71–80 of 357 posts
* The Goldfinch -- Donna Tartt
* Hotel New Hampshire -- John Irving
* A Prayer For Owen Meany -- John Irving
* Wonder -- R.J. Palacio
* Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- Mark Twain
* The Elegance of the Hedgehog -- Muriel Barbery
Irving and Tartt are my favorite.
Laws of Human Nature - Greene
Spectacular. From self diagnosis of narcissist symptoms to how to work with crowds/tribes to amazing stories from history that exemplify certain traits. It’s a huge tome but not a word seems to be wasted!
"Age of Anger" by Pankaj Mishra - Eye opening work about how resentment develops in societies, and becomes weaponised by politicians - wide ranging examples from Voltaire-era France, pre-independence India and modern day ISIS.
"Poverty Safari" by Darren McGarvey - A stunning polemic and sort of memoir about modern-day poverty (particularly in the UK). Will change your mind, whether your politics leans to the left or the right
"Anmerkungen zu Hitler" by Sebastian Haffner - Only about halfway through this, but it offers clear observations and insights as to how Hitler gained power in Germany. Published in English as "The Meaning of Hitler", but the translation is a bit sketchy and doesn't have Haffner's clear prose.
Fiction:
"Guapa" by Saleem Hadid - an amazing portait of LGBT life, and life in general in the Arab world after the Arab Spring.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hated The Magicians the first time, but I read it again once the tv show came out and I found it a lot better the second time. I just had to realize everyone in the book was supposed to be incredibly spoiled and bored assholes with barely any redeeming qualities. It showed the completely emptyness of life for people who can do pretty much everything, like youre playing a video game with cheats.
I definitely understood what Grossman was going for with the characters and the aspect around boredom you mention. My problems with the book have to do with how the story is paced, which is pretty bad, as well as with completely unnecessary and useless plot points around sex. I don't want to read a fantasy book where furry porn is sprinkled in wantonly without contributing to the plot in a meaningful way. Also, Gross…
Plus, a big chunk of the rest of the series revolves around Julia healing from sexual trauma and it was both nuanced and satisfying.
I won't go so far as suggesting that you give it another try, but it's not as terrible as it might seem :)
Ofer Gal - Baroque Science. A highly academic history of the scientific revolution, not the most readable book. It focused quite a bit on mathematization, especially in optics (and Kepler's optics revolution in particular), and also in observation via instrumentation like telescopes and microscopes. Paul Nahin - The Logician and the Engineer. About Boole and Shannon's work; I had already learned the material so i ski…
I read it ~2 years ago and wholly recommend it to folks as a more constructive approach than shouting "Godwin's Law". Well written, detailed, and an incredible read.
Yuval Harari - Homo Deus
Yuval Harari - 21 lessons for the 21st century
Frank Schätzing - The Swarm
Peter Drucker - The Effective Executive
Stephen Hawking - A Short History Of Time
1. Fear - Bob Woodward (did not actually get too far before dropping it)
2. Radical Candor - Kim Malone Scott (interesting)
3. Black & Decker Complete Guide to Wiring (VERY helpful during my home renovation, did most of my electrical)
4. Pitch Perfect - Bill McGowan (helpful for communication)
5. Quantum Thief/Fractal Price/Causal Angel [Jean le Flambeur series] - Hannu Rajaniemi (I enjoyed the first book in this trilogy the best, the third was too difficult for me to understand! Very hard Sci-fi)
6. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (enjoyed the audio production from BBC radio)
7. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories - Ken Liu (enjoyed several of the short stories very much)
8. Revelation Space/Chasm City/Redemption Ark/Absolution Gap - Alastair Reynolds (love the series but it is long!)
9. Executive Orders - Tom Clancy (not my favorite Clancy book but still fun)
10. Rainbow Six - Tom Clancy (also not my favorite Clancy book, a little more fun than Executive Orders though)
While waiting for the next Game of Thrones book I picked up a few new series that I really enjoyed! I hope to get a few new suggestions out of this list.
The Expanse - James Corey
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
Broken Earth - NK Jemisin
Three Body Problem - Liu Cixin (translated: Ken Liu)
Both are on DARPA.
Why Nations Fail (amazing!) Chimpanzee Politics (interesting) Corporate Confidential (paranoid, but worth a read) Developer Hegemony (red pill for developers!!!) Bargaining For Advantage (reasonable) Tempo: Timing, Tactics and Strategy in Narrative-Driven Decision Making (abstract as hell but rewarding) Thinking Fast and Slow (loved it) The Elephant In The Brain (seriously underrated) The Brain That Changes Itself (i…