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

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

#611

Post by gknoy »

joshdavham wrote: post #446

The best books I read last year were the "Three Body Problem" books by Cixin Liu. It's a science fiction series about aliens, space travel and the universe and they're easily the best books I've read in a while. I genuinely can't remember the last time I got that absorbed in a series. I'd read until the early hours of the morning and sometimes just sit at the edge of my bed for like 20 minutes just contemplating the…

I don't know why, but I could NOT get into it. I read what felt like 2/3 or 3/4 of the first book, and still felt like I had no clue what was going on, and it felt like a difficult slog (for reasons I don't understand), much like how the Silmarillion felt to me. I wish I had enjoyed it, because every review or bit of spoilers I've seen about it sounds like a fantastic story, so I don't understand why it was so unenjoyable to read.

Meanwhile I'll read any chapter of a Neal Stephenson book and feel the comfort of a tea and warm blanket on an (imaginary) dreary day, and never care about the overall plot, and only feel remotely bad about not finishing the book.

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

#612

Post by massung »

krupan wrote: post #294

Nobody has mentioned: - The Lord of the Rings. It is the secret gateway for us nerds to get into literature and poetry (do not skip the poems!). Read all the reference materials like The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, J.R.R.'s letters, the books his son Christopher edited and published, etc. If the poems seem weird or don't make sense, research why they are worded and structured the way they are. - The Master and Margarit…

У "Мастера и Маргериты" лушчее начало из всех книг, которые я когда-либо читал!

And chapter 2: Pontious Pilate absolutely sealed it for me; I love that book!

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

#613

Post by hermitcrab »

bloopernova wrote: post #36

Non-fiction: The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer. US Navy destroyers, escort carriers and destroyer escorts face off against Japanese cruisers and battleships. The Japanese had many times the firepower of the US, yet incredibly brave US sailors and airmen attacked anyway. Incredible story of courage under terrible conditions and odds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Stand_of_the_Tin_Can_…

'Project Hail Mary' was a great read. Especially 'Rocky' (no spoilers).

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

#614

Post by edanm »

dmonitor wrote: post #502
joshdavham wrote: post #446

The best books I read last year were the "Three Body Problem" books by Cixin Liu. It's a science fiction series about aliens, space travel and the universe and they're easily the best books I've read in a while. I genuinely can't remember the last time I got that absorbed in a series. I'd read until the early hours of the morning and sometimes just sit at the edge of my bed for like 20 minutes just contemplating the…

I was interested in the series until I heard the worldbuilding bit about how the aliens have FTL 12-dimensional supercomputers the size of an atom that can cause hallucinations and interfere with particle accelerators from orbit. Author basically just gave the antagonists god-powers to prove some kind of point about how hopelessly pathetic humans are?

I don't think it's humans that are hopelessly pathetic, it's just species that are less advanced technologically, mostly because of developing later compared to another species.

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

#615

Post by elashri »

For me that would be "How experiments End"

This book is written by a science historian with science background. It gives a real perspective about how scientists reached concensus about some of the nowadays well known facts in physics. It goee through some technical details and history including people involved and how personalities and the circumstances around these times affected the progress. If you read it you might find it somehow difficult with some technical details although he tried to simplify it. But once going through that you will find that each chapter is really a journey that you will enjoy.

I really recommend it for people interested in learning new stuff and also enjoy some reading down the line. And get a first hand look into how things are usually done in physics.

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

#616

Post by creature_x »

Triphibian wrote: post #474
flenserboy wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give his Glass Bead Game a try; it is dense, delightful, & its content would appeal much to the denizens of this site.

Narcissus and Goldmund is great. It feels like he's re-approaching themes from Siddhartha, but that notion of paths taken is worth exploring again and again.

Agreed! There is definitely overlap between the three books but my recollection of Siddhartha and N&G is that Hesse dwelled more into how hedonic pleasure corrodes the soul. On a side note, you'll get along well with Doestevesky's Brothers Karamazov if you found N&G affecting.

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

#617

Post by hinkley »

A number of my favorites have already been mentioned so I’ll round out the list with Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

If you have kids, an interest in gardening, or a curiosity about Native American culture, this book will hit you in all three.

I got it on audiobook, and felt like I wanted to use a highlighter on every fifth sentence. So I bought a paper copy so I can just open to random pages and start reading.

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

#618

Post by edanm »

NateEag wrote: post #319
edanm wrote: 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…

For those of us who really hated HPMOR and didn't finish it, this review explains the issues in it better than I can: https://danluu.com/su3su2u1/hpmor/

Well that was an entertaining read. Needless to say I disagree with most of it (and think he's factually wrong on a number of things).

But it's entertainment - totally fine to disagree! :)

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

#619

Post by marcusverus »

bobetomi wrote: post #373

Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins. He goes into so much detail about training to become an astronaut, his first spaceflight, training and planning for the Apollo missions, and talks about so many of the details and complexities of spaceflight that I had no idea about before. For example, in the early space walks, they didn't consider how difficult it is to use simple tools in microgravity and without a surface to…

Sounds fantastic, just bought a copy. Thanks!

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

#620

Post by _gabe_ »

edanm wrote: 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…

I’m reading the mistborn books right now. I was up until 2 in the morning finishing the first book in the trilogy the other night. These books are fantastic!
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