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

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

#591

Post by ASVVVAD » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:51 PM UTC

cdoctorow wrote: post #524

ASVVVAD wrote: post #53

Surprised how no one mentioned Little Brother[1] by Cory Doctorow and the sequel Homeland[2] It's near-future Sci-Fi and since it was written in 2008, it's more or less present now. It dives into a lot of topics that are relevant nowadays 1. https://craphound.com/littlebrother/ 2. https://craphound.com/homeland/

Thanks, that's awfully kind of you. The third Little Brother book, Attack Surface, is out on Oct 12. We're recording the audiobook this week (fully remote - I'm in my garage, the director is in her house, and the actor, Amber Benson, is in her basement studio and we're all vtc'ed together -- Amber's amazing, but the process is...weird). https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/13/21177769/cory-doctorow-att... There's also a ne…

how I didn't see this, I am so happy right now! You're my favorite writer this is an honor, I'll definitely recommend it to everyone

I'm looking forward for the new book and editions, especially the introduction. Since seeing a copy of Homeland on Ed's mattress in the documentary is what got me to read the books!

Best of luck on the recording process and publishing ^^

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

#592

Post by varunarang » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 8:37 AM UTC

Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathy, Second book - Secrets of Nagas. I read about the cycle of life and why it's important to keep moving. It talks about the water cycle, water starts from Ocean and ultimately meets the ocean, but it's movement from clouds to rain to mountains to river and then to ocean generates and nurtures life. Nothing else came close to simplifying why one should keep moving for me. It is simply beautiful.

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

#593

Post by agustinl » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 3:12 PM UTC

I started in the world of sci-fi books with Nightfall from Asimov, short but extremely interesting. Then I followed with Ubik from Philip Dick, I recommend it 100%.

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

#594

Post by mariushn » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 6:06 PM UTC

Cro_on wrote: post #523

Ulysses. Surprised I haven't seen it mentioned yet, as it normally is in book threads on HN. The reason that it had, and still has, such a positive influence on my life is the plethora of literary tools which it possesses. It allows for infinite play and imagination, while still being the apparent product of extreme dedication and earned mastery. In fact, I prefer Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man as a novel, and…

This one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)

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

#595

Post by barnabee » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 9:42 AM UTC

jtms wrote: post #457

barnabee wrote: post #430

William Gibson. The Bridge trilogy and the Sprawl trilogy, at a minimum. They still feel like maps to the future even now. You have to work at it, the map is not the territory after all, but the realisations about the impact of technology, progress, and the choices we make when we let society work a certain way have been profound, for me at least. Also The Peripheral, and Gibson’s essay in Wired about undersea cables…

I think the essay about undersea cables is actually by Stephenson, not Gibson (unless he happened to write one too)

You are 100% right! I remembered that essay right at the end of writing the reply and wanted to mention it, because it’s excellent. Got that totally wrong!

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

#596

Post by SZJX » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 5:07 PM UTC

A relatively unconventional choice but the highest-rated visual novel of all time, Muv-Luv Alternative, is insane. It is without any exaggeration the only piece of actually "life-changing" media that I've consumed. I felt myself to be mentally much more mature and tougher afterwards, and able to face challenges head-on instead of procrastinating or shirking away. It really is something that shakes you from your soul and leaves an everlasting emotional impact, which is very different from the non-fiction books (which are also indispensable of course).

I would summarize core ideas as "To live is to suffer, but you have to carry on no matter what. This is what everybody does." and "an ode to humanity", but it really is so hard to put the experience into words. You have to feel it yourself.

Link on VNDB: https://vndb.org/v92 There are also various streamers who streamed the whole story on Twitch after its popularity blew up.

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

#597

Post by thefringthing » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 2:55 PM UTC

kleton wrote: post #377

metroholografix wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> The characters in TBP are cardboard cutouts Try to read this as Chinese literature and not apply Western standards. TBP is not about individual people but civilizations. Similarly, if you read Tale of Genji expecting a plot, you will be disappointed. But that doesn't mean it will be forgotten in 10 years.

This perspective helps a bit with the Foundation trilogy too, honestly. Asimov was not a good character writer.

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

#598

Post by danbmil99 » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 7:26 PM UTC

frabbit wrote: post #218

The_Colonel wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His ideas were good, but his writing style did not really click with me.

Completely agree. As a stylist he is crude and clunky. But his plots and ideas are transcendental and have been mined by others for decades since he developed them.

He's sort of like punk rock or Van Gogh. He's definitely not about the polish.

Interesting biographical note. He wanted to be a serious novelist, and wrote an unreadable Tome I think called Confessions of a crap artist.

Meanwhile, the science fiction novels he dashed off to make a little money were becoming popular. When he was in dire straits financially, he would agree to write another book for a few thousand dollars to make the rent.

He would drink himself into a Fugue State and dash another novel or story off in a couple of weeks. He never took that part of his career very seriously, except maybe towards the end of his life when he integrated more of his novelistic ideas into books such as Valis and the Stigmata book.

He died before his name had anywhere near the status it has today.

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

#599

Post by jtms » Mon, Apr 13, 2020, 10:56 PM UTC

barnabee wrote: post #595

jtms wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the essay about undersea cables is actually by Stephenson, not Gibson (unless he happened to write one too)

You are 100% right! I remembered that essay right at the end of writing the reply and wanted to mention it, because it’s excellent. Got that totally wrong!

I ran into it in my printing of Cryptonomicon at the end of the book... indeed extremely excellent!