Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

news.ycombinator.com

531–540 of 980 posts

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#531
post #424

The truth is, if you ask me this 100 times, you'll probably get 100 different answers, because it's impossible to really pick just one (well two, separating by fiction/non-fiction). But for today I'll go with: Fiction: Neuromancer Non-fiction: The Selfish Gene

The Neuromancer has the greatest opening sentence of all times imho: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

This is a great line, though it might not have aged well. Younger generations might just think "Oh, the sky was black"

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#532
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be a very polarizing book. I for one thought it was among the worst I've read, but know plenty who have said it's one of their favorites. It's certainly not a traditional novel.

Ulysses feels more like Joyce showing off his command of the written word and extensive vocabulary - of which both are greater than any other writer I've read - than it feels like a novel meant to tell the reader a good story. In that sense, the novel wasn't particularly entertaining. If he could choose between a well known word for something and a very obscure word for something, it was always the latter. The same g…

Here's a choice bit of stream-of-consciousness from the "Lotus Eaters" episode, as Mr. Bloom is contemplating the wares at a tea shop on a balmy June morning:

... So warm. His right hand once more more slowly went over again: choice blend, made of the finest Ceylon brands. The far east. Lovely spot it must be: the garden of the world, big lazy leaves to float about on, cactuses, flowery meads, snaky lianas they call them. Wonder is it like that. Those Cinghalese lobbing around in the sun, in dolce far niente. Not doing a hand’s turn all day. Sleep six months out of twelve. Too hot to quarrel. Influence of the climate. Lethargy. Flowers of idleness. The air feeds most. Azotes. Hothouse in Botanic gardens. Sensitive plants. Waterlilies. Petals too tired to. Sleeping sickness in the air. Walk on roseleaves. Imagine trying to eat tripe and cowheel. Where was the chap I saw in that picture somewhere? Ah, in the dead sea, floating on his back, reading a book with a parasol open. Couldn’t sink if you tried: so thick with salt. Because the weight of the water, no, the weight of the body in the water is equal to the weight of the. Or is it the volume is equal to the weight? It’s a law something like that. Vance in High school cracking his fingerjoints, teaching. The college curriculum. Cracking curriculum. What is weight really when you say the weight? Thirtytwo feet per second, per second. Law of falling bodies: per second, per second. They all fall to the ground. The earth. It’s the force of gravity of the earth is the weight ...

The vocabulary is colorful but hardly obscure, the sentence structure is broken but readily comprehensible.

Personally, I find it utterly transporting.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#533

Steppenwolf By Herman Hesse. It's remarkable how a fictional character written by someone a century ago can resonate so deeply with a modern person. But then again, that's a common thread amongst great literature. I recommend this book to anyone struggling with loneliness or feeling like they haven't found their footing in this world. “Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at everything else.”

+1 for this one, it’s such a delightful experience to read.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#534

The Consolation of Philosophy by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius. It is a profound synthesis of classical philosophy and personal reflection on the human condition. Boethius, writing in prison while awaiting execution, blends Stoic, Neoplatonic, and Christian ideas to address timeless questions of fate, fortune, happiness, and virtue. It transcends religious dogma and focuses on rational inquiry into how one can f…

1. There's a fun reference to this book in the movie "24 Hour Party People"

2. Chaucer's translation is referenced in the OED as the first use of the word "twitter" in the English language

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The best book I've ever read was Atlas Shrugged in 8th grade. Changed my life." "huh, ok" > Really, I'm just looking for people who won't jump down my throat on a faux pas. I think you're dismissing the people such as myself that would note you as an idiot without comment and move on wanting nothing to do with you. Edit: tests and trick questions with people you just met is an ineffective way to navigate the world…

> I think you're dismissing the people such as myself that would note you as an idiot without comment and move on wanting nothing to do with you. > Edit: tests ... with people you just met is an ineffective way to navigate the world. My 2c Do you see the irony here? I wouldn't personally run the kind of test OP is running, but I think that even in your case the test succeeded: they've successfully separated themselve…

There's a second problem here. OP is either unaware or doesn't care that they're being filtered by people who are wary of others who knowingly and consistently lie to strangers as the common case of getting to know one another.

I think most adults have a sensible aversion to that. In fact I'd go so far as saying that this common filter is to social cohesion what determinism is to a programming language. I'm happy to have an escape hatch for novel cases, but there are very good reasons for the common case being common.

Edit: clarification

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#536

"The best book I've ever read was Atlas Shrugged in 8th grade. Changed my life." Not because I remember anything about it, or believe anything it espouses, or even like it all that much, but because it's a useful filter for obnoxious people in meatspace. If someone I don't know too well asks me what my favorite book is, I say Atlas Shrugged. If they react inappropriately, I'll be cordial and treat them with respect,…

But the best books are "A Canticle for Leibowitz", "Neuromancer", and "The Dying Earth".

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#537
From The Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple https://shepherd.com/book/from-the-holy-mountain

I read this in my early 20s and it had a huge impact in changing the course of my life, sending me traveling over a Christmas break, and changing my entire perspective. He is an amazing author and this book is beautiful.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#539
post #119

Impossible to pick just one. I'll give a few that haven't appeared yet: Fiction: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (Eliezer Yudkowsky) Non-fiction: Rationality - from AI to Zombies (Eliezer Yudkowsky) Probably no books have impacted me quite as much as these two, barring early-childhood books that have impacted me from a young age. Fiction: Worm (by Parahumans) Best "superhero" fiction ever created. Just on…

crap what was that website that had such crazy ramblings - 2600 like technobabble spy hacker games... it wasn't what Shin Megami Tensei was based on... oh well, failed memory shapes reality

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#540
There is no best. Books mean different things at different times in your life. When I was a kid, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Conan Saga, where the greatest books ever written and I still think they were amazing but, my reading interests have changed, here are a few of the best books I've enjoyed reading recently.

The War of Art - Pressfield Outlive - Attia The Fourth Turning - Strauss

Post reply on HN