias Petry (only read it when necessary)

- The Mind Illuminated by John Yates (can't keep meditations to stick)

Note:

- I keep notes on books I finished on my site, but need to bring it up to date: https://www.rasulkireev.com/book-notes/

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

#457

Post by shoobiedoo »

benlivengood wrote: post #445
shoobiedoo wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you think of it? I got to about the third book and completely lost interest

Don't finish; read a good summary if you cared about any character or plot point sufficiently. I enjoyed it overall but in large part for the detail/immersion which it sounds like wasn't interesting enough to keep you. All character growth and relationships were very slow burns, and so if you enjoy watching the same characters just dealing with things as they come up then you'd probably enjoy the other books as much…

late reply but thank you. I won't bother with the rest of it

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

#458

Post by osmyn »

Asked Gemini for a list of books recommended on this page multiple times:

Top Recommendations

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams: This was the most mentioned book on the page, with five different users discussing its "cautionary tale" regarding power and idealism.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: A favorite for both readers and audiobook listeners, praised for its engaging story and high-quality narration.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman: Multiple users recommended this LitRPG series, particularly noting that the audiobook experience is exceptional.

Mother of Learning by nobody103: This time-loop progression fantasy appeared in several lists and was described as a "must-read" for fans of the genre.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: A classic that continues to resonate, with several users discussing its humor and depiction of the human condition.

Other Notable Duplicates

Apple in China: Cited three times for its insights into the relationship between the tech giant and Chinese manufacturing.

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb: Featured in both re-read lists and debates about its emotional intensity.

Permutation City by Greg Egan: Highly recommended by sci-fi fans for its "stimulating" concepts regarding digital consciousness.

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie: Mentioned by three users as a top new release for the year.

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