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Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

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Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#571

Post by jeffe »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #566
jeffe wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised that this book, which is as about as heavy handed and nuanced as Atlas Shrugged, seems to have such positive consensus. Reading it at a similarly impressionable age I found it to be a typical luddite philosophy presented by a condescending pseudo-intellectual gorilla. It presented some obvious truths about human culture and its effects on the environment, but insidiously twisted everything to support hi…

The book aside, in what world are we not a culture of takers or have not destroyed the natural equillibrium(s) of our own biosphere?

I don't believe the concept of some 'natural order' the book seemed happy to worship. Nature is always in a state of flux, and species will always compete and alter their environments. Limited resources means all species are 'takers'. I would argue that it is even more 'unnatural' for a dominant species to deliberately cede dominance.

There is plenty of evidence suggesting we are currently on an unsustainable path with regard to the continuation of our own current lifestyle. I doubt it will lead to the end of life on Earth, and (regarding the book) I'm not quite convinced that a return to hunter gatherer societies is the proper solution.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#572

Post by StavrosK »

Dowwie wrote: post #264

I finally read Frank Herbert's "Dune" this year and I'm so happy about the decision to finish the book. In the book are several references to what is known as the "Litany Against Fear". You may have come across references to it in pop culture, where the beginning is often cited. For instance, Elon Musk references it often. The Litany in its entirety: > "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-dea…

I loved Dune, the second book less so (lack of Muad'Dib, I guess). What else can I read that is at that level of quality?

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#573

Post by noddingham »

I started reading R.A Salvatore's Forgotten Realms books when I was around 12 or 13, starting with the Crystal Shard and eventually working my way through the next dozen or so as they came out.

Growing up in rural Texas, I perceived themes related to stoicism, equality, and racism, that, while probably not intended by the author, still made me think about the way I'd seen people treated, and how I wanted to treat people in the future.

In addition, there were a few quotes in some of the chapter titles that stuck with me for whatever reason: "Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.”

I doubt I would see the same things in those books if I read them now, but perhaps for the right audience at the right time there might be something there.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#574

Post by kidintech »

bsenftner wrote: post #527
ctchocula wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I was surprised, because Siddhartha was very easy reading, but I couldn't get past 60% of The Glass Bead Game either, because it was so dry.

I wonder if this is a pre-Internet generation / post-Internet generation assessment of story pace. Because I, born in '64, do not find the prose dry or slow at all. Other readers I've discussed the novel, I've noticed people born after the "jump cut edit" revolution that refaced entertainment media (basically MTV) have a harder time getting into the flow of earlier entertainment.

I don't think so, at least not for this case.

I'm a sucker for slow burns in cinematography and books, but you can't just have no pace or structure and then say "yeah, these kids have no patience".

My completely uneducated opinion of the glass bead game was that Hesse was describing what could be a very interesting concept in a very poor manner, always high-level, and abstract enough that at times I thought he didn't flesh it out in his mind either and couldn't convey it properly.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#576

Post by abdullahkhalids »

cdoctorow wrote: post #525
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely love Walkaway by Cory Doctorow.

Thank you!

I don't know if or when you will see this. But I wish I had made a more extensive comment. Walkaway is so relevant in the current crises, in so many ways.

Today, we grapple with the issues of what work is essential and what work is bullshit, what gifts we should give to others in society, whether surveillance is the answer to stopping the infection. Many of the imaginary technology in the book, such as small maker machines, have been shown to be essential to survival. And so many of the cultural components of the walkaway society have come to the forefront of our own thoughts and cultures.

Most importantly, the death rate is high enough, not from war, but from an invisible entity, that the usual hyperbolic discounting of death has disappeared, even if temporarily.

So thank you for writing such a powerful book, the provides answers to many of today's challenges, even if they are dreams of a better tomorrow.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#577

Post by vmilner »

p_l wrote: post #444

- Hobbit, followed by Lord of the Rings. The selection might seem trite, but I suspect that there wasn't a book with bigger impact on me than Hobbit, for very simple reason. It made me into voracious reader, put me on a path of reading, actually reading. All because my father prodded me to read out loud first few pages so that I could show off how well I read. That was enough to get me hooked and probably nothing com…

I went through what I suspect is a common experience in that I had The Hobbit read to me at school at about 8, then read LOTR to get more hobbits. Even though the vocabulary was far too difficult for me, the experience of getting through a 1000 page book at that age, gave a massive boost to my reading and writing ability.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#578

Post by boobsbr »

metroholografix wrote: post #224
Jkol wrote: post #103

Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, aka Three Body Problem. Explored existential topics in a way I've never encountered anywhere else. I truly believe that decades from now this series will be viewed as the LOTR of our time. I've recently been reading the Foundation series, and have found the concept of The Mule character to be incredibly eye opening. I can't say directly it's had a positive impact on my life but it…

I found all 3 books to be vastly overrated and mediocre at best. I would bet money that in 10 years, few will even remember them. The translation doesn't help, but the issues with the books go beyond it. It's obvious that Cixin Liu is not a good writer. The characters in TBP are cardboard cutouts and his pacing and framing of ideas awful. I feel that there is merit in his imagination but it'd be better presented in a…

I really don't see anything special about Iain M. Banks' Cultute books. Consider Phlebas was the more interesting to me, but not great.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#579

Post by blaser-waffle »

hprotagonist wrote: post #531
Dowwie wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HBO better not disappoint us with their Snow Crash series. This was such a fun book.

I’m not keen to watch it. It’s probably unfilmable; all the exposition text is hard. If you’re going to try, I think the visual style that would work the best would be animated. The real world could be done in Heavy Metal style, and the ‘verse done like ReBoot — or maybe akira or something. I’m not at all excited about a live action version.

Seconded. Look at Altered Carbon -- they even released an anime season on Netflix. Ghost In The Shell also comes to mind as a good cyberpunk treatment in anime.

Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?

#580

Post by devchix »

reddog wrote: post #452

I've been striking out with my fiction lately with one dud after another. Thanks for these excellent suggestions. I'm ready to dive back in. Three books that I haven't seen listed, but were impactful on my life: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita -- Incredible writing, maybe the best ever. And english was Nabokov's second language. Don't miss this just because of the creepy subject matter or because you saw one of the movies.…

I've gotten rid of most of all my paper books a long time ago, I had too many and was always tempted to buy more. I even got rid of my beloved Austen anthology that's how seriously I was paring down. I figured I can get everything I love on e-format. I kept three physical books I'll never be without: Lolita, Madame Bovary, Les Misérables. Merely looking at the words does something to me.

"-- and I looked and looked at her, and knew as clearly as I know I am to die, that I loved her more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on earth, or hoped for anywhere else. She was only the faint violet whiff and dead leaf echo of the nymphet I had rolled myself upon with such cries in the past, an echo on the brink of a russet ravine, with a far wood under a white sky, and brown leaves choking the brook, and one last cricket in the crisp weeds ... but thank God it was not that echo alone that I worshiped (...) I insist the world know how much I loved my Lolita, this Lolita, pale and polluted, and big with another's child, but still gray-eyed, still sooty-lashed, still auburn and almond, still Carmencita, still mine;"

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